The wrong Commander for the right Fleet?

by vRetroKarma

We've all may have asked ourselves this question: "Which Nation would we desire to lead into battle or just have around in general?" And you may have answered truthfully. Yet, in the back of one persons mind, lies an answer not spoken much throughout the community. So, when he's confronted by that question, an entity of higher power grants his wish, fully knowing he wasn't ready.

7. VII

"It all began with one man rising up against the threat of the Sirens, using a single Missile Destroyer to defend a single island against a group of Sirens, even against the word of his superiors at the time. Although his efforts were in vain, his ship being entirely shredded to pieces, and the island soon being captured, this man was soon rewarded for his over-the-top brave actions, managing to at least destroy a small group of Sirens that no one else would've dated to do. After a number of minor trials, this man was promoted to the rank of Grand-Admiral, or simply, Commander to his soon to be followers."

"His sudden leap from Captain to Grand-Admiral was soon justified. He was soon given info on a top-secret project his superiors were working on, and they wanted him to be there personally for the first test. Arriving there, he was confused to see what he thought to be a scrapped Battleship, the USS Wyoming. His superiors explained that they had mysteriously acquired an object, the Wisdom Cube, that provided them with extravagant data when decrypted. They told him, that no matter what, all the data and decryptions led to one conclusion: KAN-SEN, all led under a single man, foretold in the image of a brave man willing to take risks for a better future. It was a prophecy. The Commander couldn't believe what he had heard, never once believing it could be possible for a Human-like being wielding the heavy armament of a Battleship, much less one that suffered through two tragic eras, all while led under his command."

"...The first test was a success- beyond success. As the Battleship underwent its transformation and slowly shrunk down to only a single source of light in the water, the Commander rushed forward, almost tumbling into the water to simply get a better look at what was happening. Where was once a Battleship, was instead replaced by an extravagant woman. There she was, standing tall, but confused. Wyoming soon found herself staring at him with wide eyes, her mouth slowly opening and closing as if contemplating her next words. Though, when she did, it was a miracle to everyone there.

" '...Commander?' the girl spoke softly, so naturally, so human-like that the Commander was blown away by the sheer possibility that it was possible."

Hahaha

"It always makes me laugh whenever I look back at that moment when the Humans finally realized they may have a chance against the Sirens once and for all. And truly, they did, as they quickly reconstructed every ship that was used in the World War Eras. Why don't they make new ships that use newer weaponry? Why it's a simple answer. Combat Experience. The modern weapons and ships that are made today are mere infants in comparison to older weapons that were used. Humanity learned this the hard way. The Sirens had another solution to balancing how much ships the Humans could harbor at once. They simply cannot make more than 4 Iowa's, no, that would break everything, and neither can they decide what ships they want to convert so quickly. Instead, hundreds of memories are hidden away in the Original Wisdom Cubes and when copied, would randomly select one memory and bring forth the combat-experience that ship once held under its name. Of course, these are how the Corrupted came to be. Harboring the memories of two or more ships at once, yet still presenting one on the surface in an attempt to save itself."

"Though, a tragedy struck the Humans, one still not known to the general consensus. The man everyone looked up to, everyone believed in, it could be considered an act of terror for what happened. The Commander had-..."

"...oh my. Hmm, It seems I may have gotten carried away, my apologies. You are here to watch a story unravel, correct? Then, carry on, for this chapter holds a large portion ready to serve."

---

When the Commander woke up the next morning, he stared at one of the walls with a blank look, lying on his side. He couldn't even recall making it back to his room, or rather, all of what happened the night prior. Though, one thing he could remember was the hazy imagery of lights, lots of them, and rapidly dancing images that were blurry to his recollection.

Groggily, he sat up while rubbing his eyes, blinking multiple times, before giving off a loud stifled yawn. He stretched one arm out to the side, and felt around the nightstand, before tapping one of the lamps, lighting it up and giving him some visibility. He did the same with the other one.

He suddenly jolted again as he remembered where he was, before breathing out loudly, looking at his surroundings. Still, in this place, he said in thought, feeling relieved.

A digital clock, provided to him sometime last night, showed him that it was 7 o'clock in the morning. When he was given it, he remembers not. He looked at the windows, before pushing the blinds aside, still surprised that he was actually underwater. Though no light was visible, he couldn't help but feel mesmerized by marine life. Usually, where he used to live, the sun would've barely been peeking its head over the horizon. But since he's in the base...that no longer applies anymore. Instead, some dim lights were set up throughout the seabed, giving the area near the base an eerie but welcoming feeling to the right people.

Grunting softly, he began to shift around in place, starting his morning stretch routine. He first started from top to bottom. He popped various bones and twisted his body, feeling all stiff from partying with the Sirens all night long, then when he stretched his legs, it felt like a blissful high as he practically released a moan. Like a light-switch, most of the events that took place came back to him. It was so sudden that he zoned out completely, before snapping out of it, realizing a good 5 minutes passed by him simply being stunned. The blurry images...he remembered them now as they became clear as day. They were, of course, the ragtag group of Sirens who were all trying to dance with him...in more ways than one.

He rubbed at his face before gaining a smile and sitting back, rubbing his eyes. Then, he just sat there, staring forward at the twin doors. When he picked apart some of the events that happened, all he could really say was two words: "Holy shit."

There was soon a knock at his door, before it opened slightly, a whisper following suit.

"Commander, you 'wake?" He quickly recognized the voice as Purifiers, watching as she poked half of her face in to take a peek. When she noticed him staring back, she instantly ducked away, making him exhale in amusement as her hairpins still stuck out in the open.

"Come here, Purifier," he beckoned, watching as she shuffled in quickly with a grin, her hands behind her back.

She stood right by his bedside, standing tall and erect, before saluting with a dead-serious expression. "Commander!" She formally greeted him. But when she glanced down and noticed his amused expression, she couldn't help but break into a fit of giggles.

She really does act cute, he thought as he imagined himself hugging her.

"You don't have to do that, you know that, right?" He said, chuckling with her, watching as she nodded.

"Ehhh I guess," she poked her tongue out before clearing her throat. "Right, so we just got word from one of our scouts that the Humans have moved a large fleet of shipping containers and resources to a dockyard/base called...ehhh," she hesitated, her mind trying to remember the name before her eyes shined. "Edinfolk! Yeah, that's the place. It was made by the Royal Navy as some sort of checkpoint in the middle of the Atlantic or some shibang." He nodded slowly at the provided information.

He lightly slapped at his face at the various thoughts that shot through his head, looking away, Purifier beginning to shuffle ever so slightly out of his eyesight.

He sighed before rubbing his cheek. It's a bit too early for this stuff… He tiredly said in his head before looking back at Purifier. However, when he looked back, she was already placing a bowl, gallon of milk, and a box of cereal on the nightstand to his left. The sudden appearance of such objects left him in a baffled state.

"Purifier...when did you get this stuff?" Hearing his question, Purifier made her own confused sound, before looking at him weirdly, as if offended that he would ever ask her that question.

"You Humans are weird, you know that, right? Don't you need to eat something really early in the morning so you, like, think better?" Her logical reasoning actually stumped him, making him sigh, not caring that she didn't even answer his question.

He ended up laughing and nodding, agreeing with what she said.

"You're right," the Commander confirmed before reaching over and seeing what cereal she had brought him before his eyes widened.

"You...got my favorite?" He questioned in a more-or-less excited tone, looking up at her, watching as she nodded with pride.

"Once we fully accepted you as our Commander last night, we gained access to your needs, wants, memories, and shiet like that," she listed off with a wave of her hand in the air. At first, he smiled, staring at the box in almost disbelief, but then he gained a terrified expression as realization finally struck him. He slowly looked up, Purifier beginning to smile more evilly knowing what he just realized. Her hand that was hovering in the air quickly came down to poke his nose with a wink.

"Don't worry, only the other higher-ups know, because the Pawns are mainly left in the dark...for reasons that we shall leave unknown!" She winked again, before passing him the cereal, milk, and a spoon. "But enough of that, put your stuff in!" She almost ordered, leaning back on the nightstand, holding the bowl up with two hands, though as low as her stomach. He did as told, but slowly, as he didn't exactly enjoy the position she had put herself in.

Getting into a more comfortable position himself, he began the sacred process of cereal pouring.

Cereal first, he poured the milk in second, before using the provided spoon to take a bite. The whole time, Purifier stared at him with a smile, making him feel uneasy. Though, at the same time, he felt almost ecstatic given who she was. For a moment, he looked away, keeping his eyes to the ground as the continued eye-contact made him feel a little too much uneasy. Don't get him wrong, he enjoyed the Sirens, but even that was a little bit odd. Her eyes never left his, unblinking, unwilling to look away.

But because he looked away for a moment, he didn't see Purifier's hand hover just mere inches above his head, shaking, hesitating to move any more than it is.

What is this? She questioned in her mind, her smile dropping ever so slightly.

Though her grin went back to normal, and her free hand went back to holding the bowl once more after the Commander began to look back.

He took around 5 minutes of doing this process before he eventually finished, leaning back on his arms. There was an awkward silence between the two, but the Commander decided to break it first, needing to get to important matters.

"How close are we to this base?" He suddenly asked, Purifier gaining a thoughtful expression, before eventually shrugging.

"I honestly don't know. Forgot to ask," she sheepishly laughed while rubbing the back of her head. "Anyways, it doesn't matter, I think? Mast- Observer managed to make a Mirror Sea Creator with the help of some of the Cubes we got out of that one fleet." Even if she said all that with confidence, the rubbing of her arm slightly worried him.

Mirror Sea Creator? Oh.. can I just teleport there with the whole fleet? Seeing some examples of the Mirror Sea's being used here and there gave him a slight clue of how they worked, but in the end, he was still perplexed by how they worked, or what their limit even is.

