Chapter 4 - Health and Safety Concerns.

Bismarck sat vacant in her office, a nice cup of coffee slowly departing from her lips. Setting it down on the coaster next to a stack of papers she sighed, settling her back down in the chair she had been sitting on.

Inside the office it was fairly well decorated. Many Ironblood flags, around 6, were draped pretty much on every wall with an overall red and black aesthetic to the room complimenting it. The rug had the classic insignia on it, the windows had a red hue to them, hell there was even a black piano in the corner of the room she never played- ever.

A call came onto her phone in the upper right of her desk. She reached over to it and picked it up, bringing it up to her ear.

"KMS Bismarck speaking. To who is addressing me...?"

There was a moment of silence as whoever was on the other line spoke. Bismarck sighed and nodded.

"Understood." Bismarck slipped the phone back to which it came and let out a large sigh, moving some hair from out of her face.

"If we've lost another commander, I swear to fucking God..." She pinched her nose in genuine and pure annoyance.

—

Karl finally awoke, finding himself clinging onto what he guessed was one of the flaps of his He-111 that had just crashed only maybe minutes before. He was adrift in the open ocean, nothing noticeable but the floating rubble of the plane and the pure blue waters that had surrounded him. His legs floated somewhat comfortably, his pants long torn off to show only his white boxers. His upper jacket and uniform was torn to near shreds, bits of his white undershirt and even chest and stomach showing behind his destroyed blue uniform. On top of all of this he was very bruised and bloody, a large cut going up from his jaw to his eyes on his right side. A deep cut which still seeped blood. His right eye as well felt swollen, probably blackened.

He looked over to his left, trying his best not to move in general. There was the tail end of the He-111 floating there, surrounded by oil. There was a few numbers on the tail which he couldn't read from the distance he was at. Karl let out a sigh and groaned as he lifted his leg upwards and onto the flap itself, using the plane part as a proper form of some sort of flotation device. Karl seriously was left to wonder if he would survive- he was lord knows how many miles outwards from land and from what he knew no one had called for help. Christ - what a way to go. He was unsure if it'd be heatstroke, thirst, or sharks that would kill the man first.

And speak of the fucking Devil. Maybe 50 or so yards out a small fin slowly broke above the waves, leaving ripples in its wake. The fin of that of a shark, though he couldn't be sure what kind. Karl instinctively went for his pistol but of course, he didn't have one. It was probably leagues under the sea and was never going to be seen again.

The fin began to circle his location, a black mass accompanied it underneath. Karl was forced to just sit and stare as the mass slowly got closer and closer as it circled. Around 20 yards or so away the fin suddenly slipped under the water, the black mass going down with it. Though Karl didn't dare let out a sigh of relief, as he assumed it wasn't over yet.

And it wasn't. The flap he was on suddenly bumped, not very aggressively mind you. Just as if it had been lightly tapped by someone of considerable size. Karl, knowing this was the shark, let his heart drop into his stomach as he immediately sat up, clinging tightly to the debris. This caused the flap he was hanging on to move more, splashing a bit in the water.

A massive pair of jaws from that of a bull shark plunged out of the water and bit down on the end of the flap, shaking it violently and rocking Karl almost off, forcing him to cling onto the end as his legs slipped into the water. The shark continued to swim forward as it held onto the flap, tearing bits of it off as its teeth dig deep into the metal. It then let go after taking off a massive amount of paint and material, leaving Karl in a shocked and daze state. The tail of the shark bumped the flap as it circled back around to strike again.

Karl instantly shot up and got his legs onto the flap, his rump and upper thigh hanging off the end into the water. This caused more movement of the plane part and the shark struck, closer to Karl this time as it rose quickly out of the water and bit down, this time more of an upward angle. It took the flap out of the water for barely a half second before it slammed back down, dragging it somewhat under. Karl slipped down and accidentally let go, cutting his palm on some loose metal. Blood loosened his grip and as the shark just let go he fell into the water. Quickly he wrapped an arm around the plane debris and went still as it floated suddenly back to the top, resting on the ocean top. Karl didn't move a muscle, knowing doing so would cause the shark to attack again. He focused his vision down below, tracking a small black mass.

