Chapter Five: Playing The Field

A whole week had passed since his initial talk with Lützow and König had made his plans. Not just in bringing the wayward Hipper sister home but bringing all the Hipper sisters back together. Though he had kept that part of his bigger plan a secret from Lützow and would wait until that part bore results. The two had taken to meeting at the bench where they first met. It was at a part of the port that many didn't walk around, especially the other Parliament girls. It was why Lützow frequented went there, to begin with. Making sure none of them were aware of their plans was key.

Now the hybrid stood in front of the Norther Parliament dorms ready to make the first move. His excuse for even coming to them would be to make an introduction to the girls. His pretense being that, he was making his way around port making introduction since he was still relatively new. Lützow on her part would feign ignorance of knowing him once he made his offer for her release. He would play it up as being something he was doing of his own accord for the sake of bringing the sisters back together. A good enough excuse to get the ball rolling on things.

Unlike the fancy-looking outside of the Royal Navy dorms and the cutting-edge military look. That the outside of the Ironblood dorms possessed, the outside of the Northern dorms was rather plain to put simply. Made him wonder if the inside was going to be like. He walked up to the door and gave a few solid knocks to it. There were no rules in just walking into a dorm on base technically, but it was viewed as rude. Only Maruyama as the base commander had any real permission to enter and leave buildings without any warning. After a few moments, the door opened up.

"Can I help you?" Spoke a woman with a thick Russian accent. She had long white hair that went into a pair of braids. She wore a large white hat on her head and a white corset-like piece that left pretty much all of her shoulders exposed, that extend down into a cape of sorts. She wore large white arms warmers and white boots and see-through stockings. Her whole outfit left little to the imagination since it showed off her curves so well. She was also a head shorter than him indicating she was most likely of the cruiser class.

She looked him over with a slight look of confusion, not that he could blame her for it. It was probably odd to have a random Ironblood show up at the door. Tensions between the two weren't the greatest at least between each side's respective government leaders. The girls of each faction on base though got along well enough from what Lützow had told him. Though they weren't what one could call the best of friends. He couldn't help but wonder quickly how his plans could derail that bit.

"Guten Tag, I'm König the newest battleship of the Ironblood and of Azur Lane. I'm making my way around the port and properly introducing myself to the other factions. I felt it was important since were all working together and can get any surprises about my uniqueness out of the way." The German battleship explained.

The woman in front of him eyed him for a moment before giving a small smile. "прия́тно познако́миться König, I'm Avrora, a light cruiser of the Northern Parliament." She replied as she opened the door. "Please come inside, the other girls are away doing other things, but we can talk a bit."

"She's the one Mikasa mentioned." König thought beforegiving a nod of his head and made his way into the dorm. While not lavish like the Royal Navy dorms. Nor having top-tier military housing feel like the Ironblood dorms. The Northern dorms had something of a middle-class household feel to them. He couldn't help but notice the full-on bar that was nestled against one of the walls. It looked to be stocked with almost nothing but vodka from what he could tell. Being led by the Avrora he found his way to a couch and took a seat.

"Would like a drink by chance? We have quite the selections of vodka." The cruiser stated.

He thought for a moment before shrugging his shoulders. Since he was no longer human, underage drinking laws no longer applied to him. He actually got to drinking some different styles of beers at the Ironbloods personal bar. Though hard liquor was something that was still a mystery to him. "Sure, but I have zero experience with vodka as a heads up."

Avrora looked at him with an expression as if he just said the most horrible thing known to man. "Боже мой! This must be corrected!" She exclaimed as she made her way to the bar. As she with almost dizzying speed went through bottle after bottle trying to find the perfect one. It was actually rather entertaining to watch her zip back and forth, up and down across the shelves. As the Russian cruiser inspected bottle after bottle in search of the right one. Eventually, she found one the right one and returned to him with the vodka and a pair of shot glasses.

"I found the right one," Avrora chirped happily as she took a seat right next to him. So closely in fact her one leg was practically brushing against his own. Beluga Noble Vodka was the name on the bottle König noticed. As Avrora opened it up and poured some of it into each glass. König dropped his hood and removed his mask to drink.

"Such a lovely face you have." Avrora quickly commented before raising her glass. "Выпьем за то, что мы здесь собрались, и чтобы чаще собирались!" She piped.

