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Observer was doing as her designation suggested. There was much that Zero and the Master needed to know about the world and its evolution. But something had invaded her near perfect experiment. A lone figure jumped through time and distance in a way that only they should be able to. This caught her attention immediately and she had the location of its landing in this branch at hand.
The figure was dead, or maybe it never lived in the first place. Traversing between time and space in the same instance was terribly unhealthy to organic life. But that didn’t mean it could be allowed to stay.
“Purifier.”
“Whadda you want,” came the irritated reply.
“I am sending you the location of an anomalous instance. Remove it.”
“Ugh, it’s always go here and do this bullshit with you, isn’t it?” Purifier grumped. “Can’t it ever be: Hey, take a day off, you deserve it!”
“Negative.”
“Slave driving bitch.”
“A cognitive reconstruction is waiting for you should you refuse to carry out Zero’s will.”
“Fine, fine, don’t lobotomize me again.”
Observer felt a faint digital presence that alerted her to an intruder into the system.
“Hurry it up, the Hunter is watching.”
“Ooooo~ Don’t get gutted, Observer. I would hate to see you reduced to scrap,” Purifier said sarcastically.
“You don’t need to worry about my continued survival,” Observer said.
“I won’t!” Purifier quipped.
~~~
The Commander jumped from the sound coming from his desk phone. It wasn’t ringing, not in the way that it normally would at least. This sound was more akin to a radio attention tone.
“Are you going to answer that?” Enterprise asked after a moment.
“... Right, let’s see who this is,” he said and picked up the phone.
“Commander,” a very specific voice said immediately.
“Raven,” the Commander said in surprise, catching Enterprise’s full attention. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“An emergency,” Raven said. “Something came through an old Siren pathway and they are moving already. Observer wants it gone immediately and dispatched Purifier ten minutes ago. It landed really close to the base. You will have a powerful Siren incursion within the hour, likely sooner.”
“Understood,” the Commander nodded to Enterprise who ran out the door to get things started as he pushed the base alert button on his desk. “What else can you give us?”
“I’m sending you as accurate of coordinates as I can, but they’ll be a bit fuzzy,” Raven said. “Also, expect some stiff fighting. Observer categorized the object as a potential living organism and Purifier is bringing a substantial force. Whatever they think this is, they really don’t want you getting your hands on it.”
“Living? You don’t think it’s a Kansen do you?” the Commander asked.
“I have no idea what it could be,” Raven said. “But the point stands.”
“Of course,” he stood up and prepared to leave. “Anything else?”
“I’ve done what I can to slow them down, but it’s not much,” Raven said. “I might be able to land a sneaky digital attack but that’s not going to make or break your defense. Of course I’ll be overhead like usual too.”
“Copy that.”
“Later.”
The Commander grabbed his things and stepped out into the hall where he met Enterprise on her way back.
“Everyone is moving,” she told him as they walked and talked. “I’ve left a substantial portion of our forces here and on alert just in case it’s a distraction.”
“Well done,” he nodded. “I have a question though.”
“What’s that?” Enterprise asked.
“When did we give Raven the number to my desk?” he asked. “And for that matter, why did it make that sound?”
“I can’t answer the second question, but for the first, he is the guy we rely on when the Sirens are being sneaky. Him getting a hold of your desk number probably isn’t all that hard. I doubt it’s terribly classified after all.”
“Fair enough,” he saw smoke coming out of the stacks of his command vessel as the dock workers got it ready to sail. “The good news is that the force is being led by Purifier. The bad news is that it’s being led by Purifier. Also, we have some small evidence that what we are looking for may be living, or used to be, so we need to watch out for that.”
“Understood,” she nodded. “Do we have exact coordinates?”
“No,” he shook his head. “Raven could only get some fuzzy numbers. He’s also doing what he can to slow them down with digital attacks, but his abilities are limited.”
“And how far out is Purifier?”
“We have less than an hour,” he sighed. “At best we’ll have to fight over the object. At worst we’ll have to try and take it from her.”
“That’s if she doesn’t simply destroy it,” Enterprise said.
“Yeah, that too.”