The mass - probably the shark - turned towards the flap yet again. It began to swim towards it at high speeds, directly towards Karl himself. Realizing this he tried to get back on top but he was too late. The snout of the shark struck his calf extremely hard, breaking or tearing something. He yelled out in pain as the shark grabbed a hold of something and violently trashed around, forcing Karl off in a daze. He felt things being slammed upon him, metals also cutting him and a final slap into the gut knocked him backwards deeper into the water. Karl rushed back to the top as the shark was occupied in finishing off the flap, forcing Karl to watch as its powerful jaws snapped the plane debris in half. It slipped below the waves and took what it had in its jaws with it. The pieces that remained were too small to readily hold Karl's

body weight, but he still swam over slowly to one and held on. He took a very long breath as he, in a daze, tried to get his composure back.

30 yards out a similar mass began to emerge to the water, the same fin from before breaking the water line. Again, it began to circle Karl as it did before. But just as angels might sing from Heaven above when coming down to save someone, the roaring sound of propeller engines ripped the sky above. Karl looked up, and saw three Japanese fight planes fly above him at a fairly low altitude. Large red circles let him know they were in fact Japanese, and he could only guess that they were Mitsubishi Zeros.

The three Zeros banked to the left and the lead one sped up, outturning the other two. It began to head straight for Karl, or more specifically, towards the mass under the waves. Karl braced as something told him the guns would start firing. Which of course, they did.

RAT-TATATATATATATATATATA!

The Zero fired its two nose-mounted machine guns into the sea towards the shark, causing said shark to begin to writhe around. It then sent out several cannon shots as the shark appeared out of the water suddenly as some sort of an attempt to either attack or escape. The cannon shots were direct hits on the deadly predatory fish and detonated inside of the now poor animal. This killed it easily, splatters of guts and blood flooding into the water around it as it went limp, air bubbles popping out as it sunk below into the depths - the only thing remaining being piles of meats and gore in a pool of blood about 2 meters wide.

The Zero flew over Karl at only 150 feet above the sea level, causing his ears to ring from the sound of the engine. Water splashed in his face from the wind produced from the propellers and the Zero banked around to the left side to rejoin the other fighters.

Karl looked around and continued to grip the flap tightly, as a few ships came into view - or they were always there and he didn't notice until now. Regardless about a half kilometer out a sizable aircraft carrier, two cruisers, and a few other smaller ships (possible frigates) came over the horizon against the now somewhat setting sun, as if they were sent by God himself.

Karl breathed a sigh of relief as he realized that shit was going to be somewhat alright. He rested his head onto the flap as his legs floated freely in the ocean waters, eyes watching as the rescue ships got closer and closer. But he couldn't keep them open for long and eventually they closed shut soon after, and Karl passed out from exhaustion from the entire ordeal.

—

"Augh..." Karl slowly awoke, his eyes finally opened to the sight of bright white lights illuminated above him. He was pained all around his body, the feeling as if he had been hit with a baseball ball all over himself and the dull pain afterward began to kick in. It took a second for his eyes to adjust and de-blur the image around him, but it didn't take long for him to realize he was in a hospital bed.

"H-hello...?" Karl called out before realizing the room was empty. It was quite small of a room, with the only equipment inside being the white mattress and sheets he were laying on, the metal supports for the mattress, a few electronics next to him on a table, a radio which was turned off, among a few other things of non-importance. He didn't even want to bother in attempting to stand up, instead just sitting up a bit on the pillow which supported his neck. Karl was careful not to damage himself further in doing so.

He looked to the table with the eletronics and saw a convienct hand-held mirror atop one of the instruments. Karl, a bit pained, reached over and grabbed it. He looked at himself in the mirror.

