Operation Jackknife

by Latrios

Two agents, one from the Eagle Union's Office of Strategic Services, and the other from the Royal Navy's Special Operations Executive, investigate an Ironblood naval base in Norway to find a rather unexpected entry into the world of naval operations. Inspired by and I'd like to think set in the world of SabatonBabylon's 'Chronicles of the Siren War' series. c:

1. Chapter 1

"Come on Agent Two, we don't have time for this" Agent One huffed as his partner ran a brush through her hair. Given the specifications of their mission, delays were proving since they had three dead soldiers in the same room as them, having been stuffed into some footlockers.
"Agent One, we're undercover." She retorted "A supposed high-ranking officer of the Ironblood is going to be questioned pretty closely if his second-in-command looks like she just lost a tug of war match with a blackcurrant bush" Agent One groaned before returning to looking out the door's glass window

"Given that the Ironblood don't exactly have female soldiers or sailors, let-alone officers, your appearance is going to attract attention regardless. Getting onto this base without being seen was enough of a pain, given what the Norwegian Resistance told us, I don't exactly want to draw any more attention than we absolutely need to." Agent Two had finished with her hair by the time he turned around again, with her placing her officer's cap on her head, and taking a moment to check her Welrod pistol before stuffing it into her holster, the leather strap disguising its true appearance from prying eyes. Agent one checked his own HDM suppressed handgun in his holster before doing the same "Your Royal Navy SOE Was so insistent that they handle getting us in and involving you in this mission that If OSS knows what I'm doing here, they sure as hell didn't tell me."

"That's generally to help keep the enemy from finding out the plan if we're caught, Agent One, you should know that. A lot of Eagle Union citizens have ancestry roots in the Ironblood that make you potentially more liable to speak if you're caught, but that's not important right now." Agent Two continued as she pulled a manilla folder out of her coat "Regardless of that, it's time that you actually got these orders memorised before we set out." Opening the folder, she set out the two sheets of paper, along with a very blurry recon photograph of the naval base they were currently in, the outline of a large warship visible along the port. Holding up the first sheet, Agent Two cleared her throat and began to quietly read it out.

"OSS/SOE Joint Operation 'Jack-knife'

TOP SECRET

DESTROY THESE DOCUMENTS IF AT RISK OF CAPTURE

To: Agent Two (SOE), to be read again when contact is made with Agent One (OSS) for security reasons.

1. Primary Objectives;

a) To investigate Ironblood Naval bases in captured Norwegian territory to determine the whereabouts of the remaining Ironblood Capital Ships.

b) To reconnoitre Ironblood Naval Base(s) in area of operations to determine what their future plans might be. Rumors have indicated that multiple bases may be there, but recon has yet to provide any evidence of such.

c) Intel in provided photograph seems to indicate Battleship Tirpitz to be in port, investigate if at all possible, Command does not want another repeat of Bismarck. Explosives should be acquired and used to cripple the ship if possible.

d) Eagle Union Intelligence seems to indicate that the Iron Blood have been performing experiments on the shipgirls of their Navy, find this information if at all possible, the state of the shipgirls themselves, assuming they are even in the area, is secondary.

INFORMATION

3. Enemy

a) Static defenses in area of operations.

Garrison at the photographed base that will be your first and hopefully only objective consists of at least 40 men, armed with assorted small arms (MP40, Kar98k) and at least three dozen light anti-aircraft guns, possibly 20mm or 88mm.

Garrison numbers seem smaller than expected, investigate if at all possible.

b) State of alertness

With the Eagle Union joining in the war, seeing how the Ironblood respond to the increased number of ships being sent to the Northern Parliament will be vital to determine any future escort strength. Once the garrison forces are alerted, nearby towns at 025664, 022637 and 025619 will undoubtedly dispatch reinforcements in platoon to company strength. Norwegian Resistance forces will not aid you in any conflict that breaks out, discretion is strongly advised.