"Prost!" The Ironblood kansen replied as the two clinked glasses and downed their shots. The battleship's eyebrows rose in surprise a bit. "That has a very good taste to it."

That got a genuine smile out of Avrora who then proceeded to pour another drink for each of them. Time passed by as the two sat together and talked, though König stopped drinking after the third shot. He still had things to do after all and he wouldn't be able to do them if he was plastered. Avrora continued to drink, and he couldn't but somewhat marvel at the woman's constitution. Despite putting most of the bottle down herself, the only effect it seemed to have on her was some flushing on her cheeks.

At some point, the Russian cruiser positioned herself so she was leaning directly against König. He wasn't sure if she was trying something, or she was simply the affectionate type by nature. At the moment he was assuming the latter not that he was complaining. The woman certainly lived up to the trope of Sensual Slav, no doubts to that. That all taken into account he was genuinely enjoying the time he was spending with Avrora. Her cheery nature was rather infectious and hard not to find enjoyable. Then the door to the dorms opened as a new figure made their presence known. Avrora and König both looked to see just who it was.

It was a rather tall woman who must have been a battleship class kansen. For as much as König was aware the Northern Parliament had no CV's. She wore a mostly white outfit with some black that was far more covering than Avrora's or Lützow's. Though it was still very form-fitting and didn't hide her curves and ample bust. She had very long flowing white hair that stretched just past her knees and she had noticeable red eyes. She rose an eyebrow of curiosity when she saw the two sitting on the couch.

"Rossiya!" Avrora chirped "Good to see back. Come meet our guest, he's relatively new to port and came to introduce himself."

Rossiya eyed the man sitting next to Avrora inquisitively as she walked over. She immediately noticed that he was of the Ironblood. That gave her an idea of just who the person was. "Greetings, I'm Sovetskaya Rossiya battleship and leader of the Northern Parliament here at Azur Lane. You must be the new edition to the Ironblood that's making something of a name for themselves quickly?"

"Am I now? Wasn't aware that I was." König spoke as he stood up to more properly introduce himself. "I'm König, a battleship of the Ironblood a pleasure to meet you." He finished with an outstretched hand which Rossiya took for a quick shake. After which he sat back down and Rossiya took a seat in a chair across from the two. "So she's the leader like Lützow said just what I was hoping for." König mused to himself mentally.

"There have been quite a few rumors about your existence around the port for a while now. I was beginning to think that you were simply made up." Rossiya stated.

"I imagine so, I was kept something of a secret until the time was right to steadily integrate me into the rest of the port." The Ironblood replied "I must admit a good portion of my time has been spent simply learning up on all sorts of things. Tactics, training skills, studying up on the other factions here to gain an understanding of them, since we'll all be working together. And so much more, it's been awfully busy up until now."

Rossiya eyed him for a moment before speaking. "A male kansen, I didn't think such a thing was even possible."

"My construction is both more unique and more advanced than any kansen in port, if not the world," König replied as began laying his bait for his plan.

"How intriguing, care to share any details?" The Russian battleship said in curiosity.

"Only that I'm straight up part siren as result of the unusual means of my creation."

That received look of shock from both Russian women. König saw a certain gleam then appear in Rossiya's eyes, just like he had hoped. It was no secret that Northern Parliament was greedily hungry for any tech. That would provide them a strong edge not only against the sirens but also the other factions. No doubt in the hopes of using that edge against them once the sirens were dealt with at last. König knew the best way to get at the Northern Parliament was to play upon that greed and ultimately turn it against them.

"That is most surprising, and intriguing are you sure you can't say more?" Rossiya asked.

"Perhaps, with the proper incentive."

"How so?"

"During my studies, I found out about something rather interesting. I learned that the chancellor sold one of the Hipper sisters to your faction. Though it should be noted Lord Bismarck and the Ironblood fleet as a whole didn't agree with the decision. She goes by Tallin since being sold if I recall correctly, while her sisters back in the Ironblood don't speak openly about it. I have little doubt they would like to have their sister returned to them. My proposal is simple, I give you data on my layout. In return, Tallin returns to the Ironblood and goes back to being Lützow once more." König explained as then pulled a small datapad out from the inside of his coat. "I already have the information right here."

