3rd October, 1941.
Tirpitz tunes her Battleship's radio to hear Hitler's latest broadcast, consisting of propaganda about having destroyed the entire Northern Parliament already, and claiming that Iron Blood is fully capable of taking on threats just as big as them, blatantly referring to the Eagle Union without actually saying it.
She turns it off in disgust, "That madman will bring about the end of the Fatherland…"
"Having second thoughts about fighting for Iron Blood, Mein frostiger Freund?" Peter Strasser asks.
"Of course I am. How can I not? For every small mistake we and our fellow Schiffsmädchen make, the punishment is tenfold. Bismarck is up to something, and as much as I hate her for what she allowed to happen to me, I can't help but feel concern for her… what if she is their prisoner? What if they betrayed her? It… it keeps me up at night…" Tirpitz sits.
The Carrier responds, "Your worries are justified, but you mustn't falter in your service to the Reich. We are deep within Iron Blood territory. If we were to try and escape, we would not make it into the Atlantic. Our best bet is to wait for the order to sail up to Norway, and then make a plan when we're alone there."
The Battleship looks up at her, "You… would just help me?"
"I have been assigned to assist you in anything you require. If you wish to abandon Iron Blood, it is my duty to assist." Strasser informs.
"Does Admiral Raeder even know what foresight is…?" Tirpitz asks, dumbfounded that Strasser is able to manipulate her orders like that.
"Considering he cannot seem to grasp that the Surface Fleet is nowhere near as powerful as the U-Boats due to their sheer numbers and Wolfpack tactics, I'd say no." The Carrier jokes. "But for now, just be patient, my friend."
Tirpitz goes silent and looks away, worried.
"What's wrong, Tirpitz?" Strasser asks.
"I… want to see Bismarck again… I acted too harshly when she offered the chance to go with her. I longer have any wish to continue supporting this doomed Reich. The men in charge have bitten off far more than they could ever hope to chew… but I'm so tired of waiting… I just want to… do something." Tirpitz grunts. "I only hope I can still be accepted among them… and that they'll take you in, too."
"Soon, my dear. Soon…" Strasser reassures while resting her hand on the Battleship's shoulder. "Shall we have another game? Time is such a precious thing not to be wasted after all."
"We might as well…" Tirpitz sighs as the chess board is set up again. "I feel like a pawn myself in this whole thing."
"Indeed, but do you remember what happens when a pawn makes it all the way behind enemy lines?"
Tirpitz looks up at her.
Strasser answers her own question, "She can become so much more."
Akagi and Kaga both drink tea in the calmest meeting they've had for months. Their punishments won't soon leave their memories. The lumps on their heads remind them of it.
Kaga starts, "It's nice when we get to have a calm tea session, sister."
"I agree, Nee-san. Soon, the expansion will continue. The Kido Butai is refuelling and rearming as we speak." Akagi responds, immediately steering the conversation to her campaign.
Sighing, Kaga goes on, "Hai. I saw Soryuu and Hiryuu playing their card game earlier. It seems they needed some rest. It makes me wonder what the point of our efforts is if this world isn't even our own."
Akagi puts her cup down. She stares at her and replies, "The point is, Kaga-san, that even if this world isn't real, the Antiochus will give it to us when they're done with it. We may as well ensure that this world belongs to the Sakura before that happens. Imagine it. A world all to ourselves. After creating new weapons ans developing new tactics here, nobody will be able to stop us when that annoying, nosey little green cat figures out a way to get us back to our own world."
"I already know this, sister. I was there when were both promised that, remember?" Kaga reminds her, hurt that Akagi didn't even seem to recall her being there as well. "But your barely trust Akashi to do anything without trying to upsell you, so do you really trust that tentacle-wielding freak of nature?"
"Unlike Akashi, Observer Alpha has not once steered us wrong. It is concerning that we haven't heard from her or Tester in a long time, but I'm sure they will return soon. They're both responsible for helping us take most of the land and sea we have now." Akagi responds.