The right side of his face was swollen with a large bandage covering some sort of lesion. His right eye he just noticed was blackened, hence why his vision was decently blurry.

Christ, he had really taken a beaten. On top of all of this various stitches and bandages dotted his neck and upper chest visible through the hospital gown. He put the mirror down reflective side down on his chest and looked down at his covered up legs. Curious on the injuries there he flipped over the sheet covering them. He found his left knee covered by some sort of cast, keeping it at an ever so slight angle. Karl glanced around to see if there were some crutches in the area, which there was, just by the door to his right.

Karl, feeling tired yet again, sat back more into the pillow and went to take another rest. Damn did the man deserve it.

He was about to fall asleep when the door to his hospital door opened suddenly and slowly. In stepped a familiar 6 foot or so figure, a figure which moved her blonde hair out of her face and their eyes soon met.

"Bismarck- why're you here?" Karl asked curiously with a somewhat ragged voice.

"I'm just checking in, Kommandant. I got word of your crash just this morning. I rushed over here as soon as I could." Bismarck answered.

"Who's managing?" Karl questioned.

"I'm having my sister Tirpitz take over commanding for right now. She just got back from the North."

"I see." Karl sighed and adjusted himself in his bed. Bismarck grabbed a chair that was under the table with the electronics by his left side and pulled it so it pointed towards him, just about a meter away from his bed. She sat down, crossing her legs.

"You really got screwed up." Bismarck commented.

"Yeah... not my best look. Especially since we haven't talked too much." Karl and Bismarck didn't have too much interaction socially. With Karl as the fleet commander and Bismarck the de facto co-commander (though her exact rank was somewhat complicated). The most the two had when it came to social conversation was once in the morning when Karl woke up early. That was maybe two days ago. Granted, Karl had only been there at that point for perhaps a week or two so it couldn't be expected of him to have much of a relationship with many of the ships. With exceptions being Z-23 and Prinz Eugen. The former being his secretary and the latter being the closest thing he really has to a reliable friend for now.

"It's quite alright. Not like you can control it... are you okay though?" Bismarck dismissed his worries.

"Yes, yes... for now. I'm a bit aching in my back and face for obvious reasons. My knee also seems to be damaged."

"Is there anything immediately permanent?" Bismarck asked.

"Not sure. I haven't gotten to talk to a doctor yet... speaking of which, where exactly are we?" Karl's head tilted to the side a bit.

"On the Akagi, we're returning to our base soon enough though we're in dock right now. Kido himself asked if the Akagi could ship you back and I was fine with it. You crashed yesterday, and have been out-of-it since you were rescued, until now that is. Couldn't have the vessel on the move while you were out, as we didn't know how stable your condition was. Though we should be departing later today."

"Ah... what time is it?" Karl let out a bit of a groan as he adjusted himself again.

"It's around 8 PM. But, Anyhow, Prinz Eugen and Roon insisted on coming as well but I had to deny it. Can't have too many ships out-of-base without proper reasoning."

"Is that so?" Karl asked.

"No. It's because those two can't be together on any sort of voyage. And Hipper couldn't be bothered to come along as a mediator." Bismarck explained, adjusting her weight in her chair a bit.

"It's really that bad between them?"

Bismarck nodded. "Yeah. As the two most effective cruisers in the fleet they have a constant feud between one another. Constantly competing to get ahead of the other."

"Ah..." Karl knew that full well with Roon's little stunt she decided to pull the other day to one-up Prinz. "...Then my best guess was that Prinz and Roon wanted to rush here to see who could pamper me the best."

Bismarck chuckled lightly. "Sounds about right. They do quite have the affinity for you."

"Affinity?" Karl questioned.

"You haven't noticed?" Bismarck's eyebrow raised a bit.

"Uh - Well, I have. At least with Roon. But I asked about it and apparently that's just 'Roon being Roon.'"

