We were falling back in good order as another Enforcer transformed into another series of fireballs.

"I've downed another Enforcer!" Hammann crowed victoriously as she dumped another spread of torpedoes at another foe that dared to stray too close to her. "How'd you like my Type II Edsall-class rigging, you big ol' tin can?"

"The Enforcers have much stronger defenses now than before. Be careful, everyone!" Yorktown warned as she coordinated the fighting withdrawal. Despite her extra duties, I still saw her bombers get crippling hits on a pair of Enforcer battleships. "Engaging them rashly will only lead to unnecessary casualties!"

Things were going well, but we couldn't hold out forever like this. "Memphis, what's going on at Samos Island?"

"I can't reach Samos Island…" she all but wailed. "The doctors aren't picking up, either!"

"Are we being jammed?"

"No, our comms systems are running fine. We simply can't reach them." Noting my grim expression, she quickly reassured me with, "But it's okay, Commander! I'll think of another way!"

Northampton suddenly called out, her voice almost lost against the constant thunder of her guns. "Several vessels of unknown affiliation have appeared at close range! Where did they come from?!"

"Identify!" I barked as I looked down at the holomap. A sudden cluster of flashing yellow blips off of our starboard bow. They were hidden by the island, but at their speed, it wouldn't be long before they were within range of us.

"Our recon planes just sent an image!" she called out before suddenly becoming very quiet, even her guns pausing for a moment. "Wait a second...What the...? I can't make anything out!"

"Show me."

The holomap pulled up the image she sent, and what I saw froze the blood in my veins. Even through a photograph, I could see them swimming and twisting, as if they defied reality itself. I knew what these…mist creatures were. I'd faced them before, in the Arcana Sanctum beneath the arctic waves. A relentless swarm of malice and evil. "Mother of God," I gasped softly.

My words must have been picked up by the microphone, because Northampton immediately asked, "Commander, do you know what these enemies are?"

I nodded, my jaw working up and down as I tried to find the words when Memphis suddenly let out a distressed cry.

"...Why?" she wailed. "Why have these things appeared here? Those should have been excluded from the components of this world! Even if everyone inside this space has awoken, there still shouldn't be any way for them to get inside...! Does Devil somehow have memories of that battle?! Or does the Tower? Or the Natural Calculation System itself? How... What have I done?! Who could have awakened these memories?!"

As she sank to her knees with tears running down her cheeks, Yorktown stepped over to her. "Memphis, what's wrong?! Get a hold of yourself!"

But Memphis was lost to despair at that point. "The memories of that battle... They belong to me...It's my fault for observing the Commander and Anchorage!" I suddenly realized I had been wrong. This wasn't my Memphis, this was a META. That's why she'd been keeping a low profile and leaving me high and dry. She can't get me out any more than I can. And now, she thinks she's invited disaster to both our doorsteps. "It's my fault for making the Commander flee here! It's my fault for connecting to the Natural Calculation System! The Tower already noticed that these memories of ruination were here! ...And that's why I can't control the Reality Lens or access the Natural Calculation System anymore! There's no escaping this place now! We can't free the Commander's consciousness! And if this world is destroyed, the Commander's consciousness will die with it! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! It's all my fault... I've...I've doomed... the Commander…" She lets out a huge sob that wracks her whole body. "What have I done?!"

"Hey," I soothe as I kneel down next to her, wrapping my arms around her in a comforting embrace. "It'll be okay. We're gonna figure something out, I promise."

By now, Yorktown was standing over us, looking at Memphis with a mixture of alarm and confusion. "Memphis, what are you going on about?! Nothing you're saying makes any sense! What's going to happen to the Commander?!

Memphis, however, was either unable or unwilling to explain as she clutched onto my labcoat and wept. "I'm sorry... *sob*... I'm sorry! Commander... I…"

Suddenly a voice rang out, clear and commanding. "Memphis, Commander! It's not over yet!"

We all looked around for the source of the voice as Yorktown called out, "Who's there...? And where are you?"

The voice didn't respond. "Reality Lens connection confirmed. Removing data lock." The air next to me shimmered and rippled as the META version of Helena materialized and looked down at Memphis and me. She smiled softly as she held out her hands to us. "This burden isn't yours alone to bear, Memphis."

When I looked down at Memphis, I realized she had changed from the Memphis I knew to the META version of herself. As we were assisted back to our feet, Yorktown cautiously approached us. "Who... are you two?"