METHOD

4. Outline

a) Infiltration to be affected by parachute. DZ approx. one day overland from the base, as radar and AA coverage have increased in the immediate vicinity. Norwegian Resistance will meet you at DZ and direct you to objective area and may help smuggle you in if the situation permits it.

b) Primary exfiltration will consist of SBS forces on standby in a fjord as close to operation area as possible. If things escalate, the SBS will be forced to retreat to avoid discovery. In the event of such, exfiltrate by any means at your disposal."

"Well that's all well and good," Agent One remarked as his partner looked back from the documents but why us two specifically? Why aren't we in, say, Wilhelmshaven inspecting what new and terrifying ways the Ironbloods are breaking treaties and screwing the Royal Navy over?"

"Because, Agent One; putting all of our available agents in one spot is going to draw suspicion. And also, given that this base is supposed to be top secret, only higher-ups are supposed to know anything about it, and the only way we're gonna look like we fit in outside of our forged documents is the fact that we're both blonde-haired and bright-eyed, got it?" Agent One nodded, more bewildered than anything else. "Good, now let's get out and investigate this base. We're lucky being smuggled in got us past the gate, they'd call ahead to ask if we're expected or not on the spot."

The two checked themselves over one last time before stepping out from their hiding spot in one of the base's barracks into the base proper. Soldiers and sailors alike scurried about, moving supplies to and from various trucks and base-linked railroad tracks. No-one seemed to pay them any mind, some nearby soldiers offering them a confused glance at Agent Two's appearance before giving Agent One a salute. She leaned over to her partner as they cleared the buildings and got within sight of the dock itself.

"I hope you've brushed up on your German, Agent One, I've yet to nail getting rid of my accent which might give me away if we're not... careful" She trailed off, both pausing in their step for a moment as the massive size of Battleship Tirpitz came into view. Shaking the awe off as they continued towards it, noting the small building along the port. "That's probably where they keep any relevant information on her, I don't see anywhere else on this confusingly-designed naval base that could house anything but troops. May as well start looking there... or better yet, the ship itself. Probably easier to hide documents there."

They approached the gangway of the mighty battleship, noting how no steam flowed from her funnel, and her gun barrels seemed to be plugged. The intel on the place was right, there were very few men about, certainly not enough to crew the ship should anyone attack. What were they doing here with her if not preparing her to sail? The soldier at the gangway held his hand up to stop them "Papers, Please?" He asked in German, Agent Two fished her forged documents booklt out of her breast pocket and handed it to him, He looked up at the two between glances at the book in one hand, slowly lowering the submachine gun in his other hand before handing it back "Where is Admiral Schmidt?"

"He was called to Berlin by High Command" Agent One responded in his own German, the soldier none the wiser "He sent us here in his stead to gather the relevant info for whatever it is you're doing here. He trusts us to be discrete, though, so we'd best discuss this onboard, you never know who could be listening."

The soldier looked at the two incredulously before sighing and motioning to follow as he led the two up onto the deck of the massive warship. "It's pretty straightforward, the experiments related to the ships necessitated that their associated ships be in port under guard in case they are needed. Though I can't say I know exactly what it is that's being experimented on, that's above my pay grade, I'm just here as a guard. Though if I may be candid, herr officers, it seems like a bit of a waste to have a brand new battleship sitting in port with no crew around to operate her"

"You make a good point, soldier" Agent Two said "We'll look around from here, important data to gather and all that. So that will be all"

The soldier nodded and saluted before making his way back down the gangplank. "Alright, Agent One, time to explore this ship. We don't know how much time we've got before they find the bodies so we must be quick and thorough. Take any documents you can find that seem important. Codebooks, blueprints, reports, anything that may seem useful. I'm going to head down to the nearest armoury, try and see if there's anything here we can use to cripple the ship." With a nod, the two split up.

"Let's see... MP40's, Kar98's, TNT, torpedo primers... nothing new, I guess they're not testing any new guns... at least not any that they're storing on the ship itself." Agent Two muttered to herself as she went through the ship's armoury, a flashlight illuminating the rooms around her due to the ship not having any power. At one point she did catch a glimpse of a series of blueprints on a nearby table, but it was nothing that SOE didn't already know about; new applications for flare guns, old tests for magnetic detonators for torpedoes, and a lot of them incomplete too. If this had been a place to store this kind of information, that must've changed relatively recently, with anything that was deemed important moved elsewhere. "Presumably because storing anything important on something as big and bomb-able as a battleship. Well, if there's nothing else here, I guess I'll just have to go-wait what's that?"

