1998.

Skully Islands Archipelago, Spring Sea.

"So, it's the Scarface Squad's little birdy." The flight lead of Cocoon Squadron mockingly announces as she sees the two mercenary aces enter the airspace. "Just hope he's worth the trip. And boys, behave yourselves."

In unison, her four wingmen all respond, "Roger, my Lady."

Chuckling, Cocoon 1 adds, "That's what I like to hear."

The five Rafale M jet fighters move to intercept Phoenix and Edge.

As Scarface Squadron fly to the battle, Keynote says wistfully, "Skully Islands…" remembering the conflict that took place there just 3 years prior, often overshadowed by the Belkan War in the same year. Phoenix doesn't mind his actions being ignored in favour of the Demon Lord. He's not one for fame and glory.

Just the money.

Nagase joins Keynote in looking upon the evening sun starting to disappear below the horizon, making silhouettes of the distant islands and the Rebel Fleet. She sighs, "Just look at that sunset… stunning…"

"Heads up, Phoenix. It's not every day you get to see Lt. Nagase's feminine side." Keynote teases.

Blushing, Edge stutters, "Uh, hey! I wasn't— Phoenix, we're entering combat airspace!"

The Kansen of the Kinnear-class Aircraft Carrier Arquette watches her radar as her first two Frigates get blown up by Scarface Squadron. No Kansen on those ones, but she still can't help but feel sorry for the humans aboard them. She yells out, "Fire all weapons! Annihilate the Allied Forces! Failure is not an option!"

Her fellow Kansen acknowledge and head out into formation, activating their Aegis systems and sea-to-air missiles. One Cruiser Kansen radios, "He's coming for me!"

"Get a lock on them and fire! Shoot them out of the sky!" Arquette orders.

Cocoon questions, "So is that the little birdy I've heard so much about? Let's introduce ourselves, boys."

Watching the battle, the Observer quips, "Ooh, that Carrier Kansen and Cocoon 1 both remind me of you, dear Empress."

Confused, the Empress looks down at her, "Wha…? How so? They're totally different."

"Yes, but the Kansen has your headstrong attitude and anger issues, while the pilot has your overconfidence and she's underestimating Phoenix." She explains.

"…just keep taking notes…" the taller Siren grumbles.

Keynote sees Cocoon Squadron approaching Scarface on the tactical map. "Phoenix, Edge, Rebel fighters coming your way. Careful."

Cocoon 1 radios, "Come on, little birdy. Care to dance? I'm starting to get jealous of those warships."

Accepting the invitation, Phoenix goes after her while Edge keeps the others off him.

"We Navy pilots can't lose against measly land pilots." Cocoon 1 boasts. "Don't get sloppy now."

Phoenix lines up a missile and fires, hitting her plane but dealing insignificant damage. The Rebel ace grunts, "Oh, it bites!"

One of her wingmen calls out, "Are you alright, my Lady!?"

"I've been better…" she rubs her arm from when she hit it hard as the missile violently rocked her plane. She thinks that perhaps the little birdy has sharper talons than she had anticipated. She orders. "Cocoon Squad, fall back and regroup."

Herne spies on the battle with Captain Torres and begs, "Come on, sir! Lemme get involved! I can do the amazing shot again! The one that got you promoted from Gunnery Officer to Captain!"

"That lucky shot of yours was in the middle of a storm at night, Herne. Also, if you give away our position to an entire Carrier Task Force we will most certainly be killed. When this battle is over, we're going back to Comberth." Torres shoots her down. "We need to see how that machine actually works. Its shields and cloaking tech will be invaluable to the Aegir Fleet."

"Okay…"

"LAUNCH FIGHTERS, NOW!" Arquette yells as she summons more planes as fast as she can. She's just lost the Cruiser Kansen from earlier and the rest are in peril now that their ace squadron flew away. "HOW COULD MEASLY FIGHTERS GET THE BEST OF OUR FLEET!?"

Another Kansen replies, "Arquette… it's the Phoenix!"

