1995.

"Wooooohoooooo!" Kestrel yells out as she follows Pixy up in in the air in one of her own F15s, performing advanced manoeuvres almost as soon as she was up in the air.

"You say you're ever flown before?" The ace pilot asks over the radio, "You fly like an expert!"

"Well, I guess being an Aircraft Carrier Kansen comes with a few perks… haha…" Kestrel nervously chuckles.

"What's the deal with that, anyway? You're… a literal ship, but as a girl?" Pixy asks.

"It's… difficult to explain… I'm definitely linked to my physical ship, I can feel when anything happens to it. It's kind strange, like when there's a problem in the bridge computers, my head hurts. When there's a fault with the propellors, my ankle aches. I… can't really put into better words." Kestrel struggles to elaborate.

"I see… that must be weird." Galm 2 responds.

"Well, it's kinda natural for me… huh?" She hears a caution warning.

"Haha… yep, there he is."

"Huh? Who?" Kestrel asks.

"Cipher. Looks like he's come up to play." Pixy chuckles.

"He's got missile lock on me!" The Carrier exclaims.

"Yep. You gonna run away?" The ace asks.

Kestrel puts on a serious face, "Hell no!" She grabs her flight stick and pulls back hard while throttling down. Her plane drops back as she executes a post-stall manoeuvre to get herself behind a surprised Cipher, who silently responds in kind by pushing his nose down and rolling out before Kestrel can get a lock.

Cipher flies into the clouds to lure Kestrel in, and she falls for it. Pixy flies after her to give her more of a challenge, while saying, "I'm switching to my private channel with him now, Kestrel. Don't disappoint us." Followed by a click as he switches.

Kestral flies out of the clouds and pulls up when she sees the ground. She looks around for Cipher, expecting him to be around, but he's nowhere to be seen. She then hears the warning again. She rolls over and pulls up to turn her plane around, and she then sees Galm Team both flying straight for her. If it was a one-on-one, she'd just get missile lock first and pull away last, but with two, she decides to pull up through the clouds again before they get a lock. Galm Team both do the same and chase her out through the top of the cloud cover, but they don't see Kestrel. She had slowed her plane down so she emerges after them. She gets behind the pair and switches to her secondary missiles. She starts locking on. If she can maintain lock on for five seconds, she wins.

Unfortunately, both of them knew of her trick and deploy chaff, confusing her systems, then they perform a synchronised formation break, looping back around so they're now chasing her. She looks for clouds again, but they've flown too far away from them. With nothing but open skies, Kestrel starts barrel-rolling to throw them off, but she's unable to lose the Demon Lord and the Solo-Wing. Eventually, they chase her down and she's unable to escape them like a chess king in checkmate.

Just when she thinks she's lost them, she hears the constant beeping blaring in her ears.

"Nice moves, Kestrel, but now you're dead." Pixy says, now back on the channel to her. "He'll never admit it, but Cipher's impressed, too. Nobody's lasted that long against him in ages."

"Thanks, I guess…"

"Hey, what's up?" Pixy asks as he and Cipher forms up either side of her, switching their IFFs back to friendly.

"I'm not that great if you guys beat me so quickly." Kestrel says, sounding crestfallen.

"Hey, don't sweat it. Cipher and I are professional aces, buddy. The guys we're usually up against don't know an aileron from a rudder, at least they fly like they don't." He earns a laugh from the Kansen. "Come on, let's go back. Don't worry about facing us. With moves like that, you'll drop those Belkans like flies."

"Okay… thanks, Pixy. You're alright. You too, Cipher." She looks at the blue-winged plane, which rolls slightly left and right in a little salute. A man of few words, indeed.

"By the way, I heard you're both going on a new mission tomorrow. Could I join you?" Kestrel asks after touching down at the base.

Pixy answers, "Well, we'd have to pull a few strings, but we'll see."

In the city of Hoffnung in Belka, A Siren who had worked her way into the Belkan military, be it through blackmail or manipulation, talks to the top Generals, who are bickering about how to best get everyone out of the city as their superweapon had been destroyed, rendering a huge part of their total firepower gone. Osea is on their doorstep and they are panicking. Hoffnung is a massive city, and is the heart of their war production. If the Oseans occupy it, they'll be in serious trouble.

"Humans. Be silent. I have the most logical solution to your problem." the small, snow white-skinned girl says. The top brass all look at her, most scared of what she could do to end their careers. She says, "To prevent the far superior Osean Federation occupying your city, simply give them nothing to occupy."

"Are you suggesting we destroy our own city!? What about our people!?" One of the Generals yells.

Ignoring the outburst, the girl stares him down. "According to my calculations, you will not be able to evacuate most of the civilians before Osea gets here. They will have to be killed in the destruction of your city. A necessary sacrifice."