Turning to leave, a flash of red had reflected a glint from her flashlight near the far corner of the armoury. Nearly entirely hidden by a stack of crates stood a door, moving the crates revealed a painted on sign with the words 'TOP SECRET EXPERIMENT. DO NOT OPEN UNTIL 1943 AT THE EARLIEST BY ORDERS OF HIGH COMMAND' emblazoned on it in German, with chains wrapped around the door and sealed with a padlock.

"Well well, guess this could be something after all. Alright Jerry, let's see what you're hiding, opening this up a year early shouldn't be too much of a detriment, right?" A brief moment of caution overcame her as she moved the crates out of the way, deciding to grab and load one of the submachine guns from the armoury, using it to blast apart the padlock and pull the chains free. With a loud squeak, the door opened as she pulled it, then flashed her light inside, weapon held up with the other hand.

Inside was...a woman. Sitting in the corner hunched up with her arms around her knees, seemingly staring into nothing, her bright blue eyes glazed over. Agent Two was confused to say the least. The rest of the room was empty, save for a tray near a slot on the bottom of the door, mouldy half-eaten food sitting on it. Unsure of what else to really do, she approached the figure. She was pale, a lot of her face hidden by her shoulder-length snow white hair, white uniform, and white officer's cap. It was a distinctly unique uniform, quite different from any she'd known the Ironblood Navy to wear, it seemed like it'd be more fitting as a parade uniform.

"Er... Hello? Miss? Are you alright?... Or alive, for that matter?" Agent Two gently waved a hand in front of the woman's eyes. After a moment, she blinked slowly. Then again, and again. She squinted at the light, looking up at the new arrival past the glare.

"S-sister?" She asked in surprisingly clear English, though a trace of accent could still be heard.

"What?"

Any further interaction was postponed as she heard the door to the armoury slam open, with Agent One soon appearing in the doorway "Agent Two! We've been found out, the Ironbloods have found the bodies and the alarm has been raised! We've got to meet up with the SBS team and... who the hell is that?!" The woman looked at him, confused. Then back to Agent Two. "Ah, forget it, just bring her with us and let's get off this stinking tub." He took a moment to grab a gun from the racks before dashing back out the door and towards the deck access.

"Well I guess that's that. Let's go. Give me your arm miss...?"

She paused for a moment, as if thinking "Tirpitz"

"What?"

"I am the Shipgirl manifestation of Battleship Tirpitz" She said with a little more confidence as she offered her arm to her. Hesitating for a second, Agent Two took it, helping her up as she wrapped the arm over her shoulders, and noticed that she was quite light for a fully-grown woman. How long had she been in there?

"Right well, either way we're getting you out of here, uhh... Tirpitz. We've got to leave, come on." The shipgirl didn't seem keen on the idea of objecting, slowly hobbling weakly along as best she could. As they got closer to the exits, the sounds of the base alarms blaring became more audible, occasionally pausing for an announcement from someone somewhere in the base, but the distance and wind made it impossible to tell what was being said. They soon joined up with Agent One, who had stacked a bunch of crates in front of the gangplank to keep anyone from getting on board, but the number of men moving towards the dock with weapons trained on them was getting concerning. The young agent remained hunched behind the crates with weapon in hand as he glanced out towards the encroaching enemy.

"What do we do now, Agent One?" Agent Two asked as she gently set Tirpitz down against the rails, who seemed quite distracted with staring at the foggy sky above them. "We're just two people against at least forty, with more reinforcements on the way. It's unlikely we're gonna be able to just fight our way out without taking a few hits, let alone before more show up."

"Royal Navy commandos" A thick German accent suddenly announced over the loudspeaker in English "We have captured your commanding officer. Surrender now, and we will spare the lives of you and your fellow soldiers." It was a load of crap, of course, but since they clearly didn't have any idea how many were present, it'd give the two enough time to think of a way out.