"IGNORE THE RUMOURS! JUST TAKE THEM DOWN!" The angry Carrier demands. "THEY KILLED MY SISTER!"

"Huh… shit, I guess she is like me…" the Empress concedes.

"Oh? And here I thought I'd have angry outbursts in stereo today." The Observer quips, surprised at the calmness of her usually very irritated colleague.

"That's because this time I wanted Phoenix to appear. Granted, he managed to cut off a lot of supplies meant for this test, and it was supposed to be in Anchorhead, but this time we can properly study him."

"I see. So you do remember the real mission, after all…" the smaller Siren smiles.

Arquette finds herself staring down Phoenix as he targets her ship. She fires everything she has at him in vengeance for Kinnear, even summoning planes to fly right at him like some kind of reverse kamikaze attack, which he narrowly evades.

Thrown off-guard by the unorthodox use of multi-million dollar aircraft, Phoenix pulls up and flies back around with that bizarre defence in mind. Now he knows for sure he's dealing with a Kansen.

A potentially insane one.

"COME BACK, YOU FLYING CHICKEN!" The Carrier screams.

Scarface 1 loops back and performs a barrel roll to avoid the incoming reverse kamikazes and launches his entire secondary payload, which he's been saving especially for the Carrier. He passes over the vessel as the anti-ship missiles make contact, blowing up the flattop and throwing the Kansen off the flight deck.

"Kinnear… I'm sorry…" she whispers as her body turns to Cubes that land into the water. Her ship snaps in half and sinks in a V shape as Scarface Squadron work on finishing off the remaining Kansen and human-crewed warships.

"I'm… the only one left…?" The last Kansen watches in horror as the rest of the fleet sinks. The two planes head towards her. She drops her rigging and drops to her knees. "No…"

Before her ship can be targeted, she jumps off it and turns it to rigging before running away as fast as her rigging will go.

Having the retreating Kansen in his sights, Phoenix notices she isn't firing back at him and he feels like he'd regret killing a Kansen who clearly doesn't want to fight anymore. He disengages and lets her leave the battlefield.

"The enemy fleet has been destroyed. The Allied Forces now have control of the Spring Sea, but there's still a Rebel presence. Scarface Squadron, you have new orders. Wipe out all Rebel presence in the area." Keynote orders.

Now on their way back, Herne sits at the table in her bridge, feeling down because she couldn't be awesome again. Ever since she made that incredible artillery shot and sunk a Rebel ship almost 20 miles away in the middle of a stormy night months ago, it's all she's talked about with the rest of the Aegir Fleet.

Torres sits opposite her and asks, "You never got credit for that shot, did you?"

"It was your order, sir. You deserve all the credit." The Destroyer downplays herself.

"Is that why you wanted to do it again?" He asks. "So you can feel like it was your call this time?"

She shrugs, "…maybe…"

The Captain sighs, "Herne… look, if you ever get a chance in the future, and it safe fir you to do so, you can attempt it again, I promise."

"Really?" She perks up.

"Yes, but again, only if you can get away with it like last time." Torres reminds her.

She smiles, "Thank you, sir." She salutes casually and he returns it.

"What are you writing, anyway?"

"Oh, just the story of my latest secret adventure with the Captain into enemy territory. It feels like I'm in a spy movie… well, if the spies could control warships, anyway." Herne explains.

"Herne. You do know what 'secret' means, yes?" Torres asks seriously.

"Um…" she realises what she's doing, "Oh… aww…" she picks up her stack of papers detailing every minute thing they've done on this scouting mission, including the Pawn-class and the equipment they salvaged. "I'll just… go throw this overboard…"

Torres puts his hand to his eyes in sheer disbelief as the Kansen goes out into deck and throws the notepad over the edge.

Unknown to her, however, the notepad does not even touch the water. It falls through a small portal.

On the other end of said portal, a Siren catches it and begins reading it.

"Hmm… so that's how they did it…" The Hermit smiles as she continues watching them…

2024.

Azur Lane HQ, Akashi's lab.

