Chapter 1 - Awakening
Blackness was all that surrounded Karl. He felt as if he was floating, an oddly warm feeling surrounding his body, far warmer and more comfortable then the freezing cold of the Atlantic oceans.
Was he dead? Was he at the bottom of the ocean, or far far above the clouds heading to God's domain? Perhaps he was still alive? He didn't know, not yet anyways.
He made a struggle to open his eyes but couldn't, his entire body refused to heed any of his orders to move. Karl made the guess in his mind he was under some sort of sleep paralysis and had to wait for his body to natually awake. Which, he gave some time. And slowly a tingling sensation came upon his feet, allowing just barely any wiggling of his toes. Slowly, the sensation traveled up his legs, allowing him more freedom of his feet and to slightly bend his knees. Up his pelvis and abs, he could finally rotate his body. The tips of his fingers to his elbows, he could now grip. So on, and so fourth.
Karl's eyelids shook a few times as he tried again to open them. The same feelings came upon his neck and face, his tongue finally responding to his commands. Eventually, he was able to pry open his eyes, only to immediately close them again as a blinding light hit his retinas.
"Hnng..." He groaned out, his hand shakily coming up in front of him to shield his sensitive eyes. A kick came to his side and he immediately retracted from it, a terrible sharp pain jolting throughout his body. All Karl could do in retaliation was ball up his fist and clench his teeth, omitting the same groan.
"You up yet?" An unknown voice called out to him. His tingly hand shook off in front of him to dismiss whoever was there.
"Neu-Kommandant, you've been here for the last half hour."
Karl grunted and slowly attempted to sit up, a hand reaching under him towards his back to help him. "Quite the entrance you have here, Neu-Kommandant."
Karl sat, his back arched forward sort of in a fetal position, absolutely exhausted. He rubbed his face a few times and finally opened his eyes up, fixing his posture and looked up to the voice.
A female. He's seen those before. However, this one was very unusual.
She was average in height at about 5' 10" or so. Her hair was long and white, around down to her waist and was divided into two pigtails, with red bows of some sort keeping them from falling apart. Her outfits left... little to the imagination with her main garment being some odd version of a grey Greatcoat, only shortened up to her upper thigh and tightened greatly, acting more as a dress which is what he guessed it actually was and was used for. The sleeves of the dress were gone completely, leaving nearly the entire side of her upper body (and breast) awfully revealed.
Don't get him wrong, that wasn't per-say a bad thing and an honest change in hormones downstairs reflected that. Instinctively, he adjusted his legs to hide it- a skill any man has mastered.
The female as well had black and grey thigh-highs attached to her dress as well as red sleeves that went around halfway up her bicep from her hands. Her face was like none other he had seen. For lack of a better term, she was fucking hot and really cute. A perfect mix in his mind, a 10/10, but that wasn't the topic.
"See something you like, hm?" The female interrupted his unintentional scanning and gazing upon her body with a quick tease, causing Karl to shake his head in embarrassment and slowly letting himself get up, the female again helping him a bit.
Yet again Karl groaned, using her shoulder as leverage as his legs still weren't not at their prime. Eventually he was able to steady himself and get up.
"I apologize for my frail behaviors." Karl took a look around and noticed he was on a sizable beach, near the shore on wet sand where the tide sometimes comes in. Remembering the day before his best guess was that he washed up after the disaster.
"We have been expecting you for quite some time Neu-Kommandant. My sister Hipper found you around half an hour ago, tried to wake you but to no avail. Shame you didn't, she had to interrupt me while I was getting a drink." The female lifted up a cup with a pink liquid in it and a blue straw to go along with. She took a sip.
"Hipper?" Karl rubbed his eyes, still tired.
"Yeah? I'm Prinz Eugen, heavy cruiser of the Hipper class for the Ironblood fleet... you ought know this, Neu-Kommandant."
Karl was taken aback by this. "You were named after the Prinz Eugen?"
