Azur Lane: Return of Davis

Chapter 0: History & Potential

The Japanese Shikikan. The Chinese Zhǐhuī guān. The German Kommandant. The Spanish and Italian Comandante. The French Commandant. The Russian Komandir. The Scottish Gaelic Chomanndair, the Welsh Cadlywydd, the Irish Ceannasaí. The English Commander. All meaning the same thing: an individual who demands respect, leads a group of soldiers, and, at the end of the day, fight for their nations. This rank holds merit. It holds prestige. Power. Rank; ability; it marks humility. Ignoring the British Naval Cadet and Midshipman, the commander is the 5th officer rank. High enough on the global pecking order to be a respectable rank, yet low enough for most individuals who have drive and potential to reach it. The commander is important for their navies. Yet one such commander would become instrumental for this war, with a singular mistake on his part.

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"This world is strewn with chaos, since its inception. Mankind forming groups to alienate those who weren't, and fight others who aren't for control of more land and likeminded and similarly appearing individuals. This eternal crisis didn't come without advancements, however. Language needs to evolve to convey strategies and ideas, just as technology evolves to produce better weapons and equipment. Ever evolving is what mankind is..."

"[... T]hen 1919 struck. The world was still reeling from a global conflict earlier that century where Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed, and the Russian Empire was thrown into chaos. With this shattered world, an other-worldly fleet arrived on Earth's doorstep, intending to use this chaos for its own means. The Greeks discovered this fleet first, and the allure of the droning noise the fleets constantly made were what made the costal residents of the nation call this unusual fleet "the Sirens." A name which caught like wildfire.

"Standard munitions were mostly ineffective upon the Sirens, so humanity needed to evolve once more. Testing of a unique ammunition type did, however, cause a domino effect.

"The acquisition of the Mental Cubes.

"Small cubes, with an area of 1000 cubic centimeters each, that can burn the hands of those it may deem "unworthy." The Japanese, after hearing about what is now called the "Knox Cube Incident" (see page 20 for more details), decided to test it out themselves. A small fleet attacked a transport fleet of Siren ships and, surprising the world, the small island nation defeated them. Some of the cubes were launched in random directions, some of which landed on the decks of the Japanese ships. Rumor has it that one Commander Jonosuke Ichiban, leading the charge, was studying the Mental Cubes cautiously, hearing of the second degree burns an unfortunate MIT graduate had obtained when researching what those cubes were. The Mikasa, which he was on, was struck by a Siren destroyer's shelling, before becoming destroyed from a Japanese torpedo. Commander Ichiban fell from the attack, and a small satchel fell out of his pocket, containing approximately ¥15,000 (roughly $7,731.96 USD 27 years ago, in 1918, or $4411.76 last year) in ¥10 ($5.15 1918 USD or $2.94 1934 USD) gold coins. It is still unknown as to why he carried this bag around. These 1500 22 karat gold coins (in total weighing 12.45 kilograms or roughly 27.45 pounds) were strewn across the deck, with most interacting with the Wisdom Cubes. The combined 22kt gold ¥10 coins and the two Mental Cubes activated some form of transformation. The first KAN-SEN was born.

"The term KAN-SEN is an acronym for "Kinetics Artifactual Navy Self-regulated En-lore Node." In Japanese/Chinese, it was "Dynamic Man-made Maritime Operation Self-Mechanism," which was denied as it "wasn't as catchy," according to the scientist. To English speakers, the KAN-SEN Project acronym is non-sensical. Supposedly, it was an attempt to make an acronym sound like the Japanese word "艦船," pronounced "kansen," which translates to "ship."

"Regardless of the questionable English, the KAN-SEN Project (henceforth to be known as simply "kansen") was an important advancement in anti-Siren technology, and the term kansen is how most individuals, both civilians and soldiers, refer to these "ship girls."

"Kansen are humanoid by nature, taking the appearance of females, and clothing based on their nationalities. For example: the previously mentioned Mikasa wears a Japanese Army General uniform, with what appears to be horns attached to her head. Other IJN kansen have similar animalistic features, such as the destroyer Shiratsuyu-class and their canine appearances, or IJN Akagi and her "sister," Kaga, with a more foxlike appearance.

"Most global economies had similar 22kt coins in their coffers, so now knowing that 1500 of the metal pieces at 8.3 grams can combine with these cubes can produce these kansen, many advancements were made by the major nations. And with these advancements came new organizations.

"For mankind to fight the Sirens, a united organization must be formed. The four major nations with navies got together and brainstormed how it could be done. Over the next few days of deliberation, it was decided that this new organization would accept any nation, but only the ones with navies were allowed to vote upon major changes or decisions about their approach upon the Siren situation. An off-handed comment from USS Langley (formerly the USS Juniper), who was at the conference on the fifth day, marked the birth of the term "Azur Lane" (a misspelling by the transcriber went unnoticed until it was too late, but US Admiral Albert Gleaves was reported to say, "Does the spelling truly matter?") alongside the organization itself (see pages 39-46 for an in-depth explanation of the command chain of the Azur Lane).

"The first four nations to sign into what is now known as the "Azur Pact" were the United States of America, the United Kingdom of Britain, the German Reich, and the Japanese Empire. Soon, the French Empire, the state of Italy, the Republic of China, and the newly formed Soviet Union soon signed on. The kansen at hand during this time, behind closed doors, discussed with their leaders for new names for the kansen navies (as they worked differently than traditional navies; see pages 37-47 for more details). Soon, the names decided would become synonymous with the nations they hail from, thus completely defeating the purpose of these names

"USS Yorktown, then who appeared to be about 10, requested for the "Eagle Union" to be the name of the United States Navy, for, as she saw, eagles were the symbol of the Americans, so having the American's "savior" be the very symbol of their nation would inspire the populous to join the fight. A shield, half mark with stripes, rests behind an eagle carrying an anchor-shaped arrow makes the emblem of the Eagles (doodled by Yorktown, refined by Lieutenant Raegan L. Jackson)."

...

Within a library, a lone man rubbed the bridge of his nose and lets out a quiet yawn. Reading up on naval history was his passion, but this was too much. 

Man: 'Digest of the History of the Azur Lane my ass.'

The man stifles another yawn.

Why is this man reading up on the history of the Azur Lane? Well...

His name is Jason Davis. A Welshman born in American.

And, starting tomorrow, is now the Azur Lane Commander of the Pearl Harbor Base.

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Howdy. I'm Izu. A new writer. And welcome to hell, I guess.