Another General says, "She has a point. Our production facilities are all over the city. We'll just have to try and avoid as many civilian areas as we can. I'll give the order to have the workers in them stop working and burn the buildings down…" he grabs the phone.

The other who had questioned the Siren looks back at her and chastises, "I don't know where the hell you came from or who you think you are, Miss, but I don't appreciate you thinking you're above us. Plus, I thought you told us you were created to help humanity! Not kill them!"

The Siren summons her rigging, which resembles a mechanical jellyfish with a bed she lay on with a cuddly plushie. She grabs the General with her stingers and lazily says, "Corrections: I don't think I am above you. I know for a fact that I am. Plus, the humanity that I was assigned to aid is not this one. My top priority is to find a way back to my own world, to my own version of humanity, and I shall use any means necessary to do so. Please stop resisting me. It will not end well for you. Do you understand, human?"

"Ugh… release me! How dare you!? I demand you-AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" the Siren electrocutes him to death in front of the others.

They all look at the body the Siren drops and then to her. She says, "Faults in the system must be purged for maximum efficiency. Are there any others?"

The others all stand and salute her out of desperation and fear. They all say in unison, "Negative, Observer Zero!"

Zero squeezes her strangely adorable plushie and says, "Destroy the city of Hoffnung before Osea can take it. Civilians are expendable."

They all get to work.

Kestrel sits in her bridge, rather upset that she was not allowed to participate in the operation in Hoffnung due to the city being too far inland. She'd be too far away from her vessel and she has no crew to control it for her. She wished Galm Team luck and she instead is sat bored as she has no official missions. Commander Weeker is in a meeting so she's all alone now. She leans on one of her consoles tapping her fingers on the top.

"Wait a second… I could get some more practice in…" she says to herself before heading down to her flight deck. Weeker told her to keep an eye on her radar but there's been nothing for ages. She gets in one of her planes and starts it up, so distracted by pre-flight checks that she's unaware that her radar just started beeping…

Yet another displaced Siren, unaware she's in another world, has found the Kestrel and a scan of it shows her it has a Kansen. "Haha! Finally, a Kansen I can fight! I've been dying to show off my new power! Now… how to introduce myself…?" She types into the console on her shark-like rigging, accessing her personal files. The finds the text document she's made that's titled, "The most badass, totally not edgy lines in fiction."

Kestrel performs the most advanced moves possible, pushing her plane to the limit. She suddenly starts feeling strange. There's something up with her ship. Or rather, there's someone on it.

"Oh, come on! I just left! I hope it isn't the Commander!" She turns the plane around and goes back to investigate.

The Siren stands upon Kestrel's flight deck. "Where is she? Can't be a very good Kansen if she isn't even with her ship…"

"I heard that." She hears on her radio. The Siren stammers and almost closes the document.

She spins around and looks to the skies and composes herself, "Ah… um… ha ha! So, um…" she glances at the screen again, "So, the enemy has revealed herself to me at last! She shall know only pain and suffering at my hand! She shall bear witness to—

"What the hell are you talking about? Who are you?" Kestrel interrupts.

"Silence, weakling! Return to your ship and bow down to my superiority!" The Siren yells.

Kestrel sighs and lands her plane on her deck. She climbs out and walks towards the Siren. She says, "Alright, what's going on? Identify yourself."

"Who am I? Who am I!? My sweet, summer child, you have no idea what you're up against!" The Siren warns, clearly reading off her screen.

Kestrel crosses her arms, "Uh-huh. Why don't you tell me about what I'm up against, then?"

"I am the great and mighty Omitter! Siren Elite! I am the one who rules over these seas! Kneel before me, or my name with be carved into your soul as you spend the rest of eternity trembling at the bottom of the abyss!" Omitter demands.

"Nah."

"E…excuse me?" The Siren asks in a more subdued tone.

"Nah, I don't think so. I don't really see why I should bow before some kid who just appeared on MY ship reading lines she probably typed up herself, thinking she sounds cool." Kestrel quips. "I may have just been built and Awoken a few weeks ago, but I'm not about to submit to some girl who clearly has no clue what she's doing. You don't rule these seas. Nobody's ever mentioned you. You're nothing."

Frozen, Omitter slyly glances at her screen again and puts on a fake confident smile, "You…. you don't have any records on you, either! You know, we're not so different, you and I…"

"We couldn't be more different if we tried." Kestrel retorts. "Also, there's no records on me because, once again, I was only launched recently. Only some of the Osean Navy knows of my existence."

"Um…" She reads another, "D…Don't you think of us as friends, after all this time…?"

"We've just met, so no." The Carrier answers, arms crossed. "Try another."