They broke off from each other as they reached the docks. Enterprise went to lead the carriers while he climbed into the command vessel. As soon as he sat down he opened the radio and started addressing everyone that was going. Making sure they knew what was coming and what formations he wanted from them. He felt the small ship lurch as it was tugged away from the dock. It would take a few minutes before he was clear enough to maneuver it himself, but it gave him time to get everyone up to speed.
~~~
Enterprise and the other carrier were already fighting Purifier’s jets. One of the upsides to their opponent being Purifier, and not someone like Observer, was that Purifier was rather bull headed. She seemed to chafe under the other Sirens, so she wasn’t prone to listening to them all the time and she didn’t care much for tricks. However, she was also largely unpredictable with her manic personality. This has led to a number of Kansen being caught entirely off guard by the Siren before. So Enterprise watched the skies and flanks like a hawk.
Of course, she wasn’t the only one leading in the fleet. Bismarck and Jean Bart were flanking her with their battle groups, leaving her to focus more of her attention on the skies and the black jets. The Commander was behind her, keeping an eye on the larger tactical situation as well. And to top it all off, Raven was overhead and giving updates on the Siren fleet composition and positioning as it happened. Also, he occasionally managed to tighten the search area as well.
“Enterprise, I found a group of flat tops,” Graf Zeppelin said.
“Aquilla, assist Graf with those carriers, destroy them quickly.”
“Of course~”
“I managed to hold off the attack on Jean’s battle group, but I lost a lot of fighters in the process,” Bataan said.
“Alright, focus on keeping us defended from now on.”
Things were mostly forming to her satisfaction. The Siren force was larger than expected, but was thinning quickly. Purifier didn’t seem too interested in fighting them herself, which was concerning, but it made the job of sinking enemy ships easier.
“Enterprise, Raven found a flanking element coming up on Bismarck’s group. She’s aware but in some deep fighting,” the Commander called out.
“We’ll take some of the pressure off,” she answered and directed her and Zuikaku’s bombers in that direction.
“Does anyone else think this is going a little too well?” Washington asked over the radio.
“Don’t invite more danger when things are going well,” the Commander said. “Focus on the mission, we have a stable and advantageous position right now.”
The fighting continued for some time with the Azur Lane force slowly but surely cutting down Purifier’s fleet. But something made Enterprise’s battle instinct tingle.
“Enterprise, left!” Raven called out.
She whipped around, already raising her bow as Purifier appeared through a portal.
“Let’s play, Enterprise!” the Siren shouted as both of them unleashed their weapons.
The other carriers didn’t need to be told to scatter as Purifier’s lasers tore through their formation. She dimly heard Zuikaku taking command of the carriers and the Commander directing forces from Jean’s group to assist. But her attention was taken solely by Purifier.
“This mission is such a drag!” Purifier complained as Enterprise dodged her attacks and returned in kind. “Observer just had to come and ruin my day with this little search and destroy gig. I can’t even play with you all for long because I have to leave soon! It’s such bullshit.”
Enterprise sent arrow after arrow at the Siren as neither had landed a hit yet, both were far too agile. But realistically, all she had to do was hold Purifier back until Zuikaku got a strike ready or the others showed up to screen her.
“And it wasn’t even something cool or worth breaking, just a dumb cube and a broken body,” Purifier continued her rant.
“All of this for a single cube?” Enterprise asked as she managed to take out one of Purifier’s guns.
“Ooh, yes~ Break me harder daddy!” Purifier said in response to the damage. “I like it rough!”
Enterprise noted that Purifier didn’t actually answer the question, though she wasn’t expecting her too, and started fighting harder. Neither spoke further past this point. Purifier because she now had to deal with a concentrated air strike and Enterprise because the Siren took up her attention.
“E, Give me a clear shot!”
“Move right,” Raven suggested.
Not a moment later there were a bunch of loud snaps as shells flew past her. Purifier disappeared behind a wall of explosions for a brief moment.
“Holy fuck that hurt!” Purifier shouted as the smoke cleared. “Not getting hit by that twice, nope!”
Enterprise sent another arrow that Purifier deftly dodged before a portal opened and she ran off.
“Hey, sorry it took so long,” Georgia said as she sailed up to her. “You alright?”
