There was little time to dwell on what had transpired or mourn the dead.
Everything now came down to a single moment.
The CIWS were firing nonstop at the enemy drones, with the KANSENs providing cover for the fleet.
The Commander's squadron was in the thick of it, too, but they couldn't stay much longer.
Enterprise glanced back as the F-14s streaked across the sky, filling it with the thunderous roar of their engines, mixing with the explosions.
New Jersey and her namesake were at the fore, unleashing their barrages upon the black ships. The enemy was returning fire, the crimson beams and shells carving the sky.
Ticonderoga, Normandy, and Leyte Gulf were not far behind, their own guns booming and their missile silos spewing fire. Arleigh Burke soon joined the fray, adding her own volleys, the flashes of light illuminating her sleek silhouette.
"Unknown contact bearing two-two-five!"
The voice from the comms cut through the noise like a knife.
"What the hell is that?!"
No, it can't be, Enterprise thought.
A blanket of fog descended upon them, muffling the sound of the fighting and obscuring their vision. She could see humanoid shapes and silhouettes emerging from the haze, their forms indistinct.
The first shots struck the water near New Jersey, the impact sending spray high.
"Incoming hostiles!"
New Jersey returned fire, her shells arcing through the air before impacting, the shockwave tearing apart the fog and revealing the new adversaries.
White-haired women, their pale skin glistening like the scales of fish, their eyes glowing golden. The contraptions strapped to their bodies were reminiscent of a KANSEN's riggings.
But the most unusual
—unsettling—
part was the fact that many of them were identical.
Clones, Enterprise realized.
"Enterprise, watch out!"
That was the only warning she got before a barrage of torpedoes streaked past her, missing by mere inches.
They were fast.
"All KANSENs, target the new hostiles! Destroy them all!" Admiral Roberts' voice boomed over the intercom.
Enterprise was ready for the second salvo, her own torpedoes and shells cutting through the water.
The one with the cape was apparently a carrier like herself, for she had her own fighter craft—packing the same punch and speed as their drones.
The one beside her, who wore an eyepatch, had considerable firepower on par with New Jersey, for a shot from it tore through the mist and punched a hole clean through a destroyer, though Enterprise had no idea which. The ship was still afloat, but perhaps not for long.
"We need backup, dammit!"
The battle wasn't going well.
"Enterprise, we're getting hit pretty bad over here!"
"We're trying!" Enterprise replied. "Hold on!"
She torpedoed a couple of the clones with her Avengers when they were swarming Arleigh Burke, and the ship returned the favor by covering her from the barrage.
The clones were proving to be a tough fight.
They were not as strong as the KANSENs, apparently, but their numbers made up for it.
"Hornet!"
Three of them were battering her sister, having pinned her down against the side of New Jersey, after their brethren sacrificed themselves to distract her and exhausted all her ammunition.
Enterprise fired her bow, and the arrows ripped through one clone's rigging. She let out an inhuman shriek and turned her attention to Enterprise, her golden eyes blazing with hatred.
The clone retaliated with her own salvos, and Enterprise was forced to dodge.
Essex soon joined the fray, her Hellcats and dive bombers assaulting the clones, giving Enterprise a brief respite.
They couldn't afford a prolonged engagement like this, she knew.
The KANSEN-like clones had proven themselves a nuisance.
Relentless as they were, they rarely engaged anything that was not a KANSEN—deliberately so, as if following unseen orders. But why?
And why?
Another mystery.
But this wasn't the time for questions.
She needed to focus.
Enterprise dodged another salvo, her bow still drawn. Her breath came in sharp gasps.
But then—
Something was wrong. A void in the battlefield, untouched by fire or fury.
In the mist, there it was.
The massive ship.
It didn't do anything, just...sitting there.
She wondered if it could sense her eyes on it.
If it did, it didn't seem to care.
The Intruders were attempting to bomb it, but the shells just seemed to bounce off its armor, and they had to bail out quickly, lest the enemy fight back.
But the escorts around that beast didn't seem to do anything, as if they knew it was invulnerable.
Or was it?
What if...
With Hornet forced to retreat, Saratoga surged forward to fill the gap, launching a fresh wave of fighters.