"I am the Prinz Eugen." To prove this, so-called Prinz Eugen sort-of snapped her fingers (probably for dramatics) and out came two naval guns attached to the deck and stern of a ship- one could guess the Prinz Eugen- alongside other various parts of a heavy cruiser. The deck and stern seemed to be modeled after sharks of some sort, with sharp teeth and large gaping jaws. The one on the right bit down suddenly as the Prinz Eugen showed herself off a bit.
"The fuck?!" Karl retracted to the ground, stumbling back and falling down into his ass, shielding himself from the menace before him. Prinz Eugen audibly giggled at the sight, a word coming out from her lips so low that Karl couldn't make it out.
"How cute~..."
"Neu-Kommandant, do you know exactly where you are? Or why you're here?"
Karl shook his head no and Prinz Eugen sighed, seeming like she had dealt with this before. Karl got up and dusted himself off, swiping some sand off his rump.
"I-I have no idea where I am... my ship went down in the Atlantic in a battle and... best guess is I washed up here..."
Prinz Eugen shrugged and took out a small paper from her dress, chucking it over to him which Karl caught. He opened it, and inside was the photo taken of him for the Kriegsmarine alongside various different information about him, such as age and such.
"I'm confident you're our new Kommandant, Neu-Kommandant. That document right there confirms it. After the last Kommandant left his station after an... untimely mistake... there was a week pause before you were apparently picked by the big men upstairs."
"Big men upstairs?" Karl questioned.
"The ones that take care of all of the petty work- funding, direction, goods and services, blah blah."
"Here, kommen." Prinz Eugen took another sip of her probably alcoholic drink as she walked towards a sizable building just over the horizon, covered by a large hill and trees.
Karl came and walked by her right side.
"So... it would seem Neu-Kommandant that you have absolutely no clue what the hell you are doing here, no?"
"Couldn't say it better myself... Prinz Eugen." It felt strange to refer to a seemingly human girl as a heavy cruiser.
"Not the first time I've had to deal with someone who had no information of this place... care for a drink?" Prinz Eugen gestured the cup toward Karl. Karl sighed and nodded, taking as they walked and drinking straight from the cup. He gave it back and noticed she abandoned the straw herself, now drinking straight from the cup.
"I can't nor do I feel like explaining it to you so once we arrive at your office I can have Z23 give you a school history book of this place."
"That's... probably a good idea."
Prinz Eugen took another drink from the cup, though none of the contents left the cup itself. "Now, Neu-Kommandant, the higher ups don't just pick random people to command us. I expect you to do well, as they saw something in you. We've had a few commanders who didn't know what the- excuse my language- fuck they were doing. We had to excuse them from service, but I expect good things from you Karl. I can sense it." She playfully poked Karl in the shoulder who gave a honest laugh. He didn't know what exactly his position was or what his duties would end up being. However, it was worth a shot, no? Couldn't be that hard and his experience as an officer in the navy would most certainly come in handy.
Prinz Eugen lead Karl down a small path that went into the forested area by the beach, asking about his name, age, height, and other such things about himself.
"Aren't you supposed to already know this, Prinz Eugen?" Karl took out the document from earlier for proof. Prinz Eugen giggled a bit.
"Oh? Is it bad I like to talk to you? Is my voice grating your ears?" She said in a semi-sarcastic tone.
Karl shook his head no. "Nono. I'm just wondering- did you actually read the document?"
Prinz Eugen nodded her head. "Mhm, of course. All the priority and higher-ranking ships did. So Hipper, Friedrich der Große, Roon, Bismarck-"
"Bismarck?"
"Yeah- Bismarck. She's our pride and flagship. Probably the best in our fleet, rivaled by maybe Friedrich."
"Ah. I assume Bismarck is a male, no?"
Prinz tilted her her head "Of course not- we can only be female. We're ships after all."