Clearing his throat, he took the covers off and sat on the edge of his bed, Purifier's smile getting even wider at the action.

"Is the whole fleet up?" He asked, watching her nod.

"They are all getting ready. Probably take another 10...minutes, I think?" She shrugged before nodding.

He took another deep breath, before trying to get up from the bed, putting his legs over the edge of the bed, Purifier stepping away to the side. Though, when he tried to stand, he stumbled around, his legs basically telling him that they still needed a minute, before forcing him back down on the bed. He made a sound of mild discomfort and pain when he crashed back down. Though, this only served to be an amusement to his current guest.

"Man, all that partying must've tired you up!" Purifier stifled a laugh as she watched her Commander struggle, before offering a hand. The Commander only shook his head with a wave of his hand.

He sighed, lightly massaging his legs, only wearing shorts. "I always wanted to ask you this- how do you guys manage to do all of this without getting tired?" He asked, genuinely interested at how the Sirens, at least Purifier, doesn't seem tired at all. Though the answer was most obvious to him, mainly shown to him as the metal pieces her legs are now, knee down.

Purifier hummed with a grin before bringing up one of her legs with one hand and using the other hand to rest it on her thigh, essentially balancing perfectly on one leg. He widened his eyes, forgetting how short her 'shorts' really are if you could even remotely call them that, Purifier giving him a good view of her privates.

Purifier corrected this mistake by angling herself just right, the Commander shaking his head at the immature thought. She rolled up her shorts before she suddenly squeezed down on her thigh before literally taking a square piece off, skin, muscle, and all, revealing the insides.

He was more amazed than horrified by the sight.

He woahed in amazement as he subconsciously got closer to Purifier's leg, before noticing that instead of bone and muscle, she instead had all sorts of metallic parts within the inside of her thigh, with various bits that made her bionic leg even stronger than a normal one, with several tubes running here and there delivering yellow liquid. The piece she took off even had its inner walls lined up with indescribable metal!

"I had my legs replaced a looooong time ago, mainly because fleshy legs are such a pain in the ass to clean!" She explained, almost as if it was a horrible memory, even rubbing at her face with a faux horrified look.

When the Commander wanted to get a better look at how it operated, she hummed, before she leaned back more and swung her leg back and forth. She flexed her leg, twisted it around, and let him watch how the insides compensated for such movement.

"We look like normal Humans but nah. We're like Robots...but not at the same time- it's kinda complicated. We have exoskeletons and instead of blood, we have an oil-factory thingy in our chest that produces its own oil/lubricant for our bodies on the fly, granted we have a piece of a Wisdom Cube that we can consume. We don't physically eat, yeah, but it's stupid to think we still need a supply of something if we want to live or else we literally burn up. And plus…" Purifier droned on about how weirdly designed their bodies are and such, but the Commander tuned her out as he took in the information she told him.

So they are like Robots...but not at the same time. I guess if they were losing for so long, they wouldn't have that steady supply of Cubes they need... as that one Voice said. Is that why they were so lively yesterday because they managed to get the Cubes from the wrecks? He noticed how, before on the surface, the Sirens, at least the ones without real names, only moved with absolute purpose. But after, the Sirens moved around in more hysterical ways, firing their weapons off wildly. They must've been conserving really hard then. And last night, with what we gained, they must've been happy as all hell, hosting that rave and stuff.

"...Commander?" He didn't even notice Purifier had stopped talking until she got right up in his face, making him flinch back from the sheer brightness her eyes emitted.

"Y-Yeah, Purifier?" He watched as she shook her head, before slapping back on the missing piece of her thigh, a small hiss emanating from it as locks secured itself in. Right after, her eyes trailed his body before getting even closer to him, placing her hands on his shoulders, before feeling down his arms. Every now and then, she squeezed down, making him feel more strange. The whole time, the Commander was frozen in place, almost as if in shock. When her hands finally glided down to his chest, before ending up dangerously close to his pelvis, he finally reacted, jerking back from her touch. "Purifier!" He half-shouted her name, her eyes going slightly wide as she took a step back with a sheepish smile, deciding it would be best if she explained herself.

"Sorry about that, Commander, but I was seeing if you were qualified enough for the operation. You passed, by the way!" He opened his mouth and tilted his head at the vague wording, but was cut off by Purifier. "Since it looks like you don't like your current body, you can instead get a full body conversion if you want! You'll look the same, but all your insides will be much better!" The sheer optimism she radiated silenced him for a moment.

"Uhhh...yeah, l-let me think about that before I say anything else about it," he said slowly, putting it off for now. Purifier nodded in agreement before stepping back again with a hop.

"Well, I gotta go get my stuff on too, so I'll see ya in a bit!" She explained, grabbing all the breakfast equipment, before hopping over to the door and opening it.

Before she stepped out, she craned her head back, giving him a toothy smile. "When you're ready, just head towards the Commander Center. Can't remember if it was Arbiter or Dreamweaver who was already finished, but they'll probably be hovering around in that area. Anyhow, once you're there, we can start the attack on Norburgh- gah, I mean Edinfolk!" She rubbed her head before giving him a thumbs-up. "But yeah, hurry up!" He quickly nodded and watched as the door closed soon after.

Still, a bit confused by what she propositioned, he lay back on the bed, looking up at the ceiling.

"What the hell would I even look like after?" He whispered, questioning the air, using various imagery from games as references, before ultimately shaking his head.

"I have to focus on other things for now," he decided before gaining a new goal in his mind: "I need to figure out what sort of timeline I'm in." He frowned as everything up until just planted red-flags. For all he knew, he was just thrown into an Earth, but one just much farther into the future yet still resorting to World War 2 ships and weaponry to do all the work.

Because if it's a timeline I'm not familiar with...then I'm kinda fucked, I guess. Plus, I don't know how different factions are in this. Does Nagato still receive her spot as the Flagship of the Combined Fleet? Another really big problem would be the Eagle Union, because of Enterprise and...dear god, Enterprise. His reason and thought process soon came to a grinding halt as he slowly sat up with wide eyes, before he put a hand over his mouth.

Where the fuck are the Alternates?

Never once did he see an Enterprise or Takao look-a-like within his fleet, making him hypothesize heavily. Does this mean it's more or less official that they have their own faction separate from the Sirens? Though, this scared him more than it relieved him. Alternate Enterprise...Alty, broke off her relationship with Observer but even then, she didn't attack her after. Does that mean I'm safe as well? No, it wouldn't, what am I thinking! Shit, I don't even know if it's the same thing as in-game! He took a deep breath, relaxing. I can't keep using the game, he realized. It's too unreliable in some areas.

He shook his head before finally getting up, his legs not giving up immediately as they did. He narrowed his eyes slightly, looking at his hands, feeling an odd sensation throughout his whole body. If Alty does show up and she's not neutral towards the Sirens now...it's game over for me. The images of the Sirens and their complexly designed ships came to mind.

I need to hurry up and gain more naval strength. He took a deep breath, before looking around. He then randomly clapped his hands and to his delight, the chandelier in the middle of the room lit up. Hell yeah. He cheered in his head, before moving around the room, grabbing his randomly provided uniform off the coat rack, never really taking into account that he was almost naked the whole time, even when Purifier was all grabby-grabby with him. Only when he saw his pants messily sprawled by the foot of his bed did he realize his half-nudity, cursing loudly with a beyond sheepish laugh. Sure, his shorts were long enough, but he still felt off about it. Putting it all on, he looked around the room, before finding a small mirror sitting in one of the corners.

He went and grabbed it, looking at himself, before smiling in satisfaction. On the right chest piece of the uniform bared a symbol of which he only saw once, that only being plastered on Arbiter's rigging. A small sigh left his lips.

This is who I am, for now at least, and fuck it all, I'll have as much fun as I can in the meantime. He nodded his head, before putting down the mirror and leaving towards the bedroom door. Opening it, he mentally readied himself. Alright, here we go. He cracked his head, but before he left, he clapped his hands again experimentally. He pumped his fist as all the lights to his room shut off before he finally entered the hall and headed towards the Command Center.

He took the same path as yesterday, swiftly going down a long winding hallway, entering a storage room, then entering another long corridor before taking the turn into the Command Center. Once again, there was no door, no commotion at all, and a now brightly lit room filled with consoles. It's such a big base yet it's so quiet. The only noise that he ever heard was soft creaks and the shuffling of his shoes throughout the whole trip. That's creepy. One thing he didn't like was large indoor spaces with little to no noise, feeling it wasn't right.

Once in the middle of the room, he surveyed it again.

The very moment he entered the room, there are two rows of computers on his left and right, parting in the middle of the room to let anybody walkthrough. There was also a fine gap between the two rows, again, for added space for efficient movement. Yet, the consoles didn't have any sort of chairs for anyone to sit behind, making him question whether the Sirens really cared or not.

The walls, the ones that folded out, were blacked out again, but he noticed now that left and right walls had crevice-like dips chiseled into them about 5 inches. They look like they're supposed to hold up T.V.'s, he noted.

Looking up, he found the light source to be a strange set of lamps that stretched from one end of the room to the other, glowing various colors softly, much like an RGB keyboard. It seems a lot brighter than yesterday. The lights, despite only being a soft glow, made him look away after a while. Was Agartha conserving energy like the Sirens too?

Shrugging, he took a step back to take a final good look of the room, before bumping into something soft, redirecting his energy forward again.

Whirling around, his eyes landed on two well endowed, almost exposed breasts, before his eyes shot up to meet the red beady eyes of Arbiter. She grinned widely the whole time, putting him on edge on how he didn't manage to hear her sneak behind him so easily. Though, with her current set of clothes, it wouldn't be so hard as he imagined.