Both New Jerseys were still fighting, and she could see the KANSEN bleeding as she clashed with the enemy.
No, this wasn't working.
The enemy had the advantage, and they were not showing any signs of weakening.
Enterprise could sense the despair and frustration mounting.
No, she couldn't afford to lose.
Not yet.
Not until...
If she was, as they said, an aberration, maybe she could do something.
Maybe she was the answer.
She had to try.
If this was just a test for them, then she had something for them.
She never thought she would end up doing this.
But they left her no choice.
She didn't want to lose.
She didn't want her friends to die.
Not here.
Not like this.
Her mind made up, she turned around and charged toward the black leviathan.
She was ignored by the enemy ships, who continued to fire at the others, but she was sure that the black leviathan's gaze was fixed on her.
Only then did she realize that the enemy was, indeed, holding back, waiting for her.
And now, she had walked right into the lion's den.
Frantic calls, asking where she was going and what was she doing, flooded her comms, but she didn't stop.
Not until that light enveloped her.
Then, silence. But not just silence—absence. Of the winds, the oceans, no weight on her feet as everything seemed unmade. Going nowhere and somewhere...until she could feel solid ground again.
***
When she opened her eyes, she was in a corridor surrounded by darkness.
No, not quite darkness, she realized.
The walls and the floor were made of the same material as the black ships, but instead of glowing red, they were glowing blue, and the glow illuminated the hallway, casting eerie shadows.
Vein-like strands and lines ran along the surface, pulsing faintly, almost like...
Lifeblood.
All around her, cold whispers.
The anomaly is here.
As we have foreseen.
She wants answers.
Just like we do.
She has questions.
We have the answers.
Enterprise didn't know what the voices were.
But they were the same as the ones she heard in Norfolk.
"What are you?" she asked.
They did not reply.
"Where am I?"
Still no response.
"What do you want?"
The whispers stopped, and silence hung in the air.
It was suffocating.
There was no choice but to press on. If they were expecting her, then maybe there was someone waiting for her.
Her bow was held at the ready, and her gaze darted around.
Something about the place just didn't feel right.
There were no sounds save for the tapping of her feet on the floor.
She hurried her pace, and the blue glow seemed to quicken.
This world lasts longer
Than any other
She paused as a faint melody drifted through the air.
"Is anyone there?"
Again, no reply.
For a moment, Enterprise considered leaving and rejoining the battle, but something kept her walking instead.
For a ship that massive, the corridors were oddly empty and straightforward. There were no branching, labyrinthine paths, no stairs, and no elevators. Just one way forward.
It felt...surreal.
Perhaps they were leading her somewhere.
But where?
And to whom?
What are you fighting for?
Why are you fighting?
Do you even know?
She ignored the voices.
A door soon appeared before her, a completely black slab with no markings, not unlike the hull of a black ship.
As soon as she laid her hand on the door, it slid open, revealing a circular room beyond.
Her feet echoed on the floor as she stepped inside, only for a flash of light to blind her.
When the spots cleared, she didn't see a room.
The sky was bathed in red, the clouds writhing like smoke, the waters below her clear and still.
Just like her vision of Norfolk.
But this nameless seascape wasn't anywhere near the city or any place she could comfortably point or name.
Wrecks of unknown ships and planes and buildings were scattered on the surface, torn flags flying, their colors faded, and their surfaces rusted and pockmarked.
It looked like the aftermath of a great battle.
No, a war.
"A mess, isn't it?"
She whipped around, her bow raised and an arrow nocked, ready to fire.
Someone stood behind her, someone who wasn't there before. It was the woman on the Schuylkill, her smirk mocking.
"Who are you?" Enterprise asked, keeping her distance.
"Eh, is that even important?" She shrugged. "It's not what you want to know, heh. The others are interested in you, you know."
"What?"
"Well, I'm more interested in purging you, but, y'know, rules and shit. But you are supposedly interesting, and I guess I'll see that. Maybe. I see you even managed to get rid of that thing. Not that it will make much of a difference."
"I don't understand."
"You will. Oh well, I was supposed to take you to the powers that be, or whatever they're called, but I'm kinda not supposed to talk to you. They don't want me to, but hey, fuck them."
"Them? Who are they? Who are you?"
