Azur Lane: Savior

Two days after the incident, every activity at the port returned to normal. The story had been fabricated, describing how Enterprise's fleet had suddenly become ensnared by a group of Siren fleets inside a discovered facility. Enterprise had to take matters into her own hands, but they were overwhelmed by the sheer number of enemies and couldn't maneuver effectively. The escort fleets were stranded after completing their missions. Observer Alpha played a significant role in concocting this narrative, and the S.O.S signal was sent out when Enterprise spotted Tester and Purifier among the Siren fleets. 

This was the memory that was replaced with. Greynar used S.A.V.I.O.R and followed Alpha's advice, she carefully planned out the fabricated story and by her guidance. No one remembers what happens on the mirror sea afterward. 

"Commander, this is the reply coming from the higher ups regarding the S.O.S incident." Enterprise presented a small file of document she received this morning.

Greynar received with a smile. "Thanks, Enty." 

She replied him with a small nod. "I will go now, the commission ship that went to Dragon Empery has returned safely." 

"Alright, please send my regards to Aurora." The door closed after he said it. 

Leaning back in the chair, he glanced at the small button-sized sphere Alpha gave him before parting ways. The Siren's true objective was unknown to him. In the first place, he only knew certain information that the Siren had given him. People from the past, or, you could say, "The original timeline" referred to them as Anti-X. A mechanization designed to help humanity against an enemy called "Deus X" or what the people that survived referred to as Leviathan, due to their unknown power that destroyed their world.

While the KANSEN were created before X invaded the world, there was one incident that shook the whole world. Bon Homme Richard, or the Essex-class KANSEN who was a famous figure as an idol, suddenly went on a rampage in the Bermuda Sea. There was something that made her mad as she killed several civilians and people around her. The military attempted to stop her, but it resulted in a disaster. There was something that happened to her, something that was the reason behind all of the chaos.

The labelled box that was brought on her mission and the source of the disaster... "Pandora"

It was a new source of information that the Commander found out before Alpha parted away from them. The original META that started the whole chaos of disasters was Bon Homme Richard, a KANSEN from the past who could transform into a tornado. The enemy they were fighting previously was her remnant that they destroyed in the test site-β. One of the humans who stopped her rampage, Colonel John Archer, the commander of Enterprise CVN-65, died with his ship when they found out the box called Pandora was causing the insane mental attack and made the fleets plunge into chaos. 

Soon after that, an entity called X attacked the world. No one knows whether Bon Homme Richard survived and was thrown to an unknown location. But her reappearance made a ruckus, as she had become an insane META and was somehow related to the appearance of X. This is the knowledge that Alpha obtained after she searched old data using the Commander of test site-β to help her locate it. 

"Deus X, a theoritically to be something came from higher dimension." Greynar muttered on the table silently. 

The Commander recalled his dream of Leviathan emerging from the sea and witnessing a warship getting effortlessly destroyed by them, or how something resembling a Siren's mainframe appeared in his dream. It was as if they were visions that were both familiar and unknown to him.

'A forgotten memory? No i'm from the real world, so they can't be my memory... Was it S.A.V.I.O.R's?' The Commander mused.

There was no answer to his question, and the Siren obviously had no knowledge related to memories. But he remembered something... The Commander in test site-β also had a similar problem like him. Unlike it coming from a dream, he recalled it while he was conscious, and a surge of memories flowed towards him when he touched a relic that came from the "original timeline" or when he went to an unknown location similar to that timeline.

The Commander sighed silently. There was no answer to the problem, no clear understanding of the true essence of S.A.V.I.O.R inside him. It was something that could bring danger to the people around him, or something that could help them. He recalled the conversation between the soul of the Commander that was trapped inside S.A.V.I.O.R. — whether to move away from the timeline or stay and protect it. 

He, of course, decided to stay; there were girls who were important to him as much he liked to move to an unknown timeline.

The Commander snapped out from his thoughts, he touched the sphere as a blinding light envelope his entire vision. Observer Alpha, appeared before him.

"It's a good day, Commander." The Siren said, playing with a wisdom cube on her hand. 

"Alpha, we have not finished the last conversation from before. Tell me exactly what S.A.V.I.O.R. is?" He asked sternly.

The Siren replied with a shook. "I can't tell you Commander... What do you need is to absorb the fragments first, and we could talk about it even though i can tell you what it is, but the procedure said i am forbidden to speak about it until you matured a bit." 

He was dejected after finding out she can't tell about the matters. "Alright, fine, does Observer Zero knows about it?" 

Alpha nodded, "She knows everything, even my action right now that could disrupts the timeline." 

"How about the Arbiters? Will they interfere with this timeline?" He decided to ask the important question that has been lingering on his mind since yesterday.

"No, they do not know about it, remember, this timeline was the first one that used the power of S.A.V.I.O.R to change the course of the story. This timeline also the only one who resetted everything back to zero, so by default, you will need to have your little adventure following the course of the timeline." Alpha paused for the Commander to digest the information she uttered. 

"So that means..." The Commander widened his eyes as soon realization hitted him. 

"An outsider like you, will have to adapt with the unknown that even the Natural Calculation System can't predict where it will go off because of your appearance." Alpha stared at him amusingly.

"...i fucked up." He cursed.

The petite Siren chuckled, "You really are similar." 

Greynar tilted his head. "Similar?"