She walked forward with her hands behind her back, and when she stood right in front of him, she easily towered over him, making him have to crane his head up just slightly. Arbiter realized this ahead of time and leaned down, her smile becoming more toothy as she reached out and cupped his chin, forcing him to stay looking up at her. He hesitated to resist her grasp, simply letting it happen, not at all familiar with how Arbiter's personality plays out. I should experience how she acts or something. Better now than never.

"Our first battle is upon us, Commander. I foresee our absolute victory, though, with how unclear and uncertain our future appears to be, it's simply too unpredictable." Before he could say anything, she narrowed her eyes, bringing him in closer, so close in fact that they could kiss if either of them moved any closer to each other. His breath hitched as she lightly brushed his cheek with a hand, humming quietly.

Her eyes almost seemed to swirl clockwise, their redness adding onto the effect, mesmerizing the Commander. At first, she frowned, whispering, "You must shine the light through the unknown, Commander," but slowly, her expression morphed into one of excitement and eagerness. "Show us that the fights ahead of us will be glorious and worth our time." The Commander finally realized Arbiter was pushing him down physically, her hands grabbing and starting to squeeze his shoulders even harder, his knee's straining to keep him up. Grunting, he said, "Arbiter-"

"Arbiter, restrain yourself!" The Commander thanked the lords as Observer's voice boomed behind Arbiter, several tentacles shooting forth and restraining Arbiter, pulling her back away, before holding her in the air. Arbiter was quick to realize what had happened and laughed loudly as she saw the angered expression on her fellow Siren.

"Observer, you shouldn't have stopped me so soon! Soon enough, my fun with the Commander would've commenced!" She barked with laughter, not at all bothered that she was being shaken up in the air by Observer, who only frowned at the response.

"You already had enough fun with him last night!" She argued back, Arbiter only laughing harder in response, making the Commander blink several times. Now that I don't remember... While they kept bickering back and forth, he noticed that the other Sirens were already neatly lined up in the hall, all looking forth, and probably wondering why Observer was ticked off so early in the morning.

Purifier was in front of the line, giggling.

It wasn't until he heard noises of something powering up did he turn around and see Tester looking up at Arbiter, her arms crossed, her expression appearing like she was bored out of her mind. Her rigging hovered parallel to her back, the source of the noise he had heard, pulsing with life every now and then. Then it struck him. His eyes widened as he never once saw Tester get around him, looking around to see if there was some sort of entrance he hadn't seen, which there was none. They're so stealthy! He cried in his head, before looking back at Tester again, who shifted her eyes down once she caught the Commander staring.

"Yes, Commander?" She was quick to be ready to answer any question he pushed onto her, surprising him with the rather humane answer. Of them all, of all the Sirens so far, Tester seemed the most Human in appearance. She wore more than a comfortable amount of clothing, and had a normal personality up until this point. Dreamweaver still beats her.

But he knew this was more or less a form of her facade because, cough cough, other sources indicated that she became data-con, like Observer, once the opportunity dangled itself in front of her.

He only shook his head. "It's nothing…" He mumbled back, Tester blinking twice before shrugging lightly. For a couple of minutes, he just let Observer argue with Arbiter, imagining it would be over soon enough. Though, when it became apparent that it would take a much longer time than he expected, he thought of an approach to stop them.

"Hey…" Though he tried to gain their attention, his voice quickly died off, realizing that just talking normally wouldn't really do much.

Instead, he sighed, before resorting to something to straight-up shouting, breathing in and out slowly. Before he could yell, Tester put a hand on his shoulder, making him cough at the sudden contact. He took a look at Tester, who only shook her head in response.

"There's no need for shouting, Commander," she said, before pointing at herself. "That's our job; instead, you have been incorporated into our system by us and because of that, you have gained the unique ability to communicate with us, Commander." He thought back to when he could breathe underwater, and nodded, believing her.

"What can I do to gain their attention, then?" He questioned, Tester looking away for a moment, before giving her suggestion.

Testing Parameters loading. Update: Parameters created successfully. Test 3 of the Siren-Commander's compatibility. Record beginning...now.

"To put it in human terms, think of the Siren fleet as a Hivemind, you being the Queen. Simply connect to the Hivemind, provide us the command through your thoughts, and everybody will give you their absolute attention. Your messages will be transcribed into a unique language that we have all learned ahead of time. It's the system Observer used when we were just the equivalents of infants in the system," she finished, looking away with a reminiscent look.

He nodded slowly before looking at the other Sirens, pausing just briefly at the last part of what she said, before pushing it aside.

Just...think of the command. Hmmm. He focused his mind on producing the command, yet nothing came out, or what he could feel at least. His mind began to go blank as soon as he wanted to use it. Seeing the overly concentrated and exaggerated expression on the Commander, Tester went up to him to help; however, she paused, her eyes widening ever so slightly.

He gave the command to listen to him, but it fell on deaf ears, except one. He turned to look at Tester with slight disappointment, but paused, seeing her own surprised look.

Tester started to smile widely, as the faintest string of words appeared in her head, it's unique tone confirming it was the Commander.

Update: Communication with at least One Siren has been established. Tester quickly marked off a completion, before giving him a small nod, showing him it was working. He turned to the others, but they were still too busy. He tried again.

This time, the string of words came out clearer, much more refined, as he began to imagine a tree-like pattern in his head, almost as if he was slowly connecting all the Sirens to him. Just imagine them as...users? Yeah...that works. I'm the server...and they're my clients. His analogy somewhat helped him

The ones in the hall slowly turned their heads towards the Commander, whispering amongst themselves, wondering if what they heard was right. Even with his improved speech, it still came out as a garbled mess by the time it reached the others, leading to them simply passing it off as background noise, never suspecting it was their Commander. This only fueled him as he quickly made the breakthrough he needed.

He and Tester gasped slightly as when he tried for the third time, his message shot across the Siren Network, and fed back directly into his mind, making him wince at the sheer volume of his own order. It sounds so...weird! He realized, his voice sounding like a bunch of rapid and slow beeps yet carrying an edge to every tone.

But just like that, Observer instantly dropped Arbiter out of surprise, and looked back at the Commander.

Arbiter stared at him with wide eyes as she lay on her stomach, the rest of the Sirens staring forth at him as well. Tester, behind him, saved everything she witnessed to a database deep within her mind, planning on reviewing the entire thing again later. Test 3, end! Conclusion: The Results are beyond my expectations! A mere Human using Siren powers so quickly!- No, this man, our Commander, is no mere Human any longer! Her small revelation was kept secret to herself, almost gaining newfound respect for her Commander.

The Commander slowly drew out a breath before nodding, giving the silent order for them to ease up, satisfied that he experienced no feedback. "Now, let's start?" He suggested.

Observer glanced at Arbiter, wished her tentacles away, before quickly standing side to side with the Commander in a flash. "Has Purifier informed you of what we found?" He nodded mutely, impressed at how quick Observer was to recover.

"Then good." She spread her arms out as she soon projected a life-like image of a large island, surrounded by other smaller islands, in the space between her two arms. The projection flew out and grew in size, giving the Commander a greater view of the base.

He stared in amazement as Observer moved the projection around to be perfectly square with the very back wall, putting it almost level with the floor in front of them. The very first thing he noticed was a large wide building, almost 4 miles wide on each side, with branching out sectors. The Main Island, where the Base was situated, was inhabited by a large jungle of large trees and fauna, with various runways to the North, just a mile from the main base with multiple hangars. Surrounding the Main Island were multiple other, smaller, Islands that branched out from the Main Island. He couldn't put his tongue on what the Island resembled, grumbling to himself quietly.

Though, he leaned into the projection as he tried to see what planes they were using. They...are old planes? At the very least, he could tell they were old Fighters, typically ones that were used during WW2.

Observer could sense his confusion and butt in, "The reason why Humans resort to old technology is there sheer 1:1 compatibility with the Wisdom Cubes, drawing practically all the strength the Cubes could offer. The same theory applies for equipment from both World War eras." She brought up another projection that held a repeating video of a modern-day jet exploding in various ways.

"The things you Humans call 'Jets', the Eagle Union's F35 or the Northern Union's SU-57, all failed to meet the requirement of the Wisdom Cube, and promptly vaporized everyone who tried." She whooshed the video away and instead brought up a projection of a Jet similar to one like the Sirens.

"Although, instead of trying to improve something modern, Humans instead are attempting to use their knowledge to make new designs based on their data from the Cubes and battles with us." Her eyes were drawn to some of the defenses. "It should be of no worry, however."

As she finished justifying Humanity's step-back in technology, he looked around the hangers and noticed various Spitfires, P-51 Mustangs, BF-109- any sort of Fighter that was considered "advanced" for their era.

He also noticed that they were all lined up outside of their hangars, instead of under them. Looking down, he spotted a dockyard to the South of the main island with a couple of Cargo ships moored already, most likely the transports the Sirens had detected in his sleep. At the same time, there also seemed to be warships patrolling around the island, though- these appeared to be Royal Navy Destroyers. He imagined they were also controlled autonomously through Wisdom Cubes, much like the ones his fleet fought already.

He walked around the projection, looking at the various installations on the island, some hidden in a very elaborate effort, while some not so much, and others still under construction. He recognized some to be Anti-Aircraft weaponry. There was a variety of the kind, ranging from large clumps of Bofor groups, to big artillery cannons.

The jump he didn't expect was the presence of SAM launchers. Modern defenses? I mean, it's good to have them just in case any other Humans decide to attack, I guess. But they don't look any newer than the ones back then…especially now that they have Wisdom Cubes and stuff. Though, he eventually came across some defenses that seemed to be completely new, but so much where he didn't recognize their purpose. Finally, he came across a peculiar sight. Directly in the middle of the island, existed a sole cannon.

