Ch. 2: Arrivals and Alliances
1630 hrs - April 6th, 1972
Flight Whisky 22 - Enroute to UNDF Third Squadron - Almada Docks, Portugal
Ford POV
Thump-thump-thump-thump…
The first sound that I heard as I awoke from a rather horrible nap was the sound of the rotors hopping through the air, my new blue and black officer's dress cap falling off from covering my face onto my lap, the sun partially blinding me as it showed through one of the cabin windows of the CH-53 Super Stallion helicopter. How I managed to actually fall asleep with the turbulence and roaring engines, I will never know.
Guess it's easy to sleep after a few days of nothing but reading officers manuals and various reports pertaining to my new job, it was such a huge info dump that I barely remember half of it! I thought, the familiar headache of the last two days rearing itself again, not helped by the aircraft or the fact that my ears were being squeezed beneath an uncomfortable headset which only intensified the aching of my head. Thankfully the small granola bar I had for breakfast was staying down in my stomach where it belonged.
Thank God for whoever invented laxatives.
A tap on my shoulder made me look left to a woman who was signing for the intercom's fourth private channel on our headsets. I had turned mine off so as to not be disturbed from my much needed nap (like I got any real sleep), upon switching over I was greeted by an Australian accent.
"Morning Commander Ford, you doing alright?" she asked.
"Sigh… Peachy." I said, finally wiping my groggy eyes and focusing my sight I looked to the person again who, for the last day or so ended up as a training companion of sorts. Since we both were bound for Third Squadron, we shared the same briefings and in the process had become familiar with each other.
So much that the sight of her sitting with a slightly amused look at my current unruly state wasn't a surprise. Adding to that, unlike myself, she seemed perfectly at ease strapped to her seat, like a kid on a school bus. It was rather annoying how calm she was compared to me.
By my guess she appeared to be in her high thirties with chestnut brown hair tied back tightly in a small bun as is proper for a woman of the service. Her face, though not unpleasant, held no alluring charm or feature save for the freckles on her nose and her chocolate brown eyes. Her uniform was not of the formal wear I wore at the moment, instead it was the standard issue blue duty uniform that had been adopted by the Defense Fleet a few years ago. In gold coloring stood the proud insignia of a UNDF Warrant Officer and her own last name: Baker, her full name being Liliana Baker.
During our introduction and followed by us studying together, we learned a little of each other's careers leading up to now. She had been a former aviation weapons chief in the Royal Navy's Pacific Fleet with around fifteen years of experience, but she decided to volunteer for the Defense Fleet after tensions with the Ironblood started getting more heated and she didn't want to get wrapped into it.
From the conversations I've had with her so far, she struck me as one who didn't shy away from a challenge and preferred function over formality. It was a good mindset that I was glad she had, the last thing I or any other officer needed was a procrastinator to work with.
I glanced down to check my uniform, still not used to the change. The new uniforms I received back in Dublin fit well enough considering it was actually a previously used uniform, but thankfully the tailor only had to make a few adjustments for it to fit. A freshly made new uniform was far too expensive and sadly the Defense Fleets budget did not cover uniform expenses.
But I quite liked how this hand-me-down turned out actually, the blue was dark and it contrasted well with the new gold ranks on my shoulders and wrists. I was also thankful the Defense Fleet acknowledged service awards from other navies, meaning my left breast area was not lacking in ribbons. Satisfied that I was still presentable, I looked back to Baker who was waiting for me with a bit of a smirk.
"What?" I asked.
"Oh nothing sir, just wondering if you were gonna ask for a mirror or something." She joked, earning nothing but an eye roll from me.
"Ha ha." I flatly replied, pushing back a craving for a cigar while rubbing the back of my strained neck. "How long was I out?"
"Must have been just shy of a few hours, couldn't do it myself with all that rocking. You seemed okay though, are you used to this kind of travel?"
"No… Well, sort of. It's more from being tired of all those briefings piled on us." I said, getting her nod in agreement. "Are we there yet?"
"Naw, but we should be there soon. I was going to wake you sooner but you looked oh so peaceful sleeping." she jokingly replied.
"Thanks, I guess." I said as I stretched, my neck tendons cracking, making me sigh in relief.
Before either Baker or I could say anything further the main intercom cracked on.
"Good afternoon passengers, this your trusted pilot speaking, here to inform you we are now fifteen mikes out from our destination. Local time is 1632 hours, weather is mild with a nice summer breeze and partially clear skies. We will give you all one last warning before making our final approach, and apologies in advance for the turbulence. If you decide to empty yourself, I ask that you please do it in the appropriate paper bags and not on my aircraft. Thank you, Pelican out." When the voice finished, I had a knowing grin on my face after realizing the comedic voice that spoke was strikingly familiar.
That American midwestern accent, the corny passenger plane lingo, and that nickname… No freaking way! I thought, my mood suddenly getting better just knowing that they let that mad man stay in the service.
Baker must have seen my smile and nudged for my attention. Looking over I saw her mouth the word 'Pelican' in confusion. Her reaction only added to my brightening mood and I just gave her a knowing smirk with a shrug.
Before she could ask anymore, I managed to flag down one of the aircrew as they passed and asked them to tell the pilot I requested the use of the General's viewing area, knowing that crazy bastard would know what I was talking about.
The crewman, a young looking enlisted, was confused at first but said she would check with the pilot since it was his bird, which meant his word was law. While I waited, Baker tapped me again for my attention.
"What's this about a General's viewing area?" she asked.
I just gave her a knowing smile, then pointed to the Stallions side doors that presented a larger open view of the outside and just so happened to have a folded seat attached to the wall right next to it. It was an uncommon feature on most Stallions, but it did offer a gunner position on the sides which was considered essential for combat infiltration and exfiltration.
Baker's face lit up in surprise but was quickly drowned by doubt. "There has to be at least a dozen regulations against that." I nodded at her correct assumption while still wearing a small smile.
"We'll see." I said, much to her bewilderment, then the intercom clicked on again.
"Would the gentleman who requested the VIP premium-members viewing area for a private showing please switch to channel 1B on the intercom systems?"
Giving Baker one last wink of amusement, I switched over and figured he wouldn't recognize my voice at first if I kept it short. "Go ahead."
"Now, no offense intended sir, but that there is a seat intended for either fully trained gunners, flag officers, or personal sweethearts on those very special occasions. So unless you're a trained gunner, or happen to have some stars on your shoulders, you mind telling me why I should break protocol?"
Same old Mike. I thought.
"Oh I don't know Mikey, I figured you do an old friend from the Cape Cod fiasco a favor." I said, by this point I figured Baker and maybe a few others had switched over to our channel to peap in on the conversation, but I doubted they would understand any of the names or references we were talking about. After an awkward full minute of waiting, he finally replied.
"... Well, there is only one asshole dumb enough to use my first name like that and bring that shit-show up aboard my own bird! That you Foxy?" A laugh escaped me when my own nickname was used, I had forgotten how much I hated and missed it.
"The one and only."
"Well HOT damn! (his shout causing the passengers who were listening to flinch at his high volume) Had I known you would be on my bird this flight, I would have made the ride more bumpy!" We both laughed at that one, though a few of the others gripped their harnesses tighter, afraid that Mikey might start being lazy in his piloting on my account.