"I told you, it doesn't matter now."
Another flash and the woman was gone, and the landscape seemed to shift and distort as if the whole scene was nothing more than a projection.
What replaced it, she could only describe as a field of vast emptiness, a dark and endless void.
"The aberration...the anomaly is here," a voice murmured, echoing all around her. "The attenuation protocol has been overridden."
Enterprise looked around.
There was nothing but emptiness.
"Show yourself!"
"Is this the hope for this world?" Another voice spoke, this one more feminine, and the void shifted, forming shapes.
The void twisted and writhed, taking shape, the edges shifting as if they were melting.
It took her a moment to realize that the shapes were people or something that resembled people, but their features were blurry and indistinct.
"What...are you?"
"The protocol is just a formality, after all," yet another voice spoke, tinged with amused glee. "It doesn't matter how she arrives, but when."
"Who the hell are you?! Why did you attack us?" Enterprise demanded. "Answer me!"
"The outcome is the same. Our purpose remains unchanged."
No matter how many times Enterprise tried to focus on them, the faces always seemed to remain blurred and vague, shifting in and out of focus. Whatever attempt she made at reaching out was met with nothing. But the figures did not move, just watching her with a sort of detached amusement, as if the entire ordeal was a spectacle for them.
"And you," they said, turning to face her.
"What about me?!"
"An interesting variable in the KANSEN project. A weapon, no matter how human they were, should not be able to form such an attachment. Not like this."
"What are you talking about? How did you know about KANSENs?"
"They have developed emotions far beyond their capacity. Familial attachment, friendship. But you...and only you were able to develop something else."
"What are you even talking about?! I don't have the time for—"
"That which enables you to keep going and defy everything, all for the sake of a single person. We didn't foresee it."
"Maybe we should have. Haven't we observed enough before this?"
"Almost human....closer."
"Why are you talking like you know who we are?! What the hell do you even mean?!"
A chuckle from one of the figures reached her ears, the sound echoing through the void.
"Do you really think human ingenuity alone could've created you?"
A faint chuckle, but one of them shifted uncomfortably. A sharp glance from another stopped them from speaking further. Enterprise caught on the exchange, and the implication chilled her more than their words.
"What...?"
"Humans could never create weapons like this, especially with such shortcomings."
"What do you mean?! How could—"
"The project would've ended in failure, a mere footnote in history, had humans not been given the opportunity. And we wouldn't give up the opportunity to observe what they would do. This timeline has been particularly interesting in terms of how resilient the feedback is, as has your case."
Timeline?
Feedback?
Enterprise's eyes widened.
"What are you — "
"You are not the first KANSEN we have seen."
"You are not the first anomaly we have observed."
"Observe...?" Enterprise's breath hitched. No. That didn't make sense. This wasn't possible.
Yet, the pieces started falling into place, whether she wanted them to or not. The anomalies. The whispers. The impossible knowledge these things had. Every KANSEN she had ever known—what were they, really?
Her hands trembled, and her bow suddenly felt heavier.
This wasn't just a result of a breakthrough in science and technology, a stroke of good fortune.
It was them all along who had allowed this.
Who had brought her into this world.
All for the sake of an experiment, the purpose of which was as unclear as the entities before her. She couldn't rationalize it, couldn't begin to comprehend what their intentions were, not when their motives were beyond human understanding.
"This is wrong. This is..."
"We are not required to justify our actions to you."
"I..."
"Shall we send her back to the test? We can't afford more delays, after all."
"And see how far she will go for that other variable, you mean?"
The voice grew chaotic and dissonant as if several voices were speaking at once, the sounds echoing across the void.
But Enterprise herself was occupied with the realization that had sunk its claws into her heart.
Perhaps the world she had been living in, the one that was so familiar to her, was nothing but a fabrication, and those she called friends were nothing more than tools in an experiment or pawns on a chessboard.
And the man she had fallen in love with,
was just another variable.
No.
She could remember everything they had gone through together.
And Amy, too,
And her sisters, the others, and everyone else.
It was all true.
Beings ruled by logic and reason would not bother with such complexities.
Not if they were just pawns on a chessboard.
This wasn't the answer.
It was a lie.
