Well here we are at it again, prepare yourself for more stupid situations and mad happenings. And keep on drinking.

Chapter Four: Time is of the essence

`` Shit, one minute left! ´´, Hermann uttered while he darted towards his intended target, but it was still quite some metres ahead of him. Going faster would raise too much suspicion, for he currently ran at the speed of an Olympian athlete during a sprinting contest, but if his calculations were correct, which they surely were, the German is definitely going to fail his record of never coming to late to meeting. The blueprints of the complete base darted through his head, desperately looking for a short cut. Hermann was not one to be superstitious, but when he saw there actually was a building that would directly lead him to the hall, where would hold his speech and introduction, he somewhat felt like the goddess of luck was actually helping him out.

`` Yes! This will work and if someone complains, I will shut them down with authority!´´, he bellowed out with his voice.

But what he did not know was the true purpose of the building that he would enter and pass through, as he was too lazy to look it up. Sadly or luckily, depending on the perspective, this building was the repair dock for the ship girls. In common sense someone would imagine a dockyard with tools and so on, but this was different. But ship girls are not something that could be explained with common sense and so what would normally be the case could not be applied here. In this case abnormality meant that the repair dockyard was more like a bathing house than an actual repair station for ships. So, in hindsight one may say that he was haunted by a goddess of misfortune, rather than being blessed by her counterpart.

But for the German Admiral it was already to late as he darted towards the building with nearly inhuman speed. The electrical door opened before him and stormed into the building. His way directly leads him beyond a red curtain, through which he ran without any care in the world. Hermann therefore stumbled into a changing room, filled with half naked ship girls that were just getting rid of their clothing or dressing up. Of course, these girls started to cream like maniacs, but Hermann passed them by swiftly, not even recognizing their screeches as his fixed goal was the emergency exit, which was placed at the end of the main bathing room. With success he left the former room and entered the bathing room, eyes immediately darting him after they heard the screams. But just like before Hermann ignored every screech and insult that was thrown at him. He did not even glance at their naked bodies, as his urges had already bee stilled minutes before. He passed through half of the room when he saw the exit in front of him, but it was severely obstructed by a pool of water. Instead of circumventing it though, he charged head on and made for a jump over it.

The man in military clothing sailed over the metre-wide pool and passed by over the heads of resident ship girls. Of course, his actions were followed by loud screams of embarrassment, nevertheless the stoic man did not even winch at their exclaims. Finally, he reached the exit and passed through the door towards his target location. Another door blocked the way, however it was neatly opened by him, rather meaning that he charged through it and pressed down the door lever with his momentum. Hermann ended up in a room that was just a door away from the tribune, from which he would be speaking then. Black curtains obstructed it and he checked the time before doing anything different. Five seconds left; just on time.

`` Jesus Christus, if I were a normal human being, the exhaustion from this sprint would have probably killed me by now…. ´´, Hermann said while exploring the room which he interpreted as some kind of preparatory room. Nothing special, just a black couch and a water dispenser for a quick chug, nevertheless they tried to uplift the whole image of the room with plants in pottery. This however, looked more desperately then neatly positioned and thus created a contrary image from what it was originally intended to present. Walking along to the door that would lead towards the podium, Hermann stumbled upon a black board on which several works of ``art´´ had been drawn on. These magni opii looked more like teenage humour, meaning that insensitive jokes and sexual organs were overrepresented. Hermann laughed at those.

When he exited the room and walked upon the podium, still being covered by black veils, he expected most of the ship girls actually being in the audience, but as he peaked through the cover, he could only recognise Suzuya, Fusou, Sendai and her sisters. The other ship girls were strangers to him, but this was not a problem, the actual issue is that still half of the seats are free. Thinking back, he remembered that he actually charged through that bathing house were the visitors were presumably ship girls. While he did so, thinking about the trouble which he actually just might have caused here, said trouble appeared behind him.

`` Pervert! Stop right there! ´´, a female voice shouted at him.

Hermann turned around and looked at the girl that was currently throwing not so untrue insults at him. Her head was downed in green hair, combed into twin tails, and olive-green eyes. Uniform wise, Hermann would describe it as a mix of old Japanese archery clothing and an aircraft carrier deck. The person besides her had similar clothing, but instead of her rough and somewhat child like hair, the other ship girl wore her pale, white hair in an elegant-open style. Her eyes were of an ember colour, contrasting the white of her hair. Another difference was the chest size of course, while the white-haired beauty was well endowed, the green-haired one was flat as a board.