"You requested my presence, human?" The Compiler asks after having been escorted by Spee.

"Yes, we want to know why Hornet and Yorktown have riggings of ships that weren't built in this world." The Fleet Admiral answers.

Lt. Colonel Bishop adds. "And how they took the forms of ships from my world."

The Compiler looks at the screen Hipper shows her that reads:

[YORKTOWN CV-10] [CLASS UNKNOWN]

[HORNET CV-12] [CLASS UNKNOWN]

Hipper informs, "According to Herr Kommandant, CV-10 and CV-12 were cancelled when Sirens destroyed their hulls during their construction, yet we see their IDs right here, and Frau Yorktown and Frau Hornet possess them."

The Compiler looks at Bishop and asks, "Yorktown and Horner were finished as Essex-classes in your world, correct?"

"Yeah, that's right. They were far enough away from the Japanese to be safe from attacks, and we don't have any Sirens back home, so they couldn't have destroyed them, either." Warwolf 1 answers.

The Siren announces, "I hypothesise that, once again, your Trinity Warhead is to blame, Lt. Colonel William Bishop."

"… what?" Bishop whispers, stunned that his involvement seems far more pivotal than anyone ever could've anticipated.

1998.

The Tester puts a hand to her head as she stumbles towards a fountain and sits down on it, having just woken up from being forcefully sent here through the emergency portal.

"What… happened? Zero? Observer?" She looks around and sees she's in the middle of a human city. The portal that had sent her here had attracted a large crowd, gawking and gasping at her golden eyes, pale skin, black metallic horns and rather revealing attire.

"Ugh… of all places… it had to be among these animals…" she sees red banners adorning the streets and law enforcement surrounding her with weapons drawn. They seem very militarised. "One of those countries, huh…? I'm a long way from the water… I can't summon my rigging… can't portal away, either…" she feels too weak to do much of anything.

"Stay right where you are!" A man with a high ranking orders. She looks up at him and sees his uniform. She doesn't recognise it or his insignias, but the way he speaks and commands the other soldier implies he's important. "Put your hands where we can see them!"

The Tester raises her hands up, assuming they understand she won't fight. She responds, "I mean no harm. I need help."

The man in charge looks at his men and orders, "Hold your fire, but keep your weapons trained on her." He holsters his pistol and cautiously approaches the Siren, who slowly lowers her arms. He stands before her and introduces himself, "Colonel Gustav Dvornik. I'm going to have to place you under arrest for disturbing the peace and for whatever that was you just did."

"Huh?" The Tester takes a step back. "Hang on… I don't even know where I am! What country is this!?"

"This is the Federal Republic of Estovakia, ma'am. Please around and put your hands behind your back." The man orders.

Not wanting to start a fight she may not win, she complies, but asks, "Estovakia? Since when was that a country?"

Thinking this strange woman may be intoxicated or under the influence of narcotics, the Commander asks, "What is your name, ma'am?"

"My designation is 'The Tester, Siren Elite', and if you don't take these shackles off me, you will regret it." Teh Siren threatens.

Having his suspicions confirmed in his mind, Gustav says, "Alright, ma'am. You're coming with us." pulls her along by her arm to a Belkan-made Police APC and puts her in the back.

"Release me, human!" The Tester demands before the armoured doors shut.

"Get her to the station and in a cell. She's hopped up on something and I want to know what." Gustav orders. As the APC drives away, he opens the door of his car and gazes up at the sky.

"What is it, Colonel?" A subordinate asks. "With respect, sir, you look like you haven't slept in days."

"I haven't. That meteor keeps me up at night, as I'm sure it does all of you, Corporal Voychek." They both enter the car and he continues, "That damned rock has been predicted to split in two upon hitting the atmosphere. One will land on Usea, and the other here. Osea claims their Stonehenge is too far in development to be modified to protect us. I just hope that our… 'Chandelier'… will bring it down…"

"I have faith, Colonel." Voychek assures him. "Estovakia will be the saviours of Anea."

"At this point, we need as much faith as we can get, Corporal…"