"Explaining would take too long, so maybe another…" Helena stopped mid-dismissal with a stern shake of her head. "No. I'll try to make it as brief as I can now."

"I'm listening," Yorktown replied.

"I am Helena, but I am not the Helena you know." She gestured at Memphis, who had moved to stand by her side. "Likewise, she is Memphis, but she is not the Memphis you know. Like you all, we are loyal to the Commander. Sorry to keep this introduction so brief, but we're going to do everything in our power to save the Commander." She gave Yorktown a rueful smile before she turned to face me. "Is that a satisfactory explanation, Commander?"

"I think so, for now." I turned to face Yorktown, who still looked unsure. "Commander, can we trust them?"

"They're friends," I answered with a reassuring smile.

That mollified her somewhat and she nodded hesitantly. "Okay. If you say so."

I smiled at her again before I took her hand in mine and squeezed it reassuringly. Yorktown relaxed a bit further and she gave me that blissful smile as we turned our attention back to Helena.

"Long time no see, Commander," she smirked, and I couldn't help but grin back.

"We've got to stop meeting like this," I quipped, "If you want to talk, you can always just swing by the base, have a cup of coffee instead of waiting for me to be in mortal peril."

"Keeping an eye on you is a full-time job, Commander," she said, only half-joking. "You've got a knack for getting yourself in trouble."

"I've got issues, I know," I shrugged. "I could tell Memphis wasn't from this virtual space, but you, I'm surprised you're here. How did you even get here? What happened?"

"Things went awry when you used the Reality Lens to connect to Anchorage's hull," she said as she began to lay it all out for us. Instead, you got connected to the Natural Calculation System – the origin of the Reality Lens – by mistake. That's where you saw those memories of Dr. Anzeel. Unfortunately, the Arbiter caught wind of this and came after you. When Dr. Anzeel's failsafe detected this, it erased the entire virtual space, flinging your consciousness into limbo."

"And that's when Memphis showed up," I said slowly, trying to make sure I understood everything correctly. "She pulled me into a virtual space to keep me safe, but the Arbiter kept coming so she had to create this giant virtual space that's…a hodge-podge of different minds? And all the while, I'm still out cold on the table in the Sea of Stars?"

She nodded. "That's why Memphis blamed herself for what happened here. This place is a simulacrum of all the consciousnesses connected to it. Yours, hers, the Devil's, and even the records buried at the foundation of the Natural Calculation System. The reason she hosted the virtual space from the Devil's mainframe was to prevent your mind from being contaminated by the aberrations you just saw. Incidentally, when your consciousness melded with the existing data in the Natural Calculation System, your compassion for your shipgirls provided the last missing piece of data needed for the completion of the Type II rigging. Memphis superimposed your memories with the existing memories of the Type II rigging, creating a world where these shipgirls would temporarily be freed from their fates." I had so many questions, but I knew we didn't have the time, even if Helena had the answers. "Our only miscalculation was, the Devil found some way to forcibly connect into this space at the same time. That was why her vessel went berserk and started attacking us with live ammunition. And that brings us to the present moment."

"So until she started using live ammo, this was all…someone's memories?"

"Correct."

"Who's memories are whose? I know things, knew things, I had no way of knowing. Was that the Reality Lens overriding my consciousness or were those memories I had buried away? Are they even mine?"

Helena gave me a sad smile. "Sometimes, Commander, ignorance is bliss."

"What?"

"Don't worry about it," she said. I'm not sure what it was like in her world, but where I'm from, telling someone not to worry about something is a guarantee that they're going to worry about it. A lot. And I would, but not right then. There was no time. "What's important is that the situation isn't as bad as Memphis thinks. The other Helena and I can regain control of this virtual space and extract you from the Reality Lens. To do that though, you'll have to boot out the other intruder. You know what to do, right? You said it yourself: 'Please fight until-'"

"'-the last light has faded,'" I finished with a grim smile. "Yorktown, prepare for battle."

"Aye aye," she said softly, and I released her hand as she got to work organizing the other Type II ships into formation. As we began to prepare, Helena stood beside me at the holomap and began assisting me with strategy.

"The Devil's formation is already in place. Under these conditions, don't even bother trying to attack the main vessel. We'll need to eliminate her 'eyes' first – the Temptation-type carriers." She glanced over her shoulder. "Memphis. Requesting intel support."

Memphis, who was standing behind us, with what looked like a dozen screens surrounding her, answered immediately. "Understood. I've sent information on their location, stats, and weaknesses over the data link."