`` Zuikaku, please don't engage in actions which would only paint your image darker in front of the authorities. The admiral surely had a solid reason for acting like he did. ´´, ship girl number two remined her supposed friend, trying to cool her down: `` Ahh, Admiral please excuse her rugged behaviour. ´´

`` Hnngg! ´´, Zuikaku uttered when being confronted by her words.

`` No, there is solid stuff to her complaints. I should not have just charged through the bathing house, these actions were only justified by my unwilling spirit when it comes to arrival times. So I sincerely understand this complaint, as not many might be able to understand it. Additionally children were around back then and a grown up, foreign man possibly seeing them in only natures garment is surely something not worthy of being tolerated. So, I say it loudly and clear: I am deeply sorry for causing any trouble! ´´, he replied, making a bow to emphasize his action. And now do me a favour and leave me alone, I have more important things to worry about then dealing with another person's complaints.

White-haired girl, whose name was still unknow, took the apology well and looked upbeat after hearing it, but the ship girl to her right, named Zuikaku was not really satisfied. She even seemed to be feel attacked by her statement and due to this revelation before his eyes, Hermann found himself to be mildly interested into this situation.

`` Who are you calling a child here?! ´´, was her reply. She was basically projecting negative things from Hermann's statement onto herself. Analysing the situation even more, he added one to one and realized that because of her flat chest she probably was the target of some jokes. Normally, Hermann who is no stranger to such behaviour, would try to cool her down. In this situation however, he instantly saw her self-centred world view and realized one thing. She was projecting everything at herself. This of course somewhat angered him, ignorance is not something Hermann is keen towards, he deeply despised it, which would even sometimes lead to his internal streak of misanthropy breaking through his skin of thought. As he was currently not only angered by her behaviour, but also by the absence of ship girls which were compelled to show up here, the German man decided for a snickering return.

`` Nobody but yourself, for I was referring to the destroyers in the bathing house. Stop with this pretentious acting, only seeing the world through your own eyes, since this will lead, in this case particular, to people actually regarding you as a child, but not through your lack in the chest area, but rather due to your own behaviour. ´´, he said to her.

`` Shoukaku-nee, I am sorry, but I will now kick his ass….. ´´, she replied.

`` You are about to pick a fight, which you cannot even hope to achieve success in. ´´, he added to her words of impending violence.

`` Could both of you just stop this. ´´, Shoukaku, whose name was finally revealed, pleaded them.

But both of them ignored her, Zuikaku in full-on rage towards the new admiral, and Hermann, who still lusted for a real battle after his quick clash with Homura. But before any fighting could commence, two people charged in between them and kept both opponents from taking another step to their respective targets. Strong hands grabbed Hermann at his chest area and gently pushed him back, while the voice of the silver haired assailant assured him: `` Don't worry admiral, leave the clashes with idiots like her to us! ´´

`` What in the….´´, Hermann uttered at this revelation, but before he could say anything further he was pushed back even more and another pair of hands grabbed him, this time thou he was picked up and swiftly carried away. While this ordeal happened, the other newcomers, the ones keeping the fight from happening, followed suit and run away too, which left both Zuikaku and Shoukaku in a rather dumbfounded setting.

In the meantime, the German man, also in a profoundly confused state, was being carried away from the theatre of imminent war towards a safer place, which in this case meant out of the meeting hall and to the building opposite form it. This building paid respect to Hermann's office, as it was in an equal state of seclusion as the office, however there was a small difference which it possessed. That being the secret base of this still unknown group of assailants. The door was swiftly opened by the vanguard ship girl, who also entered first. Then Hermann was carried in like a princess and quickly brought to a rather large leather chair on which he was seated upon by a black-haired girl. While he could have freed himself easily from her grasp, the German was much to intrigued by the ongoing scheme as to interfere, therefore he decided to let things just play out as given, hoping to find entertainment in this drama of not so world reaching consequences.