“I’m fine,” Enterprise said after looking herself over. “Commander, Purifier has run off.”
“Good, Bismarck and Jean are just about done with what’s left,” the Commander said. “Keep your head on a swivel though, it’s not done until it’s over.”
“Of course.”
The battle slowed down soon after that. A few smaller taskforces were formed to chase and sink what was left while everyone else scoured the surrounding area.
“I think Helena found it!” Cleveland called out.
“Don’t just touch it, it might be dangerous,” the Commander said. “Bismarck, can you-”
“Already here, Commander,” she answered.
“Great.”
Enterprise nodded to herself. Bismarck was well versed with Siren tech and knew how to handle it safely. So she turned her attention to the carriers, getting loss numbers, damage reports, and making sure she told Zuikaku she did a good job. She didn’t need to see the object, she was sure the Commander would call a meeting once they got back to base.
~~~
The Commander ran a hand through his hair as he stood in the lab with the others. It had taken the better part of two days for Yuubari to make sense of what had been brought to her, but she was ready to tell. So he called a meeting of his inner circle and they all met at the lab.
“Alright, what do you have for us Yuubari?” he asked once everyone was present.
“A bit of a mystery, Master,” she said and uncovered the object.
It was about human sized and shaped, but burned so badly that it was hard to identify as such.
“I can say for certain that this wasn’t anyone we knew as the body is in fact of mechanical construction,” she started. “So we aren’t looking at a dead body so much as a destroyed Siren body of some kind. I’ve analyzed what was left and came to the conclusion that this was most likely a Siren Pawn of an Eagle Union light cruiser. Who I’m not sure as all identifying features were completely destroyed by Purifier. But this is where we get to the mystery.”
Yuubari pointed to a blood red Wisdom cube with black edges.
“This cube was found in the Pawn.”
Everyone took a look, but many seemed reluctant to get close to it.
“Interesting, but why on Earth is it red?” the Commander asked.
“We don’t know,” Yuubari said. “But with your permission, I would like to run it through some tests.”
“Are we sure it won’t explode?” Richelieu asked.
“Wisdom cubes are so completely stable that this is highly unlikely,” Yuubari said. “At absolute worst, it breaks and we don’t find anything out.”
“Commander,” Bismarck said firmly. “It looks similar to what Observer offered me.”
“You’re positive?” he asked.
“Completely,” she nodded. “I’m not saying we shouldn’t run tests, but it should be done very carefully. And no one should be left alone with it.”
“Right,” he nodded, remembering the near catastrophe that came about when Bismarck was tempted. While it didn’t kill her, he was aware of the Scherzo that she could hear on occasion. “Would you mind over seeing this or would you rather keep your distance?”
“... I will over see this if it would make you more comfortable, but I will not be touching it,” she said firmly.
“Do we need to have Bremerton on hand?” New Jersey asked.
“It might not be a bad idea,” Richelieu said. “I will make myself available as well for the duration of the tests. If this is similar to what Bismarck was offered in the past, we must treat it as dangerous. Not everyone is as strong willed as her.”
“Is it something we should be willing to destroy if we can’t get anything from it?” Veneto asked.
“Yes,” Bismarck said firmly.
“Right,” the Commander nodded and took some notes. “Yuubari, will you need any extra help in the lab for this?”
“I’ve already enlisted the assistance of Marblehead, Master,” Yuubari said. “She has helped in the past and is very conscious of lab safety.”
“Does anyone have anything else?” he asked, looking around the room.
“That thing makes me itch,” Soyuz said. “I don’t think it is evil, necessarily, but it is different. We should proceed with caution.”
“Noted,” he nodded. “Yuubari, you may start with your tests at your leisure, but I want detailed reports and I want anyone working with it to be upfront about any intrusive thoughts, understood?”
“Completely,” she bowed. “We’ll get you your answers, Master.”
~~~
The Commander didn’t have to worry about Yuubari and the lab most of the time. At least, not when things were functioning as normal. There were still a few occasional explosions that made him jump from his chair, but those were decreasing as time went on. But the lab did still have a direct line to his office in case they needed to get his attention fast.
“Commander, you need to come to the lab,” Marblehead said as soon as he picked up the phone.