"Listen," she said, her voice shaking. "I know you see me as some sort of variable in an experiment. An anomaly, and this is all just a test. And if we won here, then you would just raise the bar, wouldn't you?"
"It is likely. Until there is nothing to glean from your species' existence. Then, we will have no choice but to move on to the next test, and the next, and the next."
So that was the truth.
She didn't have the strength to be angry, though.
"How's this, then? Face me, one of you. You wanted to see my worth, didn't you? How far would I go? You have seen how far we will go. Now, let's see if you will show us how far you are willing to go. I win, you'll leave for good. I lose...well, take me, then. Study me. Or kill me. I don't care. Just...leave them out of this. Leave them alone. Do not touch them. I will fight for them. They are my family. My friends. They are real. They have hearts and souls. You cannot deny that. Are you not curious? Aren't you curious how they are different from the others you have encountered before? Are you not curious about how far I can go? A duel, just between you and me. No tricks. No games. I'll fight you, and that will be it."
The discordant voices grew silent.
"Are you certain?"
"I am. And don't you dare say it's 'wrong' or 'futile' or whatever the hell you call it. Because I'm damn sure you didn't predict this either."
The entities shifted, their voices becoming lower, their tones thoughtful.
"Interesting..."
"Adjusting parameters. Variable has entered a non-expected state."
"Emergency protocol on standby. Authorizing test of non-standard response. Variable will be observed."
That was all Enterprise needed.
Everything around her faded into black.
***
She opened her eyes to the sounds of explosions.
The battle had paused.
It was as if time had stopped, with the enemy frozen in place and the KANSENs standing still, staring at her in shock.
The clones had turned away from their quarry, their bodies and their riggings poised for battle, their eyes fixed upon her.
The storms had intensified, and the squadrons had been recalled, and she could see the pilots standing on the flight decks, watching. She could only imagine their expression and what thoughts were racing through their minds.
The Commander must be looking at her, too.
"Enterprise, what the hell are you doing? Where have you been?!" Admiral Roberts half-yelled through her comms.
"It's all right," she said, her eyes locked on the enemy fleet. "Sorry, ma'am...but this is a fight I have to do alone."
"What are you talking about, Enterprise? What's going on?"
"It's okay. Don't worry. It'll be okay."
"What are you planning, Enterprise? Answer me!"
"Please...believe in me, Admiral. Trust me."
She could feel the admiral's doubt, but Enterprise did not flinch.
"This is the only way."
"Well, well. I don't know if I should see you as an undesirable element in this little experiment or as an unexpected opportunity. Either way, I was told to fight you—but not erase you. Bleh."
It was her again—the woman on the Schuylkill, her every word oozing with venomous confidence. She rolled her shoulders as if eager for a scrap.
Enterprise was unfazed.
"Oh well, I could use some exercise. This will be fun, won't it? I can't wait."
Enterprise didn't reply, only tightening her grip on her bow.
"Let's see how far you can go. Or should I say...how far I can push you?"
"Enterprise, we're coming!"
"Don't interfere," she said, her voice low, her gaze fixed on the enemy.
The woman laughed, her golden eyes flashing.
"Good! Let's see if you have the resolve, huh? Let's see what kind of weapon you really are."
The thunder roared as she brought out her own rigging. The shark-like mechanism whirred and hummed before unleashing a screeching roar that drowned out the sound of the thunder.
"Oh, this is gonna be fun."
Her laughter filled the air, and her cannons were primed.
"Anyone who interferes will eat lead, so just be a good bunch and watch the show, 'kay!"
"Enterprise, what's going on?!"
"Please," Enterprise pleaded. "Trust me."
And she charged.
***
Beams from the woman's rigging tore through the air, slicing and cutting the waves. Enterprise ducked, weaved, and dodged the fatal blows, spinning and dashing, all while retaliating with her own volleys.
But that woman was just as quick and nimble, moving like a dancer despite how unwieldy her rigging appeared.
"Hah! You're pretty good...at dodging!"
Her voice echoed across the air as she leaped into the air, twirling around before sending her rigging crashing down like a shark lunging at its prey.
"Shit!"
Enterprise barely had the time to dodge, but despite escaping the brunt of the attack, the impact sent her reeling, and the sea rushed up to meet her.