"How did you tap directly into our data link?" Langley asked an annoyed tone in her voice. Can't exactly blame her considering it'd happened twice in one day so far.

"That's not important," The META shipgirl deflected. "Commander, order a synchronized attack on these coordinates. Just as you did with my mass-produced ships in the previous exercise."

"Anti-jamming measures and communication network reinforcement. I'm already on it," Helena added, pulling up several of her own screens.

"Now or never, ladies," I called out over the communicator. "Time to knock the pins out from under the Devil. All ships, attack, attack, attack!"

"Leave it to us, Commander!" Yorktown sang back as her strike wings roared from her flight deck.

"Ol' Hornet's ready to get her revenge!" her sister added, her bomber wings joining Yorktown's as they descended upon the Siren carriers. Multiple explosions rippled across their hulls, and they heeled hard over before sinking beneath the waves.

"Target confirmed sunk! We did it, Commander!" Langley cheered. "Our aircraft have improved in speed, power, and more. Helena, did you do this?"

"Of course!" Helena answered.

Even better news was on the way, courtesy of Yorktown. "The Devil is losing altitude! She's about to land in the water!"

Helena's expression hardened. "That means she's getting serious. Being in the air restricts what weapons she can use. Don't let her Restriction-type battleships distract you. Fighting them is a trap people fall into when they don't know about her tactics. Without air control, her battleships are nothing more than clubs to be swung around indiscriminately. Now, let's slip in and strike at her vessel before the Enforcers have time to readjust their formation."

"That's going to take time," I said as I watched the aircraft returning to the carriers. "Even with you super-charging them, it's still going to take a while for Yorktown and the others to get their planes back in the air."

"Don't misunderstand me. We're not sending in aircraft – we'll be getting up close and personal ourselves. I can hack into her system and disable most of her weapons. I would normally do that remotely, but Helena hasn't gained full control over this virtual space yet," she grumbled as she pulled out something that resembled a black syringe. "So instead, we're going to go in and stab this into the Devil's heart."

"Oh. You weren't kidding when you said up close and personal, but…that's got to be insanely dangerous."

"You're right," the blue-haired kansen grimly agreed. "We'll have to shake off the Enforcers defending her, avoid the hail of bullets coming from Devil's close-range defenses, and scale her enormous rigging." She let out a long, slow breath as she looked out at the Devil. "It's a lot to ask for... but it's also our only chance. If the Enforcers manage to regroup, it'll become a battle of attrition. And by that point, we've already lost. Also, don't forget that she's still a floating manufacturing plant with the ability to call in limitless reinforcements."

Just then, the most unlikely of heroes stepped forward. "So you just need someone with the speed and agility to get in there, right?" Hammann piped up as she hopped up onto the deck of the command ship. "That's a piece of cake for me! Commander, leave it to me! Let me do it!"

"Allow me to help you," Northampton volunteered, her voice crackling over the radio. "This job is too big for one little Hammann to handle." When I hesitated, she added, "I'll do whatever it takes to protect her along the way and deliver her to Devil's heart."

With a long, drawn-out sigh, I took the syringe from Helena and handed it over to Hammann, looking her in the eye. "Be careful out there, okay?" Hammann nodded solemnly and I turned back to Memphis. "Plan a route. Everyone else, shift your attacks to clear a path for Hammann!"

She was more graceful than I'd ever seen her before. Hammann practically danced along the water as geysers erupted around her from the Devil's ineffectual gunfire. No matter how hard the Arbiter tried to hit her, the little destroyer skated and skipped past her volleys.

"Keep trying, and maybe you'll hit me in a hundred years!" Hammann taunted her opponent, and even from here, I could see the words hit home with the Arbiter.

Her dander well and truly up, the Devil unleashed a full salvo in a straight line across Hamman's path. It would have hit home, too, had Northampton not charged ahead and taken the hit for the destroyer.

"Northampton, are you alright?!" Hammann called out as she sped past the cruiser, who had sunk to her knees.

"I'm fine!" she yelled back as she unsteadily got back to her feet. "Hammann, focus on your mission!"

"I know! I've got this!" Without missing a beat, she hopped up onto the Devil's rigging, evading the swinging gun barrels and drones. "This is what you get for messing with my friends and the Commander, Antiochus!" She pounced on the Arbiter with a fierce cry, driving the syringe deep into her chest.

The Devil stared down in disbelief at the sudden unwelcome addition to her torso. "... What...?!" she murmured. "How…how did you…" Her voice trailed off into a tortured, digital scream as Helena began to force her out of the virtual space.