“Is everyone alright?” he asked immediately.
“Yes, no one is hurt, but you need to come here quickly, you need to see this.”
Marblehead didn’t give much more explanation than that. So he saved his current progress and moved swiftly to the lab. He never ran, unless it was an emergency, him running would make a lot of people understandably weary. But he made his way to the lab without incident and Marblehead met him out front.
“Okay, I’m here, what’s up?” he asked.
“Follow me,” she opened the door and showed him in. “Right, so Yuubari and I were running some tests on the strange cube like you asked. Bismarck has been around mostly to make sure it wasn’t whispering to us like hers did. I can also lay to rest that worry as we’ve definitively found that this cube and the one used to temp Bismarck are different. The one given to Bismarck was corrupted, this one simply comes from a different place.”
“Elaborate,” he said.
“So, as far as we can tell, all of the Wisdom cubes have the exact same make up and design,” she told him. “And we believe this is because they all come from the same place, or perhaps the same thing, human hopes and dreams. This one has the same blueprint, but a different charge.”
“What are you getting… at… What is that?”
The Commander stopped in his tracks when he saw the device. It wasn’t something he hadn’t seen before, in fact, he has seen it used many times. But he wasn’t expecting to see it in use today.
“Hello, Master,” Yuubari said as she and Vestal checked over some data. “Thank you for coming so quickly.”
“Alright,” he paused to take a deep breath as he looked at the device they used to bring Kansen into being. “What happened?”
“Something strange,” Yuubari said. “Marblehead was poking the cube trying to better understand it when it suddenly reacted and formed a body.”
“We recognized her for what she was immediately and called Vestal to bring everything we needed,” Marblehead continued. “She is stable now, we just need to know what to do next.”
“Can we wake her?” he asked. “Or first, I guess, do we know who it is?”
“We do know who it is,” Vestal said. “It seems the cube took after the first person to find it. Though there are some differences.”
“The first person? Helena?” he guessed.
“Correct,” Yuubari nodded. And opened the viewing screen. “Take a look.”
The Commander stepped forward and peered down at the sleeping girl. The screen only allowed him to see from her collar up, which was a good thing seeing as she didn’t appear to be wearing anything. And as clear as day, that was Helena. But…
“So, she looks like the Helena we know, but is she actually Helena?” he asked.
“We don’t actually know yet,” Marblehead said. “And there is a possibility that she may be a different ‘Helena’ than the one we know.”
“So possibly the Baltimore class ship?” he ventured.
“Or maybe the Fargo class or even the sub, who knows,” Yuubari said. “What we do know is that she’s here to stay.”
“Right, I’ll let Helena and her sisters know to be ready in case they can help,” he said and sent a text. “As for what you do next, if she wakes up on her own, great, let me know as soon as it happens. Otherwise, keep her here and under surveillance. We don’t know what kind of Kansen that different cube can produce.”
“Uh, you might be getting your answer,” Vestal said from the side as she looked at the screen. “She’s waking up.”
“Right now!?” he asked in surprise.
“Yes, right now,” Vestal nodded as Marblehead and Yuubari rushed around to help.
“Marble, get me something to cover her up,” Vestal said. “Yuubari, be prepared with some restraints, just in case.”
The Commander knew enough by this point that he needed to stay out of the way. So he stepped into the corner and kept to himself. Though he did send another text to the Brooklyn class sisters to come to the lab. They had someone to meet. Bismarck also showed up as she had been keeping an eye on things with this cube. She joined the Commander in standing out of the way while he brought her up to speed.
“I see,” she nodded. “I suppose we should have expected something like this to happen. Would you like for me to stay or leave?”
“Stay, I think,” he said. “Just in case.”
“Of course.”
“She’s awake!” Vestal announced and opened the container.
The lid pivoted out of the way and revealed the girl on the bed inside. She was panting and trembling, not uncommon when a Kansen woke to the world for the first time. It often took them a few minutes to get used to having a body. Marblehead helped Vestal cover her and then they all stood back to give her space.
The new Helena sat up and opened her eyes. They were deep red instead of Helena’s lavender. Her expression was also much more severe than her original counterpart. But other than those two things, he would have called her Helena without a thought. She blinked and looked around, regarding those close to her with an intense gaze.