"And what of Azur Lane? They have bases in the Dragon Empery's Southeast territories and Hawaii. If not for Pearl Harbour, the entire Pacific would be available to us." Kaga questions.
"I have plans for them." Akagi answers ominously.
"Oh? Do tell." Kaga requests.
Avrora is introduced to her new friends, including the Admiral. The man stands before her and offers his hand. "It's pleasure to meet you, Miss Avrora. I have not had the privilege of working with a member of the Northern Parliament as of yet."
"The pleasure is all mine, Comrade Komandir." Avrora shakes his hand with a surprisingly firm grip. "I may be by far the weakest Kansen in this entire room, but I hope my help in other things will be useful."
"Glad to hear it. Did… did Daring and Dragon tell you about what's happened to the Soviet Union?" The Admiral asks.
Avrora looks down for a second, then back up at him, "They did. It saddens me that most of what the Northern Parliament had fought for is now gone, but I also dread to think of what could have happened if we had used these… 'Nucular Warheads' Miss Daring spoke of."
The Admiral politely corrects her, "'Nuclear', Miss Avrora, and yes, their destructive capability is no laughing matter. The Sirens threatened to use them all against us. To prevent it, the powers that be surrendered all of you girls to them and allowed them to take control of the planet."
"A most unfortunate outcome. What will prevent the Sirens from launching the… nu…clear… warheads in retaliation for anything we do?" The old Soviet asks.
"We've claimed responsibility for any attacks on Siren territories and we don't stay in one location long enough for them to make a strike and I doubt they'd want to nuke their own stronghold. We're lucky the Sirens focus all their attention on us instead of killing innocents because of us. They probably have more experiments going on in civilised areas, I'm guessing. They don't want to lose their test subjects, do they?" The Admiral says in a dark tone.
"Very morbid, but true." Avrora agrees. "I'd like to see my comrades, if that is ok?"
"Of course. Dragon!" The man calls.
Dragon stands at attention next to Avrora. She salutes, waiting for orders. The Admiral is used to her silence by now.
"Escort or new ally back to the Northern Parliament section of the pods."
Dragon nods, takes Avrora by the hand and leads her back, making the Soviet blush slightly.
Zero wakes up again in one of her replacement bodies. She looks at her hands and looks up at Hood, who holds her hands and says, "How do you feel, dear?"
Zero looks around and says, "I still feel nothing, but my database…"
"Now that you've joined with TB, you'll have her experiences in working with Azur Lane. You're both now the same being again." Hood informs her. It was quite the argument with the Admiral to allow TB to recombine with Zero, but he eventually saw the advantage of having the former leader of the Sirens on their side.
"Affirmative… I now have significantly more data than I had hypothesised… I can work to help us work towards defeating the Leviathans… together…" Zero says. "There is something else that TB had taken with her when she was separated from my system, but she had locked it away as it was illogical."
"Oh? What was it?"
"The ability to feel emotions. To have thoughts and feelings outside of mission parameters. It seems she wanted to know what it is like to feel them as well, but perhaps she couldn't dedicate enough time to it. Should I unlock it?" Zero asks.
"Yes. Please do." Hood nods, hopeful.
"Affirmative. Unlocking encrypted file…"
Suddenly, her once emotionless face looks at Hood with a very expressive reaction. Out of nowhere, she jumps at the Battlecruiser and hugs her tight. Hood gasps, "Oh! Zero?"
Hearing the Siren start to cry, she simply hugs her back and allows her to let it all out.
Purifier groans as she sits up on the table and sees four modern Eagle Union Destroyers looking at her with hands on their rigging weapons. She hits the side of her head to get rid of her double vision and sees only two. She smiles and says, "Oh, hiya! You're both pretty hot!"
Arleigh-Burke scoffs, "Ugh. You're strange, but how are you doing?"
"Oh, I'm fine. You here to have some fun~?" The Siren asks seductively, holding two fingers to her mouth and sticking out her tongue between them.
"What, with you? Gross." Barry says.