"What about the Special Boat Service?" Agent One asked

She shook her head "No good. You know what the briefing said, they've likely heard the alarm and are already going to leave to avoid being captured."

"The lifeboats?"

"Wouldn't help. We'd be sitting ducks trying to row anywhere in those things. Even if we hopped on the opposite side of the ship and used those boats, they'd only board the ship and gun us down from there"

"The battleship itself?"

She deadpanned "Yes, because we clearly have the time, resources, and manpower between the two of us to operate a massive battleship that uses a crew of two-thousand. Reasonable suggestions please, you damn yank."

"Now isn't the time to fight amongst yourselves" Came the voice of Tirpitz, grabbing their attention. The white-uniformed shipgirl was somewhat shakily standing to her feet "If you are to escape, you are taking me with you."

"Tirpitz... we don't exactly have a way of escape, unless you know how to surf a torpedo." The surprised look from her fellow operative at the revelation of the woman's name was ignored as the shipgirl responded.
"I will take us to freedom. I owe you for getting me out of that room at the very least."

The then closed her eyes, her face contorting as she seemed to be concentrating on something. She seemed to be doing her best to stay upright, but showed enough of an example of how weak she was when she began to stumble, with Agent Two dashing over to help keep her upright. She was given an affirmative nod by the white-haired woman, who returned to concentrating. There was a steadily-increasing rumble, which began rapidly being felt all along the ship, and even along the dock.

Suddenly, thick grey smoke began to pour from her funnel as the ship's boilers and engines, bereft of crew and any real method of supplying itself, roared to life.
"We do not know what you are trying to do, commandos," Came the voice from the loudspeaker again "But know that you will not be able to get the ship into running condition before reinforcements arrive. You will only secure your execution if you continue to resist surrender."

"Tirpitz. What exactly is going on?"

"Just give me a moment, I've not done this for quite some time. Hng." She grunted as the sound of spinning propellers began fade in as the massive ship began to slowly move forward, the gangplank hanging on for a moment as the soldiers on the dock tried desperately to keep it in place before it bent too far, with a splintering of wood and scream of rending iron, it came apart, the upper half dropping from the battleship into the sea.

"What are you doing?!" Came the voice from the loudspeaker again "You should not have been able to do that so fast! Cease your acceleration or we shall open fire. We have 88's trained on you! Halt! Stop!" A lack of any real response from the two agents convinced them that things weren't going to go their way. A cry of 'Feuer!' preceded a barrage of 88mm armour-piercing shells, none of which could do any real damage to the mighty battleship as she fled. With a low, loud blare from her foghorn, the massive ship picked up speed as the fog came in around the fjord. A few more stray shells were fired their way, but nothing landed any closer. With the fog rolling in, they had escaped.

"Mother Hen to Henhouse. Mother Hen to Henhouse, come in." Agent One repeated into the transmitter as he played with the radio's dials. Trying to report in to the OSS communications outpost in England was proving difficult, the radio set seemed intent on being a problem for him for the last couple of hours. Finally came a distinctive noise of a signal being reached through the set, which finally became audible English after some more frantic messing with the knobs and dials.

"This is Henhouse to Mother Hen. Go ahead Agent One. What's your status?"

"Status? Henhouse, you'll not believe where I'm contacting you from right now."

"Try us, Agent One, you'd not be the first to contact us from the personal radio of a high-ranking officer."

"How about the communications room of Battleship Tirpitz?"

"Come again, Agent One? Did you say Battleship Tirpitz?"

"I did, Henhouse. I've been able to get the radio set working."

"Noted, Agent One. Do try to keep an eye out for guard patrols. Have you learned any important information so far?"

"Well, we've got good news and bad news, and some... interesting news"

"Go on..."

"Good news is, we found that there are no extra bases around the area, that base is the only one around."

"Good to hear. The bad news?"

"The bad news is that we were spotted and the alarm raised, so we had to leave"

"So you stowed away in the battleship? You'll probably get found before too long, then."

"Actually, Agent Two and I managed to steal it, and we're now out in the Fjords."

"You what?! Agent One, please tell us that you're joking."

