The Universe is a dangerous place, whereupon many stories told once are lost to the darkness of Space.

In one Universe, a War Hero fights for survival alongside his friends, in a desperate bid to save his homeland and allies from another emerging threat.

In another, the oddity of technology rears its head as Warships and Alien creatures battle each-other on the surface of our homeworld.

Today, one such story may bring together these two universes and their Heroes under the shade of a looming war...

He was asked a question once:Who was the Machine?

She asked herself if War would ever change...

Both were to be answered today...

The brewing storm overhead only served to worsen Enterprise's suspicions of a possible Siren presence. The white-haired, lilac-eyed beauty of the Eagle Union's carrier fleet moved at best speed with her escorts through the mist and rainfall, in her communication systems echoing a broken-up Distress signal broadcast over broadband Radios... So much so that she had no doubt that the Crimson Axis had heard it too. Her gaze shifted to her right, to see the small, nimble Destroyers acting as her escort moving closer.

Laffey approached Enterprise, to which the Carrier kansen simply spoke "We're nearing the location of the Distress beacon. Be ready for anything." and receiving a nod from the little one. Following her were Hammann and Aulick, now forming a wedge ahead of the main battle group... Enterprise's gaze then shifted back, for her to catch sight of the blue-wearing Pennsylvania and Arizona.

"Any luck with your scouting party, Enterprise?" Penn asked, approaching the Flagship of the Eagle Union fleet.

"Storm's getting worse! I had to call them back, but they haven't returned!" The Carrier responded promptly. "I don't know if they crashed because of high wind, or..."

"Nearing target area! No air radar contacts!" Hammann reported "Though I'm detecting... Uh, Enterprise!?" she looked back as she slowed her speed to match Enterprise's, before pointing forward to silhouette sitting in the waves, cradling... What looked like an armored giant. The silhouette's riggings were unlike anything that Enterprise had seen before... They weren't Siren by design, but... Three black prongs hanged above her head, like extra arms. They were heavy, reinforced... And ended in gun barrels. Around her, dark armor plating presented multiple smaller gun batteries and, on her personage, instead of a uniform, was a black armor set with an enclosed helmet... Enterprise could only tell this was a her and much more a Kansen because of the shape of her black bodysuit.

The woman ground to a halt as ten smaller contacts appeared, clad in similar armors and with similar gearing to the Kansen ahead. Their silhouettes emerged, fast and high. They landed in front of the Eagle battle group, two of the girls holding up each another pair of their 'sisters'. The smaller vessels, Frigates, going by their design, pointed long rail rifles at the Eagle Union fleet, to which the Battleships and destroyers raised their own weapons in greeting.

Enterprise stepped up in front of the Battle Groups and said "At ease! We're not here to harm you! We got your distress signal!"

"Girls..." The armored woman behind the 10 Frigates spoke. "This is a first contact scenario. We need their help..."

The girls capable of holding up their guns did as would be believed, lowering those strange rail rifles and stepping back, to allow Enterprise room to go between them... She showed her escort to lower their weapons, watching as the futuristic-utilitarian-looking vessels stared at her. She found herself standing face to face with the armored figure... A kneeling warship of enormous firepower, with missile tubes, superheavy cannons and point-defense to rival an entire Union Battle Fleet. However, some of her rigging and gear was severely damaged... Heat-scarred... And her armor missed pieces. A left shoulder plate, gone, a helmet visor, cracked...

And she was kneeling. Her strange engines, from what Enterprise could see, were damaged and flickering... And weren't propellers. In fact, none of the 11 girls here had propeller-based propulsion, instead seemingly relying on some other hyper-advanced tech... Enterprise noticed the woman in armor cradled another giant... His orange visor shined once as lightning flashed...

Enterprise knelt in front of the future Kansen, then placed a hand on her chest and said "I am the USS Enterprise... Carrier and Flagship of the Eagle Union Navy... Who are you?"

... Despite a hint of confusion in her movement, the Kansen soon answered "I'm UNSC Infinity... Designation INF-101, Super-Carrier, first of the Infinity-Class..." stunningly calm... She removed her helmet, to reveal wounds to her face, including heavy bruising on her left eye, that forced it to stay closed. She had blonde, straight and long hair and eyes of a deep blue.

"Who is that you're holding, Infinity?" The Carrier carefully inquired.

"SIERRA-117... A War Hero... Me and my girls only survived the collision with the planetary ocean because of him... I... I don't know what the hell hit us to cause..." She looked to herself and her girls, a bit worried "This... but it severely damaged us, including disabling propulsion and our shields. If it wasn't for the Master Chief, we'd probably all be sleeping with the fish right now."

"... He's a human." Enterprise supposed, slightly awed.