"Ah… uh… There… are wolves… and there are sheep…?"

"I do hope you aren't referring to yourself as a wolf, girl." Kestrel chuckles. "Look, I have multiple CIWS guns trained on you. If you don't surrender right now, there won't be anything left of you to surrender."

"Oh, come on! Just play along with me for a few minutes!"

"No. I'm not fulfilling your weird role play fantasy. You're trespassing on a military vessel, and by the looks of the big shark thing in your back, you're trying to threaten both the ship and the personnel on board, namely me. Stand down, final warning." Kestrel warns again. She may be new to flying, but the military doctrine and authoritative voice came naturally.

Looking back at her screen and scrolling frantically, she finds one she is positive will make Kestrel tremble. "Ah ha…" she looks back at her, "So… you have a sea… whizz? Pointed at me? Whatever that is? You think I didn't anticipate that!?" She charges up her shark rigging's mouth laser, Omitter hears a loud buzzing and her rigging is immediately peppered full of holes. She falls backwards now that it isn't supporting its own weight.

"WAH!" The Siren exclaims as she falls.

Kestrel walks up and looks down at her, "Actually, I know you did, but clearly, you had no idea what you're up against." She says, using one of her own lines against her, then immediately looks away, "God, that sounded terrible…" she picks up the now powerless Siren and takes her inside, "To the brig with you."

"Hey, wait! Lemme go! I am justice! I am the night! I am—"

"Shut up."

"Okay…"

"Galm 2 to all units, I've confirmed a burning city up ahead." Pixy informs over the radio, unable to take his gaze off the smoke covering the city, tinted orange by the inferno that has overtaken the streets and buildings.

All of Hoffnung is ablaze.

Trying not to let the sight disturb him, another pilot codenamed PJ agrees, "Looks like the bombing's started."

PJ is a relatively inexperienced pilot compared to Galm Team, but he's more than capable of holding his own with his own squadron. He flies an F-16 Falcon and has a white heart-shaped symbol. Cipher and Pixy don't dislike him, but they aren't exactly close friends.

Seemingly ignoring all the civilian lives being lost down below, the Osean AWACS issues the order, "Cover the Allied bombers. Eliminate all ground and aerial threats.

Wondering if there's even anything left worth bombing, Pixy simply acknowledges, "Let's move." as he falls in formation with Cipher.

Zero looks at her radar and detects the massive Osean bomber formation along with the escorts. "These planes are far slower than Azur Lane aircraft… the humans here seem less advanced than the default universe… perhaps the absence of Kansen in this universe is true. Their presence here without being created by us would be very anomalous."

A human overseeing the destruction of his city stands next to her, "Hoffnung is now Hell on Earth and your main concern is if something exists or not? Have you no emotion?"

"Negative. Emotions cloud judgement. It is illogical to dwell on regret and hesitation. I have no connection to this city or Belka, but helping them seems currently advantageous. Belkan technology seems more advanced than most other countries in this world, excluding Osea. They will be next." Zero coldly answers.

"But what about the tech here? Everything is burning!" The man yells.

Zero looks at him, "I have already backed up the necessary files to my hard drive. The prototypes can all be rebuilt. More workers can be hired." She walks away and goes inside the ship they are stood on. The man watches her go, unable to comprehend how she can be so nonchalant.

"To all bombers, remove Belka's ability to counterattack. Priority is placed on destruction over accuracy." The squadron leader of the bomber formation orders over the radio. When they get into optimal range, he says, "Initiate bombing sequence. Drop 'em all! Turn it to ashes! That's not enough! Drop more bombs!"

Rather disgusted by the overzealous news of the bombers, Pixy observes their messy targeting. He says over the radio, "I thought they were on a precision bombing mission…"

PJ looks over and sees the destruction, "They're just tossin' bombs all over the place."

A Belkan soldier sees how much of Hoffnung is now ashes. He yells out in horror, "No! Our city is going up in flames!"

Pixy sees an Osean missile hit a large building and obliterate it. He radios, "A Tomahawk just hit the city. Are those guys serious?"

Cipher decided it's best to just get the job done and get paid. He ignores all the criticisms of his comrades and keeps on attacking ground targets. He hears a soldier of one of the Osean tank battalions request air support and he heads over right away.

Zero gives a new order, "The Osean forces seem to not care about civilian casualties. An admirable trait, but they are still avoiding the areas that could prove useful to them. Have more units burn down the areas Osea misses."

Belkan forces head out to do as she says. She then gives another order. "With this last effort, the Oseans will have nothing. Make sure all facilities are destroyed, and then abandon the city."

PJ sees more areas start glowing orange. He gets on the radio, "This is PJ. Somethin' strange is goin' on down there. The number of burning areas just suddenly increased."

