Among the people he became friends with during his tenure on the Navy, there was one man in particular that he got along with well. That man's name was Kazuya Strauss or Kazu to his friends. Whenever they went on shore leave, he'd stay at Kazuya's house and together, the pair would spend days on end catching up on all the movies, TV shows and animated series that aired during their deployment.

There was one particular movie the two saw that had a lasting effect on the man. To be more precise, a scene in a movie that left an impression on his mind, which remained that way. The movie was the 2009 remake of Star Trek, Directed by one J.J Abrams. The scene in question revolved around Captain Christopher Pike trying to convince a young James T. Kirk to follow in his father's footsteps. At one point in the conversation, the Captain said

"Your father was Captain of the Starship for twelve minutes…. He saved eight hundred lives. Including yours. I dare you to do better."

On the surface it seemed like a throwaway line used to help drive the plot forward. But in the mind of the man who watched that movie for the first time, it brought out a simple and deep question: If that man could save so many lives in twelve minutes, how many can you save during your lifetime?

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He opened his eyes, first seeing the roof of a thatched hut then hearing the sound of gulls squawking and waves lapping against the sea shore. For a moment, he thought that everything that happened to him was a dream and that he was back in reality.

That moment faded when he felt a tightness all over his body. He moved towards the nearby wall and clambered himself up till he was sitting upright. It was only now he saw the bandages covering his body, remembering the beating he took.

Just then he saw a door open, through it came Z23, holding another set of bandages.

"You're awake," she said, looking a little relieved "that's good."

"How long was I out?" he asked, watching her place the bandages on an old table.

"A couple of days," replied the girl "it was touch and go at the start but at least you're better now."

He could sense the anger in her voice. She was answering politely not of her own volition and he knew why.

"Hood…" he said, noticing her fists clenching at the mention of her name "she didn't make it, did she?'

"How did you know?" she asked, looking genuinely surprised at the question.

"She wouldn't have knocked me out like that if she was coming with us," he replied and Z23 lowered her face.

"Sitting here feeling sorry isn't doing anyone any favours," he said, tossing off his bedsheet and putting his feet to the ground "there's a lot that needs asking and it's high time I get up to speed on things."

"But Commander," said Z23 "you're still not fully able to move around."

"If I sit here waiting, I… we'll never get anything done."

"But…"

"Every second I'm here doing nothing, those sirens are causing even more trouble all over the world," said the Commander, his voice no look meek or subdued "I get the feeling Hood wasn't the only one who died trying to get me here was she?"

Her silence was answer enough.

"If it took a mountain of lives to bring me here then I'm only spitting on their sacrifices by sitting here on my ass."

"Oya, oya someone's woken up antsy," said another voice from the entrance. The pair turned around to see a green haired girl in a white dress standing at the door, her curious expression scanning the Commander from head to toe.

"Hello Commander, my name is Akashi and welcome to my humble home," said the girl walking towards the Commander. The Commander noticed that the dress the girl wore was a lot larger than her, which explained why he could not see her hands and instead saw what looked like a few tools.

"Well then Commander I'm sure you have plenty of questions, but first off let me tell you where we are," said Akashi.

As much as it was important for him to listen to the explanation being given by the girl, the Commander's attention was drawn towards two features that the girl had which he did not see on Z23 or Hood.

'Cat ears… Cat ears. She has cat ears and a tail,' he thought, trying to make it look like it wasn't a big deal, but it was.

Akashi was in the middle of her explanation which was why she didn't notice it. The Commander's hand came forward, resting on her head followed by him gently stroking her head.

Z23 was surprised by the action and took a step back in what was to follow. Although Akashi is helpful in inventory management and healing, she did not like being touched: especially on the head. Many a times there were girls who wanted to pet her, only to have the latter slap them away when they came too close.

Z expected the Commander to either get slapped away or get a tongue lashing but neither of those things happened. Instead, she saw Akashi get visibly calmer, her expression becoming blissful as the Commander kept patting her head.

"Commander," shouted Z23.

"What?" he asked, like what he was doing was normal.

"And what's wrong with you Akashi?" asked Z23 "why are you acting so calm about this?"

"Well it is the Comnyander," said the girl "it's not like he has any ill intentions with Akashi."

"Ah, by the way," she said, turning to him "from now on I'm calling you Comnyander alright."