"It's working! Yorktown, did you see that?!" Hammann shouted as she hopped off the Devil and made her way to Northampton.

"Well done, Hammann!" the carrier applauded.

The diminutive destroyer bowed theatrically before she called out to me. "Did you see how awesome I was, Commander?"

"Hell yeah, I did!" I cheered. "Great job!"

Meanwhile, Helena was hard at work kicking the Arbiter from the network. "I'm hacking her now... Done! I've disconnected Devil's vessel and her Enforcers! Commander, it's time to focus our fire on the Devil's vessel and destroy it. With the Arbiter's connection severed, I'll be able to bring the Sea of Stars and the Reality Lens back under our control."

"And then it's time to go back home," I said softly. I turned to the white-carrier beside me. "Yorktown," I began, but she cut me off with a soft smile.

"It's okay. I know," she replied, her hand finding mine.

There was a sudden cry of surprise over the communicator. "Wait, what's going on up there? It looks like...the sky's tearing apart?!" Hornet shouted.

We all looked up in horror as a sudden blue-white rift opened up in the sky and a massive mechanical creature forced its way through. It resembled Siren rigging in the shape of a massive serpent, although I couldn't see any humanoid figure attached. "What the hell is that?" I muttered.

"Damn it…" Helena swore darkly. "This entire virtual space is about to get purged…"

"Is that what happens when you forcibly shut down the Reality Lens from the outside?" I asked.

"No. This is something else…"

Before I could ask what she meant by that, beams of light burst forth, eliminating everything in their path. The Enforcers, the mist enemies, anything and everything in their path was simply erased.

Hammann's voice crackled over the radio. "Commander! The Devil's stopped moving, too! Do you think this is a superweapon the doctors developed to help us?"

"It definitely isn't!" Hornet's panicked voice interjected. "Those rays of light are going to swallow us up too! We have to run–"

Her voice cuts off in a sudden squeal of static and my blood runs cold as her icon vanishes from the holomap. "RUN!"

But it's too late. One by one, the others vanish beneath the beams, winking out of existence, as if they never were until it's just Yorktown, Helena, Memphis, and myself. We begin to sprint for Samos Island, hoping to find some relief there.

"Yorktown! Stay close to the Commander!" Helena barked as we ran. "Forget about the others, it's too late for them!"

I took Yorktown's hand as we fled, almost dragging her along as she called out for our friends. "Helena? What's happening? ...Hornet? Are you there? Answer me! Northampton! Do you read me? Langley! Where have you gone? ammann! Please... Please talk to me…"

All that answers is an eerie silence, an unnatural stillness as if the very sound had been removed from this reality. "Helena, what's happening?" I call out to her.

Helena stops and turns to face us as we skid to a halt. "Calm down. Let me explain. The Devil isn't the only Arbiter connected to this virtual space. The Tower is, too. Though limited in scope, the Tower has the ability to access the Natural Calculation System."

"So, what, we're in her backyard and she's just purging us?"

"Not quite," she answered with a shake of her head. "The rays of light are part of the Reorigination System. More accurately, she's trying to wipe the slate clean altogether. When I first hacked into the Reality Lens, I made sure that the Tower would not be alerted. While the Devil theoretically had access to the Reorigination System, she would not have been able to use it without purging herself in the process. However, now that she has been disconnected and the aberrations are running rampant in this space, there's no way we would continue to avoid the Tower's gaze. And what do the Sirens do when they encounter a bug in the Natural Calculation System? They eliminate it. For the Tower, that's just as easy as you stepping on a bug."

"Can we stop her? Shut her down, lock her out, press pause, anything?"

"Sadly, no. The Tower is different from other Arbiters. She is not some kind of program you can hack or a person you can talk to. Commander, you've been aware this whole time that this world is nothing but a replicated virtual space, right?"

I nodded.

"No matter how interconnected our lives may be within this world, no matter what experiences we might have, everything in this space is nothing more than an array of data for the Tower. We are but programs within this data space. When bugs appear in the data or programs malfunction, you go in and fix them. After all, you wouldn't sit down and try to talk it out with a computer bug, would you?"

Yorktown spoke up, her voice as tiny and as soft as I'd ever heard it. "Helena... So you're saying that...I'm just a bunch of data created by this world?" I could feel a pain in my chest as my heart began to break for her.

Helena gave her a sympathetic look. "I'm afraid so. To the best of my knowledge, the real Yorktown's hull is not connected to this space."

