Gran Canaria, Islas Canarias

Three menacing silhouettes were approaching the docks of Gran Canaria in a dense fog. They had obtained safe passage with the diversion of Admiral Graf Spee who was going in the south Atlantic for convoy raiding operations, the Sardignian-Vichya raid on Gibraltar's tankers and eager collaborators escort…

Waiting for their guest was Alfonso XIII and the cruisers Canarias and Baleares. Both cruisers had defected from their home port in Barcelona. Espana, who was carefree, refused punishments to keep people in line. Still, Alfonso delegated Reina Victoria Eugenia to guard the port.

Deutschland's, Gneisenau's and Admiral Scheer's silhouette appeared. They were fully armed with their shark-like rigging which were searching for eventual eavesdroppers. Their suspicions vanished when they were together, and Alfonso showed signs of sympathy.

Alfonso wasn't negotiating for gains; she was trying to save her country she thought had gone the wrong path these last years. Now that the Sirens and the Vichya Dominion was knocking on their door, she would negotiate with the navy which had little objectives that would coincide with their future state building alongside the Sirens. Gneisenau appreciated her eager cooperativeness but didn't like her snobbish attitude akin to Littorio. Gneisenau went along and promised all her dreams would come true with Sirens technology.

"I guess you want your throne back too," said Deutschland with a snarky smile.

Alfonso replied with a deceive tone, "Yes. My sister Espana is just hopefully stupid with her ideals. Our little group will have to knock some sense back into her. As the future flagship, I will have to discipline her, my way."

"Dogs have to be discipline!"

"Deutschland," said Admiral Scheer, "contain your excitement."

"We will fight alongside you," said Baleares.

Canarias added, "We are tired of her incompetence. And Azur Lane are a bunch of clowns. We can only accept the inevitable defeat against the Sirens. Our divided high command wouldn't even be able to mount a coherent defense with Azur Lane's support."

They discussed further terms and the operation that would overthrow any Azur Lane's sympathy within the government. The Canary Islands showed already sympathetic signs with the free refueling of Admiral Graf Spee hours earlier. Alfonso XIII and Gneisenau decided to mount military operations against the Royal Navy after they had taken power of Madrid. Alfonso XIII promised their focus would be on Gibraltar and convoy raiding in the Atlantic. Their port of Palma would be of strategic importance in the Mediterranean.

For Alfonso XIII, it would be an easy takeover. After all, who would show any sympathy toward the Azur Lane Alliance after their failure to save the Iris Orthodoxy? Alfonso's confidence was shared by the heavy cruisers. She still had some worries.

"We will need some additional forces…"

[…]

Somewhere unworldly

"It seems something changed. Am I right, Tester?" asked Observer α.

Tester β made her way to the screen which Observer was constantly monitoring. Even with only one pair of eye, she seemed omnipotent of any development in the world over their heads. She expressed a certain satisfaction after the Sardegnians decided to join in the inevitable battle by doing some tricks. Now that the Österreich and Hellenic Navy was under scrutiny from both side, the western entrance of the Mediterranean could become the theater of another war that would further the development of mankind. Whichever side they chose wouldn't matter; their involvement was another key to unlock the true power of the Sardegna Empire. It would reduce Veneto's doubts and would make Littorio a little bit more ambitious.

Observer α laughed at such a prediction.

"Do you think the Iberian Unions don't have jewels of their own?" said the Observer.

"With Great War era battleships, even with modernization, they lack in strength and firepower."

"It seems you have already forgotten the 'Rome Games' years ago."

"There's so much simulations that I don't keep track of all of them," argued the Tester. "I only play with the parameters you remember?"

"It's true I have a godly memory," boasted the Observer. "That is why you will receive a history lesson. In time of scrapping, when they thought we were gone, they had to abide by a treaty of which these shipgirls thought unjust. Scrapped left and right. Amagi, Dante Aligheri, Leonardo di Vinci, Prinz Eugen (BB) and the list never ends. Luckily, the Iberian Union, with their small fleet, weren't hit by these terms. I digress. In these games, not only Dante Alighieri almost caused a fracture in time, Giulio Cesare, who was weaken by poison, inflicted a terrible defeat upon Littorio. She showed that technology doesn't mean everything."

The Tester laughed, then replied with an amused voice, "You sound so stupid! The anomaly wasn't Cesare, it was Littorio's ego who thought she was invincible! Feelings can't make you win. That's impossible!"