A cannon? It is what it is. A large 20 Inch cannon rested at its neutral angle, confusing him with what its purpose could possibly be. In the end, he just shrugged, thinking they must've kept it there as a sentiment to the old times, knowing it was a Base for defense back then.

He hummed as he looked to the other smaller Islands that seemed to act as the buffers, various anti-sub nets laid throughout any entrance and exit, mines laid precariously around the island, with a constant patrol of Destroyers. The smaller Islands contained even more defenses, some containing smaller runways and hangars. He also imagined they had really precise radar. They really don't want anyone to get on the main island...

"Commander," Observer finally spoke up as she craned her neck up to see him in the eyes. "As you've been told, we've intercepted transmissions that reported a large transport fleet full of equipment, food, and of course, Wisdom Cubes had been sent to resupply this base called Edinfolk. This base was originally used by the Royal Navy in an attempt to stop the High Ironblood Fleet from conquering the rest of Africa. Now, with us in the picture, it was converted into a Research/Training facility with it's smaller islands converted to fit the defense quota, with various underground levels as to not expose itself entirely. It's stockpiled with all the necessities it needs for 6 months should it be cut off from the outside world," she waved her hand to the side and spun the island around. "But because of that, in our eyes, Edinfolk is moderately armed and defended with humans proficient in the skills of piloting, sailing, and ground warfare. They, coincidentally, were the first R&D team to create the very first working shield projectors that now cover the island. However, these are only in the prototype stage."

The projection was replaced by a camera attached to something flying above the base, taking video along with various photos that allowed for the hologram to exist in the first place. At first, he recognized it as one of their own Jets, as the camera spun enough for him to catch glimpses of the recognizable shape. Only the soft hum of the Jet's engines filled the room as the Commander slowly took in the Islands features. It finally clicked from the view given to him. It looks like a snowflake!

He also noticed the faintest color of a blue dome that sheltered the island, the camera zooming in on various pillars that fed a continuous beam up into the air that, he thought, most likely created and stabilized the shield. Not only do they have a bunch of defenses, they even have a shield. Still, he was amazed by how technology has progressed so far.

Suddenly, the shield flickered before it disappeared entirely, before various columns of missiles fired into the air, soon followed by pillars of tracer rounds caused by the AA guns firing up at the jet, their rounds lighting up the sky even under the rising sun. They just barely grazed the Jet as they began to zero in on it. It took one last photo before a missile struck the jet. There's a weakness. It's one of the flawed shields, nothing can't hit you while it's up, but you can't hit back.

Observer brought back the projection with a wide smile. "As you saw, the Humans do not like having a Siren made jet flying above their base." He chuckled slightly, before he began to think of an approach.

A rough plan was soon concocted in his mind, and he soon proposed it to Observer. She heard it and processed it, the others starting to gather around him as well. He was soon standing in the middle of the group with Observer as they bounced ideas and ideas off each other, with second opinions given by the other Sirens to tweak the plan. He was genuinely surprised how deep they went into a plan, considering they were Sirens.

He shot his find about the shield, explaining that it must be taken down if the base's defenses are to fight back. They would use this to their advantage. The sheer speed in which they made their strategy to fight the base to him was amazing, knowing it would have taken ages to take on such a base. As they were soon coming to a close, Observer's smile widened before nodding, the others soon joining her in the action, agreeing to it.

"Then it's a plan. Let's do this." She declared, the rest of the Sirens becoming more hyper.

He then remembered something. "What about Shipgirls-Kansen?" Observer hummed at the query.

"They will indeed be a problem if we have to fight a fleet of them. A single Kansen can take much more damage than anything on those Islands can take, combined, aside from the main base. It's the same theory with their damage output." Observer turned around as she quickly thought of something to do in such a case. For the Commander, he simply blinked various times before sighing deeply. "I forgot that they can just rip through Sirens," he mumbled.

Observer, again, simply laughed before turning to him, her carefree expression soon infecting the other Sirens. "We were made to fight and shed blood! With that said, we simply take them on!" The Sirens behind her nodded vigorously in agreement. They aren't scared of dying...such a weird, but cool, thing. The Commander turned to Observer, then to the others, then back to Observer.

"Observer," he began slowly, looking at the projection. "Is there no other option? Isn't there any other smaller bases we could've started off with?" At first, she reeled back slightly with a dumbfounded expression, before exhaling with amusement. She walked upright in front of him, grinned toothily, and shook her head no.

"Commander...this is the smallest base we could find. Moreso, our dangerously low numbers only minimizes our chances of winning to only 89.184%." Hearing this, the Commander momentarily widened his eyes, before glancing at the base. How he imagined more grandiose and developed bases to be was either to be terrifyingly strong, or amazingly pompous.

He took a deep breath, before finally nodding, deciding that now was a good time than any. "We set off as soon as everyone is ready…" He finally committed, Observer immediately responding with: "Everyone's ready, Commander. We have refitted, repaired, and stock ourselves with the necessities. The Carriers are carrying 50% extra Jets just for this attack. We're built to be ready."

Before he could say anymore, he remembered something from earlier. "Purifier also told me that you had created a Mirror Sea Creator...or something like that. Will we be using that to get there?" Observer's face brightened as she nodded.

"It will only act as a substitute until I regain my strength. Since everyone is ready, give me a moment…" The moment she finished talking, the room was suddenly enveloped in a dark red glow, making him worried at the sudden light change as a low rumble emanated in the room. He quickly realized that he could hear something moving within the walls, a low clicking sound becoming more like a thud pounding against the walls. Soon, a panel from the wall with the entrance unfolded out, revealing a Wisdom Cube glowing a purple hue brightly instead of its normal aqua blue.

The atmosphere in the room practically did a 180 as all he felt was absolute hatred emanating from it.

One of Observer's tentacles slowly slithered towards it before grabbing. Instantly, it began to shake, shining much more violently, almost as if it refused to be touched. It was practically acting animal-like. "That...doesn't look very stable," he put out, worried as Observer brought the Cube even closer.

Observer only waved her hand in dismissal as she set the Cube down on the floor just some feet away from them. "This will only act-" As Observer was, again, trying to explain her motives behind making the Cube, it began to move around, using it's trembling as a way to put distance between itself and Observer.

Instead, it seemed to favor the Commander more, shifting towards him ever so slightly. "What the…" His confusion arose as the Cube suddenly and practically flung itself to him, but before it could hit him, Observer slammed her foot down on it mid-air, finally keeping it in place. She smiled toothily at the event, the other Sirens looking on in wonder. The hatred he felt emanate from the Cube seemed to dwindle away to another emotion, one he couldn't exactly tell what it was.

"It seems that Battleship still has a thing for you, Commander," Observer whispered, restraining herself from crushing the Cube then and there.

She...used the fragments for it...didn't she?

"I suppose that's how it acts when it's fully charged. Again, it's only a prototype, something I had created very quickly with the knowledge I possess. I also used a sample of the Cube we had managed to defeat," she sighed, disappointed. "Even then, a small fragment still retains the memories of its hatred towards me...and it's passion towards you. How fascinating." She quickly moved on, not wanting the topic to go too far off, before holding up four fingers.

"It only has 4 Charges before it has to be recharged. One to get us there and another to get us back. An extra two should anything go wrong. Though, we will be required to use a single charge to effectively expand our battlegrounds." Even with her saying that, it still sounds sketchy...but then again, everything up until has been sketchy.

"Oh, Commander, there is, however, a side effect to this type of Mirror sea, that even I cannot control." Instead of feeling worried, as all things should with the given context, he instead felt anticipated at what she was about to say. "Listen closely, Commander. Time dilated space. Inside the Mirror Sea, 2 minutes equates to 1 minute outside the effective range." At first, it took him a second to realize what she said, but when he did, he drew a breath of amazement.

That's...that's beyond useful! He thought, thinking of all the various uses that could give him. A single hour inside the Mirror Sea would be 30 minutes outside!

The Commander nodded with a large smile, this seeming to be the only thing Observer needed as she ordered a tentacle to grab the Commander. He shot her a confused look, before Observer giggled. "Do you want to swim the moment we get there?" He exhaled in realization, before relaxing.

Feeling everything was now in order, and everyone was ready for what was to come, Observer finally said in a booming voice, "I declare Operation Sea Phantom...BEGINS NOW!"

Her foot instantly lifted off the Cube as it began rumble much more violently, this time, somewhat in place. Then it stopped moving all-together, confusing him, before flinching back as It suddenly shot out a red nebula in all directions, filling the room and hallway entirely before everything went pitch black.

Though, from the very start, it was was deathly loud, like a thousand pained howls all crying out at once, forcing the Commander to cover his ears. He shut his eyes as a single point of concentrated light began to grow in the room, becoming so intense that-

And then it was over.

As quick as it started, it ended, making the whole thing feel like a fever dream. The Commander's ears were filled with not howls, but that of the ocean once again. The soft sounds of water swishing below beckoned him to open his eyes, greeting him with the sight of a blood-red ocean. He slowly looked up at the sky, wide eyes, realizing that the whole world seemed to be stuck in the stage of a sunset and sunrise, basking the sky in an odd tinge of red. The clouds being the only thing remotely close to white, but the only grey in this case.

"Woah…" He breathed out in amazement as he looked around the empty ocean, spotting various dark buildings with dark red veins off far in the distance, pulsing every now and then, a sense of nostalgia soon hitting him. It's how it looks like in-game. He smiled at the comparison, before looking at Observer who was standing on the water without trouble, humming as she looked around. Finally, she turned to look at the Commander, almost puffing out her chest with pride.

"Welcome to the Mirror Sea, Commander, where it exists in a plane separate from Earth-" But suddenly, there was a large distant rumble in the distance, like the sound of an earthquake, or a building falling over. Everybody turned to the source of the noise and watched as the various structures he spotted earlier, begin to topple over and crash into the water, only leaving a handful left up. Observer mumbled a curse at the scene as the world soon lost a shade of red, leaving it just slightly more desaturated.