Pixy then realises what is going on. He says, "The Belkans are setting fire to their own—"

He's cut off by the tank battalion commander thanking Cipher for his air cover.

"The city's going up in flames!" PJ cries out, unable to understand why Belka has set fire to their own major city.

Pixy coldly responds to him, "Learn to accept it, kid. This is war."

PJ looks out of his cockpit right at Pixy and yells, "You expect me to believe that arson and indiscriminate bombing is war!?"

The more experienced pilot replies, "There's no mercy in war. It's a collision of powers."

"Even war has a set of rules to follow!" PJ tries.

While the two of them argue, Zero turns to face the officer there with her. She says, "Give the order. Release the aircraft and have it cover our exit."

"What aircraft? Our F-35s are already on the way—"

"I was not speaking to you." Zero deadpans.

Before the officer can talk back, he hears another female voice behind him. "I thought you'd never ask…"

He turns around and sees yet another Siren. She clicks her fingers and a huge, sleek Aircraft Carrier with bright, glowing red markings all over it emerges from the dark sea fog. It launches Siren Drones from its two runways and sends them in formation at the Osean air forces.

Zero looks at the other Siren. "Strategist, keep the, away from our evacuation fleet. Do not let them find your Queen-class Carrier."

Strategist nods, "Got it."

The Osean AWACS alerts everyone, "I've detected several unknown craft in radar. The blips are barely visible, they could be stealth fighters."

Cipher sees the jet black Drones moving straight towards him. He doesn't have time to wonder what they are before laser bolts get shot at him and he has to take evasive manoeuvres. Pixy sees that and comes over to help, putting his argument with PJ on hold.

PJ sees the new planes are seemingly ignoring the bombers and he thinks he sees something glowing out at sea, but before he can make it out, he hears beeping on his radar and checks it to see many of the planes on his tail. He just manages to roll out of the way as the sky where he just was is lit up by glowing projectiles. "Holy shit!" He exclaims. His squadron returns to him to back him up.

Due to the drones not having flesh and blood pilots and their tough and sturdy designs, they're able to make turns and rolls so tight and fast they'd tear apart the airframes of normal planes and make pilots black out, allowing them to dance around even Galm Team, who have to fall back towards their allies. PJ and his squadron struggle to take them down, losing many of their own comrades to the strange planes.

"This is Bomb Unit 3! I'm taking enemy fire! What happened to our escort planes!" One of the bomber pilots yells out.

Another adds, "I've been hit!"

Zero, listening in on the Osean radio, looks at her companion, "Strategist, I ordered you to defend the evacuation fleet. Attacking their bombers is going against it."

Strategist looks back at her, "Oh, come on, Zero! If I take them out here, they can't do another bombing run later on!"

"I'm being targeted! I can't shake them!" Another bomber pilot cries out.

"Strategist. Disengage. Final warning." Zero demands, her tone heavily contrasting her appearance, resembling a small girl laying on a comfy bed cuddling a weird plushie.

"Ugh… fine… you're no fun." Strategist relents and pulls her planes back, leaving the human Belkan pilots alone with Galm Team and PJ, who make very short work of them.

One of the commanders of the Belkan ground troops orders, "Ignore the civilians. Our priority is withdrawing the troops out of the area."

Another radios, "Abandon Block D. Join up with 5th Company from Block C."

A third reminds them, " Don't leave anything behind for the Allied Forces."

The Osean AWACS reports, "Mission objective fulfilled. All units, return to base."

Looking upon what the Belkans have done to their own people, Pixy can only mutter, "Damn them all…"

He realises that nobody knows why they were fighting anymore.

All he can feel is sadness for the world.

Zero approaches Strategist and says, "Do not disobey my orders again."

"Yeah? The same orders that got us into this mess? 'Ooh, this is looking promising. Compiler, get the teleporters ready. The rest of you, take notes on Azur Lane's progress in this timeline, blah, blah. They have exceeded expectations this time, yak yak.' Yeah, great orders, Zero!" Strategist mocks.

"Compiler was lost in that anomaly. I am devising a plan to get all Siren units back together and get back to our universe. I advise you to calm yourself and continue to assist me. Your juvenile mockery is not helpful."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Strategist says as the Siren Carrier vanishes into the sea fog along with the Belkan evacuation fleet.

Kestrel throws Omitter in the cell in her brig. "Get in there. You can speak to my Commander when he comes back. I'm sure he'll be very hospitable."

"Really? He's that nice?" The naive young Siren asks.

Kestrel stares at her for a few seconds and says, "…not to you." She walks away.

"Hey, wait! Dammit…" Omitter sighs. She just pulls up her document again and makes up more badass lines that are sure to intimidate Kestrel enough to let her go.