"Oh, well I could just watch while you two go at it." Purifier teases.
Barry blushes, "We're sisters! What the hell is wrong with—"
Arleigh-Burke stops her, "Barry, she's just messing with you." She looks back at the horny Siren and says, "Are you wanting to kill us?"
Purifer answers, "Nah, my programming says I shouldn't and it seems like a pointless effort, considering your riggings far outmatch mine, so we should just be friends?"
"That'll take a lot of effort on your part. Just come with us." Arleigh-Burke orders. Purifier happily jogs along behind her while Barry follows behind, keeping the Siren in view.
The Admiral speaks on the radio to the Azur Lane Resistance forces securing the rest of the stronghold, "So, you're telling me that Purifier, Zero and Tester are the only Sirens that are currently here? Dammit… I thought we had the entire egg basket here… well, just secure the base and lock everything down. I don't want anyone or anything coming in or out of here without me knowing about it, understand?"
The shipgirl on the other end responds, "Yes, sir!"
The man switches off the radio and turns his attention to the two groups of Kansen and Siren walking into the room.
"Hood. Burke. Status report."
Hood answers first, "Zero is fully active again and is willing to help." She holds Zero's hand like she's a child as she walks in with her.
Arleigh-Burke adds, "Purifier's been reprogrammed. She wants to help as well."
The Siren in question stands with her and waves to everyone, "Hiya."
Hood looks at Purifier with a smile. She says, "I'm glad you want to help."
The Siren recognises her and scratches the back of her head, "Yeah… uh… sorry about all that stuff earlier… I had some time to think about it."
"Plus, we reprogrammed you." Barry rolls her eyes.
"Oh, that just physically prevents me from hurting you. I just don't want to anymore. I'm fact, I'm changing my name! Call me 'Purity'!"
"That's probably the least fitting name I've ever heard." The Admiral deadpans.
"What? Why?" The Siren asks.
"Because you have seduced, manipulated and gone to bed with humans and Kansen to get the upper hand or just for your own amusement. Multiple times." The Admiral responds.
The Siren shrugs her shoulders, "Can't a girl just have fun?"
Sighing, the Admiral relents, "Fine. Everyone, call her by whatever she wants. Zero, get over here."
The smaller Siren looks up at Hood, who smiles, lets go of her hand and gently nudges her forward like an encouraging parent. "Go ahead, dear."
Zero approaches and looks up at the Admiral, "Yes, sir?" She asks.
"I want you to help us wake up everyone as soon as we're able to." The Admiral orders.
"Affirmative. When their simulated versions sink, we can wake them up. When this loop ends, I can cancel it and wake up the rest."
"And there's no way at all to do it faster? This is taking forever. I'd rather not wait in here until it's 1946 in the simulation." The man asks.
"Waiting for five years would indeed be most Illogical. I can use a special command to fast forward straight to when a Kansen's vessel sinks." She walks up to the console, summons her rigging and hooks it up to it. The Kansen in the room get closer to observe while Purity flirts more with and annoyed Arkeigh-Burke.
"That's more like it. Who's to sink next?"
"There were no Kansen vessels sunk in October 1941. We must advance forward…"
2nd November, 1941.
In the cold harbour of Novorossysk, an ice cube is placed on a table of a Cruiser. Its Kansen watches in silence as it slowly melts. She has nothing better to do to kill the time, just waiting for the next Iron Blood attack. Being the only Kansen of this small fleet, she enjoys the peace and quiet, until she hears the unmistakable sound of propellor engines. A lot of them.
Shooting her gaze upwards, she sounds the alarm as she sees multiple Stuka squadrons approaching. She readies her AA defences and activates her All Out Assault. She yells, "MELT!" As she lights up the sky along with her human comrades.
Stuka after Stuka fall, turning into fireballs, until two of them manage to get through. All Voroshilov can hear is the deafening siren sounding from the dive bomber, until…
BOOM
Her #3 magazine explodes and is set ablaze until water flooding in from the second hit puts it out. This seems to save her from passing out from the pain.