Bismarck nodded in understanding. "Roon does often have an odd obsession with commanders - primarily with making sure they are 'worthy' to command the fleet so she often goes out of her way to, well... stalk commanders. Our last one made it apparent to Roon he did not appreciate nor feel comfortable with her constant observations of him and used his authority to force her to stop."

"It's that bad?" Karl's blood went a bit cold, not wanting it to get like that with him.

"Just about. Though with you, it's less of Roon's eternal allegiance to duty and need to make sure everything is of top quality, including investigating her own commander. I've heard personally it instead seems to be a personal and genuine interest in you."

"Ah... mhm... and Prinz Eugen?"

"I dunno, probably getting a crush on you."

"Eh...?"

"So, there's that... '' Bismarck pulled out a flask from a back pocket and unscrewed it, dismissing the previous conversation immediately. "And need not worry, it's coffee in here."

Karl laughed a bit, deciding not to further inquire about her comment.. "You drink a lot of coffee." He instead pointed out.

Bismarck took a sip of the flask and soon spoke. "Yeah, I don't get much sleep."

"Why not?"

She shrugged. "I have to stay up a lot doing paperwork and yada yada. The nitty-gritty per say, the stuff the high command won't bother you with."

"Such as...?"

"Disciplinary, for one. We get a lot of those, the girls are awfully rowdy and though its par for the course for them to do a lot of - excuse my language here - stupid shit, theres still paperwork to be filed."

"Is it bothersome?" Karl implored and Bismarck shook her head.

"No, no. I'm quite used to it by now. I've been doing this job for almost a decade now Kommandant - exhaustion is normal for me."

"It really shouldn't be, Bismarck. So far as Kommandant I really haven't been doing nearly as much paperwork as I thought I'd do -" Not like Karl exactly signed up for this job "- I wouldn't mind taking up some of the slack."

Bismarck's head tilted a bit, almost as if he said something alien to her. "What do you mean?"

"I mean do some of the paperwork."

"Erm... you sure? Kommandant there really wouldn't be much reason to so, again, I'm used to it so don't feel forced to take the pressure off my back. I-I'm flattered, though, you're offering to do so."

"Well, if you have to live off of coffee just to stay sane..." Karl pointed to the flask "...I think as Kommandant wouldn't it be somewhat my job to ensure my right-hand-woman isn't constantly in some state of stress?"

"Ah... mmmm... being so nice, hmph..." Bismarck let out a sigh. "If you insist on it, Kommandant. How about you come by my office sometime next week. You'll need some time to rest first, of course. Having this happen to you not even a month into service... well, not exactly best of luck."

"True, true... and a good idea coming to your office. I actually wanted to ask you about the uh - new naval tactics when using ship girls."

"Oh-? Yeah, you're not really from here are you?" Bismarck asked and Karl nodded. She then continued. "I'd be fine with teaching you, yeah. What do you know already, exactly?"

"The basics and such. I've been reading as much as I can and I feel like I have a grasp, I just want personal lecturing or something from someone who probably has seen significant time out in the field."

"Makes sense... Mm..." Bismarck took a sip of her coffee. "It's a date then. Come by next week, you go ahead and help me with some paperwork like you asked, and then I'll teach you naval tactics."

Karl nodded in satisfaction. "Sounds good. Thank you, Bismarck."

"Thanking me, Kommandant?" Bismarck lightly chuckled. "No need. As my superior, you have the right to ask these things of me."

It was around 8:30 PM at this point. After he and Bismarck talked for a little longer afterwards, Bismarck left to go do Bismarck things and left Karl alone. He did get up earlier to try and use the crutches which he apparently is awful at. Soon enough after had ventured out to go see around the aircraft carrier. It didn't take long at all for him to come across Akagi herself, feeling the need to thank her personally.