He sat in the chair with a content smile and waited for the girls to line up to each other. Immediately he realised that all of them wore the same kind of clothing, combing this with their behaviour it somehow reminded him of the power rangers or the ginyu force form Dragon Ball Z. The only difference in appearance though was height, chest size, facial structure and hair colour. Not being able to contend his inquisitiveness any longer Hermann asked them: `` Okay, just tell me what in the name of Christ is actually transpiring here right now, since I should be holding a speech right now and being late is definitely not something that I am really fond off. So, care to explain? ´´

`` Of course, admiral! We are the official Admiral-Protection squad! Consisting of the Akizuki-class destroyers! My name is Akizuki, name ship of said class and leader of this prestigious task force! ´´, one of the girls replied to him.

`` Ah-ahm I am Teruzuki, second Akizuki-class destroyer! I am pleased to meet you admiral! ´´, added the girl that stood to Akizuki's right, in contrast to her she had orange-brownish hair.

A stoic voice came next and said in a short manner: `` Fourth Akizuki-class destroyer, Hatsuzuki. ´´

Now it was the turn for the last girl of the gang, she stood out the most form her sister, for she had white hair: `` Suzutsuki is my name, third ship of the Akizuki-class destroyer series. I am looking forward to work with you, admiral! ´´

Hermann took their sights and voice in for a second time, analysing their behavioural signals. The first one, Akizuki appeared to be one of the more upbeat people here in the base. Her sister Teruzuki thou showed a bit of nervousness in not only her tone, but also in her body language. Compared to the train wreck of nervousness that Fusou was in the beginning, this however is nothing. Hatsuzuki did not give off anything of interest, she acted more like a robot with pinpoint instructions. Suzutsuki shared sentiment with Akizuki, but there are definitely differences in their motivations, Hermann judged so from his own experience from the military.

`` So only I am left then, my name is Scipio, hail from Germany and was supposed to introduce myself to my future fleet until I was confronted by a self-centred maniac. Then I was about to get into a fight with her until my self-appointed knights in shining armour came to the rescue and abducted me. Would care to explain why you did so? I am mildly intrigued for you answer. ´´, Hermann said and gazed at Akizuki, who he proclaimed as the leader of the group in thought.

She corrected her pose, standing upright and full of confidence: `` Several admirals have been filing in complaints about the ship girls that recently came to this base, for their acting is unbefitting. We as the proud Akizuki-class will put an end to this problem and keep our admiral from harm. The aircraft carrier Zuikaku is one of these foes, notorious for acting like she has a personal problem with the admirals of her former bases. We only did the right thing, saving our admiral from her wrath that is. ´´

`` Okay, okay… I commend you for your tenacity and sense for justice, but in that case, I was at fault too, so I can overlook her acting for now. Only her egoistic world view riled me up back then. ´´, Hermann replied with a small sigh: `` Still, you should not have just carried me away. I was about too make a speech, even tough half of the ship girls were missing at that point and I would have had to wait anyways, just skipping out on it by being hauled away is not something that I want to be listed in my portfolio. However, all of you acted out of pure intention, therefore I cannot really be angered about it, but before you even get the notion of repeating such acts, you should inform me beforehand. ´´

`` Yes, admiral! The Admiral-Protection squad is terrible sorry for this inconvenience! ´´, they answered in unison, also bowing as part of the apology.

`` At ease girls.. ´´, Hermann said while standing up and walking towards the door: `` If you really want to be my body guard team, then we can talk about such things later one, hit me tomorrow at my office. For now however, I need to make a formal introduction and then I will have to set some formal things up, coupled that with a few drinks and it will already be night time. ´´

When he left Hermann heard a loud ``Hai! ´´ coming from behind and could soon see the destroyers form a protective circle around him. `` Jesus Christus. ´´, he uttered in slight frustration.

`` We can not let you walk here unprotected, for this vile carrier could still be lurking around here. ´´, the white-haired ship girl, Suzutsuki added.