"Huh? Bismarck was designated as a 'him' by the Kriegsmarine. Me and everyone who crewed him-"
"Her."
"-Her, whatever, a he. It was universally agreed Bismarck is a he."
Prinz Eugen shook her head. "Well, we're almost there. Come and see for yourself. If you're not convinced..." She nudged him on the shoulder with her elbow, "...you can take a look down there~. I won't tell~."
Karl went a little red and lightly pushed her away. "No. I think her basic looks will be enough conformation for me."
"You mean here bust, no?" Prinz Eugen teased. Karl shrugged and nodded.
"Yeah." What was supposed to be an embarrassing tease, a classic Prinz Eugen moment, kinda feel flat.
Still, she held back her need to pout and instead Prinz giggled and called him a pervert soon before a realization came to her.
"Uh- wait. You crewed the Bismarck?" Prinz Eugen's went visibly wide.
"Mhm. Back where I come from, it was an actual ship. I crewed you as well; again, you were an actual ship."
Prinz Eugen put a finger on her lip in curiosity and questioning. "I am an actual ship, and was an actual ship. I was just humanized to fight the Sirens- you should know this if you're from this world."
"I'm not. That's that problem, Prinz Eugen. This is all completely foreign to me... frankly... it, heh, it scares me a bit."
Prinz Eugen again began to giggle aloud, looking at him with humored but slightly pitying eyes. "Oooo, scared, eh? Boo!"
Karl genuinely had not expected that, though he should have in his hindsight, and it spooked him.
"Gah-!" Karl retracted, putting up his hands to block an attack that wasn't coming. Prinz Eugen did now her signature giggle yet once more, putting a hand on his defensive ones and taking them back down.
"You're awfully fun to tease." She said with her fun loving smile. Karl laughed a worried laugh and scratched the back of his head.
"Is that so?"
"Ja! Now, we were saying-? Oh! Yeah, how was I?"
"What do you mean?"
"What was I like to crew, hm? How did my engines run? Well I assume?"
Karl chuckled at the comment. "Not really. You had frequent repairs to your engine and your fuel tanks had annoying flaws in their feeding systems. Refueling you was a pain."
Prinz Eugen rolled her eyes. "Nah, you're lying. Trying to get back at me for teasing you?"
"No." All the sudden Kurt had gotten oddly serious, his response no longer joking or in high spirits.
"Hm?" She wondered what was up.
Karl breaks his eye's contact with Prinz Eugen looks up at the clouds "May 26th, 1941. Prinz Eugen disembarks from leading the Bismarck to refuel after the previous encounter and battle with the Royal Navy and the sinking of the Hood. Due to the lack of AA fire to back up the Bismarck, the attacks later that day and the next day by torpedo planes launched from the Ark Royal make several successful hits, one which strikes the Bismarck's rudder, causing him- her- to be stuck turning twelve degrees to port... We will fight to the last shell. Long live the Fuhrer."
"...you okay?" Prinz Eugen tilted her head, and Karl just looked at her with a vacant expression.
"See, Prinz Eugen. The Bismarck sunk in an ambush by the Royal Navy to avenge the Hood. I went down with it, lost many comrades, and... I think I died myself. That hit to the rudder doomed him to his fate."
Prinz Eugen put her hands up and shrugged. "Never happened for me so it doesn't concern this version of me. Whatever version of me you interacted with sounds like a real disappointment."
Karl was visibly displeased with her somehow, the memories of that night rushing back to him. Although he had been thinking about it the entire time in the back of his mind, the reality of what had happened slowly but surely laid into him.
"Awh, don't be like that, Neu-Kommandant~. That battle you mentioned never happened here and I can assure you I am not a gas-guzzler like those bitches- bigger ships down with the Sakura empire like Yamato or Akagi."
"You're right, Prinz Eugen. I'm probably just... huff."