"Sure, but you need to explain everything to me again," said the man "I kinda got sidetracked for a moment there."

"Very well," she said and headed out there "please follow me and I'll show you around our base."

With that said, the Commander left the hut, along with Z23. They spent the day having Akashi take them around the base and explaining the facilities that were available.

First was the oil and coin shop.

As the name said, the buildings produced oil and coin. Oil was required for the girls to use their weapons when sortieing and coins were used by the Commander to purchase various upgrades and improvements to use for the girls or for the base.

"That's cool, can we go inside?" asked the Commander but Akashi stopped him.

"We can't", she said

"But…"

"We can't," she said again and this time the Commander agreed.

Then there was the dorm, which looked worse than the place he was in. The Commander decided not to go inside for fear of accidentally stepping on a weak wooden board and falling right through it.

"How do we improve this place?" he asked

"We'll need a special currency for that," said Akashi "also, here Comyander, this is for you."

Akashi reached into her right sleeve and took out a tablet, which she gave to the Commander.

"Thank you," said the Commander, taking the tablet "now I want you to tell me everything there is to know about this world and how the sirens fit into this."

Akashi looked at Z23, who nodded and turned to him.

"As you know, this world is where the ships of your world take human form," said Z23 "not all ships are given form though, only the ones who managed to get into your history books."

"How we came to be and why the ships only manifest as girls are mysteries none of us have been able to solve," she added and he nodded for her to continue.

"Two decades ago, we were attacked by beings from beyond the stars. They're called the Sirens. They possessed technology superior to our own and thus had better weapons than us."

"So how'd you drive them back?"

"Through the formation of the Azur Lane," replied Akashi.

"The Azur Lane was a team of ships who hailed from different factions of our world. They were Amagi, Atago, Bismarck, Jean Bart, Hood and Avrora."

"These girls decided to work together towards the greater good. In doing so, they had the remaining factions form an alliance with one another and together, they launched a frontal assault against the Siren forces."

"But it didn't go well did it?" asked the Commander.

"Like I said, they were better than us in technology and power," said Z23 "even though we had the numbers on our side, a lot of us were sunk by the Siren forces."

"But the main members of the Azur Lane pressed forward. One by one, they gave their lives until finally, Hood was able to deal a definitive blow against the Siren flagship, sinking it and causing the other Sirens to flee as a result."

"We won the war but a lot of lives were lost in the process. This was only made worse when the alliance came undone and everyone split into their old factions, each one trying to get the better over the other."

"And now, the SIrens decided to pay you guys back huh?" he asked and the duo nodded.

"We don't yet know why they're coming after us, but they will not stop until all of us are dead," said Akashi, sounding grim.

"Alright," he said, taking a seat on the park bench, where they told him the story "First thing we're going to need is to strengthen our forces. We're no danger to anyone much less the Sirens if we don't have a sizable fleet to back us up."

"But Commander," said Z23 "aren't you going to ask?"

"Ask what?"

"What your role is in all this?"

The man paused for a moment then said "it doesn't matter. Sure I could say that this is your problem and I have no part in it, but that's not the kind of person I am. Whether it was luck or fate that brought me here, I'm here now and rest assured I'll do everything I can to end this war."

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It was late at night. Z23 was sitting on the beach, watching the waves brush against her toes, not thinking about anything in particular.

She heard the sound of footsteps coming towards her and turned around to see the Commander.

"Thought I'd find you here," he said, but she turned away, not in the mood to respond.

"On a scale of one to ten, how much do you hate me right now?"

"Twenty,"

"Yeowch, that's harsh."

"You wouldn't understand," she said "you don't know the pain of losing a friend, a comrade you became so attached to."

Given they way she spoke, the Commander understood she had no idea that he was a military person and knew about losing people better than anyone else. But he decided not to say anything about it. She was grieving and if being her punching bag would help, then that's fine.

"Yeah, that's true," he said, putting his hands behind his hand in a non-chalant way "but there is something I want you to know."

"What's that?"

"I'll prove to you that Hood was right in making me a Commander. And I'll never forget the lives that were lost to bring me here."

Those words seemed to have struck a chord with Z23 as she got up from her place and turned to him.

"Good," she said, now looking at him "and if you forget don't worry. I'll be sure to remind you."