"It seems the Mirror Sea has not fared well in our absence. It will need proper maintenance after this to keep it running," she explained before clapping her hands, a smaller version of her Kraken spawning in the air, though big enough to accommodate both him and Observer. She was quick to put down the Commander on its head, before she soon shuffled next to him.

"What happens if it doesn't get its maintenance?" He asked once she was sat down next to him.

Observer hummed in thought. "Nothing bad, really." He blinked in surprise, thinking it was going to be much worse. "Other than it entirely losing connection to the Siren Network, and anybody inside of it lost during this moment will slowly be crushed to their deaths as the Mirror Sea collapses in on itself."

Annnnnd that's the bad part. He shook his head to get rid of the bloody image he saw, before turning it back to the topic at hand.

"So does this take us to the base?" Observer nodded. "Yes. There are various types of Mirror Sea's, but I will explain them after we get back. Just give it a moment and...ah! There we go, the portals are here!" Observer suddenly exclaimed, pointing at somewhere in front of them. The Commander had to squint his eyes, watching a small circle-shaped hole spawn in just a couple dozen feet in front of him, before growing in size on the surface of the water, much like a doorway. It began to widen as the early rays of the sunrise began to pour in. Oh! It's like the exit out of here!

Soon, various portals like it began to take its side, before conjoining into one large portal, wide enough for the whole fleet to fit through at once. The Commander was almost thrown back as the Kraken began to move forward. "Also, Commander, I sent a Submarine-Class, a Lurker, to the last location the Humans know we were. I predict that the chance of a fleet, of some sort, making it there by now, is 100%."

"Oh," he suddenly recalled to that moment, thinking it would be suspicious if a whole fleet of ships suddenly stopped responding to any calls from their Command center. "Alright. Good call, Observer." He nodded, Observer grinning as she stood up, spreading her arms.

He watched as various tentacles began to unfurl from the Kraken and point forward, all equipped with laser cannons for the future battle to come. The other Sirens, much faster than the Kraken, rushed to the front, all their weapons glowing much more brightly than the last time he saw them. The only ones who stayed with the Kraken were those he had interacted with or as Purifier had called them, the "Higher-Ups."

The moment he had exited the portal, and reentered Earth, he looked around their current location before relaxing slightly. Taking a deep breath and letting it out, he felt a weird sensation, almost as if coming back was an achievement. They were just miles away from the base, though, they were situated in a spot where a certain piece of the Western side of the Islands created a, let's say, shadow that created a blind spot. At first, he thought it was a stupid thing to do, but with Observer egging him on, he took the chance, not wanting to back out of something Observer advised him to take.

Noticing some movement to his side, he shifted his attention towards his right, his eyes landing on Arbiter, who was strangely falling back almost in a ragdoll-like state with closed eyes. He was about to say something until he spotted her rigging beginning to spawn in. Though, her lax expression made him smile, for an odd reason. And when it caught her in a seat, she was already aiming her cannons, her rigging practically shined with light-blue all over itself. The tail portion of her rigging wagged excitedly as it emitted a low-pitched roar. Strangely, multiple eye-like drones flew high up into the air, before they beamed yellow lasers somewhere into the island. Arbiter's eyes opened as she gained a toothy smile. A legitimate Aviation Battleship Siren was now in front of him. The transition was so quick that he was momentarily left in a low state of awe. He shook his head before Observer tapped his shoulder.

"It seems they haven't spotted us yet, Commander. The blind spot I had calculated ended up true." Observer informed him.

He breathed out in relief, knowing it would buy them some time. Another piece of intel they have is that the patrols only really start near 10 in the morning, a somewhat half-assed effort in his mind, the current time only being 0900-ish. The amount of time he actually took back in Agartha surprised him, but he quickly put it aside. "That's good, Observer. "

He quickly turned to the rest of the Sirens, not knowing how much time they have before they are spotted. "Once they spot us, they will mobilize every capable man of fighting. Though, in this time, the shield will have to stay up, giving us time to also coordinate." He whispered to himself as he watched everyone finally cross the portal and onto Earth's waters, the Portals wavering before shutting close.

The Kraken, essentially the Command Platform with Observer and the Commander, were situated at the very back. The fleet of Sirens in front of him was waiting eagerly to be organized to fight. The best plan would be to surround the island. But, he looked around and bit his lip at the unfortunate lack of numbers. I just don't have the assets for it. I need to be quick with the attack, take down their shields if I have too, and destroy their defenses while they aren't expecting it. I...dodon't really need to kill the people who don't need to fight, however. He narrowed his eyes as he shot his hands out to the fleet. All I require is the resources, then getting the fuck out of here, hopefully with more than half of my fleet intact. He thought back to when they were planning for the attack, Observer informing him of their possible losses.

With no Kansen intervention, they would only come out with a single Destroyer or two being destroyed.

With Kansen intervention, however, meant 3/4 of his fleet being entirely destroyed, literally leaving him without a functional fighting force in the end even if he did win. But then he received news that he never expected to hear, about a man that the Kansen once worshipped, now gone without explicable reasoning. With this in mind, he planned to use this to his advantage.

Deep down inside, he knew he wasn't ready for any of this; however, he already took a pledge to help the Sirens in their little quest. Thus, he took a deep breath.

"Carriers, I want you to launch half of your available airwings into the air, but keep them as low as the sea-level to avoid their radar! If they launch their planes, we must maintain air superiority. Once the shield goes down either by us, or them, quickly compromise their air-capabilities. Destroy their aircraft, runways, hangars- anything that will limit them from fighting in the air! If you have the chance, bomb their defenses, but prioritize their airpower above all else!" The Carriers all shouted words of affirmation as their runways glowed brightly, before Jets rolled out of them quickly. He watched intently as the Jets instantly put their noses down to level out with the sea, the Commander nodding with satisfaction.

"Battleships, I want you to surround the Carriers and protect them with your lives, but spread yourselves out evenly! Arbiter, I want you to coordinate the Battleships, synchronize your attacks along with absolute communication. I need you to take aim at the designated hotspots as soon as you're all in position. If you need help, don't be afraid to tell each other." The class of Sirens he called out nodded and instantly began to move in formation in front of the Kraken.

"Again, Arbiter, I want you to also coordinate the Carriers." She nodded curtly, chuckling loudly, saying something along the lines of, "The Commander trusted me with the likes of our future battle with my very own hands!"

Satisfied that his orders got through, he turned to the rest of the fleet.

"Cruisers and Destroyers, I want you all to spread out evenly as to not let the enemy destroy more than one of you at a time with one shot..." He hesitated, the late response to him losing his Sirens just now affecting him.

Though, when he remembered how dedicated and happy they are, no matter if they were to die, he powered through, cleared his throat, and continued. "Your job is protect the Carriers and Battleships from incoming aircraft; your secondary targets are any naval targets that get into view!"

Finally, he addressed the Fleet as a whole. "Everyone, aside from the Battleships! Your third priority is to shell the Islands until they are merely piles of rubble and dirt!" Much like the Battleships, they shouted words of agreement while they moved around quickly. He looked at Observer who only hummed with closed eyes.

"No action from the base. We're still in the clear," Observer said with a giggle. It's all coming together nicely so far. He nodded with a grin, before Purifier shot her hand up with an even larger smile. "Yes, Purifier?" He slowly questioned.

"Can I run in guns blazing? I promise I'll be safe, please!" She begged, her hands clasped together. He slightly reeled back in surprise.

This wasn't in the plan though, he thought with a small frown. "No Purifier, that's too-" But then he paused for a moment, and thought back. Purifier is probably the most mobile Siren in this fleet...she did manage to dodge Nagato's shell at almost point-blank range...granted, that was when she was at full power for that one moment I presume.

Seeing the thoughtful expression of the Commander, Observer leaned into his ear, and whispered, "Let her do as she wishes, Commander. While she does act irrationally at times, during these moments of action, she can be your strongest asset- stronger than Arbiter need-be. That's how I designed her to act; a hyperactive child, but a capable fighter."

He sighed slowly, before turning to Purifier, and finally nodding his head. "Fuck 'em up, Purifier. Give it your best but remember, wait until the shield goes before you hit your planned defenses and buildings. But after that, destroy everything as quickly as possible!" Purifier squealed before suddenly gaining serious expression, and saluting again. Before he could say anything else, Purifier was already sailing straight towards the island, laughter filling her wake as 2 of her drones detached themselves from her rigging before flying alongside her.

I...I feel like I just gave a 15-year-old girl a damn machine-gun and basically told her to go all out. He sighed, Observer giggling.

"One last thing," he realized as he turned to his Submarines, all looking up at him expectantly, sitting up on their Submarines like bikes. "Since there's only 4 of you, I need you to patrol around the Islands as we begin attacking it, and torpedo anything outside you can find! Though, remember what to do if any 'abnormal' threat appears." They all shouted words of agreement before holding onto their rigging and diving down into the depths. Though, he noticed one thing as they dived underwater that bothered him ever so slightly. The sheer lack of using their goggles that were situated just on their head.

What's the point of the goggles if they don't even wear them? He pointed out with an audible hum, only shaking his head once Observer asked what was wrong.

He let a minute pass as the Sirens got into position.

"What about us." He turned his head to the left as Tester floated up to their level with a curious expression, with Dreamweaver doing the same but on the other side. He first turned to Tester, offering an opportunity he knew she wouldn't refuse. "You can collect as much data as you'd like from this battle, then again after we're done. But first, use those guns," he pointed to her cannons, before pointing at the sky and Islands, "on whatever comes close." She tilted her head up, before shrugging.

"I suppose that's good," she said, gaining a small grin before floating away.

Then it was Dreamweaver, but by the time he had turned to her, she was already aiming her guns at the island.