"By chance, you wouldn't happen to be one of the squadron's new CIC officers would you? Heard we were getting some new ones pretty soon."
"Something like that, I'm actually their new XO. They said it was a mess over here, so here I am." I replied, the other passengers seemed to give me odd looks at that omission. Considering I was going to be their new boss, I wondered if my image was already tainted by this conversation, or the fact I fell asleep somehow, not that I cared one way or the other.
"Fuckin A. About time we got someone who knows his shit out here." That got a raised brow from Baker, but I just shook my head and waved the comment off to discourage her from worrying about it.
"I appreciate the confidence, but I gotta say I'm surprised they still kept you around after that stunt you pulled in Cuba." This was gonna get his blood boiling.
"Hey! That blonde came onto me! How the hell was I supposed to know that she was an admiral's grand-daughter!" A snicker made me glance back over to see Baker trying her best not to laugh at the conversation and give away the fact she and the others were listening in.
Mike Williamson had that effect on people, no matter the situation you can always count on him to come up with a snarky comment or a funny story to lighten the mood, and possibly piss off the wrong people at the same time.
God I missed this guy.
"If you say so, bud. So, any chance I can qualify for that premium membership before we land? I'd like a birds eye view of what I'll be working with." I asked.
"Well, as it just so happens, we are arriving on the early side so I might be able to fit in one little touring circle, but you owe me chow later for it."
Good old Mike, never disappoints. "Deal."
"And I'm not talking about that miserable shit they feed us in the mess hall, I'm talking real food. There's this one place in town, serves the best smoked fish this side of the Atlantic, and it. Ain't. Cheap."
"As long as the view's good enough, Mikey." I said, I would still treat him to something if it wasn't the best, but I wanted to encourage him a little.
"Jeese, talk about a high bargain. Alrighty, I'll send back one of my guys to hook you in."
"Thanks Mikey." I said.
"And stop calling me that, Foxy." he quickly rebutted.
Despite how annoying he may be sometimes, I knew the man well and he knew me the same. Somehow we worked well together and I was relieved to have him with me for all of this. Baker once again got my attention and I switched to her channel.
"Foxy?" was the first thing she said, causing me to roll my eyes.
"A story for another time and place." I said, hinting that it was a discussion that was best told privately and preferably with alcohol.
"Fine. But you've gotta introduce me to this guy, he seems like a riot to have around." Suddenly I felt a cold chill run through me picturing the two of them hanging out together. I didn't know why but I got the impression that introducing the two of them would unleash all manner of… complicated situations, so I promised myself if I did introduce her to Mikey, I would make myself scarce afterwards.
A few seconds later, the same crewman from before came back. I tucked my uniform cap away and removed my headset. The noise from the rotors increased by ten but I paid no mind to it.
After unbuckling, the crewman helped me up and over to the side seat. After placing a new pair of headsets on I gave a thumbs up and nodded thanks to the crewman, sarcastically waved over to Baker who humorously flipped me off, then gazed out the window.
It was a beautiful day outside as Mikey had said on the intercom. Through the open window was the rocky shore of Portugal that zigged zagged as many coastlines tend to do, and ahead becoming more apparent by the second laid the coastal capital city of Portugal: Lisbon.
Like a majority of the older cities in Europe, there were very few modern tall buildings to take away from the historical value of the city. Red tiled roofed houses covered a majority of the area and hillsides, along with a number of church towers poking up out of the sea of roofs. Then, more on the outskirts of the city and around the harbor's mouth, I began to see the influence of the war that had forced its way on the beautiful city.
Coastal defense guns ranging from heavy artillery to anti-air batteries were placed all over the city's waterfront, with a majority resting on the Tagus River mouth and the two points on either side of the bay. They were rather ugly things in comparison to the very city they were built to protect and would sadly remain that way for a long time, at least until global hostilities finally cooled down.
But I doubt that will happen anytime soon either. I thought miserably, remembering my conversation with Admiral Puttnam a few days ago and how he talked of the rising tensions in the region.
"How's the view Foxy?" Mike asked on the comm.
"Considering your flying, not too bad Mikey." I joked.
"Ha ha. Well the main attraction is about to start, we're coming up on Tagus Bay. The squadron is moored in the southern half, just off the Almada docks. I can give you one fly over, but after that I'll have to listen to the damn flight control officer that'll be shouting in my ear to land. So take in what you can."
"Will do, and thanks again Mike." After I cut the feed, I watched as we slowed and banked left into the bay, flying over the cities defense guns and red rooftops; I even spotted a few locals waving as we went, but then came the true view I was looking for. Moored in the harbor's southern end rested the ten ships that made up Third Squadron, the three most prominent were the big hulls of the fleet.
There was the UNS Matterhorn, a Union built Austin-class landing platform dock which served as a mobile base of operations at sea. At its rear it had a landing deck that could fit three Super Stallions on it at once and below that resided its water docking bay were small transport boats and kansen could enter and exit for offloading and resupply. The only armaments the ship offered was a single dual barreled five-inch gun turret forward of its bridge on the bow and a pair of anti-air phalanx CIWS, one above the bridge, the other above the flight deck's hanger doors.
Parked right next to the Matterhorn was what I had to guess was the squadron's sole manned frigate, the UNS Danube. She was a Garcia-class Union frigate whose role was as a secondary command ship and also for combat support. She had two five inch gun mounts in two turrets for dual purpose roles, but her main feature was her modern eight tubed missile launcher along with her advanced sonar and radar systems which allowed her to be a more active participant in modern sea battles.
The next big hull was the squadron's sole battleship, the USS Pennsylvania.
She was an older dreadnought type design the Union was famous for prior to modernizing to fast battleships. Armed with twelve fourteen-inch guns loaded in four triple-barreled turrets (two forward and two aft) and eight dual purpose turrets on her superstructure, she was without a doubt a fearsome warship even compared to her more modern counterparts.
Like all the other kansen's of Third Squadron, I had only grazed over her personal file before needing to move on to the others. From what I remember, the kansen was known for being a bit of a hot-head with quite a few demerits for disorderly conduct, though they were overshadowed by her numerous battle commendations.
She's probably going to be the key to my effectiveness here. If I'm going to be leading these ships, I'll need to prove myself to her first, hopefully the rest will follow. I thought, remembering how I won over my last crew on the Barry by participating in a boxing match with their senior enlisted; I lost the match, but won their respect, which was even better.
The last one of the three big hulls was their only aircraft carrier, the HMS Chaser, though calling her a big hull might have been overselling her.
She was interesting on several points. Point one: she was actually Union built, but was transferred to the Royal Navy to help strengthen their carrier force. Not that she offered much in that department because point two: she was an escort carrier; smaller in both size and aircraft complement when compared to fleet carriers, they were designed to launch mainly interceptor fighters to guard their fleets against air attacks. Chaser's file was rather small too, due to the fact that she was built not long before the war ended and only participated in a few engagements.
But I guess something is better than nothing. I thought while secretly wishing that Chaser's hull was larger.
The Stallion was about half way through its circle when I spotted the other ships. From the sizes alone, I made out two cruisers and three destroyers. One of the cruisers I immediately identified from the squadron's roster as the USS Atlanta, only because there weren't many ships out there with eight twin-barreled five-inch caliber turrets planted all over her hull; the ship screamed anti-air like it was going out of style.