So, Hermann accepted his fate of being squashed into a protective circle and went on with getting back, to not waste any time the German decided to run the way back, even if it were just a few metres. The entrance door was swiftly reached and he issued the girls to got to the audience room, which he only achieved after ordering it to them. Proceeding with his action, Hermann again opened the door through which he had entered and left the building minutes ago. Passing by the old and boring prep-room, he found his way to the tribune all over again, but this time he was actually to find most of the seats already used. Additionally, whispering gave away that they indeed had to wait, something Hermann was not fond of. He sighed a moved towards the actual speaker's podest and adjusted the microphone to his height, as soon as he rasped his voice, most of the talking seized, safe for a few rascals, but at that moment Hermann had certainly lost care for it as he indeed was not interested into oral introductions himself. Further overlooking these issues he spoke: `` Good day ladies and gentlemen, if there are any around here right now. My name is Scipio and as you surely know I will be the admiral for this naval base's ship girl fleet, as I was kindly invited by your government to do so. For my credentials and qualifications, I spent several years in the German military academy, afterwards is was promoted to a common officer rank and started my military career. How someone like me achieved the admiralty so quickly, you certainly might ask this and I shall give an answer to that. Instead of slowly raising through ranks in times of peace, I stepped up the game with a show of merit during the second battle of Jutland. As most of our personnel got killed or heavily injured throughout the battle, I was given the chance to this position. Since then I have been commanding German Naval forces successfully in defending the Baltic sea. ´´, he cracked his neck in a short manner and continued: `` I do not expect many things, but those I expect are to be followed or you will face sever punishment. The first of rule is to respect me as an authority, meaning that I will not tolerate insults and actions of ill will directed at me. Second rule, what I just said is also valid for your peers, for if we start this voyage with infighting, defeat will surely be our final destination. The third rule is to not blindly follow your superiors, if you think that I am doing absolute miserable than voice your opinion and correct me, this rule however is not there for you to use this as an excuse to annoy me, so if you do this not out of concern for your peers and the military goal, then you will be dealt with according to martial law. The fourth rule is not a rule in itself, rather it is a given, which I will just say here for clarity's sake, which is that you always give one hundred percent in battle and never hold back, even if victory looks pre-emptive from the beginning. Burn these four rules into your mind and life up to them, so we will kick these abominations back into whatever hole they crawled out from! ´´, he lowered his voice: `` Thank you for your patience. ´´

He stepped down from the pedestal and walked back to the prep-room, leaving the mass with only his words in their minds. His way of ending the speech were not meant to somehow influence them in a certain way and while he would that from time to time, in that case he left early because he did not further care. Hermann reached into his pocket and pulled out a small flask of brandy, that was still unopened. Pulling the cap of with a trademark sound of small metal pins ripping from their base, he then lifted the now open bottle to his mouth and let the fluid enter his body. Half of it was consumed, then he put the cap back on and put the amber coloured spirit back into his trousers.

`` For a cheap airport product and being some kind of no-name brand, this thing is actually quite good. Nevertheless, it has quite a good kick in it, felt like about 46 percent of alcohol in there. ´´, he pondered about the drink as he left the building wholesome. He opened the door in front of him, but in the case that some vile assailant would wait for him outside of it, he peaked before he actually swayed it open. Assured of his safety, he passed through the final door and got out of the building. In addition to the peaking, he also activated his sensors and scanned the area. Many ship girls were in his vicinity, but this was just due to the speech and there wasn't one in ambush range. Next stop will be his office again, where he would assign a ton of things, order various things for the office and look at former mission reports. Now the boring phase of the day would shift in. If he manages to do all these things in a reasonable amount of time, he would hit the supermarket afterwards to buy some goods.

After an uneventful walk back to his office, on which he was surprisingly not interrupted by anyone, Hermann found himself starting to enjoy this wonderful solitude. While he definitely enjoyed socializing and drinking with his comrades, keeping up with fusion of teenage girls and warships is certainly not his forte, but as long as it would entertain him, Hermann could start to grow fond of it. Entering through the front door, he found himself back in the entrance room of the office, which reminded one more of storage room than an office, as even here everyting was cramped up with various things.

`` Hmm, if someone misbehaves, they can make a list of all the things here as some kind of punishment I guess. But seriously for which reasons is all of this shit even stored there? I mean they should at least have a big storage hall here, I am not convinced that they did not get the money to build one, this ordeal here however grows more suspicious with every moment. ´´, he muttered. `` In the end all of those crates are acutally bombs and when someone touches them, they will blast us all to Kingdom Come, hehehe…´´ Hermann morbidly laughed about and imagined the whole base being ripped apart, carcasses flying through the air and the smell of human flesh that is being eaten away by the fiery hunger of fire. Wonderful.

`` Back to reality, I still have a shit ton of things to do here, mostly paper work and similar pests….. At least I can blast some metal while filling them out, otherwise I think I would have gone insane instead, even though I already house the spirit of madness in my brain. ´´, the muttering continued as he walked towards his office in the first floor. After passing by several open rooms filled with a mass of crates and paper, he found himself in front of the closed door to his office. He opened it with a quick motion and subsequently entered the room.