"I'm ready to attack." She monotonously informed him, the Commander not telling if she was bored or simply just...normal. Most likely the latter. He slowly nodded, made sure everything was in place, before turning to Observer who had a satisfied smile on her face. "My Kraken is ready to grow, Commander."

"What does it do when it grows?" He first questioned her, thinking they would only be a much larger target, before Observer raised her hand ever so slightly up to her shoulder height, a tentacle landing in her open palm. "Larger Cannons; my Kraken already comes with reflectors, with the lasers that destroy most projectiles either way." Larger cannons...that's it? She already did it once, and did shoot shells out of the air once, I guess it wouldn't hurt to try it again..? He argued weakly in his head before giving her a thumbs-up.

"Then we're all ready?" He already gave them more than enough time, so they nodded vigorously in agreement. "Observer, you're good to go." She nodded before the Kraken began to grow in size exponentially, light sounds of cracking, popping, and hissing emanated throughout the Kraken. "They will soon detect us now." The Commander knew this ahead of time, and already brought his hand up.

"Observer, deploy the Mirror Sea again." Observer shouted a word of confirmation, bringing forth the Cube once more.

He then turned to the others.

Taking a deep breath, he threw brought his hand up, before throwing it forward towards the island, yelling a deep and hearty: "FIRE!"

---

Just barely arriving, all the Home Fleet could see was weak and very very few columns of tracer rounds being fired into the sky, one after another, as they tried their best to knock something out of the air, though ultimately hitting nothing as the Siren Jets simply weaved around before eventually diving down and taking out whatever dared to shoot at them.

To the Kansen, who were barely within an eye-shot distance of the Islands, could almost feel the tension in the air, as a dense fog was starting to surround the Islands, further aiding in displaying a wide array of explosions in the air; flashes of light dotted the air, almost as if it was a firework show but on a much more intense level.

Much earlier, Hood, having her mind already being overworked with the possibility of failure, had foolishly detached her Destroyers, with Belfast leading them to speed up ahead to reach the Island much quicker. This was in an effort to get help and the message of them arriving across much faster. Ark Royal also left with them, arguing that she must protect her comrades in the time of absolute need, as they headed straight into the heart of the battle. Though...this was 2 hours ago.

Communications with her detached fleet were successful for around an hour, but then there was a sudden silence just after the hour ended, Hood constantly trying to get a response. But she wouldn't hear back from ever again, leaving them completely in the dark as to what happened. This left their fates completely up in the air. Hood didn't want to consider the worst, but she couldn't help but not deny it was an option. A weird feeling grew in Hood, or rather, the whole fleet, at some point as they grew closer to the Islands. They knew this feeling was from crossing a Mirror Sea, something they hadn't seen for a while. While the feeling was the same, it also had a side of dread, or rather, revelation.

Now, at the Islands, they realized why.

Some of the Islands were completely mauled apart from artillery and bombings from the Sirens, the defenses-whatever was left on the buffer Islands, were now gone, reduced to nothing but dirt and rubble. Large plumes of smoke ravaged the Main Island, a great and fierce fire spreading throughout its jungle, enough to suffocate a normal Human-being within range. Still, despite all of this, there was an effort by the Humans to defend the base at all costs. The Homefleet's radio, despite being tuned to only really talk with other Kansen, tuned in to the same frequency the Base used.

Nothing but silence greeted her on every channel.

Once Hood had seen the Island, heard the silence, and realized that they practically ran out of time, she almost dropped to her knees, her eyes darting around at the current status of the Islands. This is not possible, she argued in her head. The Sirens have already caused massive damage?- No!

Did they perhaps not get there in time, and thus, the Sirens had already reached the base? Hood shook her head in complete denial. There's no way, not enough time has passed; moreso, the majority of the defenses were still operational 2 hours ago, when the attack only started 3 hours ago according to the report! Then, was it perhaps a new enemy that they had no info of?

She only bit her lip before getting alerted by Illustrious of a new find. "Hood," she began, looking at Hood with a slightly horrified look. "My suspicions held true, we were told a completely false story..."

From a scout plane launched by Illustrious, all she could say was that the initial info they had received of the base was completely wrong. Just 2 hours prior, right after Hood detached a piece of her fleet, they had received a statement through their radios, describing the base in being phenomenal shape, supposedly holding up against the Sirens just fine enough for reinforcements to arrive in time. Now, by Illustrious' word, it only further backed up what they have seen so far. Various, if not all the major defenses, along with the whole fleet stationed there, were destroyed. They were certain that the Sirens were going for the Cargo ships, as they were virtually untouched by the hellfire.

The Kansen snapped their attention into the air as they soon watched a concentrated effort, unlike anything they've seen so far. Even from so far away, they heard the screams of the Siren Jets as around 40 suddenly dove down towards one of the smaller Islands before releasing their payload. At the same time, it was followed up by dozens of multiple arced salvos from the Siren Fleet. Almost instantly, the smaller Island was chipped away until it was only rock and dirt, destroying years of work in simply a couple of seconds. Such a grandiose attack left them speechless.

This, now, virtually left the Main Island by itself. The last line of the defenses was now the Base itself. It was essentially holding on for dear old life, and the question now hung around them, just why did they lie? Why lie, knowing you would only seal your own fate? Should have the Home Fleet known sooner-

"We need to hurry!" Shouted Hood, regaining her composure. She quickly turned to her remaining Carriers, shouting, "Launch half of your air-wing into the air. We need to quickly strike at the Siren Fleet before they begin another attack!" Her concern now was that the Sirens were much closer to the Islands than they first imagined. But with no exact confirmation on their position, it was still unknown where the Sirens are.

"We can still defeat the Sirens here and now! We have already faced greater threats before, this is nothing compared to now!" Her words of encouragement quickly spewed out of her mouth, trying to inspire her allies.

The two remaining Carriers, Illustrious and Centaur, both looked at each other in unease. The unusually coordinated attack left them uneasy. Eventually, Illustrious nodded her head with a frown, beckoning Centaur to follow her movements. Not a second passed before their planes began to launch from their runways.

Hood then tried to see where the Siren Fleet was located, but all she could see was the Islands- or what was left of them, remembering the last salvo coming from the other side of the island, leading her to one conclusion.

"We need to move around the island. If we can draw them out into the open, then we can fight them much easier!" She ordered, nodding to her ships with a determined glare. "We must not let the Base of Edinfolk fall into Siren hands or else we…" She paused, before looking away with a somber look. "...Or else we face possible scrapping." She finished through gritted teeth.

Illustrious and Centaur each gained faces of concentration, directing their planes high into the air, gaining a sizable swarm of Fighters and Torpedo Bombers. They began to direct them towards the Base, and once they got there, they began to fight the Sirens in the air. The Carriers moved their Fighters to the front, forming a bullet-like shape around the Torpedo Bombers, managing to punch through the swarm with a decent sized amount of remaining aircraft.

They quickly spotted and began their runs on the Sirens, who were looking up at the sky. Centaur visibly winced, never once truly seeing a Siren smile with such contempt. As they began to lower to the sea-level, they would only get so close before they got shot down.

"Centaur, anvil," Illustrious called out the tactic, Centaur responding with a nod as they quickly split their squadrons into two separate groups, trying to come from two different directions at the same time.

Ultimately, it again led to the same fate, their Bombers being taken down without a moment's notice, even as they tried to get into position. They sighed, or in Illustrious' case, swear lightly under her breath as their numbers dropped below the double digits. Eventually, they gave up, looking at Hood with a shake of their heads. They ended up ordering their planes back to them.

"There's no way feasible way of effectively damaging the Sirens without their divided attention," Illustrious explained to Hood, before looking back at the sky with a worried expression. "I have a strange feeling that this group of Sirens seems more, should I say, coordinated than usual- pardon, than ever." Her eyes widened for a split second for emphasis.

"They all maintain great spacing, but not so much as to where they can't support each other. And instead of targeting one single thing at a time, they seem to share targets, evenly spreading up where they fire. As an example, when my Bombers got close enough, the Destroyer and Cruiser-Class Sirens instantly switched their focus to them, ignoring my Fighters who are ripping them apart! Even when 1 Bomber got close enough to drop its torpedo, the Battleships would then target it as well...successfully protecting their Carriers." She sighed heavily before looking back at Hood. "Though it is only Human-Like Sirens, with no Mass-Produced ships in sight, they're located approximately 5 Kilometers away, to the West." Her report soon came to a close as her remaining squadrons returned to her for repairs.

Hood mutely nodded as she digested the information.

Turning around, she started to accelerate towards the island, leaving her remaining allies in baffled states, but they soon sped up to catch up with her. "We either leave with the Base protected and the Sirens finally destroyed, or we don't leave at all, and that's final!" There was no voice challenging what she said, knowing it was ultimately what they were all silently agreeing on.

Should they fail, should they manage to get back home safely, they could only imagine the worst. Such is the way to make sure absolute perfection is created when sortieing.

Absolute perfection…! Hood mocked and seethed at the thought, a vague memory arising of much simpler times. It was never this way...when you were around. There was a gasp behind her, turning around, she faced Illustrious who was only shaking her head.

"Hood, the Sirens have begun to quickly advance and are mere minutes from reaching the Island-" She suddenly paused, looking up, the others followed the same action as they watched another strange event unfold. The Sirens are recalling their Jets. "They pulled back their Jets..," Hood whispered in disbelief, before narrowing her eyes. "...it looks like they are about to give one last push with everything they got at once!" Illustrious shouted, snapping Hood out of her trance, nodding in affirmation.

"We need to hurry, full power!" Her command was met by a sudden boost in their speed as they sped as fast as they could around the island, avoiding any debris they may have come across, or the occasional dead body. Thankfully, due to the Sirens' aircraft being pulled back, they traveled around the island without much trouble.