To find her, he had asked around a few crew members on the ship where she was. Apparently she was in the bridge or flight deck of the ship and as such he began the grueling process from traveling up from the infirmary of the ship to the bridge - frequently asking for directions all the while.

As Karl opened up the door from the lower bridge onto the flight deck, he saw the silhouette of a figure down the runway, almost all the way by the end. Karl let out a sigh and began to venture down towards there.

Akagi was the silhouette up on the flight deck in fact, the dead of night silent as lights went up and down the runway to guide any planes which might fly during dark hours. It was quite a nice sight, out at sea at night, a sight which Karl always appreciated as a sailor. He coughed slightly to grab the female's attention. The female's... fox ears perked up. He'd have to get used to that.

"Hoh~. Karl, was it?" Akagi looked behind her, before turning to face him, crossing her arms under her chest.

"Uh, yeah."

"What're you doing out of bed, hm~?"

"Oh- uh... " Akagi's oddly seductive method of speech immediately put Karl off. "I wished to thank you personally for rescuing me back there. I most certainly would have died... But, It was you that deployed the Zeros, no?"

"Mhm~. Yes, that was I. There is no need to thank me for it. Just the duty of someone's ally to help them in times of need~."

"I guess so..."

Akagi nodded her head and looked out to the sea once more, though only turning her gaze to the side. A light smile came upon her face, though something was off about that Kido just couldn't place a finger on.

"The quiet blue ocean at night is quite possibly one of the most beautiful things on earth... the way the moonlight glimmers off the water's top and back to us is just the most spectacular thing~." She looked back to Karl, who had been intently listening and even glanced at the ocean to see for himself. "Don't you think so as well?"

"...Yeah..." Karl said, a look of realization on his face. While he did spend some time while he was on the Bismarck that he often found himself observing the night sky and sea, he realized there was something different about now. Perhaps it was the fact it was a completely clear sky, something sort of rare down in the European coasts. The moon was also full, providing considerable light and visibility to the waters below.

"So this is why you're out here so late?" Karl said.

"Whenever I'm out to sea, I almost always do this." Akagi took a second to think. "Though, normally with Kaga."

"Kaga?" Karl questioned, the name being foreign to him.

"My sister ship."

"Ah. I suppose this would be quite the sight with loved ones." Karl commented, finding himself yet again gazing outwards.

"I am somewhat glad you came out here." Akagi said. "I was hoping for someone to give little old me a bit of company~."

"Only somewhat?" Karl joked, and got a bit of a 'huff' of laughter from Akagi

"No, no... I mean it as a small, odd piece of me is glad, per say." Akagi explained.

"Is that so?" Karl said, a bit confused.

"Mhm."

Karl thought of how this current Akagi he was talking to now was a different from the one he first met. The time of day might have something to do with it, but right now Akagi was quite pleasant to talk to, despite the odd feeling her voice came off. Again, Karl still couldn't pinpoint what exactly was off with it, but it felt as if a bit of... poison left her lips each time she spoke. It reminded him a bit of Roon, in a way. And this differed from the cheery but vacant sound in her voice from when they first spoke to one another while meeting Kido. Her speech there emanated that of some sort of front or cover-up, as if she were acting. Though none of this made him uncomfortable to talk to her, instead it filled him with a curiosity of what she would say next as he communicated with her.

"You should probably get some rest." Akagi spoke suddenly, disrupting Karl's thoughts who looked back at her.

"Hm, maybe so. But, your little speech about the sea is making me want to stay." Karl admitted. Something about this girl just attracted him to her company.

"Fufufu~. Then please, feel free to stay~. Get rest soon, though"

"I think this counts as rest, no?"

"Mm, you're right~." Akagi smiled a disarming smile and Karl committed, shrugging what worries he had about his health and walked over - probably should mention he was using a small cane to remove weight off of his knee - next to Akagi. Without a word exchanged they turned towards the ocean in front of the flight deck and they both did what only Akagi was doing just a few minutes prior.