Immediately he tensed up as he found his chair turned around, someone sitting in it. Flaring up his sensors, he found himself relieved as he identified the signature as one belonging to a ship girl. With this kind of entrance, he expected someone different, who would have defiantly caused a lot of trouble. Keeping it short, the base would have not survived in the ensuing battle.

`` Would you do me the honour of turning around and showing yourself, I think that you sit a certain someone's chair, who is prone to using it in a few moments. ´´, he said to the still hidden person.

`` Jeez, you are such a slack… ´´, she replied as she turned around.

Hermann took her in and was… Slightly shocked to be honest, he did not expect an image like this. At first there were her looks in general, skimpy would have been the understatement of the year in that case. He was at a loss of words at even beginning to describe her clothes. The next things to jump into his sight were her eyes, having a blue tone and a freaking yellow star instead of irises. Hair was long and blond, the only normal thing about her. Putting normal things aside now, she had massive breasts, which were neatly accented by her revealing dress. But the most surprising thing for Hermann was the inscription BB-61 on her top.

`` What in the name of Christ…. ´´, Hermann sighed loudly.

`` Hey! What is it? Aren't you entrance by a lovely lady such as me? ´´, she puffed out her chest while saying this.

Hermann shook his head: `` I am trying to make sense out of this….. Would you tell me what you are doing here in my room, Iowa I presume? ´´

She pointed up her thumb and replied: `` Yeah! That is me! To answer your question, I was told by a common friend to get here after arriving, Hermann! ´´

He quickly changed from his sighing and annoyed stance to a more aggressive one, since she knew his real name. But he quickly connected the dots and pulled out his phone. `` Don't tell me…. ´´

While he could hear a ``Yeah! ´´ form Iowa in the background, he chose to ignore her and call a certain person, who is hopefully going to clarify things here. This time it was not his smartphone. It ringed for two times until someone picked up: `` Howdy, Herman how are you doing? ´´

`` Fine, until I found this surprise in my room. And you? ´´, he answered with an ironic smile, but before anyone could reply furthermore, he looked over to Iowa. He assured her that he did not hate her or anything, quickly diffusing the situation before anyone would be hurt.

`` Ahh, yess… Ahmm, you see we ran into some diplomatic problems some time ago… ´´

`` Let me guess, the japs found out that you were constructing ship girls with their tech. ´´

`` One hundred percent, my friend! I will keep it short, they were pissed and threatened us with retaliation or similar things. As we are not in the mood of having to deal with WW2 all over again, we meet up with their diplomats and quickly got a deal nailed down: We would hand them over Okinawa, which we seized after the second Korean war and give them one of our ship girls as a kind of insurance. Since we are good friends, I explicitly demanded that she would be sent to your base and be under your command. They agreed any everyone is happy now. ´´

`` Except for me, since I will certainly have to deal with upcoming sentiments of rage from some of the more revanchist people here, mostly ship girls I think. ´´

`` Hey, we could have sent Enterprise over there…. ´´

Hermann laughed at his statement, Alex joined him in succession.

`` If you want to start an international conflict, then be my guest! At least then I would see some action here too, ahhh Alex you don't know how freaking annoying this constant absence from the frontlines is going to be. But cutting the chit chat, what did you tell her about me, for she actually knows my real name. ´´, Hermann asked his friend.

`` Just the basics, not that you are a crazed cyborg who lusts for blood and battle. ´´, he replied while chuckling about Hermann's morbid sense of humour, but deep in his heart he knew that Hermann could sincerely be hoping for something to happen.

`` Okay, fine then if that really is everything, I will somehow find a way of handling things around here, can't let it get to me. And if things get really as boring as I am making them out to be, then I will be calling you in for that EU4 game which he had to postpone because of your ''love interests''. ´´

`` Jesus Christ, don't remind, I know that I have sinned, so spare with those thots. ´´, he replied while he laughed heartily.

`` Fine, fine Alex. I'll won't bother you any longer then, wish you a good day! ´´, Hermann uttered with a smile on his face.