However, they never noticed a pair of bright yellow eyes following their movements the whole time, relaying crucial information to her fellow Sirens, watching from afar. "Observer, HFC_X-2 is a go, Purifier out." Purifier, who had breached the smaller Islands long ago, giggled loudly, signing herself off. Commander, you sure are a weird guy.

After a minute, the Home-Fleet's ears were suddenly invaded by the sound of a large monstrous roar, unlike anything they've heard, making them look at each other uneasily, then down at the water as it trembled abnormally. "What on Earth could that have been?" Queried Illustrious, looking around with a worried look.

"I haven't the slightest clue...but I feel like we're about to face something like nothing before," Hood responded back with a whisper. But even was equally, if not more, concerned. It was beginning to feel all wrong to Hood.

False information. Coordinated Sirens. An unnecessary recall. Now, an unearthly roar from the depths. Dark clouds soon started to form over the battlefield, blocking out the sun, leaving them in a dark casting. Hood didn't realize it but a strange feeling began to grow in her allies that twisted their negativity into something more.

Before they knew it, they had whipped around the Islands. Just as they did, they finally got a good look at the battlefield. Usually, a beautifully clean and blue ocean was now full of the burning wreckages of ships and spilled fuel. And right in front of them was the whole Siren Fleet, their glowing machinery making them a much easier sight to see from afar, quickly moving towards the Island. Instantaneously, all of their Jets began to rush at them, the Home-Fleet preparing for a fight, still moving out farther into the open as planned.

...But then the Jets flew right past them and began to bomb the Island instead. "W-What?" Hood questioned the air as she whipped around to watch the Island be bombed, beginning from the very start of the Island then slowly creeping forward, towards the Base situated in the middle. It was as if the Sirens now pushed a timer onto them.

Have they not spotted us…? Hood looked to her friends, their own faces of confusion and anxiousness much apparent. The Sirens, all together, fired a salvo of projectiles towards them, causing Hood to finally react properly as the shells flew above their heads and struck just near them. I just have to get their Carriers' attention then! She decided, quickly realizing that the Sirens were deliberately ignoring them. Turning her head back, she gained a much more determined look, her rigging finally beginning to aim at the Sirens. Rodney, Nelson, and Sirius followed the same action.

"Don't slow down! My allies, be strong, Her Majesty entrusted us as Royal Navy's first responding Task Force! Show Her your pride and loyalty for our great Nation!" She shot her hand out to the Sirens with a glare, holding onto her necklace with the other hand. "God bless us all! FIRE AT WILL!"

Their cannons erupted loudly like thunder as they delivered their first salvo to the Siren fleet, watching as their combined effort managed to knock out a Carrier, Battleship, and a couple of Cruisers in one go. The smiles on the remaining Siren Carriers faltered ever so slightly, their heads turning towards them.

Their smiles soon came back, even stronger this time as they finally locked onto them, their runways lighting up with life as they launched freshly outfitted aircraft. Following this, the storm of Siren Jets flying around the Islands began to congregate together, before flying straight towards them.

Hood nodded despite the intimidating scene before looking at her own Carriers, "Pure Fighters!" They nodded, before launching their squadrons into the air as fast as possible, already having them queued up to launch. Our Fighters are enough to destroy the Sirens' own Jets! Her confident mindset helped her to keep going. Should we die here, then so be it! I will go down honorably wearing my nation's flag, and once serving under Her Majesty! But her mindset would soon be of a questionable state.

Very quickly, a large swarm of allied Fighters flew above them, waiting to be ordered.

"I've finally confirmed Tester Beta, Arbiter, and Observer Zero directing the Sirens!" Centaur suddenly shouted, before Hood curtly pointed at the three named Sirens. "If we take them out, then the Sirens will be left in a state of disarray! Rodney, Nelson! Sirius, I want you on air-duty!" The two she called out, shouted in agreement as they began to aim at the targets of value, Sirius nodded as her guns began to incline even more.

The Jets soon reached their position, but before the initial wave of Jets could even come close to the Home-Fleet, they soon met their opposition of Bi-Planes, preventing them from delivering their payload to the Kansen. Strengthened by their roles as Kansen, the Bi-Planes ripped through the Jets much easier, proving that the strength of a Carrier, in Kansen form, from World War 2 still holds true in her strength, almost even a century later.

While they did that, the main guns of the Home-Fleet continued to batter the Siren Fleet.

That's...5 Destroyers left now. Hood counted in her head, watching as she struck another Destroyer-Class Siren with 5 shells, watching as she suddenly erupted in bright flames, an explosion soon following after that scattered her parts and yellow liquid all over the ocean.

Yet, the Sirens around her only kept putting on the same expression, a smile, as if not disturbed by the sudden death of one of their allies. They are Sirens...they don't know what it is to feel loss! Her next salvo was filled with anger, trying to strike at Arbiter this time, smiling widely in satisfaction as 7 out of the 8 shells connected successfully, and with great results, producing a humongous explosion that sent nearby Sirens sprawling. When the smoke cleared, Hood watched the remains of Arbiter's rigging slowly sink under the sea, Arbiter nowhere to be found. She huffed loudly in pride, before switching targets to Tester. I'll show everyone back home that we can still pull through! She followed this up by shouting words of appraisal to her friends, as she fired salvo after salvo at the Siren fleet, tearing through Siren after Siren.

Though, that's without saying the damage the Home Fleet was about to take, as they had partially awakened the bloodlust within the Siren Fleet.

15 minutes into the battle, Sirius was already massively wounded, her breathing labored and slow as she's just managing to hold on. Various Squadrons of Jets solely went for her in a sudden barrage of attacks, so quick that the Carriers weren't able to cover the gap in their aircover. As a result, Sirius suffered a couple of rockets and cannon rounds to her body and rigging, making it harder for her to keep going. Yet, she pushed on, not for her own sake, but for Hood.

Illustrious and Centaur are almost without planes, sacrificing countless aircraft to fend off the Jets, having taken damage directly by concentrated fire by the Sirens. Though, seeing the Sirens suffer a major casualty made them feel less worse. That was, until the worst happened to them as well.

One of the two Carriers would have a mysterious event occur to them.

Due to everyone being distracted, and no-one watching the waters behind them, they never spotted an evenly spread out set of 30 torpedos heading their way, courtesy of the 4 Submarines all waiting on the Home Fleet to sail into the right spot. Sirius was the first to spot them all, her eyes widening, straining her voice to announce the incoming torpedos as it came out all scratchy. And- Only because of Sirius, they managed to evade the torpedoes successfully!

All but one.

Centaur was late to register the warning, too busy with the air for anything else. By the time she looked around, her allies were already pulling evasive maneuvers. They were screaming her name, telling her to move, to move now, or else she may die. No one screamed louder than Illustrious as she helplessly watched Centaur literally sail into her fate.

By the time Centaur had the chance to look down, her eyes widened, a torpedo sailing right between her feet. She quickly looked up with a horrified expression before it detonated right under her, making her whole vision turn white for a brief moment, then dark.

Though this was unlike anything recorded, a phenomenon the Kansen first bared witness to.

Everyone else saw Centaur suddenly be enveloped in a sphere of bright white flames. It began to expand out into in every direction, even eating at the ocean as the sphere grew even larger. Then, at a size of 30 feet all around, the sphere suddenly collapsed in on itself, revealing nothing in return. It was as if Centaur never existed in the first place. It was a weapon, the Kansen were certain of it.

The Kansen wanted to grieve then and there but they couldn't, the looming threat of the Sirens breathing down their backs. Illustrious took the heaviest hit, having to look away and almost breaking down, but steeling herself with a large sigh as she returned to directing her allies planes and her own.

Hood, luckily or unluckily, only took minimal damage throughout the whole battle, the only thing she lost being her hat. It was blown off by a shell just landing short of her, the water the shell created from landing creating enough force to blow it off.

Rodney took little to no damage for a while, until 6 laser beams from Tester struck her Turret A, causing it to blow up entirely, taking out its neighbor, Turret B with it, sending shrapnel- pieces of molten hot steel all up and down her left side, digging in with ease, causing her to cry out in pain. She almost buckled over in pain but kept going, waving off her sister, saying she was just fine. Though, it was a small price considering the explosion could've been much bigger.

Nelson, however.

While aiming at Tester with rage and wanting to get revenge, Nelson never noticed a squadron of 4 Siren Jets managing to get pass their blanket of Fighters, and even past their Anti-Aircraft guns.

She sensed something was wrong the moment she heard Rodney scream her name in a terrifying way, Hood following the same routine. Looking up for only a second, her eyes widened at the sight, only having time to raise her arms only slightly up as 16 750LB Rockets were shot straight at her, a couple of dozen cannon shells striking and digging into her chest, before the Jet's screamed past her before retreating back, drowning out her shriek of pain as the rockets dug straight into her body, then her turrets, before blowing them up. The cannon shells ripped through her chest, leaving it a bloody mess.

While the damage was arguably manageable, enough for Nelson to keep living but not fight, the Home-Fleet finally had a dangerous revelation.

"We're going to lose no matter what happens," whispered Illustrious, taking off her hat, and looking up at the sky.

What she said caused the rest of them to hesitate and become fully aware of their situation. Rodney stopped fighting entirely as she stopped in place, before retreating back over to her sister, shouting her name over and over again with shrill cries as Nelson laid unconscious on the ocean's surface, blood spurting out of her wounds profusely and staining her clothes and the water near her.

Guilt soon overcame Illustrious, seeing that her air-cover wasn't sufficient enough to stop something like this from happening, only further destabilizing her control over the planes.

Sirius stopped moving entirely as her engines gave one last huff before giving out entirely, leaving her dead in the water without movement, her guns soon going silent as well, retracting away and going into a more idle position.