"It's nothing. I just remembered something funny." Alpha shrugged it off. After a few minutes of talking, she suddenly received a notice. "It seems I need to go; Zero assigned me another task. Just be aware that the Arbiters may appear in this timeline, with the META ships roaming around on the sea. We'll meet again when I have the spare time. See you later, Commander." She disappeared in an instant. 

Reflecting on the last conversation, Greynar sighed deeply. The burden on his shoulders felt like a sudden, massive weight. It was more significant than he had pictured. Placing his hat on the table, he murmured about the challenging path he had taken—full of thorns, with the unknown lurking around. KANSEN and Siren were engaged in a fierce battle, all in the pursuit of becoming stronger and unlocking the potential of the wisdom cube mystery.

"I will need a comfort after this." He sighed for the second time, leaning his head on the chair. "It's very convenient to know ahead of what to expect on the future with her help." 

He glanced at the clock, realizing not much time had passed since their conversation. He also hadn't checked on the girls who had arrived at the port. Heading to the dockyard, he met Aurora, who had just finished checking her riggings. Her expression brightened when she saw him approaching.

Greynar smiled softly upon seeing her again. "Welcome back, good work on your commission." 

"I'm back, Commander~" She hugged him, nuzzling her head on his chest.

Accepting her whole body, he pats her soft blonde hair. "How was the commission? Any problem while you are there?"

Aurora shook her head. "No, there aren't any problem we stumble, everything went smoothly. Besides, i have heard what happened on Volga's side." She asked hesistantly. "...Is she okay?" 

"Yeah, she is fine, they managed to hold off by themselves before we come to their rescue."  

"Is that so? Thank god, i thought something happened to them, i was devastated when i heard the news during our commission." Aurora clasped her hand tightly.

Looking at her getting worried and all, he silently apologized to the everyone who have been altered their mind. "Wanna go take a small walk?" He decided to change shift the topic before he felt guilty again.

"Okay~" She grabbed his right hand and leaned to the side of his shoulder.

The couple walked off on the shore, breezing wind envelope their body as the salt sea sound played a serenade around them. With each step, the sand beneath their feet whispered secrets of the tide's rhythmic dance. The couple, hand in hand, traced an intimate choreography along the water's edge. Forgetting moments about the war that with the Siren, he relaxed with his beloved. Aurora playing with the sand and getting alerted when a crab suddenly appear near her feet. 

Safe to say, the crab was safe from getting almost destroyed by her when someone prevented her from deploying her rigging unconsciously. The Commander beside her sighed as he slowly let go of her hand. The cruiser girl let out a small squeal when the crab suddenly moved closer to her feet. 

"C-Commander! T-the crab! The crab!!" She clinging to Greynar desperately attempting to brush off the crab.

"There, there," He took the crab and threw it to the water, he glanced at her teary eyes, almost bursting a laughter. "Ahahahaha, i never thought i will see you get this flustered." 

"Mou... That's unfair Commander..." She pouted. "How come you didn't get creeped out by its appearance." 

"I'm just good at handling animals." The Commander shrugged jokingly.

"A-anyway let's go somewhere else." She pushed him away from the location and went back to the building

Eventually, they arrived on the dormitory residence next to the main building. Entering the building through the front door, they were greeted by a presence in front of them. Massachusetts who was just done with her exercise battle just arrived to the dormitory. She greeted them with a polite smile. 

"Good day, Commander." Glancing at the girl next him. "And also you too, Aurora."

He replied her words with a warm greeting. "Hello Massachusetts."

Following his word, Aurora also replied. "Good to see you, how was your day?"

"I just got back from the exercise, i'm in a good condition today." She glanced at Greynar. "I heard i will be assigned to an operation in 2 weeks. So i trained myself to sharpen my skill." 

"That's good, you can keep up your performance if you keep it like that. We may need to tweak a bit and there to enhance everyone performance using the exercise battle. But you will be fine during the operation." The Commander was proud of her and praised her.

"Is that so? Then i will keep doing my best for you and my friends, Commander." She smiled. 

"Yeah thank you," the Commander glanced at the time. "Anyway let's go inside, im afraid our friend in this building have waited for us inside. Anyway, we will catch you later, see you, Massachusetts." He waved at her, hurrying Aurora who still standing, listening to their conversation.

"Unn... Okay Commander, goodbye." Massachusetts also parted with them going to her own room. 

The couple walked alone in the long hallway room, they chatted a bit until they arrived on one particular room. Knocking at the door, they called out to her name. There was no reply inside the room after a brief second. Greynar tilted his head to the side, it was weird for her not to reply to them. 

"Volga! Are you there?" He knocked again, but they noticed that the door wasn't properly closed. 

"I think we should just check the room." Aurora suggested.

He nodded. "Alright, let's go in."

Opening the door slowly with a slight creak, the light from outside of the room illuminate some parts of the room. As the light pours down inside the room, they find the carrier girl still curling inside the bed. Aurora chuckled to her roommate's behavior. She approached her bed, looking at her peaceful sleeping face.

"She is sleeping." 

"She indeed is sleeping." 

The sleeping carrier girl mumbled something on her sleep, Greynar opened his eyes widely when he heard something strange. Aurora who was not aware of anything slightly tapped her friend's cheek and giggled. She turned her head to Greynar and tilted her head when she saw his expression. 

"Nnnh..." Volga wrinkled her face, looking as if she was experiencing a nightmare.. "Don't... go.... Kronshtadt... Come... back...."