A very slight nod answered the woman... She nodded, then said "Very well... We'll get you and your girls out of here before the-"

"Radar Contact through the storm! I can't be too sure, ma'am, but I think it's them!" Hammann reported, readying herself for battle. Laffey mosed on and readied her gear sloppily, while Penn and Arizona prepped their heavy guns... A string of eight shells landed around the Kansen... And Enterprise froze as she saw a rigging she had heard of only in rumor appearing out of the mist of the rain, escorted by two hyper-advanced Destroyers... Probably of Siren design.

The blue-eyed blonde clad in a black uniform that appeared held a stance of calm, a flag waving in her hand... Her voice was tough, but calm, as she spoke "USS Enterprise..."

"... KMS Bismarck..." The Carrier frowned, turning toward the Flag Ship of the Iron Blood Navy, who seemed to simply be standing there, her guns aimed at the entire battlegroup... The turrets of the shimmering Siren destroyers traversed, aiming for them. And Infinity took pause upon seeing them... KMS Bismarck, USS Enterprise... Going by the design of the other ships around, she guessed the two Battle Ships escorting Enterprise and the smaller girls were Pennsylvania and Arizona.

"A shame we have to meet again under such conditions, Enterprise." The Iron Blood capital vessel spoke with a tone of sadness in her words.

"It's the way you chose to go forth when your people betrayed Azur Lane." She returned, leering at her two Siren escorts. "If you're here for Infinity and the others, I'm afraid you're out of luck..."

Bismarck stroked her chin, looking over the present group of ships, including those ships still standing from 'Infinity's' group... Letting out a deep sigh, she nodded to Enterprise, before raising her hand. The girls tensed, with Enterprise's hand tightening around her bow... She stopped to look at the turrets of the Siren boat duet retract. The Iron Blood ship looked to Enterprise, then noted "I know what my odds of getting out of this engagement alive are, Enterprise... I won't tempt fate a second time."

The Carrier took a less tense stance, watching as Bismarck lowered her turrets. "... I-"

Bismarck raised her hand "I was here on orders to recover the ship with you and whomever else may have landed with her, provided there was a none-to-minimal Azur Lane presence in the area... I could take a few destroyers, but even I know I can't take two Battleships, some of the most dangerous Eagle Union destroyers alive and the Grey Ghost herself... Much less whatever technologically superior Kansen these are." And she motioned to the Frigates.

She nodded to the Carrier, then looked to Infinity and said "You got..." She paused, sighing "You are lucky, Infinity." And with that, she turned and left, vanishing once again into the mist, with her two escorts... Hammann looked to a just-as-surprised Enterprise and asked her "What the heck just happened...?" with a bemused look on her face. Enterprise shook her head, then looked to the Infinity...

At Main Azur Lane Base...

As the storm raged on, the 11 UNSC ships and their Human ally had been brought home, to the massive port by Enterprise and her squadron... And as Enterprise took a step on land, her Rig soon morphed, vanishing off her back and transforming into the large ship form... Infinity followed Enterprise, under support from her Frigate escorts, under watch. Infinity stumbled, nearly falling to the floor, as her rigging malfunctioned... It did not leave her body, whilst only some of the Stridents' did... And the awe-inspiring sight of 6 massive, alien-looking warships floating above the Bay was enough to draw forth a crowd of other ships...

Enterprise approached Infinity, to help her up, while the other ships helped move the man. He was stiff as a board and heavy as a pound of bricks to the Destroyers and even the Battleships, to the point all struggled as they hauled him. They set him down on dry land... By nearly dropping him hard enough to crack the dock's concrete... Infinity looked to the Chief, then whispered to one of her more healthy Strident Frigates to help him.

Enterprise turned upon hearing a pair of footsteps, to see a ginger-haired woman clad in a scarlet uniform and a white-haired one wearing a maid's uniform approaching, both surprised... Enterprise nodded to the Prince of Wales and Belfast calmly, before approaching them... She explained "Infinity and her Escort frigates were the ones we found at the Distress Beacon location..."

Wales looked up at the floating 'Riggings' of the 6 Stridents and said "I... See..."

"My, my, those are quite interesting..." Belfast noted, a smile on her face.

The Royal Battleship soon turned her gaze toward the Infinity and said "I presume that's Infinity...?"

"Yes." Enterprise nodded. "We have to take her in for repairs." And she watched Vestal approaching, shock visible in every move and facial expression that crossed her face. The Carrier understood, feeling much the same... Wales and Bel nodded, going ahead to help the girls of the Battlegroup drag the Supercarrier over to the Repair area... And she watched as a group of Battleships helped Penn and Ari move the man that Infinity had called the Master Chief to the Medical area...