He smirked. "'Fraid not, Henhouse. We found the... uh... well... the shipgirl? Version of her, and she was able to get the ship going without any crew."

"I see... noted, Mother Hen, we will pass on the information. Anything else?"

"Nothing of note, but since we found the Shipgirl Tirpitz locked up in her own armoury, I'm curious what she was doing in there. Can you find anything?"

"We'll see what we can dig up. We'll contact you again in two hours, in the meantime, we'll pass on the news to SOE as well. Good Luck. Out."

"Copy, Henhouse. Mother Hen Out"

Up on the bridge, meanwhile, Agent two watched through the bridge windows as the outlines of the fjords slowly rolled by in the distance, Occasionally turning the wheel to make small adjustments, before turning to look back at Tirpitz, slouched down on the floor leaning against the wall while glancing out the slightly ajar bridge door at the sea as it passed by. The Battleship looked rather sickly now that the adrenaline of combat had worn off and she had wound down. Agent Two couldn't help but be concerned.
"So, you said that we'll just keep going then? No need to worry about you exerting yourself?"

She nodded "Y-yes... The ship should be able to move under...her own steam for a good few hours... enough to get us out of the fjords before I'll need to take over again. I need rest... It's been so long since I moved like that... what date is it anyway? I've lost track of time spent in that room."

"It's late February, 1942." Agent Two responded, immediately getting more worried as the woman's blue eyes widened in shock.
"1942? Are you serious? They put me in that room back in late 1940 or so while the ship was still being built, Azur Lane had already broken apart due to faction differences... I didn't really get to see Bismarck because she was so busy with Ironblood leadership stuff. Never really met her. Miss Hood did mention that she was good friends with her, though."

"Azur Lane? Can't say I'm familiar"

"Oh, right. Well that's not important right now. The point is that I've been isolated in there for two years. To think that poor Bismarck is probably worried sick about not being able to meet her sister yet."

"Oh..."

"What do you mean 'oh'? Did something happen to Bismarck?"

"Well I uh... I'm not sure I..."

"You do know something, don't you? Tell me."

"I mean. It's just that-"

"Tell me!" She yelled, trying to stand dramatically, but only managing to slightly lift herself up before collapsing again. Agent Two, took one brief glimpse out the window to make sure they weren't going to hit anything before rushing over to Tirpitz. She reached out and grabbed hold of Agent Two by the collar and tried to pull her close to her face, tears welling up in her eyes. "Where is my sister?"

A sigh escaped the agent's lips, and she looked Tirpitz in the eyes. "She's gone."

"Gone?"

"Sank. The Royal Navy destroyed her after she killed Hood."

"Killed Hood?... She didn't! She couldn't have! Hood told me that they were close friends!" She tried desperately to shake her, but she just didn't have the energy, releasing the coat in defeat. "I... just can't believe that it happened."

"Well it did, I'm afraid. That's war for you. I wasn't there of course, but from what I've heard, Bismarck was able to wrest her freedom from the Siren that controlled her, but still decided to go down fighting. Despite being surrounded and ordered to surrender, she fought on..."

"That... sounds like the Bismarck I've heard stories of... I'd like to have met her."

"I would've liked to see that, too... Now then, how about I get you some food? You look absolutely starved, and I imagine there's probably something on this ship that's kept, even if it's just old rations."

She stood up to leave before feeling her coat get grabbed again. "Wait," Tirpitz pleaded, looking a lot more vulnerable than before. "Don't go... It's... lonely up here. I... I don't want to feel like I'm back in that room again."

Not really seeing much choice, Agent Two nodded as she sat herself down on the floor next to Tirpitz. "Thank you... tell me, what's your name? I've heard you go by 'Agent Two', but that's clearly not your name... could you tell me your name?"

"I uh... well I mean it's supposed to be top secret for the sake of the mission... but... It's... It's Jessica. Lieutenant Jessica Biscuit." She couldn't help but blush a little bit. Biscuit was certainly a rather silly-sounding last name, to be sure. Tirpitz seemed to pause a moment, as if trying to comprehend it, before letting out a soft chuckle.
"Goodness, that is a silly name, Haha~ That actually brightened my mood a little... Thank you, Jessica... May I call you Jessica?"