After Alexander did the same, Hermann cancelled the call and put his phone back into his trousers. He turned around to Iowa, who was not sitting in his chair any longer, but instead found herself a comfortable place on the couch. When he faced her, the girl put on a pouty look and said: `` Hmpph! Ignoring a cute girl like me! ´´

`` Ahhh..yeah, exactly what I have time for right now. Listen Iowa, what have you been informed of? Do you know where everything is? Do you have a place to sleep? I guess things were dealt with in a rather sporadic way, so it is likely that you still need information. ´´

She changed her mood and complained: `` I can't get these japs, everybody expected to be will informed from the beginning! What is this?! I just got pulled out form Guam and now I am supposed to know everything?! ''You should have already been informed of that.'' , ''not authorised'' and ''speak to your higher-ups'' just to name a few of their answers. ´´

Hermann sighed in his trademark fashion where he accentuated the action with a face palm. `` So nothing, I guess then? ´´

``Yeah. ´´, the ''yeah'' this time was not in her upbeat fashion.

Hermann pulled out a paper sheet from his pants and handed it over to Iowa: `` Take this map then for starters. I don't have much time now for explaining, so I will make a suggestion. You will have the honour of usning this most royal couch until I finish the freaking paper work here and then you can crash in at my home until we get all things sorted out. Is this acceptable for you? If ya don't want to spend the night in my bungalow, I can get you a hotel room or- ´´

Instead of answering him right away, she put her finger onto his mouth, effectively silencing him. `` Ya don't need to go such lengths Admiral, your place is fine enough for me. ´´

`` Fine then, so we got at least that handled now…. If you would excuse me, I will be doing some paper work now. ´´, he said as he walked to his desk. In a successive manner, he opened the laptop and started it up. Then he turned the wheel chair to the right towards the location where his sports bag was being placed. He pulled out a ton of lists, applications et cetera et cetera.

When he straightened back up again, to his surprise he found Iowa standing before him. Because of his position, he stared for a moment at her impressive rack, before shifting his gaze towards he eyes. Of course, Iowa saw this and replied: `` Ohhh, were you staring at my breasts? Naughty boy…. ´´

Her tone was in a rather playful manner, so Hermann replied in an according way, meaning stoic and without any emotions: `` Yes. ´´

`` Ohh, if it's that way…. ´´, she continued in the same way, but Hermann interrupted quickly.

`` Bored? ´´, she nodded at his question.

He put on a smile and pulled out some of the applications from the stack of sheets. `` These are for some kitchen utensils, which I beckoned to be in need of from the beginning, so I got some of them when I arrived here. I want you to fill them out, they are not really complicated, just write down what it is and for which purpose, get creative, but don't overdo it like writing down ''storing human flesh'' as justification for a freezer. I put a list with all the things needed in there. ´´, he replied while pulling out a pen from the magic dimension that is called a pocket and subsequently gave it to her.

This time she sighed: `` Not what I expected… ´´ A small smile formed on her face: `` But better than nothing. ´´

With the American battleship dealt with, Hermann returned to his task at hand, for which he stared up his laptop. Basic fleet composition. Normally he this wouldn't be problematic as he reaped a lot of experience from his role as Admiral, but Ship Girls are in a tactical sense more like special forces and are in need of different handling.

He logged into his account and started up Microsoft Excel, since he would be doing this in a modern way. But even the most modern person sometimes did something old school, so Hermann also added several sheets of white paper to his arsenal. Armed with a pen and paper, he set to work and looked at the other sheets were his fleet was neatly listed:

Destroyers(DD):

· Akizuki-Class x4

· Kamikaze-Class x5

· DD Mutsuki

· DD Kiseragi

· DD Fubuki

· DD Murakumo

· DD Akebono

· DD Sazanami

· DD Ushio

· DD Yamakaze

· DD Murasame

· DD Shigure

· DD Michishio

· DD Arashio

· DD Oyashio

· DD Amatsukaze

· DD Isokaze

· DD Hamakaze

Light Cruisers(CL):

· Sendai-class x3

· Agano-class x4

· Tenryuu-Class x2

· CL Kitakami

· CL Ooi

· CL Abukuma

· CL Kinu

· CL Yuubari

· Cl Yura

Heave Cruisers(CA):

· CA Aoba

· CA Kinugasa

· CA Takao

· CA Atago

· CA Maya

· CA Suzuya

· CA Kumano

· CA Ashigara

· CA Haguro

Battleships(BB):

· Kongou-class x4

· BB Nagato

· BB Mutsu

· BB Fusou

· BB Yamashiro

Aircraft Carriers(CV):