This got a few different reactions, Avrora gasped in surprise while Rossiya narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "How convenient on your part, I can't help but think this was the true purpose of you coming here from the start?" She said with an accusing tone.

"Maybe, maybe not but in the end does that really matter?" The hybrid replied casually. "Come now Sovetskaya Rossiya the opportunity I'm offering here isn't something that comes up regularly. Think about the bigger picture in all of this. Short term, losing Tallin might be an inconvenience but in the long term. What can be gained from this is far more valuable than a single kansen. Feel free to look over the data to see for yourself."

Rossiya stared at the Ironblood battleship for a few moments before reaching out with a hand and taking the datapad. As she scrolled through and overlooked it, her eyebrows raised in surprise by what she was seeing. The man hadn't been kidding with his statement. "This's a layout of your system?"

"A portion of it yes," König answered though his statement was something of a half-truth. While yes it was a portion of his layout it was a rather small part of it all. Not that the Northern Parliament would ever be able to tell that. They could maybe get one or two neat things out of it but nothing that would be all that substantial. After all, even the hybrid in complete honesty didn't even understand the full extent of his systems yet. The only ones around who probably could are the sirens. Ultimately, this was the real bait in his plan and it be the thing that would get the Russian's to bite. Though he was prepared for whatever counteroffer he anticipated to come his way.

Rossiya stroked her chin in deep thought, what she was reading was far ahead of the science teams back in Russia had. While the offer as is, was rather tempting, she wouldn't deny it. A part of her couldn't help but feel annoyed that an Ironblood of all people would have the nerve and arrogance to try this. As she thought more, an idea struck her mind that would gain her faction even more without having to give anything up.

"You drive a very tempting offer König I will admit." The Russian began as she handed back the datapad. "However, I have a counteroffer if you're willing to hear me out?"

"By all means"

"My offer is simple considering the stakes at hand how about we make this a bit more thrilling? I propose a contest between you and a member of the Northern Parliament. You win, you get Tallin. My side wins you give a complete layout of your system to us."

The hybrid hummed to himself he knew that something like this would come. The Northern Parliament was too greedy when it came to new tech to let go of such an asset so easily. In the end König was confident he could handle whatever was thrown his way. While a few of the Royal Navy girls had seen some of what he could do. Only Bismarck, Tirpitz, and Maruyama truly knew the full extent of his current capabilities. Not to mention he knew could get away with giving up a little more of his system data if need be. With the North being no wiser about the truth of it. If by chance he did fail, as unlikely as he felt that was.

"What sort of contest do you propose in this potential deal?" The Ironblood asked inquisitively.

"A fight, no holding back it goes until one of the combatants can no longer fight for whatever reason," Rossiya answered

"I see, that's agreeable to me. Shall we set the fight for a few weeks from now, to allow adequate time to prepare?" The hybrid stated

"I find that acceptable." The Russian battleship retorted as she stood up and held out a hand. König stood up and shook, sealing the deal. "I look forward to seeing you in a few weeks from now."

"As do I, it was nice meeting you Rossiya," König said as he then turned to the Russian cruiser. "It was a pleasure meeting you Avrora and I greatly enjoyed my time spent with you. Perhaps we can do it again once the contest has passed?" Avrora gave a smile and nodded her head and Konig put his mask back on, pulled up his hood, and made his way out.

Rossiya smiled to herself once the Ironblood had left. "My sister will have a lot of fun playing with that one."

With that part of things done König made his way to the Commander's office for the next set up of his bigger plan. Making his way inside the building and towards Maruyama's office. He was pleased to discover that Akagi was no longer secretary. Instead, it was the one who was essentially the face of the Eagle Union. Naval officer-like uniform, long flowing silver hair, and purple eyes. Yorktown class aircraft carrier, CV-6, Enterprise herself. The famed carrier of the Union looked to see König approach with some surprise.

"Hello there, you must be König, I'm Enterprise it's nice to meet you. Do you have a meeting with Commander Maruyama by chance?" The purple-eyed kansen stated.

"Hello and good to meet you as well Enterprise." The hybrid replied politely "I don't have an appointment actually. I was just swinging by to quickly ask the Kommandantin something. Though if she's busy I can wait here or simply return later."