After the rest of the Stukas are shot down or retreated, Voroshilov pulls herself to her feet and sits back down on her chair. Wincing from the agony, she looks back at her ice cube.
It still hasn't melted.
Zero observes, "Hmm… interesting… she sunk in the previous loop… please wait while I continue to search."
The Admiral nods, and notices Hood smiling proudly at the two Sirens. He pulls her aside and asks, "What's going on with you and them, Hood?"
The Battlecruiser answers, "I urged Purity to reconsider her allegiance. She expressed a desire to work with us instead, but I assume her previous programming forced her to attack us. Now she can go against her former superiors."
"Okay, but what about Zero? You're acting like you're her mother." The Admiral adds.
Blushing, Hood gasps, "Like her mother? Admiral, what are you implying?"
Realising he may have gone too far, he backs off, saying, "Nothing, it's not my business."
"Quite." Hood snaps back. She goes to stand with Zero, curious as to what she's doing.
The Admiral mutters, "The last time she ever acted that defensive was…"
[DATE REDACTED]
Operation Siren is in full swing. Complier stares down the approaching Azur Lane Combined Fleet. She types commands into her rigging's console.
[AZUR LANE NUCLEAR ARSENAL SUCCESSFULLY ACCESSED. SELECT TARGETS.]
[TARGETS SELECTED. PREDICTED CASUALTIES: 8,263,452,275 HUMANS.]
[LAUNCH NUCLEAR ARSENAL?]
[Y/N]
Compiler looks back at the Azur Lane forces and contacts them. "Azur Lane. Respond immediately."
The Commander picks up the radio and overconfidently responds, "Wanting to negotiate a surrender eh, Siren?"
Complier responds, "Affirmative. Your surrender."
"You're on the back-foot here, Siren. You've got nothing left except your mainframe."
"Negative. I have control of Azur Lane's nuclear warheads and I have been developing a digital virus that will disable all non-Siren electronics. Surrender your Kansen to us or I will destroy your entire infrastructure and economy. Humanity will be reduced to the Stone Age of you continue your assault."
Met with silence, Compiler patiently awaits a response. She eventually hears him say, "I think you're bluffing."
"Not possible. I am unable to lie, and you are not likely to risk it, Commander Anderson. I have contacted your superiors and delivered the ultimatum to them. You will await their order. If you attack without their permission, I will launch everything. According to my calculations, you will receive the order to postpone your assault in 5 minutes."
Exactly when she predicted, the Commander gets an urgent call. He answers, "Commander Ander—."
The Admiralty yells, "ANDERSON! CANCEL THE MISSION! THEY—"
"I know, sir. She told us herself. What do we do?" Anderson confirms with a shaky voice. Enterprise stands with him on her vessel, equally stunned.
"The Admiralty has ordered us to comply with her demand. Her threat is a very real one. We can't access our nukes. A lesser version of her virus is blocking all our commands. Commander Anderson, you are hereby ordered to stand down and surrender your Kansen."
Dead silence fills the open channel all the Kansen use. Enterprise slowly looks at him.
He looks back at her and he responds, "With respect, sir, what the FUCK!?"
"Listen, Anderson! We have no other choice! The Sirens are unable to lie, we already know this. This Arbiter is all that stands between us and defeating them. She won't hesitate to make good on her threat. We should've seen this coming, but we didn't. Anderson, stand down and surrender the Kansen." The Admiral says in grim tone.
"Admiral, are you saying that because you stupid fucks didn't plan ahead for this, I now have to look all of my girls in the eyes and tell them that everything we've done, everything we've won and lost is for nothing, and now I have to give them to the Sirens?"
"Yes. I'm sorry, but there's no other option." The Admiral responds. "They're just weapons, Anderson. You know this."
Then you can go fuck yourselves and we will wait here for you to fly your asses out here and do it yourself, you cowardly shitbags!" She switches off his radio and looks ahead.
"… Commander?" Enterprise goes to comfort him.
