Chapter 5

James Ironwood has been having quite the headache the past couple months, from the beginning of a new Semester at the Huntsmen Academy in Atlas to an all time high of Grimm Activity since the Great War. But what had been driving him to a few sleepless nights was the mystery of the Energy signatures that his Airships had been picking up all across the seas. From the Menagerie Ocean to the Central Sea, strange energy spikes had been appearing for milliseconds before disappearing. When he sent a few Ships to investigate the ones closest to Atlas, they found an odd sight, antiquated merchant vessels flying strange flags that he had never seen before.

Inside these vessels was everything from silk sheets to silver bars. Though one beheld an even odder discovery, a yellowish, translucent liquid with a chemical composition unlike any on the books, though an amount of the liquid had apparently gelled in the cold environment off the coast of Solitas. After running a few trials with this liquid, it had proved to be quite flammable, causing a few accidents in the lab during the initial testing.

Ironwood let out a sigh before setting down the paperwork surrounding the exploration of the ships themselves, there were no personal objects inside, leading to a dead end when it came to trying to track down whoever owned the ships. Hell, on some of them, the writing wasn't even in Valerian, and no linguist could give an answer to what language any of it was written in. The General reached down and pulled open a drawer in his desk, retrieving a crystalline bottle filled with an amber liquid and a glass. While Ozpin liked Coffee as his beverage of choice, James preferred a good old-fashioned Scotch, though never to the level of Qrow.

The General shook his head slightly at the thought of the man and his rampant alcoholism, pouring himself a small amount of the Scotch into the glass, recorking the bottle and returning it to the drawer. He quickly downed the drink, also putting the glass back into the drawer. James stood, deciding that it would be best to turn in for the night, he gave one last glance at the paperwork before shaking his head and exiting the office, two AK-200 Knights that acted as his escort following him.

Graf Spee had spent most of the past two months repairing and upgrading the Naval Base that she now called her home. She had sailed out of the base only 5 times since she first arrived, the first two jaunts bringing nothing of value, but the latter three had brought about multiple boons to her operations here. She had found a Diesel Tanker, a Merchant Vessel with civilian goods like beds, sheets, and food, and a Military Cargo Transport filled with German made ammunition, all of which she towed back to the base. This meant that she could operate still for another half a year at least if she was sparing with the use of her guns.

Speaking of guns, the Grimm that inhabited the surrounding forest had mounted more than a few attacks since she first arrived, their numbers and ferocity slowly gaining as each week passed. But this was most the time no issue to Spee as she easily dispatched the hordes with her firepower.

Spee let out a grunt as she transported some of the Ammunition from the German vessel to the Ammunition Depo. The pallet of 127mm shells weighing down on her enough to slow her movement, but not enough to give her too much of a struggle.

As she worked through the many mindless tasks around base, she could not but let her mind wander back to Earth, wondering how her sisters were doing and how the war was going. At the thought of her sister Spee felt a slight pain of loneliness, she had not talked to anyone since the Librarian at Lanceton. Spee shrugged off the feeling, having been long used to it. While before she came to Remnant, her ship was crewed, none of the members talked to her much aside from Langsdorff and Kay, and even then, it was mostly about raiding routes and tactics.

Graf Spee's wondering was interrupted by her radio, which was picking up an encrypted radio signature. She gently set down yet another pallet of 127mm Ammunition before turning and sprinting to her ship. Once inside she sat down at the radio, putting on the headphones to listen, "This is Z1 Leberecht Maass, calling out to any Ironblood naval forces, please respond if you can hear this."

Spee immediately activated her radio and spoke up, "This is the Admiral Graf Spee to Leberecht Maass, remain at your position and continue to broadcast, I will be at your location within the day." She said evenly, though internally a small spark of hope had begun to kindle.

"Positiv, Graf Spee, I will continue to broadcast." Z1 repplied after a short moment of silence. At this, Spee had her hull begin its voyage to the Destroyer. A small smile appeared on the Heavy Cruiser's face; she was no longer alone here.