Jessica gave a soft nod, which the battleship-girl seemed to approve of, leaning against her slightly. Less than a moment later the door opened, with Agent One stepping inside. He looked around in confusion for a moment before finding the two on the floor "So what's going on here?"

"Tirpitz here's a bit starved for both social interaction... and food. She doesn't really want me to leave her here alone, so do you think you could briefly correct our course and then maybe see if you can find any food?"

"Uhh... sure. One moment" Just a little confused, he approached the helm and glanced outside, gently giving the wheel a small turn to adjust course, before releasing it and heading to one of the exits "I'll have a look at the galley, see if there's anything there" Jessica nodded as her fellow agent disappeared back into the bowels of the ship, before turning to look at Tirpitz again.

"So what's his name?"

"I... don't actually know, I never asked him, and our briefing documents never mentioned either of our names. Though it wouldn't surprise me if the OSS had told him what my name was already."

"That's another thing, you've mentioned those things before, 'OSS' and 'SOE' What are they supposed to be?" Jessica looked back at her, trying to come up with some sort of convincing lie, but not able to think of anything. She sighed.

"It's the 'Office of Strategic Services' and the 'Special Operations Executive'. Secret agencies belonging to the Eagle Union and Royal Navy respectively. I... I should be telling you this. It's supposed to be top secret, and you are still technically part of the enemy faction."

"Given that I just helped you escape from Ironblood territory, I'm surprised you'd still think that." Tirpitz looked at her with a slightly wounded expression. "Surely you'd think I'd be worth telling, seeing how I saved you and all." Jessica did find herself admittedly starting to feel a little bad about what she'd said, only to be a little confused herself when she spotted Tirpitz cracking a small smile and letting out a chuckle. "Heheh, I'm only teasing, Jessica. You don't actually have to tell me. Frankly I'm just happy to have someone to talk to. I just wish I didn't feel so weak so that I could look around some more."

"Well hopefully Agent One will find some food then."

"Hopefully so," she murmured back. Before leaning softly against her some more. "You know, Jessica? I may never have met my sister, but I've seen pictures of her, and I think I remember seeing her in person once back at the Azur Lane base. I think... with that long blonde hair and the blue eyes? You actually look a lot like her in a way, at least from what I remember... it might just be the eyes and hair, though."

Jessica couldn't really think of much to add to that, electing to simply reach behind she shipgirl's shoulders, and gently rub her side. She seemed to approve as she shuffled around a little bit to make herself more comfortable, resting her head on her shoulder.

Agent One would return half-an-hour later with food -albeit mostly a few cans of ration meat of potentially-dubious quality- Which Tirpitz was happy to have "It was the only stuff I could find that wasn't rotten or didn't require preparation. I did also find the freezer, but It was locked and I've no idea how long anything that might be in there has been in there without power."

"That's fair enough, I suppose. Given the armoury's state, I'd be surprised if any part of the ship was fully supplied. They seemed pretty intent on just leaving her alone in port. I think I recall hearing the term 'Loney Queen of the North' being thrown around at one point or another." Both looked to Tirpitz expecting a response, but she miraculously, had fallen asleep just after eating, seeming content to keep leaning against Jessica, breathing softly. "Huh... you know she actually looks quite sweet when she's asleep."

"No kidding. We should probably find somewhere to lay her down, though. The captain's quarters is a couple rooms away down the nearby hall. Pick her up and we should be able to set her down in the bed there, assuming it has sheets. Can you lift her?"

"Yeah, should be fine, she's actually quite light. Likely due to however long she spent sitting in the corner of that room. She was just kinda sitting there still as a statue, like she was in a coma or hibernating or something." The quarters thankfully was nearby as Agent One had said. And while a little dusty, the bed at least seemed to be in place, save for lacking a few sheets that Agent one found in a cupboard. With Tirpitz set down and gently covered with the blanket, the two making their leave. Though not before Jessica could scribble a note down on a notepad on the nearby desk, writing it a second time in German just to be sure.

"Alright, let's get to the communications room, Command's expected to call us again in a couple hours, and it'd do well to keep an ear out for them."