"What about Hornet, Hammann, and the others?"

"Same story."

"What about Dr. Anzeel then and Dr. Aoste?"

"Same story. With the exception of me, Memphis, the Commander, and Anchorage, wherever she is... Everything else is a fabrication."

"My feelings... My memories... Are they all fake?" she whispered. "Everything I know... is a lie?"

"I... I'm sorry," Helena apologized, looking down at the deck. "I don't know what to tell you."

When Yorktown turned her gaze to me, I could see the question in her eyes. "I was going to tell you when the exercise was over," I said softly, my voice wavering. "When you said something about was distant, tragic, you weren't wrong. Back where I'm from, you and I are in a relationship. We love each other very much, but a few months ago, she was hurt pretty bad and she's…" I felt my throat close up and I had to blink away the tears that threatened to spill down my cheeks. "She's dying. But I'm hoping that the Type II rigging will save her, heal her, because you showed me what a truly happy Yorktown looks like."

Tears had begun to flow down Yorktown's cheeks, now as she took a step towards me. "Commander, I-"

Memphis cut her off as she shouted a warning. "Helena! The Reorigination System is about to catch up to us!"

The beam descended on us, there was a sudden flash and I cried out, "Yorktown!"

As the light faded, I was surprised to find all of us still here, and Yorktown had that blissful, happy smile on her face. "Don't worry, Commander. I'm just fine. Thanks to Helena and the Type II rigging you gave me, I'm able to move a little now."

Helena eyed her up. "You met her, didn't you? The other you."

I looked between the two of them. "The other you? My Yorktown?"

Helena simply shook her head and neither of them elaborated any further. "Helena, how's the progress on your end?" Yorktown inquired.

"Everything's on track. I've linked up with the Helena on the other side and have secured an escape route. Memphis will lead the way. Yorktown, you and I will keep the enemies from pursuing."

"Did you hear that?" Yorktown smiled brightly. "It's time to go home, Commander."

An empty feeling clawed at the pit of my stomach as I realized what she was doing. "You can't-"

Yorktown cut me off with a smile and a shake of her head. "Didn't I tell you not to worry? There's still time before the reset gets me. Besides, Helena is here with me too. We won't let the enemy pass. Not until you've made it home. 'Fight until the last light has faded,' right?" Her cheery tone, her brave demeanor, it was nearly too much for me.

"But..."

"It's okay," she soothed, placing her finger on my lips. "Don't say a word. The Yorktown you desire has the strength to see this through. Please... Honor my decision."

I felt Helena's hand on my shoulder, and I tore my gaze away from Yorktown to look at her. "The entrance to the Marine Research Institute on Samos Island. That is your escape route. Hurry, Commander."

"Yeah. I'm gonna go fast, so make sure you keep up," Memphis added.

"Farewell, dear Commander," Yorktown said, that blissful smile still on her face. "I hope we'll meet again—as the Yorktown you desire."

I nod, waving goodbye as I take off running after Memphis. As we run, I hear the sounds of a furious battle, and I occasionally look over to see how they're doing. Lit up by the lightning that streaks against the sky, I see Yorktown battling furiously, darting through the air like an avenging angel, almost singlehandedly holding off the apocalypse. It was a sight I will never forget, permanently engraved in my head and on my heart.

After a long, tense run, we make it to the extraction point, the research lab leading to the underground bunker. Memphis stopped and gestured for me to get inside. "The extraction point is just ahead, Commander. Just keep following this path and you'll be out.

"What about you?"

"I'm going back to help Helena. Need to cover your retreat, after all." When I open my mouth to object, she emphatically shakes her head. "Don't worry about me. We have our own way of getting out. Hurry and go. You'll be in danger if you stay here long." She gives me a shove into the passage along with one final comment. "...I'm sorry. I won't let this happen ever again."

I take two steps forward before I suddenly find myself tumbling through the endless void once more. As I righted myself, I realized I'd escaped whatever program I'd been trapped in, and I hoped that this meant I would be waking up soon back in the real world.

Suddenly, I felt someone push something into my hands, and a voice, somehow familiar, but hard-edged and full of regret and loss, echoed from all around me. "She wanted you to have this."

I looked down at a long, slender box, with a tag written in Yorktown's graceful script that read, "To my Commander". With trembling hands, I opened the box and gasped softly as I saw what would have been her present to me: a blue rose.

A/N-Almost out of the event. Hell of a prologue, huh? Until next time, fair winds and following seas!