If that's Atlanta, the other one must be Kirov. I thought, looking the other cruiser over.
She had a fairly average armament of three triple barreled turrets (two forward and one aft), along with various secondary and anti-air guns, her superstructure was a unique pagoda type mast that you normally saw on Sakura ships.
If I remember right, Kirov was the only ship from the Northern Parliament still volunteering in the Defense Fleet. But her file was almost completely lacking in any service details, let alone anything of her personality. Either they never got around to updating it, or they thought it best not to for some reason.
On to the destroyers, all three were moored alongside each other. First there was the USS Eldridge, then HMS Eskimo, and lastly was KMS Z-23. There wasn't much about the first two in their files other than Eldridge having a recurring electrical issue and Eskimo being a bit of a prankster.
It was Z-23's file that I found interesting. She had quite a history in the war and had a reputation as a successful convoy escort, but like Kirov her personal file was bare of any useful details other than that she was a diligent worker.
All in all it was a rather interesting line up of ships. But something told me that was only going to make my job all the more complicated, and that's not even taking into account any of the naval officers I'll be working with.
Aside from Captain Augustus, who seemed to be a reliable officer at least, the rest were probably going to be a patchwork of people who hailed from a variety of countries across the world and from what I have read about such crews they were more often subject to scrutiny for poor effectiveness.
That's what you get when you have an all volunteer global service force in peacetime. Not to mention the complicated issue of working alongside kansens in the first place. I thought as the Stallion completed its circle.
Kansen… The word was an eastern term used by the Sakura Empire to describe the very same beings that won us the war. The word roughly translated to 'warship', so technically it could have been used to describe any naval ship, but after the forming of the world's first international alliance, the Azur Lane Initiative, the term caught on and even the media began using it as well.
Since no one had an alternative other than 'shipgirls' (which was a ridiculous name), it was generally accepted that the powerful girls would hence be called Kansens. Yet naming them took nothing away from their lack of explanation or origin.
They were as powerful as they were mysterious, and like most people I didn't know their full story or history; all that I knew of them was that they were strange beings, but also incredibly amazing at the same time.
To put into simpler words, as hard to believe as it was, they were the personification of warships made into physical form; or more specifically an often beautiful and… exotic female form.
They came in almost every size, color, and personality you could imagine and hailed from naval powers all across the world, almost always coming into being from a ship hailing from the early half of the twentieth century or older. Yet they did adhere to a type of class structure like that of ordinary naval ship classifications.
Destroyers and submarines were the smallest and weakest in the naval community (from a size and length standpoint at least), as such their kansen personifications often embodied that trend with most of the destroyers taking the form of young girls (children in some cases), with mental attitudes often matching their apparent ages too. They did not physically age the same as normal humans, but their minds did mature to some extent, it was a mind boggling occurrence.
Cruiser kansen's were more often, as to be expected, more mature in both body and mind with their attitudes often matching that of teenagers though there were some who tended to be either more or less mature than the others.
Battleships and aircraft carriers, being the largest and most powerful class of naval ships, thus more often presented the more mature looking kansens with some having such beauty that they are often compared to angels or even goddesses. But there was far more to these beings than just their looks and origin.
Their true power was their ability to fully control every single action of their vessel, be it using the radio or sonar, launching torpedoes or aircraft, to even aiming and firing their large main battery guns.
Tasks that would take at least a dozen or more men to complete, they could do it with just a thought and wave of their hands. It was a massive leap in efficiency and effectiveness when it came to naval tactics and ship to ship combat, but that still wasn't all.
On top of controlling their own ships, they had the ability to create a strange armament that visually looked to mirror aspects of their hulls design and weaponry. These were called riggings and they granted the kansen's personified form to physically enter the battle beyond the capabilities of their original hulls by somehow allowing them to float and ski on the water's surface.
It was truly a power directly out of science fiction and I had only ever seen such beings in form and action from a distance.
And now here I am about to be thrown head first into the fire. Wonderful. I thought sarcastically as the intercom clicked on again.
"Attention, we're making our final approach for landing. Make sure all loose items are secured and mind the bump." Spoke a different voice that had to be Mike's co-pilot.
As the Stallion maneuvered in for landing on the Matterhorn, I suddenly realized I missed something after counting up the ships.
Wasn't there supposed to be a submarine here too? I thought as my eyes began looking for the familiar shape of a sub, but then I spotted a figure standing on one of the turrets of the only battleship in port. Even from up here I could make out it was a woman, her navy blue uniform and flowing brown hair looked radiant in the sun as she stood with her arms folded and watching the Stallion as it lowered.
Pennsylvania? I thought, another icy feeling crawling down my spine at seeing her and I got the impression I was about to receive a very cold welcome.
"Commander Ford?" a voice called out and I looked to see a young officer looking through the crowd and waving to me, the sight causing me to sigh in annoyance.
After the Stallion landed, all the passengers began disembarking and started sorting their luggage. After finding my own and bringing it inside the ship's hanger I ended up standing next to Baker, since I didn't know where else to go. I was actually hoping to meet up with Mikey and have a proper friendly reunion. However the young lieutenant coming over to me apparently had other plans for me.
"Pardon me sir, Captain Augustus is requesting you meet her in her office, I'm to show you the way." he said.
I glanced down at my duffle bag then to my pegleg, and wondered if I would need to carry it all through the ship. I was confident I could manage a narrow flight of stares or two with it and my leg, but doing so would ruffle my uniform.
Why hadn't I just worn my new duty uniform instead? I thought miserably until Baker nudged me for my attention.
"I can watch your stuff for you sir. Since I'm going to be working here in the hangar, I'm going to stick around for a few hours and see how many messes I'll be cleaning up." she said.
"Thanks Baker, I'll come back for it as soon as I can." I said, then nodded to the lieutenant and off we went. Going through the ship was an uneventful trip, my leg didn't bother me as much as I feared it would, but I was thankful I had left my cane in my bag in order to get used to walking without it.
A few younger sailors passing by noticed my rank and respectfully stepped aside and allowed me through, then hurried off quicker than they had arrived. No doubt word of my arrival would spread throughout the ship and the rest of the fleet by the end of the night.
Scuttlebutt was the plague of every navy. I thought, my nose briefly catching the smell of the mess not too far ahead, but to my stomach's dismay, we turned and went up two levels on the stairs.
A few minutes later, we were in front of an open hatch door with the golden plate identifying our destination.
CAPTAIN ADINA AUGUSTUS - THIRD SQD CO.
The lieutenant knocked on the door and a woman's voice answered back.
"Come." the lieutenant poked his head in.
"Pardon me ma'am, I have Commander Ford here as you requested," he said and I can only assume she nodded at him to let me in.
Upon entering, I realized I was in her private quarters that also functioned as an office space. The room was quite cramped when compared to what most higher officers received on land but this was a ship and there was only so much room to work with onboard.
Her bunk was tightly made with a dresser next to it and her desk jutted out as a sort of island between the door and the rest of the living space with a few chairs positioned on the opposite side of the door for visitors like myself.
"Buona sera, commander." spoke the captain as she stood and I got my first look at who was now my new commanding officer as well as the overall commander of Third Squadron.