She looked at her own rigging, before looking up at the massive warships overhead and narrowing her lips... Something told her that this 'UNSC' was quite powerful. She took off toward her own bunks, where she could dry off her clothing... Entering her room, her gaze swept the small, almost Spartan place calmly. Allowing herself a few moments to calm down, she thought back to Bismarck.

Usually, Iron Blood ships were thorough in the pursuit of their mission objectives. They were cold and calculate, but had honor with them... And a will of survival, she knew that, having served with Bismarck before the Crimson Axis was formed and the Sakura and Iron Blood betrayed them. But that didn't stop them from at least trying to enter combat with Azur Lane before. If even to damage other Kansen enough to take them out of action...

She wanted to contemplate more, but Hammann slammed the door open, shooting into the room and blaring "ENTERPRISE! WE NEED YOU!"

The woman stood up, looking to the Destroyer, before asking "What happened?"

"It's the big guy we got with Infinity!" Hammann whimpered "He nearly shot one of us!" And the woman's eyes went wide. She burst into a sprint out of her room, gunning through the hallways right for the Medical wing, before bursting through the door. She gasped, seeing the man on his own two feet, looking around. He had a pistol attached to his thigh armor, but it wasn't removed from its 'holster'... His hand was hovering above it, though...

Hammann peeked from behind Enty, staring at the big guy with fear in her two eyes. The Carrier put a hand in front of the Destroyer, to protect her, before raising an open left hand and saying "Stay calm... You're among allies, Master Chief." before gazing over to the furthest medical bunk from the chief, where Laffey had been pulled alongside Foote, Aulick and Cassin...

The man shifted his gaze toward her, before lowering his hand and approaching her... He stood a head above the Carrier... Enterprise continued, staring up into his visor "Infinity told us your name... She and her Strident frigates are safe, currently being overseen by one of our Repair ships, Vestal." with a calm demeanor. She caught sight of a small tilt of the head, indicating confusion from the man in armor... He nodded and an almost imperceptible movement indicated he lost that momentary tension... The Carrier let out a relieved sigh...

"Who are you?" The Chief asked promptly, his voice smooth, but hard as a soldier's... So much so it took Enterprise by surprise...

"I'm... USS Enterprise, CV-6. Carrier of the Eagle Union." The woman answered. "You're in a base shared by the members of the Azur Lane... An organization working to combat an alien threat that is working to wrest control of the seas from us."

"..." The Master Chief seemed to ponder what she'd just said... He added, his speech patterns unfazed "The USS Enterprise CV-6 was a Yorktown-class Carrier in service to the United States Navy and one of the most decorated Navy ships in the history of the aforementioned nation... She was most definitely not a girl."

Cassin snorted behind him... "Yeah, that's gonna be fun to explain..." before both Enterprise and Chief gave her stern looks, making her duck back into cover. The two turned their gazes to each-other again, only for the Carrier-gal to speak aloud "All will be explained to you in due time, Master Chief... But I can openly promise you, we are not here to cause harm to you, Infinity, or her Frigates..."

"Is she in the same situation as you...?" The Chief asked bluntly. "... Anthropomorphized?"

Enterprise nodded... "And wearing similar armor to yours, actually..." making Chief shift slightly. He hummed, then nodded to the one before him and took two steps back, letting forth the Destroyers hidden behind a bunk. Chief knew she'd seen a human form in Spartan armor(followed by about 10 more in a similar state) before they crash-landed onto whatever planet this was. To think it was Infinity and her Strident-class Frigates was odd, even for the Spartan who had seen almost everything the Galaxy could throw at him.

"I understand it's a lot to process..." Enterprise said, walking to him. "You'll have to excuse me for now, Master Chief, but I must go. I've still got missions to accomplish."

"Oh, God, not this again..." Cassin groaned, approaching the Carrier "Ma'am, with all due respect, we understand your desire to end the Sirens... Believe us... But this is turning into borderline insanity at this point... The weather outside's still pretty bad, so please, at least consider taking a nap until your rigging can be properly mended and the damn storm clears up."

Enterprise looked to the Destroyer, wanting to say something, but...

"You know, she's right..." Wales intervened, stepping inside with a smile still present on her lips. She nodded to the man in armor, then said "It is good to see you on your feet so soon, Master Chief. I'm the HMS Prince of Wales, battleship of the Royal Navy, member of Azur Lane's Joint Fleet and friend to the USS Enterprise.I'd be more than glad to brief you on our current situation."

"I see..." The Chief sighed, instinctively feeling the back of his helmet. "Very well... I request to talk to the Infinity, first... I need to get details squared away relating to this entire situation before any sort of interaction between your officers and ours is undertaken." to which the Battleship exchanged glances with the Carrier to her right... She nodded, waving Enty off to her own room.

"We have a deal, Master Chief... Please, follow me."