"Change topic~. You're uniform." She gestured up and down him, eyes scanning his wet, ripped up Kriegsmarine officer uniform. Karl looked down at it and stopped, realizing just how bad shape his clothes were in. "You should change it before you get a cold."
Karl smiled and nodded. "Probably. Good eye, Prinz Eugen."
"Oh? I couldn't not notice? I've been looking up that body all day~."
Karl was a few steps behind her as he took off his upper coat, revealing a white t-shirt under it. He normally would have a proper dress shirt under it but he never really bothered. He looked up at her, not hearing the second part. "You say something?"
Prinz Eugen shook her head no. "Nothing important."
Karl shrugged and took her on her word, folding his coat and drapping it over his shoulder. "Would it be possible for you to get this uniform repaired?"
"Oh, of course. That won't be a problem."
Karl stood half-naked in his boxers in his personal bathhouse, a sizable room about 23 by 25 feet with a shower, bathtub, two sinks, a toilet, and other such bathroom things. It was well lit and had the official logo of the Ironblood fleet draped over a few areas, and like how the Party put a Swastika on damn near everything Ironblood did the same. Soaps, shampoos, shower curtains, the damn toilet lid had it. He'd probably need to do a makeover sometime, and get some traditional German markings in his personal office and bathhouse. Nonetheless, in stood in front of a white Japanese admiral uniform which hung on the bathroom door. He inspected it, wondering why it was Japanese. He was certain it was a German fleet; everyone knew German, German ships, some German insignias. So why Japanese?
And now that he thought about it, Prinz Eugen mentioned the carrier Akagi. He had no idea what the Yamato was but the former was most certaintly a Japanese carrier. So his best guess was that the Japanese fleets also existed and were probably the personified versions of the ships. He'd have to meet their commander soon, huh?
This really was all new to him. Honestly, he was scared, and didn't want to do this. Eichmann and many of his comrades were dead, and he knew he needed to grieve. However, with this brand new job as the commander of a fleet of fucking shipgirls, and the fact he probably couldn't deny the job, really screwed with him. Plus, he needed to get that watch back to his father.
Assuming this isn't some odd, pre-death fever dream, he had been given a second chance at life somewhere new and foreign. If there's a God, he put him here for some reason. Maybe to return the watch, maybe to avenge his comrades, maybe to fulfill his new duties.
Karl sighed and looked over to the mirror. His chest and stomach had quite the bit of bruises, as well as his back and sides. He wasn't feeling it now but he was sure as hell gonna feel it tomorrow.
Karl left the bathroom in his new white Japanese Admiral uniform. It felt odd to wear it and he kept adjusting his collar because he just couldn't get it right. His room was around 300 or so square feet. It had hard wood floors with a black rug in the middle with a light grey Ironblood insignia. In front of the rug was a glossed, expensive-looking desk with a lamp, a cup of pencils, and some blank paper, as well as a stamper and other such things. A large chandelier hung on the ceiling, put to a low power via sliding knob on the wall by the door. So a dim yellow light illuminated the room. There was a bookshelf to the right of his desk with a few books on the top he didn't care for. In the middle shelf of seven there was a single book laying flat. He didn't recognize it being there so he walked over to it and picked it up.
History of the World, from 1850 to current year. By someone by the name of G. W. Mann. It was a simple brown book with only the title in golden font and, you guessed it, the Ironblood insignia
"Ah, the history book." He took it and walked over to his chair, plunking himself down onto it and opening the hardcover. A note was written inside it. Karl of course took a read.
Neu-Kommandant, my apologies for not being able to deliver this to you in person. We and the girls have been busy recently, and I'm assuming Prinz Eugen had been the one to introduce you and show you around- she slacks off, a lot. Be sure to discipline her whenever necessary, she has a hard time learning lessons. Anyhow, I hope you lead us well and stick with us.
Regards, Z-23.
"Ah, she actually took the time to make a note." Thus, he began to read.
And a few minutes later...
"What a fucking shitshow this world is."