Captain Adina Augustus was a middle-aged caucasian woman standing at about five foot eight with her dirty blonde hair tied back in a firm and smooth tail, her eyes were dark green and her face seemed hard with tight cheek bones and a small scar on her lip. She wore the same blue duty uniform as the other sailors aboard that offered no hints as to her service history or skills, simply her name and rank.
I really should have skipped the dress blues! I screamed internally, feeling overdressed once again but putting my embarrassment aside.
I had read up a little on the captain and her career leading up to her posting here. She had originally been a part of the Sardegna Imperial Navy but had joined the Defense Fleet in 1967 after a large majority of the Sardegnian experienced naval officers had been wiped out in the burning of Naples and most of what was left was absorbed into the Azur Lane Initiative.
The fact that she chose to take on the fight when so many others had fallen spoke a lot about her personal tenacity in the face of overwhelming odds. It made sense why Admiral Puttnam had so much faith in the woman.
Remembering myself, I stood to attention and presented a proper salute. "Good evening ma'am. Commander Ryan Ford reporting."
She returned the gesture and had me shut the hatch for privacy then gestured for me to take a seat across from her as we began the business of introductions.
"I greatly appreciate your presence here commander, though I wish the circumstances were better." She said as she sat down. "I've received your personal file a day ago and I must say I am impressed to have one of your experiences here as my executive officer. I know the admiral informed you somewhat of what our situation is but I'm sure you must have some questions as to what your role here will be in the coming months."
From there we went through various items and jobs I am expected to accomplish. Thankfully, having been an executive officer before, I knew most of the ropes but there were a few things that were going to be new to me.
Such as being placed in direct command of the kansen ships; while she would be responsible for directing orders and coordinating ship movements, I would be responsible for ensuring her orders were not misunderstood and carried out effectively.
On top of that, outside of combat situations, I would be responsible for addressing any issues or concerns the kansen may have regarding anything from assignments to whatever personal issues they may have against each other or other sailors.
While I did voice my concerns over not having much experience with kansen's in the first place, the captain simply smiled and shrugged.
"The last few commanders who I had dismissed were familiar enough with kansen's, yet they still failed. I am hoping your lack of experience might be a good thing in this case. But I will warn you that you need to be careful with how to speak and act around them. Some have had… unfortunate experiences with commanding officers in the past, thus a lot of them are untrusting by nature, you will have to be patient with them." she said.
"Is there one amongst them I should be especially careful with?" I asked, to which Augustus sighed again and leaned back in her seat.
"Have you read any of their files?" she asked.
"Yes, though not thoroughly."
"Then tell me what your impression is of them so far."
Again I tried to remember the details without mixing any of them up. "I'd say they're a bit of a patch work when it comes to their variety of nationality. In fact I'm pretty sure we are the only squadron with Ironblood and Northern Parliament in the ranks. Is there any hostility between any of them?"
"Not too much, but I haven't been able to talk with them lately due to how hectic it's been with the depending of Fifth Squadron. Speaking of which, we should be receiving the leftovers from them in a few weeks, so don't worry about organizing the kansen's too much until we get our reinforcements. As for the kansen we have now…" she sighed again and eyeballed her desk door for some reason.
"The two you need to be the most careful with are Penny and Parzi-cazzo-I mean Pennsylvania and U556. They've become quite attached to each other these last few years and the last commander who made the mistake of getting in between them, well let's just say I doubt he can still walk in a straight line."
A morbid warning but one that had got the point across. Before I could acknowledge her advice, a knock on the door interrupted our conversation.
"Come." the captain spoke, and the door opened to reveal the same lieutenant from before.
"Pardon me again ma'am, they're ready for you in the conference room." he said.
"Very good, grazie Findley." she said and the officer was gone as quick as he arrived.
Looking back at her, Augustus took in a breath and then got up, I followed with the feeling that we were both leaving.
"The squadron has been brought in for you to meet. I hope you're ready." she said as she walked around her desk and through the door with me following.
"Is anyone ever ready when it comes to kansen's?" I replied, partially as a joke but also somewhat serious. The captain just smiled back and then continued on down the hall with me behind her, listening as she talked.
"No, at least not for their first meeting with them. The best advice I could give you is not to overthink it. They may be powerful but you'll find they act more human than you'd expect, and not all of them will reply or act in a military fashion as you may be used to. As I said before, just be patient with them and no matter what, always give them the same respect you would any other person." she stopped when we came to the stair ladder and turned to me with a serious look.
"One last thing, I know I am asking a lot of you commander, but I want to make one thing clear." she stood firm with arms folded and I immediately went to attention since it felt it was the appropriate response to her stance.
"I've dealt with a lot of new XO's as of late, and with each one I expected their failure at one point or another, because I knew where they came from and how they got here through whatever personal connections they had in the UNDF. You are the first who seems to be actually serious about the job, so I am hoping you will be different, but if you are not I promise you that I will personally throw you overboard in the middle of the Atlantic. Clear?"
"Crystal clear ma'am." I immediately replied.
"You wanted in, now you're in all the way." my subconscious teased me while the rest of my mind was wondering how the hell I had gotten myself into this.
–
This is… not what I was expecting. I thought after following Captain Augustus into a small briefing room.
Sitting around the long oval table were eight individuals that could only have been kansen's with how… colorful they looked and acted. Each turned in their seats to see my arrival, allowing me to see each of my new wards."
"Signoras, allow me to introduce our squadron's new executive officer, Commander Ryan Ford." Captain Augustus said, each girl was giving me mostly different looks but none seemed happy about me being here. "If you all would please introduce yourselves, we can then get to business."
"Chm, chm." cleared the girl who was sitting towards the head of the table where a projector was laid, she stood up then curtseyed as she spoke in a fluent British accent. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance Commander Ford, my name is Chaser, I'm an Royal Navy Attacker-class escort aircraft carrier and act as the second in command among our little group. I look forward to working with you."
Chaser looked to be in her late teens, but her posture and tone of voice hinted at a more mature attitude. She sat straight and gracefully with a small cup of tea in her hands and a pot not far from her. She wore a prim looking dress of red and white with a small red shoulder cape and a cute white bow in her hair which flowed down her back in large curls, her eyes were a mesmerizing blue that were hard to look away from.
All in all she was the definition of a fine English woman, though upon further inspection her dress was actually armless and a hint of her under-chest poked out at her sides, it added an alluring flare to a mostly innocent looking person.
"Um…" started the girl who sat next to Chaser. "Hello sir, my name is Atlanta. I'm an anti-aircraft cruiser from the Union."
At first glance, Atlanta seemed rather awkward, but I could see she wasn't nervous of me (at least visually she wasn't). Like Chaser, her eyes were a beautiful blue, but she was younger looking and had a cute head of pink hair with a braid across the top. Her dress was a blue skirt and white collared top with red shoulder-less sleeves and a red tie. Her arms were covered with silk compression sleeves ending with red fingerless gloves.
I nodded to both the girls in greetings, then turned to the next one down, but I had to blink a few times.
A… child?