She quickly pushed herself back to her feet, ignoring the pain from having the beast's tail smash against her side to escape another salvo.
"Heh...Hahaha! What's wrong? Does that hurt?"
Enterprise bit back her anger as the woman cackled. Her allies, as she noticed, had begun moving away from the scene, giving her more space to fight. It was, at least, a relief. Maybe Admiral Roberts understood, maybe she didn't, but Enterprise was grateful nonetheless. There were garbled transmissions to her, but she couldn't pay attention to them as the woman resumed her assault.
Her ears felt like they could burst with all the explosions going off. She was given little room to breathe, and she couldn't shake off the feeling that her foe was still holding back.
"What's the matter, Miss Hero? I'm just getting started!"
She wasn't lying. She stroked her rigging, and its engines whined, the pitch growing higher. The cannon barrels rotated, glowing brighter like they were warming up.
Then, without warning, all of them fired at once, warping the air as the beams shot out in a blinding flash.
Shi—
Enterprise dove down, letting the barrage shoot over her. Her cap was blown off by the shockwave, but she couldn't spare the time to look back.
"Ooops, guess that's too easy!"
A nonchalant dodge left her arrow passing harmlessly through empty air, but Enterprise didn't slow down, firing back.
"Is that all?"
"Not quite."
"Okay, I'll wait. You haven't been using your planes, even when you had a chance. But that's fine, y'know. The longer it takes, the better. Hehe."
Enterprise glanced at her flight deck, then back at the enemy, who was watching her from atop her rigging.
"Haha, I bet you're thinking of using your planes now, right? Come on, do it. You've been waiting for this moment, haven't you? To try to make use of that power...that we gave you, hehe..."
Her face contorted in a grin that bared her teeth, her eyes glinting with a predatory gleam.
"Use it! I wanna see it! Show me how much stronger you are!"
She leaped high into the air, her rigging trailing behind her, before diving toward Enterprise with a shrill cry.
"Show me what a good little tool you are! Show me what a weapon does!"
"I'm no one's tool," Enterprise muttered. Her rigging came to life, and she launched the Skyraiders.
They were never designed for her. Her sister's far more advanced rigging could handle their greater speeds and agility.
But that didn't mean she couldn't do it.
The deck shook and rattled, and the wind rushed against her skin.
"Go."
The planes rumbled as they took off.
Now, it was only a matter of directing where they should strike.
"Oho? Finally!"
The planes formed into a squadron, then split up into several groups, weaving through the storm.
All she needed was to pin the woman down, to swarm and overwhelm her, and provide an opening for her to strike.
And they did descend upon her, firing their cannons and bombs.
"Hah!"
It was like a dance, a macabre dance under a rain of steel.
Her opponent was not the epitome of grace, but despite the cumbersome appearance of her rigging, she dodged, parried, and struck back at Enterprise's planes, knocking them down one after another, laughing all the while.
"Is this really the best you can do?!"
Either she didn't notice or was confident that the planes wouldn't hit her; it didn't matter. Enterprise had the time she needed to prepare.
She aimed her bow, drawing her strings, the arrow crackling and glowing, the tip pointed at the woman.
And then away it went, its target clear.
She had never unleashed such an arrow before. It flew straight and true, its trajectory unhindered by the raging wind, its wake blazing with a silver-white light.
She ordered the planes to fall back.
There was no need for them anymore.
"Huh?!"
The arrow struck its target. The woman shrieked, the shockwave tossing her from her rigging.
Enterprise fought the hurt to fire another. It was much weaker, but it still forced her opponent to jump away.
"Gah! What the fu—?!"
Another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another.
One cannon, then two cannons, were torn off by the constant onslaught, their broken husks falling into the ocean.
Her fingers were beginning to bleed, pain seeping through her bones, her skin burning.
She didn't care.
The rigging thrashed and screeched, and the woman struggled to keep it under control. She was unable to retaliate and was soon thrown into the water again, seemingly disappearing under the waves.
Enterprise lowered her bow, her breath ragged, sweat and seawater dripping from her chin. The pain in her fingers was unbearable, but she ignored it, scanning the waves below.
Had she—?