"Her workload has been lighter than usual today so she should have the time to spare," Enterprise answered standing from her seat. "Also I'd like to quickly say on a more personal note. Thank you for saving Belfast, she means a lot to me and well I'd rather not know what it was like to not have her around." She finished saying with some pink dusting her cheeks.

"It was no problem at all Enterprise I would do it again without hesitation if I needed to."

Enterprise gave another smile and entered the Maruyama's office. After a brief moment, she walked back out. "Commander Maruyama will see you."

König gave a nod of his head and entered the office, closing the door behind him. So it was only him and the commander.

"König, nice to see you. What brings you here on such an unexpected visit?" Maruyama asked.

"Guten Tag, Kommandantin I just came by to pitch an idea for what you may call an expedition of sorts." He stated as he approached her desk but something suddenly caught his attention. A music player was sitting on her desk with an MP3 attached to it. That wasn't what caught his attention but rather what was being played. The volume was low, but he could pick up on it with his advanced hearing as a kansen. Frankly, what he was hearing surprised him that he couldn't help but speak his mind. "Are you listening to Redneck by Lamb of God?"

"What?" Maruyama asked before suddenly understanding. "Oh right! Yeah, I am I've been a huge fan of theirs since I was a young teen. I suppose it comes with being originally from Richmond, Virginia. That and as surprising as many will find it, I'm a pretty big metalhead. Lamb of God, Sabaton, Judas Priest, Slayer, Slipknot, Combichrist, Etc. That's primarily my musical tastes."

König just stood there and blinked for a bit as he processed that tidbit of info. "You just got so much more awesome in my book you know that?"

Maruyama chuckled a little at that. "Noted but I believe we're getting off track, what did you need to speak with me about exactly?"

"Of course, let me explain myself." The hybrid took the next few minutes to talk about what his idea was. Though he left out the bit about his dealings with the Northern Parliament, no need for her to know about that just yet. "What do you think Kommandantin?"

Maruyama leaned back in her chair as she contemplated his plan. "It's certainly quite the proposition are you sure such a thing will work?"

"I've read through my father's research notes he came up with a pretty solid theory on the idea. He never had a chance to actually test it but I'm confident I can make it work with a little tweaking. I just need a few subs to accompany me and access to the wisdom cube generator that Akashi keeps in her shop upon return."

Maruyama thought for while longer before finally giving her answer. "Alright, I can make it happen but it will take a while getting everything properly set in place, I'd say a good month. My only stipulation is that you bring more than a few subs for security reasons. You have a long way to travel after all."

"Not a problem at all, I have some names in mind already." König replied, "Thank you Kommandantin, I won't take up any more of your time."

"No problem at all my door is always open." Maruyama politely stated, The hybrid gave a quick salute and then turned on his heel to leave. He gave a quick goodbye to Enterprise as he left and then made his way to the Ironblood dorms. He needed to recruit his training partner for the next couple of weeks. It didn't take him long to find her as she was sitting at the dorm bar.

"Guten Tag!" The battleship exclaimed.

Roon turned to see her friend approach. "Guten Tag, König! What can I do for you, Mein Freund?"

"I need a favor to ask you, care to walk with me as we talk?"

Roon gave a nod of her head and quickly finished off her beer before standing up. The two walked out of the dorms and headed towards the docks where the Ironblood kept their hulls moored. As they went about their way König explained what plans he had in motion. By the end of his explanation, Roon was looking at him incredulously.

"You're really pushing it you know that," Roon chimed "but the most rewarding things in life do tend to involve a fair amount of risk. I'll help you train if anything just so I could have a hand in sticking one to the commies."

The hybrid smiled from behind his mask. "Thanks, Roon I knew I could count on you. You're arguably the strongest fighter in port when it comes to getting up close and personal with the enemy."

"I'm a little surprised in truth most of the others in port are too afraid to even spar with me."

"Can you really blame them?" König replied when he received in curious look in return, he elaborated. Roon, you are my friend but I'm gonna be real with you here. You can generally be pretty fucking terrifying in a fight. If I found you on a sortie surrounded by the floating corpses of multiple enemies. While the sky was literally raining blood and you were looking up as it fell with a creepy happy face. Then proceed to say 'Guten Tag' in a pleasant but unnerving at the same time tone of voice. I wouldn't really be that surprised.