Sitting quietly with her head barely rising over the table top with a set of headphones over her ears was an extremely young looking girl with long blond hair in two twin tails that was almost as long as she was in height. Her orange red eyes were rather blank as they stared down at the table with her body rocking along to some song she was listening to. Her dress was more along the lines of a swimsuit with how tight it seemed to be, and her arms were also covered by baggy sleeves and she was tapping away in the air with strange looking L shaped sticks in her hands.
After a few short seconds of looking at the girl, Atlanta coughed for my attention. "Sorry sir, this is Eldridge. She's a Cannon-class destroyer from the Union, like me she's more of an anti-air escort ship. Hey, go on Eldridge, say hello at least."
After getting the little girl's attention, she looked around until Atlanta pointed to me. Finally getting the girls full attention, she looked me up and down, then asked the oddest question I'd heard all day.
"New commander… do you have… any snacks?" the whole room paused at the utter randomness of the question. I glanced back at the captain who simply shrugged back at me, seemingly with no excuse for the girl.
After a few more seconds, I fished into my coat pocket and pulled out a pack of gum I kept handy. Taking one out, I walked to the table and offered it to her and, even more strangely, upon seeing it a few sparks began sprouting out of her fuzzy attachments on her hair clips. She reached out and grabbed hold, then a small spark of electricity arced out from her hand and up my arm.
The shock wasn't really painful enough to warrant a reaction so I just released the gum for her to have. After taking it, she stared up at me then to the gum and back, seemingly a little confused on something.
"... Thank you…" she finally said, putting her headphones back on and opening the wrapping of the minty snack, after which the room returned to an awkward silence.
Glancing around at the other girls, a few looked at me with a little less coldness than before, Chaser even had a more natural smile on her face. Before I could ask what was wrong, a giggle from next to Eldridge took my attention to the next girl.
"He-he-he, well now that that's done and over with, I'm next!" spoke the jumpy girl, her accent was more Scottish in tone.
She looked overly dressed in a white fur-lined red hooded short cape with a matching red frilly dress. Her arms and legs were covered in silk black stockings and her hair was a bob cut with the front half having a white stripe right down from her scalp to her forehead like a skunk, a pair of rounded glasses completed her look.
I felt like I was looking at a fashion store mannequin but her bubbly attitude broke that illusion, as she hopped up and down in her seat excitedly, her hood flapping on and off her head.
"I'm Eskimo! A Tribal-class gun-boat destroyer from Canada! So you're our new commander eh, where are you from?! Did you make igloos there?! Did you fight in the war? Why do you have a fake leg?! Do you have any more gum that I could hav-" smack "OW!" Eskimo's ramblings were silenced by a hand strike to her head from the other girl next to her.
"Halt den mund!" the new girl shouted in German and proceeded to berate Eskimo in a thick German accent. "You should not be asking so much at one time! And why do you always ask if they make igloos?! Most people don't need to make an igloo to live in!"
"But igloos are so cute! You can make them as big or small as you want!" Eskimo whined with watery eyes and the two went back and forth, arguing things left and right, but everyone looked on as if it was a common occurrence.
The new girl was another young one who seemed a little older than Eskimo, but still shorter than Atlanta. She wore a cute looking white and dark blue twin buttoned dress with some black short shorts. Her arms also adorning silky compression sleeves with white gloves on her hands and an arm band above her left elbow. Her short hair was a glossy light brown and was adorned by a dark blue beret and a bow decorated with the symbol of the Ironblood.
So this must be Z23?
Before I or anyone else did anything to stop the little dispute, laughter from the second to last chair down the table drew my eyes to the next woman, and a striking woman she was. Arising from her seat, she walked over to stand between the two little ones who went silent after they felt her hands on their heads.
"Now, now. Why don't you two save such drakach for a more proper time and place, da?" her voice, though heavy with a Russian accent, was surprisingly soft along with her eyes as she looked at the girls who both pouted at being interrupted but said nothing against their elders' words, simply muttering what I guessed were their agreements.
The woman looked to be in her twenties with her skin being a fine shine of smooth white like snow and her long white hair seemed to fall down her back like a frozen stream down a cliff face. Her outfit looked to be ready for a winter storm with her coat looking to be made of a thick fabric and the end of her sleeves opened out wider at their hands. Her legs were adorned by dark stockings and dark blue skirt, with white calf high boots that were lined with gray fur.
Despite her uniform's thick fabric, it did nothing to take away from her well endowed form, with her chest's top half being bare and offering quite the view. And completing her look was a unique hat that she wore, I believed was called an ushanka, or something like that. All of her clothing and accent hinted heavily towards her being from the Northern Parliament.
She nodded in satisfaction as the two girls relented their arguing, then the mature woman brought her eyes to me. Looking into their dark golden irises, I felt like a rabbit after being caught by the gaze of an arctic predator. Though her small smile remained, it was by no means genuine, yet I didn't catch any hostility from her either.
"Privetstviya, commander. My name is Kirov, a cruiser from the Northern Parliament. Please excuse Z23's actions." she glanced down at the beret girl, "She means well but can have difficulty being subtle in her actions."
I greeted both in return and finally turned to the last two girls seated together at the end of the table, with the smaller of the two sitting across the other's lap and leaning against her like a child would their mother.
Strangely enough, the smaller girl wore the least amount of clothing of all the girls present, with the majority of her skin being on full display. The largest article of clothing she had was an open oversized brown overcoat, the remainder was simply a pair of grey bikini top and bottoms, both of which only barely seemed to cover the essentials. Her hair was lightly colored blue with pink highlights at the end of her bangs and two pigtails.
Even if she's on the younger side, her outfit is just shy of being called skimpy. I thought, a sliver of parental instincts telling me to find her something better to wear, but the clearing of a throat brought my attention to the older woman currently holding the little girl, who also happened to be giving me a glare after looking at the girl too closely.
"Sorry, but she is extremely underdressed." I pointed out to her, she sighed and nodded in agreement, but she kept her gaze cautious of me while also pulling the girls coat to cover her better.
The woman looked to be the oldest here, or at the very least the most matured in appearance. She wore a well fitting dark blue uniform with her sleeves rolled up showing her bare forearms with a short skirt that opened to allow for better mobility and dark silk stocking covered legs. The front of her shirt was unbuttoned partially showing her black sports bra underneath as well as some of her bare stomach, her dark brown hair was combed to the left of her face and flowed down her shoulder with a small blue cap resting on her head.
But what I found most eye-catching about her were the noticeable scars she bore, the most obvious being one across her cheek right below her left eye. They gave her a look of someone who had survived one too many battlefields in her time, her aqua eyes solidified that as they gazed at me with cold judgment, and the same feeling of dread I got when the stallion landed returned.
She was definitely the one I saw from before. I thought, realizing I was looking at the flagship of Third Squadron.
"I'm Pennsylvania." she said, then looked down at the girl on her chest. "And this is U556."
In the woman's arms, the little girl she held stirred at her name being called and after waking up she glanced at me, her crimson eyes looking tired as they looked me up and down, but she quickly lost interest and returned to leaning against the battleship to sleep.
Pennsylvania didn't seem to mind and simply let her rest while stroking U556's head as she drifted back to sleep. Without thinking, I checked my watch and saw that it was nearing 1900 hrs, not too late in the day but looking closer at the girl's face I saw the bags under her eyes and how tired she really looked.