The moment of hesitation cost her.
Before she could turn, the woman had reappeared from the waters, her fist slamming into Enterprise's gut.
Enterprise stumbled back, barely catching her balance, and soon found her fingers around her neck.
"Heh...you're pretty good," she hissed, her fingers digging into her skin. "You're pretty good, Miss Heroine."
Her opponent was singed but not bleeding. Her clothes were burned and torn, but none of the attacks seemed to have hurt her.
"I underestimated you. My bad. That's the first time in a long while that anyone's gotten this close."
Enterprise felt the fingers loosen as the woman tossed her away into her broken rigging, the impact causing her to spit out blood.
She coughed some more of them, the metallic taste lingering in her mouth. The woman was already standing on top of her rigging, her hand on her hip.
More garbled sounds came from her comms.
It was like someone calling her name.
"What's the matter? Don't tell me you've already lost your will. And here I thought you were gonna put up a decent fight."
The voice was a little clearer now.
She held her bow tighter lest it fall from her grasp.
The woman was now standing before her.
"So much for that resolve, huh?"
Enterprise coughed.
The voice...she could hear it.
"I believe in you."
When was the last time she could afford to smirk?
She wiped the blood off her lips and smiled.
"We'll meet again."
"Oh? So the hero's got a trick up her sle—"
The woman reeled from the fist connecting with her jaw.
"What?!"
No, she will not dignify that question with an answer.
She whipped her bow at the woman's head, the momentum throwing her away.
She closed the distance just as the woman regained control of her rigging and wasted no time.
She drew her bow.
It was almost as if time slowed down as the arrow pierced her chest.
And the world went silent.
The woman's face twisted into a feral grin.
"Well, I'll be damned."
Even with a hole through her chest, the woman was unfazed. She brought her rigging to her and climbed on it. The machine had now lost half its cannons, and it was smoking from the holes.
"Tsk. They will probably lecture me about this. Oh well..."
She turned to Enterprise, the gap on her chest pulsing with electricity.
"That's not all you've got, is it?"
Two hovering fish-like machines appeared on her left and right, their glowing yellow mouths reminiscent of the larger rigging.
The glow soon became more intense, the sound of their engines rising.
"Now...show me!"
She thrust her arms out, and the machines fired a barrage of energy into the sky, which soon rained down like a meteor shower.
Enterprise could feel the heat emanating from those bolts, and she knew, should she let them strike, they would vaporize her.
But that wasn't an option.
The woman was close, and she would bet everything on this one final attack.
"Come on! Let's see it!"
"Don't hold back!"
The orbs caused small tidal waves as they crashed into the sea, and no matter how hard Enterprise tried to dodge, she was eventually thrown into the air by the sheer force of their impact.
Her bow had slipped out of her grasp, her fingers stinging from the effort.
She looked at her rigging. Still intact.
She still had one more chance.
She remembered McClusky at Midway. Of his critical decision to attack the enemy carriers, turning the tide of the battle.
How he and his squadron chose to keep going despite the odds.
How fitting that she still had the Dauntlesses.
"Let's see it, Miss Heroine!"
Her body ached. Her mind was in pain.
But she was not broken.
Not yet.
She silently commanded the planes to move, and they responded, flying up in the air, forming into a formation, their engines roaring.
They flew past the deadly rain of destruction and dove down, their roar shaking the air, their trajectory fixed upon their target.
"Ohoho! There we go!"
Enterprise closed her eyes and braced herself.
And then, there was an explosion, a deafening one.
The heat seared her skin, and the wind threw her into the waters.
The bombing was relentless, and she couldn't tell what was happening.
Plumes of smoke rose from the surface, and the sea churned.
Keep going, she told her planes.
Do not stop.
The woman's voice grew fainter and fainter, but her laughter didn't die down until the very end.
It seems Purifier has been unable to continue the fight.
Then we will call off the tests in this timeline, as we have agreed upon with the anomaly.
After all, we are not like humans.
This has been quite a fascinating test.
A pity that we have to abandon this timeline, but we can always recreate the conditions.
Then, shall we begin preparations for the post-analytical phase?
Very we—
And with that, the voices faded, and Enterprise could no longer feel them.
The waters around her were calm.