Hood, however, was thinking the whole time. She couldn't understand why the Sirens they were fighting were so difficult; never in her life has she seen them this efficient, before quickly counting up their remaining numbers. More than half of the Sirens were still standing. Their efforts were there, but it ultimately wouldn't be enough to stop the Sirens from taking the island. We either leave the Base protected, the Sirens destroyed, and victory in our hands or we don't leave at all! She repeated in her head again.

Hood seethed, retreating back to everyone else, before realizing something.

Slowly, she turned around to face the Sirens, finding that they had entirely stopped firing at them. But above it all, the one action that was almost impossible to miss, was that their weapons were slowly disappearing, leaving them entirely defenseless.

Hood's mind raced to figure it out. Why? Why are they disarming themselves!? Her eyes darted around the sea as she tried to find something, suspecting a trap, or a monster behind them all. Though, all her attempts to find something came up dry.

Was it because of what happened, or was it because of something else? She couldn't figure it out. Looking up, the Jets that tormented so much already, started to fly away, returning back to their Carriers, leaving her much more dumbfounded at the sudden retreat.

"Something's...coming." Whispered Sirius, just audible enough for Hood to overhear her as stared directly into the water. A sinking feeling bothered Hood, not knowing what she had meant, not seeing what Sirius was looking at.

"Something...amazing." She whispered, finishing it off. Before Hood had a chance to question her, Sirius stretched her hand out to the side into the open, her face lifting up revealing a tired smile. Hood followed where she was pointing her hand, finding someone who she had thought to have been killed, her hand also stretched out.

Her eyes widened as she gasped upon the sight of a functionally nude woman, her clothes burnt off entirely, and her rigging in pieces. No...it can't be! Arbiter...you're supposed to be dead! She shouted in her head with disbelief, watching as Sirius giggled softly before dropping to her knees.

"Kansen Fleet, I behest you an offer: The Siren Fleet offers you safety under our ruling and Base. You have all suffered so much, even committing yourself to a horrible objective with an end-result that ends in tragedy no matter what happens!" Their comms, once filled with static, was filled with the voice of a sadistic woman. She instantly identified it as Arbiter, the offer now weighing heavy on the fleet's mind.

They are...they are offering us to join them!? Of course, we won't accept! Hood shook in anger as she grabbed Sirius' shoulders, turning her towards herself.

"Sirius. Sirius, listen to me!" She ordered but to no avail, Sirius' eyes drooping. "Sirius-!"

"I was once told, 'A Maid should please her Master,' when I was created but...how can I do that if there's no one to call Master anymore? Someone worth fighting for? When I was created, in those times, I was greeted by the embrace of loving people, people who I valued as family." There were empty pools in Sirius' eyes as they connected with Hood, her body shivering, flashes of once-great times with her friends flashing through her mind.

"...Now they're all gone."

"Hood, you know what I wanted to do for so long?" Sirius asked, not even giving Hood a moment to respond before she moved on, looking back at the Sirens with the same tired smile. "I...don't want to fight anymore…" Sirius whispered out, full of pain and fatigue, her confession that she longed to say finally coming out. The sword she held onto finally fell from her grasp, collapsing onto the ocean's surface. "We've been fighting for Humanity for years now...and for what? The Commander...is gone...and it seems he's never planning on returning home. I dislike our new Commanders. I hate them. I despise them. I want to kill them all…" Sirius suddenly drew a large sharp breath of air, tensing up in Hood's arms.

"Child," began Arbiter, hearing everything she had said. "Your new world is filled with dangers that you all fail to realize! The real threat is not us, but your creators: Humanity! Join us and enjoy the wonders of what if feels like to live as a Siren! All of this battle you've suffered was so you can all open your eyes!"

"Don't listen to her-"

"She's right," Rodney whispered, Hood snapping her head towards her, not believing that she backed up a Siren. Rodney looked at Hood with eyes full of discontent, despair, but a sense of realization. She looked down at Nelson, pushing away a couple of strands of hair off her face.

"Even if we somehow retreat and go back home, they'll just scrap us, knowing how it works now. You have already seen how it went with the others. B-But, if we d-defect to the Sirens...then we keep living on..." Tears welled up in her eyes as she rubbed the top of her sister's head, before placing it on her own chest. "I don't want to lose my Sister...after everything we've been through!" She cried out, making Hood take a step back, before looking at Illustrious, the one person she's always relied on having as a backup. Instead, Illustrious has turned away, but her face turned ever so slightly, revealing a single glaring eye pointed at Hood. The message was there. Hood was all by herself.

Rodney dipped her head with an empty gaze.

"I'd...rather join the Sirens than ever going back to that place if it means I can spend the rest of my time with my sister," Rodney spat angrily, before looking up at Hood again with a glare. "We've been treated but nothing as mere weapons-TOOLS! Trash! After the Commander suddenly disappeared, we've been thrown around-abused, as if we...as if we didn't have feelings too! We care too, we care if one of us get hurt, so why do they treat the wounded like irreparable machines goddammit!" One of her turrets shot in tune with her anger and frustration, the shells flying to an empty place without damage.

"What's wrong with all of you!" Hood shouted in disbelief, wondering how her fleet of once battle-hardened Kansen, all broke under just a simple quick attack. The water behind her began to bubble ever so slightly. "They'll just send an even bigger fleet to find the Sirens, and what will they do when they find out we're with them? Hm!? They'll kill us! The Sirens are guaranteed to lose no matter what happens!" She shouted angrily, spreading her arms out into the air.

"Years of fighting just for it end like this!? I can't just accept that we, as Kansen, made to protect and serve Humanity, just give up now!" The others only watched on in pure silence, watching as Hood put a closed palm in front of herself, opening a finger up for everything she listed off.

"We lost countless lives, countless allies, cities, countries to the Sirens, goddammit! How can we just...just give up now!?" She stomped her foot as memories she forced herself to forget began to arise again.

"We even lost the Commander-!"

"Children, it seems your Flagship has been brainwashed by Human propaganda, how peculiar. Nonetheless, I shall show you all something that may interest your little minds~." Arbiter, through a secure channel, contacted the rest of the Fleet. Various images were suddenly pumped into the broken minds of the Kansen, minus Hood, making them all go wide-eyed. Hood, however, kept her argument up.

Hood choked up as tears began to stream down her cheek without realizing it, but she powered through. She backed away from her allies, now seeing them as traitors, looking at them with a look of disgust.

"I can still fight," she said, putting down the still Sirius, then looking at her gloved hands. "I was made to fight until my last blood has been shed. I don't care if I'm scrapped...I just...I just need to destroy the Sirens!" She screamed, forgotten images of her one livelihood flashing through her mind, starting from when she was created, up until now, almost as if mocking her for what she became.

"I will never surrender to the Sirens, I pledged myself to Her Majesty and my Nation." Slowly, her guns aimed at the Kansen, gaining a scowl. The others hardly reacted at the display. "Speaking of which, Her Majesty does not condone the act of Deserting, much less Defecting! So, on her behalf, I will execute you all from where you stand-!"

STAB

"...A-Ah…" Hood's mouth opened, a small whimpering leaving as she looked down. A large white blade stuck out of her stomach, making her shakily look back, and spotting Sirius holding the sword steady while looking down. Her expression was darkened, her head downturned as she had trouble breathing. Hood whimpered as she suddenly felt cold. "...S-Siri-"

Before Hood could finish, Sirius pulled the blade out, sending blood all over and forcibly despawning Hood's rigging from the sheer trauma. Hood started to waver in her footing, her hands traveling down and trying to cover the wide gap the blade left, but to no avail. She then fell back, crashing against the water's surface, making her look up at the sky and Sirius' calming features. "It's all going to be fine, my Lady. Rest easy, knowing that everyone here will be fine." Sirius assured her, before stepping away, albeit with difficulty.

Soon after, a sudden wave of water just a couple feet above her head made her eyes travel up.

The sight she saw brought forth a warm feeling.

Those who she considered lost, Ark Royal, Belfast, and the Destroyers, all stood near her. Their sudden appearance and visibly good health made a smile appear on her face, relieved that they were okay. "..." Her mouth opened, yet no words came out. She ever so wanted to say that everyone else had betrayed the crown.

Though her smile quickly changed to a betrayed-frown and eyes as the Destroyers and Belfast aimed their weapons at her, Ark Royal putting her arms behind her back and standing tall, as if to deliver a great message.

Ark Royal breathed in and out slowly, delivering lines that Hood never expected, in her whole life, to ever hear.

"Hood, we had joined the Sirens ahead of time. We heard the benefits the Sirens presented us and accepted them for what they were. This is why we are unscathed. My Lady, we've successfully secured a safe haven for our kind. Repair stations are already set up for your repairs. Moreso, Centaur is simply resting, having been transported by the new torpedo developed by the Sirens." Ark took another deep breath.

"The Sirens present us an offer- a gift, to leave our past behind, and join them to start a new. This is for the best, My Lady. So, without further ado, I behest this order upon you: HMS Hood, your rank as Flagship will now be removed and transferred to I, Ark Royal. And I, now the Flagship of the Home-Fleet and Carrier of the Siren Fleet, order you to stand down immediately."

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Fin

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A/N: Can you believe this is almost 17 thousand words? When I worked on this chapter, I HARDLY thought I was going to pass 7k words. Initially. It was supposed to be short, but then I got carried away. It doesn't even feel like 17k, either.

Anyways, here's this chapter for you all, hoped you liked it.

Before I sign off, I present you all a question.

Shall I write more graphic and more in-detail scenes? Such as the scene where the Commander was with the corrupted Alabama. That was purposefully vague. But a Fanfic about the Sirens...that's BOUND to be more mature, right?

Try to leave your thoughts on that question.

Anyways, 'til next time!