"If ah…" I said, gaining back the battleship's attention, "Chm, if you want to take her to rest somewhere else, we can talk again later."
Pennsylvania's look remained sharp but lost some of its coldness after hearing my words, if only a little. She looked over to Captain Augustus who nodded in agreement, then after a moment she rose up from her seat, her arms adjusting to better hold the girl in her arms, and she bid good night to everyone as she left the room.
After Pennsylvania left, I looked back over the unique ensemble of kansen's before me and cleared my throat. "It's a pleasure to meet all of you, as Captain Augustus said, I'm Commander Ryan Ford, formerly of the Union Navy, and I'll be working with all of you for the foreseeable future."
From there, we all entered into discussion with me telling them a little of my own experiences in the war as well as my overall lack of any history of working with kansens. They talked with me of some of their own stories and experiences that I found both interesting and quite entertaining.
Chaser was a huge fan of tea and the large variety they came in, contrasting with Kirov who enjoyed coffee to the same degree, the two apparently forming a rivalry and often butted heads on the subject of which was the better drink.
Atlanta and Eldridge, both being mainly anti-air ships and both hailing from the Union, tended to hang around each other and were a good team in a battle.
Eskimo apologized for all the quick questions… and then proceeded to ask some more, much to Z23's ire. And as for the Ironblood destroyer, she was actually designated as the leader of the three destroyers within Third Squadron; a responsibility she took very seriously, much to the annoyance of her fellows.
By night's end, I had learned that Third Squadron had a long history of being the fleet with the most variety among its kansens and was most famous for its role in spearheading the breakthrough of the straits of Gibraltar in the campaign to retake the Mediterranean Sea in late 1968.
After the girls had been excused for the night, it was only Captain Augustus and myself left in the room.
"Well, I think that went well as far as introductions go. You handled yourself well, especially with all of Eskimo's questions. But you definitely won a lot of ground with them tonight." she said, a cup of Chasers leftover tea in her hands.
"I wouldn't say that ma'am, it was only polite small talk, I think I still have a ways to go." I replied, bringing my own cup of tea to my lips. It was good stuff, but I felt Admiral Puttnams was better.
"Not as far as you think, that little interaction with Eldridge at the start set a lot of their fears aside."
"All I did was give her a piece of gum, and she seemed to shock me in return. I don't see how that bought me anything with them?" It really was just a piece of gum, but the captain simply sighed at me.
"Eldridge has a habit of shocking almost everybody she meets, but it tends to be worse if she senses you as someone of… poor quality. The fact that it was only a small shock that barely made you flinch showed everyone you are at the very least alright in Eldridge's eyes and that speaks volumes for them."
"Your saying after only getting a mild shock, they now suddenly trust me?" I asked, doubt screaming out of my sarcastic tone with the captain smirking at the humor.
"Trusted, no. That is something that can only be developed over time. But you see, Eldridge can tell these sorts of things because she's also had a long history of commanders she's served under, some were good while others were horribly terrible. She knows what ques to look for, I won't say how she seems to know the difference based on a simple shock, but she hasn't been wrong so far." The captain rose from her seat after finishing her drink and began washing the cup out in the sink.
"What about Pennsylvania and U556?" I asked.
I was curious about them having only exchanged a single greeting with the former, and the latter having barely spared me a glance. After washing her cup, Augustus turned around showing me a kind yet sad smile.
"Pennsylvania is their flagship, she's not the best at conversation but she is a brilliant fighter and the girls respect her courage in protecting them both on and off the battlefield. As for U556…" the captain's smile disappeared, replaced by a mournful sigh. "Ever since her arrival here, she's barely spoken to anyone outside of the kansens, she seems to have formed a close bond with Pennsylvania and she is comfortable around the others, but as for the rest of Third Squadrons human personnel, she prefers to give them a wide berth."
I wonder what the story behind that is. I thought as I remembered how sleep deprived she looked.
I'd heard many war veterans prefer to seclude themselves after coming back home, haunted by whatever sights or actions traumatized them. It wasn't hard to believe that kansens, beings that mimicked humans in almost every shape and action, would also become haunted by their own trauma.
"I suppose gaining her trust is something that will be the hardest challenge here. But I am curious about something. On my flight in, we did an overlooking circle of the bay, and I wasn't able to spot any subs moored anywhere. Does she not have a hull?" I asked, to which the captain shrugged.
"Like I said, she's a shy one, she prefers to remain submerged under the bay. I've tried to find ways to get her to stop, but it's easier if you just accept it's going to happen. At the very least, if you need to get her attention, she almost always comes up for Pennsylvania." a beeper went off in the captain's pocket and she brought out a pager, her look soured after looking at the text on it and I heard her mutter a something in Italian that I guessed was a swear of some kind.
"Problem ma'am?" I asked.
"Just a recurring reminder of an upcoming event I am not looking forward to, nor will you once I tell you of it." she said, putting the pager away. "But that can wait for now, I know you've already had a long day, so go get situated in your new quarters then get some food and rest for tomorrow. We'll meet up back here with the other senior officers and enlisted at 0700. I'll get you started on your new responsibilities then."
"Yes ma'am." I replied, and got up to go find my bag from Baker, who I hoped was still on the flight deck, or at least easy to find.
A small dinner sounds good too. I thought with a small grumble of my stomach, as I was about to open the door when the captain called me again.
"Oh and commander." I turned to see her smirk had returned to her face. "I recommend the regular duty uniform for tomorrow. Keep the dress in the closet."
God damn dress blues! I screamed internally, but simply sighed at the jokingly given advice.
"Gladly ma'am"
2040 hrs - April 6th, 1972
Imperial Kriegsmarine Academy - Officers Club - Hamburg, Germany
Reuenthal POV
Clink, clink, clink. The sound of metal tapping on glass rang throughout the room.
"Gentleman, a toast if you'd please." said a man raising his glass of wine. All present within the hall turned their attention to him and gripped their own glasses in anticipation. "To our fallen brethren, may they rest with peace. To the Kaiser, may his rule never falter. And to the mighty Ironblood Fleet, may they forever know victory! Prost Eisenblut!"
"Prost Eisenblut!" we shouted, our glasses raised high as we honored our kriegsmarine and the noble sovereign, Kaiser Freidrick III.
Like that man child needs more of an ego boost. I thought, my wine glass covering my smirking smile, which vanished after I finally tasted the liquid. The wine was of a modest taste, poured from a rare bottle that had aged fifty years, it was supplied by the generosity of an old nobleman, yet I would have still preferred something stronger.
A glass of Union Whisky would be nice, not that any man here would dare be caught drinking such a thing. Pulling back from my thoughts, I took a look around at my fellow dining attendants.
Since this was a formal naval celebration, most of the guests were all high ranking officers from the navy, but there were a few people from the army and noble families present as well. There were also, of course, famous kansen in attendance too. No doubt accompanying their respective fleet commanders.
I, myself, had Prinz Eugen with me since she was my fleet's flagship, much to the disappointment of Gneisenau. She was dressed in her usual attire, though she had wished for the chance to break out her special dress she reserved only for formal occasions and such. Thankfully her sour attitude was lifted after promising she may show it to me when we get back to base and in a more… private setting.
While most of the other admiralty here had brought their own kansen flagships as a means of 'showboating', I brought Eugen for a much more practical reason, but that didn't mean she wasn't obliged to enjoy herself.