Z1 had decided to just put a simple repeating 'HR' broadcast, which literally translated to her saying 'here' over and over. She had nearly broken down into thankful tears when Graf Spee responded, but she held herself together, as what sort of role model would she be for her little sisters, if the Great Z1 broke down after hearing from just one ship.

Though it was the ship that responded that somewhat confused her, the Admiral Graf Spee was famous within the Ironblood for her commerce raiding, and subsequent scuttling, in the South Atlantic. She then reminded herself of her own sinking, "So, is this the fate that befalls ships of our kind? Just taken to sail another day, without crew or commander?" Z1 pondered to herself.

After around seven boring hours of sitting around and checking around her ship, she spotted smoke on the horizon, and after looking through her rangefinders, she confirmed that it was the Admiral Graf Spee. Z1 activated her ship and begun steaming towards the Graf Spee at a speed of around 20 knots, soon meeting up with the larger ship. She brought her ship alongside the Graf Spee, stopping it and standing at attention on her bridge. Soon enough, the white haired panzershiff walked into the command center with her rigging deactivated, soon landing her light blue eyes with Z1's light pink ones.

"Ironblood Destroyer Z1 Leberecht Maass, reporting for duty, Admiral Graf Spee." Leberecht Maass said with a solid salute, causing Spee to quirk her head.

"No need for formalities, I am just a Frauenschiff, same as you." She stated dismissively, causing Z1 to nod and drop her hand to a more natural position.

"Very well, do you want me to call you Admiral, Graf, or just Spee?" Z1 asked with a smile.

"Spee or Graf Spee will do just fine. How about you? Do you wish to go by Z1 or Leberecht Maass?" Spee replied, a small smile appearing on her own face.

"Z1 is easier to say, but you can call me by my full name or Lebe if you want."

"Very well, I'll call you Z1 for now then." Spee stated, "I will lead you to our base of operations, it is just me for now but when we get there, I'll teach you all about this place."

Z1 nodded, a grin on her face, "Lead on Graf, rest assured, because the invincible Z1 is at your side!" She exclaimed, showing off her tomboyish attitude. Spee kept her small smile as she turned and left the Leberecht Maass's bridge, returning to her own, having her ship lead the way to the base.

By the time that Spee and Z1 had arrived back at the Naval base, the sun had fallen below the horizon. Spee explained to Z1 that she could pick any room in the Dorm that she wanted and that tomorrow, Spee and her would be going to the closest town that was still inhabited and buying passage to the City of Vale for a more thorough research expedition. Z1 had agreed and they had parted ways, the destroyer going to pick out a room and Spee going to her own room that she had already picked out and furnished. Spee slept with a small smile, since for the first time in months, she was no longer alone.

And that is Chapter 5, next up, Vale, where you will finally see at what point in Remnant I have set this in. But yeah, Cinnamon Roll Spee now has Bombastic Smol Girl Z1 as a compatriot, good for her. I'll most likely spend a bit of time (1-3 chapters at least) developing their relationship before I include more. NOW ONTO GUEST REVIEWS!

GuestZ: Again man, loving the enthusiasm but I do recommend that you create an actual account so I can PM you responses. But anyways, no Remnant Great War era ships will have Wisdom Cube tech used on them, for two reasons, A) Spee doesn't have access to Wisdom Cubes or the tech used to create ship girls with them, and B) I'm not sure Remnant actually has any Great War Era Military ships left, Hell, there is only one Dreadnaught left on earth currently, the USS Texas, and its falling apart.

As for your theories on what my requirements are, I won't tell. I'll let ya'll figure it out when more ship girls come into the picture. And I am sorry that you have mixed feelings about other factions, but that is one of the few ways I can see making this story interesting without any of them going to a Huntsman Academy.

But anyways, thank you all for reading, and as always, feel free to leave criticism, roast me, threaten my life, or anything else along those lines.

Sayonara readers, Gamenian out.