Roon thought to herself briefly before casually shrugging her shoulders. "I can't argue that one. You know when I think about it, I've never actually seen your actual hull except for its rigging form. My hull is moored on the complete opposite side of the docks."

"You're in for a real treat then."

"Really?"

"Lord Bismarck and Tirpitz were thoroughly shocked when they saw my full-fledged hull for the first time. When I placed it here at the docks next to their hulls. To be fair I was rather surprised myself." He stated as he came to stop and pointed. "Take a look for yourself."

Roon looked and immediately her jaw dropped, and her eyes widened. "That can't possibly be your hull!?" Roon exclaimed in shock and mild fright which was saying a lot for her. König's hull was a behemoth in size and even then the word may not have been accurate enough. Docked next to it were Bismarck and Tirpitz's hulls and they looked like cruisers in comparison. Hell, she could tell that it was a good size bigger than even Friedrich's hull. "What the hell are the specifics!?"

König chuckled at his friend's reaction, it was just like the reactions Bismarck and Tirpitz had. "Well, if I had to give a comparison to it. The closest thing would be the designed but better never built battleship Grosser Kurfürst. That un-built ship followed the H-class design like Friedrich's but hers is follows the H-41 plans, Kurfürst followed the H-42 plans. Mine specifically is more in line with the H-44 plans with some differences. My displacement comes in at 131,000 tons, length 345 meters, beam 51.5 meters, and draft 12.7 meters. As you know I have four main guns each armed with triple-barreled 406mm canons. Though I could upgrade them to even bigger ones if I wanted to. I should consider designing my own blueprints for that purpose when I have time. Regardless, I also have multiple triple-barreled 152mm DP Mk 17 guns as secondaries. Along with multiple sextupled barreled 40mm Bofors AA guns. Both sides of my hull are armed with 533mm quintuple magnetic torpedo launchers that are submerged. To top it off I have a max speed of 30 knots."

"Heilige Scheiße, the König indeed." Roon mouthed in awe. "Hold on, I know your hull in rigging form is bigger than Lord Bismarck and Tirpitz's that makes sense. But how does it manage to be smaller than Friedrich's? Also how come I never heard by word mouth by how large your hull is with it being docked here?

"As for my rigging size that's because of my part siren nature, it allows me to compartmentalize my hull to rigging from far more efficiently." He explained, while he still had issues with being part siren. He wouldn't deny that it did have its perks at times. "Speaking of which I really need to get my hull repainted to something much less siren-like. As for your other question, Lord Bismarck and the Kommandantin put a gag order on anyone from mentioning it after I first materialized it. They didn't want word of my hull to spread around too soon."

"What's your armor design?" The heavy cruiser questioned.

"Good old Turtle-back design of course!" Konig said with some cheer. "Armor belt is 180 to 420mm thick, deck armor ranges from 42mm to 60mm, plating on the aft end and for end is 48mm. Aft end and for end armor belts are 140mm, side plating is 64mm. I could go into detail about the other sections, but we would be here all day. These are the portions that matter most I'd say.

When she thought about it that did explain why his rigging was the size it was. Siren tech was highly advanced after all. She also did remember Bismarck giving an order about not saying anything to anyone. If they saw an unusually large vessel in their docks. She didn't get it at the time but now it made sense. Now a new question suddenly entered her mind. "You actually think you need help to win with a hull like this?"

"Don't get me wrong Roon, I know my hull grants me great firepower and protection. That being said, I'm by no means invincible, I don't want to leave anything unnecessarily to chance. One well-placed shot is all it takes to leave a ship dead in the water and sinking beneath the waves. Just look at what happened to Hood in her original form back during the second great war."

Roon sighed "Very well, I keep up my end of things but now that I know all this." She gestured to her friend's hull. "I won't be taking it easy on you in the slightest bit, the training days leading up to your bout are going to be hell."

"That's fair Mein Freund, I wouldn't want you to take it easy on me anyways."

"Right then," Roon began "I'm going to grab my hull, so grab yours and turn it into its rigging form. Then we're going to find a nice private spot so I can start kicking your ass to make you're ready when the time comes." Roon finished saying as walked off to grab her hull. As she made her way a single thought came to the front of her mind.

"Things have certainly become less dull around here since König arrived." She mused in her head with some glee.