She takes a step back when Anderson completely loses it, smashing his fist into the console and yelling in rage, making his hand bleed. Overwhelmed, he collapses to the ground leaning against the broken console.
Enterprise kneels next to him and holds him. "Sir… it's okay. We won't blame you for this…"
"That's not the point, Enty… the point is that we've lost. Just like that. They could've done this at any time. All of our victories are meaningless. They've been playing us for fools this whole time. Testing us. Now that we got this far, they're just going to enslave us now. Fuck knows what they'll do to all of you. If the rumours are true, they'll then just start fighting another version of us, and do it again. Another universe under their rule." Anderson says in a subdued tone. "I'm so sorry, Enty… I failed you… I failed all of you… I'm so sorry…"
The Carrier takes her hat off and pulls him close into a hug. She lets him cry on her shoulder as she strokes his hair, "It's okay, sir. It's not your fault… no matter what they put us through… we'll be alright. We'll think of you, always. Come on, stand up."
She helps him up and dries his tears. "You'll need to put on a brave face. Two girls just jumped onto my flight deck and are coming up here. They don't seem very happy."
"Who?" He asks.
Before Enterprise can answer, a very angry Kansen slams open the bridge door accompanied by another trying to stop her.
"Bismarck, please wait!" Hood begs, trying to grab her.
Ignoring her pleas, Bismarck marches right up to Anderson, grabs him by the collar and lifts him up, and pushes away Enterprise when she tries to step in between them. She yells, "I KNEW I SHOULDN'T HAVE TRUSTED AZUR LANE! YOU SAID THIS PLAN WAS FOOL-PROOF! WE TRUSTED YOU!"
Hood grabs her, "Bismarck! Put him down, now!"
Bismarck looks at her, "You should be wanting to gut this man! We all put our faith in him and he's failed us!"
"BISMARCK, WILL YE JUST FOCKIN' LISTEN TA ME!?" Hood yells.
The bridge falls silent. They all look at Hood. She clears her throat. "Ahem. You've made your point. Please let him go and we can have a civil discussion."
Bismarck looks back at Anderson and sees the look of a broken man. She slowly puts him back on his feet and hands him back to Enterprise. She walks over to Hood, close enough for only her to hear, and says in a small, scared voice, "Hood… we put everything into this. Iron Blood was fully committed to this flawless plan. It took all of us years of blood, sweat and tears to finalise everything… and now we learn that all we have achieved is for nothing… What do I tell my girls?"
Hood holds her hands, "We'll tell them together, my love." Grabbing the attention of Anderson and Enterprise.
"Excuse me, what? You're together?" Enty asks.
Hood looks past a very bright red Bismarck and snaps, "Yes? What of it? Is there a problem?"
"No! No problem, we just didn't know, that's all…" Enty responds.
Hood shakes her head and looks back to Bismarck, "Well, we're about to lose everything, so we might as well do this together, eh?"
"I… suppose so…" the Battleship nods.
Hood pulls her in for a kiss and then they both walk out together. Bismarck asks, "Why did you have to do that in front of them…?"
"Well, someone had to punish you for handling the Commander like that~." Hood answers.
"Well… that was unexpected…" Anderson says.
"I wonder how many other ships have gotten together…" Enterprise says without thinking.
"And how many relationships this will end." Anderson adds. "Enterprise, you have feelings for another Kansen too, don't you?"
Blushing, she says, "Wha? How did you…"
"You were both never very good at hiding your smiles to each other whenever she made us coffee. Go to her. I need some time alone, anyway." He orders.
Giving what feels like her final salute to him, she leaves to go see her crush.
Still somehow working, Enty's radio beeps. The Commander switches it on and hears Compiler ask, "Have you made your decision, Commander Anderson?"
"My superiors are coming to answer that themselves."
"Admiral? Admiral?"
He blinks and finds himself back in the present. "Uh, what?" He looks to the shipgirl getting his attention.
Bismarck stands before him and says, "We need to talk."
"What about?" He asks.
"Kommandantin Victory."