"Ah… I wish I had wine this extravagant back in the fleet. Say what you will of the nobles, they at least have good tastes." spoke Eugen, her love of fine drinks far exceeding my own.
"If you say so." I said as I looked out at the other guests.
The gathering of this crowd was in celebration of the first Ironblood victory in the Baltic Sea, though it was a minor victory and strategically represented little, it was a major boost to the morale of the nation in a time when such things were in short supply.
Not that there was an abundance of morale going around today. I thought to myself as I sipped my drink again while spotting a few key individuals.
Standing at a center table surrounded by people trying to get in a conversation with him was a dark haired man who looked to be in his forties and wore a prestigious naval uniform that looked more suited for a ball rather than a simple gathering such as this.
This was Fleet Admiral Otto Von Richter, the supreme commander of the kriegsmarine and arguably the most powerful man in the Empire. Yet despite his title, he was hardly deserving of it.
He came from a high noble family who had a long history of involvement within the navy and although he was officially a veteran of the war, his service history was lacking in any combat experience and he was mostly positioned at the rear of the frontline, yet he acted as if he had personally lead ships into direct combat.
It was also well suspected by many that he had only achieved his rank and status due to his sister being rumored to being the Kaiser's mistress, which made him little more than a pawn under the control of the Kaiser. It was a strange thing, politics, so many facts were known yet everyone acted as if they weren't for the sake of maintaining the status quo..
Standing not far from Ritcher was his own kansen representative from the North Sea Fleet, she was acting as if she was listening to the discussion but ultimately looking bored as she sipped her drink.
This was the mighty Friedrich der Grosse, the flagship of the North Sea Fleet and arguably the strongest warship in the entire North Atlantic. She was the first H-class kansen battleship ever built and was instrumental in retaking the North Sea from the enemy, granting her fame second only to the Bismarck sisters. She was even named the honorary flagship of the entire Ironblood Kriegsmarine, not that she was allowed the use of that position over Ritcher's authority.
Standing tall among the many men talking with the admiral, she had also forewent any luxurious dressing, yet her usual attire still held an elegance to it as well as any dress.
Like Eugen's uniform, Friedrich wore a one piece tight fitting dress that ended only a few inches from her crotch, it was of a dark color with gold trimming and buttons. Though Eugen's dress allowed for plenty of bare side views of her chest, Friedrich's chest was completely covered, yet its top was teased with a see-through silk fabric. Her arms were covered with decorative sleeves with spiky black fur at her elbows, and her legs were adorned with high dark silk stockings and hard calf boots. Her hair was a smooth glossy black that traveled as far down as her lower back and was adorned by a set of red horns that were probably only decorative, yet I would not be surprised if she claimed them as very real.
Honestly, compared to some other Ironblood kansens I've met, she was rather conservative when it came to her body; the only skin that she allowed showed being her face, shoulders, and thighs. Yet she was vastly superior to many in terms of her figures' obvious maturity, and she often acted the part of a motherly figure among our kansen fleet.
Yet her dress tended to strike me more as if she was a mourning widower with all that black.
After a moment longer of me staring at the woman, Eugen apparently noticed and pinched my jaw, pulling it over to her face that was adorned by a forced smile that I knew meant she was not happy with me.
"Something catching your eye, my Kommandant?" she spoke fluently in a tone that, while sounding pleasant, possessed a heavy weight to it.
"Just admiring, Eugen; as I am certain many men and women often do when they see you walking by." her smile shortened, knowing my statement to be very true.
"Fine, I suppose I cannot blame your eyes from wandering towards beauty, but just make sure they look at me more than others." I nodded, taking her hand and giving it a chaste kiss, which made the heavy cruiser's cheeks take on a slight red hue.
"Of course, geliebt. But perhaps you should go pay Friedrich a visit, see if there's been any developments from her as of late?"
Folding her arms under her bust, her smile shrank but was still there to keep up appearances, yet her eyes still showed her annoyance.
"Ugh…You know how I feel about how she acts towards me."
"You mean how she seems to dote on you and the other girls all the time?" I countered.
She frowned, probably remembering her past meetings with the battleship; Eugen loved teasing others, but there was something about Friedrich that threw her off her game, like she was just a child trying to out match her parents.
We both glanced back over to the mature kansen only to see her smiling back at us, her one uncovered golden eye sparkled knowingly and raised her glass in our direction. I returned her single toast with my own, but out of the corner of my eye I noticed Eugens brow twitching as she did the same.
"Well?" I urged her on.
She turned back to me and gave me one last forced smile while her hand cupped my cheek, then she lightly slapped me.
"Fich dich." she said, downing the last of her wine glass then turned off to meet with Friedrich, another full glass instantly finding itself in her hands.
I knew I was in for it and would have to show her my appreciation later this evening for her efforts, but despite Eugen's annoyance, I knew she remembered that it was important to keep track of the fleet's leadership without raising too much suspicion. Had I gone over to Friedrich and talked with her myself, it might have brought one to many eyes on me, and I couldn't afford that attention just yet.
The last thing I need is Ritcher on my ass thinking I was trying to poach his flagship.
Besides, I was not here tonight just for information, my eyes were set on a bigger fish. Speaking of which, I finally had spotted my priority for tonight.
Standing towards the hall's balcony door were two individuals.
One was a particularly well aged naval officer, appearing to be in his fifties or so, his hair turning gray but he still appeared to have that same look of command he was famous for on his gray stormy eyes behind a pair of spectacles.
This was Admiral Gunther Merkatz, a noteworthy veteran of the war and a skilled tactician who was instrumental in the retaking and defense of the Skagerrak Strait between Denmark and Norway, preventing the enemy from regaining its access to the Baltic Sea after having been pushed out in 1967.
The other person standing next to him was another kansen who, while beautiful as most kansen are, possessed a more graceful beauty to her. She was almost the exact opposite of Friedrich, where she was black in theme, this woman was all snowy white.
She stood just as high as Merkatz, with her head bearing elegant hair as white as arctic snow and eyes of icy blue, her attire was far more militaristic in style than either Eugen's or Friedrich's (being that it wasn't a one piece). She wore a short off-set white cape over her matching coat. Her black skirt was still on the short side but was hardly more showing than Eugen's. Her legs were adorned by white thigh high stockings with black fur lining, and resting under her arm was a white officers cap.
One would definitely not define her appearance as flirtatious, more so as regent and elegant. Not surprising given she was the sister of the most famous Ironblood battleship ever to sail the seas.
This was Tirpitz, the Lone Queen of the North. She was the second of the Bismarck sisters who'd gained a small but fierce reputation during the war after becoming trapped behind enemy lines all on her own. Unfortunately, her tale rarely told since the one responsible for leaving her behind was none other than Fleet Admiral Ritcher himself.
After taking command of the North Sea Fleet, he'd ordered Tirpitz's fleet to retreat in the middle of combat for fear of the enemy sending a raiding party through into our rear lines, which only turned out to be a single scouting ship. But worse off was Tirpitz who, after receiving damage to her radio, had been unable to receive the order to retreat and was left on her own, fending off enemy attacks for weeks until an Azur Lane lead assault force found her grounded ashore in one of fjords of Norway, her hull barely staying afloat.