"But I think it is the key to further god's plan upon this world. Therefore, they are pumping commanders right and left! They want shipgirls to care about something other than a flag and colors. They must care about someone. This way, they will fight until the end for their loved one."

"You sound like romancer. Maybe your true name is Romancer α! Ahah!"

Observer α went back to her screen. She put her focus inside the Palacio Nacional in Madrid where Espana was talking in hurry to a man in a white uniform. Observer α read their spirit like open books.

"The chaos we are searching is about to unfold right before my eyes!"

[…]

Iberian water

Weeks after the secret meeting with the Iberian Union, Belfast was escorting Ark Royal and King George V in Iberian's mandated water toward the next battlefield. While Queen Elizabeth, Warspite and Barham headed for Alexandria for their next meetings, Hood, Belfast and Cairo went back to Gibraltar to await further notice. Hood departed some time later to help Prince of Wales in the interception of Bismarck.

Sheffield along with five Tribals-class destroyers joined the battlegroup that would challenge the legendary Bismarck in the Atlantic before she reaches her naval base in Brest.

While the clouds darkened, a dense fog impaired their formations. King George V ordered a close formation. Belfast was covering their right flank. From the east, the shipgirl thought she saw three large and weird silhouette move in the opposite direction. These three silhouettes seemed unusually large. She went to inspect against King's George strict orders.

She collided with an Iberian cruiser.

"Ouch!" she screamed, "why no horn signals!"

Belfast quickly reacted and got the girl back on her feet.

"Sorry for my unexpected appearance, I thought I saw something."

The weird shades had disappeared.

"Not only are you not supposed to be there," said the destroyer following the light cruiser, "but you don't even follow fog's maritime protocols!"

"Excuse our trespassing on your water, but we needed to go as fast as possible to our target."

"What is happening there," asked King George V who finally found the scene of the ruckus.

Iberian destroyer Velasco and light Cruiser Navarra presented themselves and asked for their unusual presence.

"We got naval access from Espana herself, remember?"

She showed the papers to the duo. Navarra took the time to read slowly everything to be sure the papers were in order. They wanted to go fast, but Navarra seemed to be so slow. What was taking her so long!

"Now that you have asked why we are out," said Belfast. "It would be only politeness to tell us what you were doing this far out your bases…"

"We we're simply patrolling to see if our neutrality was being respected. Nothing else."

Belfast's instinct told her otherwise, but she didn't want to spark any international incident after the disaster that was Mers-el-Kébir. The cruiser Navarra and the destroyer Velasco disappeared in the fog towards the port of Lisbon.

King George V was too absorbed with their objective to notify Belfast's worries. Hood had been destroyed by a super-weapon hours earlier. They had no choice but to react to the threat.

Belfast thought, "But what if things unfolding in front of us are just a clever ruse…"

[…]

Cadìz, Iberian Union

"What is the matter, commander?" asked the light cruiser Libertad, stationed in the port with a part of the fleet.

The man was looking back at the town. He wore his admiral cap with the Iberian Navy insignia on the front. He had thick eyebrows and an immature mustache that covered his upper lips. The base was in a complete silence. This atmosphere contradicted too much with the boiling attitudes. He knew something was going to happen. He didn't know when, but the Carlists, the Sirens sympathizers and the Vichy dominion's propagandists were stirring up an already divided republic that was standing on a thread over a giant abyss. The commander of Libertad and their little fleet of Cadìz had already made his mind. Even if the ideals of the new republic were inevitably weak, he wouldn't stand beside the beasts called the Sirens who could devoured whenever they would feel like it.

Lost in his monologues, Libertad took his gloved hand.

"Tell me what is wrong…"

Libertad, the light cruiser, wore a beret that only fitted on her head by her long crimson hair. It formed like little streamers hanged from the ceiling. Her hair contrasted with her almond eyes of a dark green shade. Her easygoing attitude showed with her shirt and skirt barely her size like she just took them from the shelf at the shop because they looked good. At least, she could offer her shoulder and advice calmly to a commandant who seemed worried most of the time.

"We need to go back to Madrid," declared Miguel Buiza.

Libertad replied, "Are you sure it is a good time to go back? I know Espana won't punish us if we leave this base open but abusing someone's trust isn't good."

"I think we won't come have the time to come back here."

Libertad thought he was worried for nothing. The commander now starred at the glaring smoke that was starting to cover the ocean in front of them. What was that fog?