· CV Kaga

· CV Akagi

· CV Shoukaku

· CV Zuikaku

Submarines(SS):

· SS I-168

· SS I-19

· SS I-26

Twenty-three destroyers, fifteen light cruisers, nine heave cruisers, eight battleships, four aircraft carriers and three submarines. Meaning that I am in command of sixty-two ships in total plus the up unto now unknow factor called Iowa, well that is certainly quite sizeable I guess…. But back to matters at hand now, I need to somehow organize these things here. I will take fifteen of the destroyers and five of the light cruisers, forming respectably five vanguard squads of four girls each then. Vanguard will be formed in a wide crescent shape, with the tips pointed backwards, so that I can easily order them to surround the enemy if the forces are not so big. The remaining eight destroyers will be escort for the carriers, two of them for each one. Leaving me with a bunch of CL's and CA's, those will form a main line with the intent of supporting the vanguard if the enemy proves to be stronger. Ten CL's are still available, I will take eight of them and add seven of the CA's for this task. The remaining Cruisers will team up with Iowa to form a fire fighter team. Historically the Iowa-class was the fastest battleship class to be ever built, I can't find a reason for that to be not correct anymore, so seems to be fitting for this job. 40.6 centimetres main guns can turn an engagement quickly around. The rest of the battleships will form a back row that is used for long-distance bombardment, safe for two of the Kongou-class ships which will be able to leave formation and flank the enemy if needed. Carriers plus escort ships will be further back, with one Sub behind them to not have something creep upon our backs. The two others will be additional flanking units or placed in the front for extra vanguard…. Hmmm, I think this will work out as a standard composition, but just as Moltke one said `` No plan will survive contact with the enemy. ´´ so this arrangement is of course open for further remodelling.

Hermann put his thoughts to paper and started to draw a sketch with his pen onto the white paper, besides this the standard squad prearrangement was being listed. After he finished hi sketches and could hear the silent cursing of Iowa that stemmed from the bureaucratic complexity of ordering a freezer, Hermann was about to digitalise his work, but the German was unfortunate interrupted by a certain Destroyer class entering his office.

`` Admiral! ´´, Akizuki called out.

`` Hmm, a bit sooner than I thought, but now you that you have arrived we can get things discussed concering your protective squad. I would like to offer you a seat here, but I don't think that five people will fit on this couch. ´´, Hermann replied as he pointed toward Iowa, who was still in thought on how to formulate her specific purposes for each kitchen utensil.

In a fashion which could be perceived a bit overreactive, the ship girls again formed some kind of protective circle around the German, who could only sigh on the sudden development of things in his office.

`` Who are you and what are doing in the Admiral's office? Are you trying to attack him? ´´, Akizuki stepped out from the circle and confronted the now perplexed American battleship.

But before one of the sides could even make the next step, Hermann outsmarted the three girls encircling him and positioned himself on his wheel chair, whom he subsequently used as a jump platform. He landed graciously as his right foot touched the ground, then he turned around, facing Akizuki and took a step back to come closer to Iowa. The tables had been turned, a few moments before they bound him to his chair and confronted the American Ship, but now he protected her and confronted them.

`` Calm down, Jesus Chirstus… What are you even so riled up about? ´´, Hermann asked her as he leaned to the outer structure of the couch to make this situation a bit more enjoyable.

She stuttered this time: `` W-w-well she c-could have been like Zuikaku wanting to attack you… ´´

Suzutsuki backed her sister up: `` We were just acting in your favour, doing what is best for your wellbeing, Admiral. ´´

`` Interrupting my work and keeping me from continuing, that is it what you are doing here right now. ´´, he countered. `` If we look at it in an objective way, then you are actually the threat here as this fine girl here… ´´, eh pointed at Iowa. ``…was just helping me. ´´

His lines made Akizuki and the rest of the gang only doubt themselves as worn shield of the Admiral, but Hermann who had no nerves for such things right now said: `` Okay, I see that you were trying to help me out, but- ´´

Misfortune struck again and this time someone came sprinting into his office, blabbering some nonsense about ''Burning love!'' and such. `` Teitoku! ´´, the person erupted as she took Herman into her sights.

He could only hear Suzutsuki utter a ''please god no, not her'' when the interestingly dressed ship girl arrived and jumped straight at Hermann, who was reaching levels of perplexity that should not be reachable, even for a cyborg like him.