The mistake had been an utter embarrassment for the Ironblood and specifically Ritcher himself, who'd gone to great lengths in forging a suitable excuse for his actions. Despite his obvious ineptitude for fleet command, the Kaiser vouched for him to remain in the navy so as to keep a semblance of control over it, but thankfully transferred the admiral back to Hamburg.
And now the mighty battleship served as the flagship of the Baltic Fleet under Admiral Merkatz, the two of them seeming well suited for working with each other. Sadly, neither possessed much in terms of social skills, since they were standing all on their own with only a few people here and giving them respectful greetings.
In all honesty, they were both no longer well appreciated among the other ranking members of the military or the government. It wouldn't surprise me if a few even considered them a threat of one sort or another, politics and prestige tended to make one paranoid of everybody who might covet their position.
Which meant they're exactly the kind of allies I need. I thought, wolfing down the last of my wine, regrettably having to get a new one to keep appearances up, and made my way over to them. After waiting only a few minutes for his current conversation to end, I announced myself.
"Good evening Admiral Merkatz. Madam Tirpitz." I said. Tirpitz presented no reaction to me except for her cold eyes. But, surprisingly, I saw the admiral smile in recognition of me.
"Ah, good evening Vice Admiral… Reuenthal wasn't it?"
"Yes sir, I'm honored you remember me." I said, moving closer to converse with them and hopefully prevent others from interrupting.
"Considering you're the youngest man ever to be promoted as a vice admiral at just twenty-nine, a feat you should be immensely proud of, and of course your achievements in the Azur Lane Initiative, I would be remissive not to remember someone such as you." He said, a small smile adorning his mustached face.
"Oh, you appear to have me flustered sir. I am even more surprised you know of my service history." I said, glancing to Tirpitz only to see her look me over, then turned away as if she was not interested in talking at all.
Just as Eugen warned me, antisocial with a look as cold as ice. I suspected her actions were more out of habit than any dislike towards me, at least I hoped so.
"It is unfortunate your service is not well remembered, but not many of the current admiralty kept track of Azur Lanes activities in the war, most of us were busy defending the North Sea along with the coasts of Norway. But I tried to keep an ear open for any reports that came in." he said, his words reminding me of why I was here.
"Thank you sir. But if I may, might I have a few minutes of your time to discuss something with you, preferably in a more… private setting?" I asked while nodding to the balcony. Merkatz gave me a raised brow, but nodded in acceptance.
He turned back to Tirpitz who shrugged without so much as a word being spoken between them, but instead of coming with us she walked off to the bar area for another drink. The crowd separating for her, either out of respect or fear of her cold gaze.
Both the admiral and I walked out to the balcony where he probably expected us to talk, but I continued on, leading us down the balcony stairs into the small garden below. Once I was confident we were far enough to not be overheard, I sat at a small bench that overlooked the local river that reflected the evening moon.
"Something on your mind son?" he asked after taking a seat next to me, his tone taking on a noticeably guarded tone. "If you felt the need to have this much privacy, I imagine it is an important matter."
"It is indeed an important matter sir, and I would urge you to hold judgment of me until we are finished." I asked him, to which he gave me a long stare with his gray eyes.
From there I began to outline my case for him, giving as much detail and reasoning as I could without giving away too much in the event he decided to betray my trust. But he did not argue against my words, instead listening intently and simply asking for clarity on one point or another. By the time I had finished making my case, I felt as if my breath was reluctant to return to me and I was thankful for the lengthy pause Merkatz allowed in order to think on my words.
Eventually, the admiral sighed and got up from the bench and fished out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. He was about to light one when he saw my eyes wander to the pack in his hands and he offered me one. I took this to mean that he, at the very least, was not going to overreact to my plans and that he might even be considering it.
"You are ambitious, son. I'll give you that." he said, blowing smoke through the cool evening breeze. "A rare quality seen today in men as young as you."
"I'll take that as a compliment sir." I said, blowing my own smoke out, its warmth in my chest comforting my nerves as I awaited his decision.
"Going through with this will mark you as a traitor, and risk the very foundations of our nation crumbling to the ground." he said.
"Yes sir, those are very certain possibilities, but doing nothing may simply allow the kettle to boil over anyway. If it's not me, then it'll just be someone else." I reasoned.
"If…" he started, pulling my full attention to him, only to meet his raised hand, causing me to pause any reply I might have had. "Hypothetically speaking, if I were to agree to join you on this endeavor, I have certain reservations that will need addressing."
"Such as?" I asked, satisfaction spreading through me in knowing I had caught his interest.
"In the event you succeed, as difficult as that may seem, what's to stop you from making the same mistakes of all the leaders you are hell bent on replacing? What if the other naval powers choose to become involved? And what will you do if you lose?" his eyes were cold and calculating as the looked at me from the corner of his eyes.
A silence enveloped us as I pondered his questions, knowing what I said next will determine the so much that is to come in the near future.
"If I was to become like those pigs, I expect men like you to stop me. The only nation that will consider troubling us is Britain, but I already have plans for them. And as for losing…" I took a longer drag on my cigarette, the heat pushing my words out for me. "Well that's easy, I won't."
I spoke those words with all the conviction and hatred I had within me, and from there the two of us shared a look that could only be shared by those who have seen the unspeakable horror of war and knew the true cost it required.
"Admiral Merkatz." our gaze was broken by a voice from behind us. Standing a few feet down the path leading back to the hall with her arms behind her back and her cap now placed on her head was Tirpitz, her icy gaze boring down onto me, but then turned her eyes to her superior.
"It is getting rather late sir, perhaps it is time we retired for the evening?" she said, Merkatz lifting his sleeve and finally noticing how long we'd been talking.
"Of course, your correct Tirpitz, I'll be just a moment." she nodded in response but didn't leave her spot, her face betrayed nothing of her thoughts but I began to wonder if she had overheard our little discussion.
"Vice Admiral Reuenthal." spoke Merkatz, regaining my attention. "Our discussion has been… interesting. You have given me a lot to consider regarding the future. And your offer may warrant a night of consideration before I make a final decision, but regardless, you can trust that anything said here will remain confidential."
He walked closer and offered me a hand in fair-well, I took it with a firm grip. "That is probably for the best, sir. Thank you again for your time tonight, I hope to hear from you soon."
Merkatz hummed back with a nod, then walked back up towards the hall, leaving me alone with Tirpitz who seemed to have something of her own to say.
"Something on your mind, Madam Tirpitz?" I asked, but her face remained stone cold for what felt like minutes, until she half turned as she answered.
"Those who have nothing to lose also have nothing to fear... But is that kind of bravery really anything to be proud of, sir?" she asked, but before I could answer she spoke again. "The Admiral is a man who has a great deal to lose, thus he has much to fear, make sure you remember that when he gives you his answer."
And with that, the second of the Bismarck sisters had left, leaving me to my own thoughts,
If you have nothing to lose, you have nothing to fear? I thought, as I turned back to watching the river flow with the moon clear in the night sky.
"Sounds like something you would say, isn't it brother?"
Next - Ch.3: Memories and Mornings.
A/N: Just FYI, It's looking like my time is going to be busy the next few months. So try and survive if you can.
Comment if you like it.