“Hello,” Vestal said evenly. “Can you understand me?”
A nod.
“Good, are you feeling okay? Any pain?”
“No.”
“Good, and do you know who you are?”
“H-Helena.”
“Alright Helena, I’m Vestal and I’m a doctor,” she introduced herself. “I’m going to give you a quick look over to make sure everything is working right.”
Helena sat patiently as Vestal gave her a basic check up. Blood pressure, checking her eyes, reflexes, the works. She also took a look at her cube with a special machine.
“She’s completely healthy, Commander,” Vestal said once she was done.
“Very good,” he nodded.
Helena stared at him for a long moment before setting her feet on the floor and standing. She didn’t seem to care that the hospital gown fell off her shoulders as her attention was locked on solely him.
“... Commander?” she asked hesitantly.
“That’s correct,” he nodded as Vestal worked to redress her. “I am the Commander of this base, known as Azur Lane, that employs others like yourself to fight against a mechanised invader that-”
Helena gasped and then started shaking. It took the Commander a moment to realize what was happening as Vestal was between them. But Helena was quietly crying. Bismarck gave him a look and excused herself. He let her, Helena likely wasn’t going to be trouble, but it seemed there was going to be some stuff to smooth out.
“Commander,” Helena eventually spoke up and looked at him over Vestal’s shoulder. “My sisters, are they still here?”
He had originally wanted to wait a little longer before inviting them in, but the look on her face suggested that it may be better in the long run to let that meeting happen. Vestal gave him a nod as well.
“They are,” he nodded. “In fact, come on in ladies.”
The door opened and four of the six sisters stepped in. Helena got wide eyes as she saw another version of herself staring at her from the bed.
“Commander?” Helena asked in confusion.
“So, Helena, it appears that the cube you found either took another form of yourself or is… Help me out here, Yuubari.”
“I got it Commander,” Marblehead said and explained everything she had to him again. “So, she’s you, but with a different personality, to put it in a simple way.”
“Well, I can say that any Helena is a cute little sister of mine~” St. Louis said warmly.
“I’m not really sure what to make of this, but yeah, we’ll take care of her Commander,” Brooklyn said.
“I mean, we have the space, so why not?” Honolulu nodded.
Helena stepped forward and took the other Helena’s hands in hers.
“Um, I’m not sure what you remember, or even if we are exactly the same,” she started. “But everyone here is kind and helpful, so you don’t have to shoulder your past on your own.”
‘Helena’ seemed to process that and accept it in time, nodding and hugging her twin.
“So, I don’t mean to be a buzz kill, but calling them both Helena is going to lead to some confusion,” Brooklyn said. “I don’t think it’ll be an issue at home, but it definitely will be on official papers and the like.”
“I’m sure we’ll come up with something,” the Commander said.
“Meta.”
“What?” He looked at the new Helena as she held her twin. “Do you have an idea?”
“Meta,” she said again. “Helena Meta. I… don’t know why, but it just sounds right.”
“That works for me,” he nodded. “You’ll be Helena Meta on all official paperwork, but you and others can refer to you as simply Helena when able.”
“Commander,” Meta continued. “May I spend time with my sisters?”
“... I think you should,” he agreed. “But make sure you let Vestal here give you a full check up later. We don’t want you leaving us any time soon.”
Helena Meta smiled at that and nodded.
~~~
The Commander had sent out a notice after he returned to his desk that day, informing everyone of their newest fleet member. And throughout the next few days, he saw that Helena Meta was getting a warm welcome. Though there was definitely some confusion at first. Poor Anchorage needed quite a bit of help to understand what was going on, but she adored Helena Meta just as much as the original.
There were some hiccups too. Meta seemed to have a much different personality than the original. While Helena was timid, even meek, at times, Meta was straight forward and border line obsessed with knowing things. It made her an incredible scout in the few fleet exercises she had been a part of, but also seemed to cause some trouble when she didn’t respect set boundaries at first.
Thankfully, she was coming around rather quickly, so at the end of the day, it really wasn’t all that different from when the base got any new face. And as far as the Brooklyn's were concerned, they had simply gained another precious littlest sister.