Harvey glared at the Iron Blood Kansen that practically decided to invite themselves on his base without permission and with a hostage in tow. Luckily for them, the hostage was allowed to run to his group and none of them dared to aim their riggings at them.
Their staredown soon ended, when the larger blonde suddenly made her move and jumped at him, excitement showing in her eyes, impacting his body with enough force to stagger him, but not to send him to the ground and suddenly, he found himself in a… tight hug?!
"Damn, commander's such a ladykiller," James teased and Harvey glared at him, drawing chuckles from the rest of his gathered men and a groan from a shorter blonde that was in the group that they surrounded.
"Release me," he said to the excited Kansen, but she didn't seem to listen, instead quietly muttering something that he couldn't quite catch, making him more frustrated than before, soon finding that he even couldn't wiggle out from the hug.
"Nein," she finally said with a small pout adorning her lips and snuggled even closer, forcing him to groan at the unwanted extra attention that he was receiving and causing more chuckles to come from his men. That resulted in another glare aimed at them, but this time not only from him.
"Blücher, that's enough," the shorter blonde almost shouted as she glared at both her excitable companion and his men, making Harvey's eyebrows rise almost to his hairline upon hearing the name of the excitable Iron Blood Kansen as his mind went into overdrive to remember, where he had heard the name before. , her allies showing either mild amusement or a blank look on their faces at the scene before them.
Admiral Hipper-class CA, that was blasted to kingdom come by an outdated shore defense battery, he reminded himself, not even hiding the recognition in his eyes, which was noticed by everyone and made Enterprise to "nock" her ethereal arrow/500 lb bomb into her bow as a warning for the enemies to try anything.
"Yup, that's me. The CA that got totally blasted by shore defense," Blücher said proudly, not noticing that she released her grip enough for Harvey to wiggle out and take a step back from her to get some breathing room, while his men again did nothing but smirk at his fate.
Traitors, the whole lot of you, Harvey thought as he glared at them one last time before turning back to face their "guests", who were just waiting for something to happen.
"Commander, I think that we can't let them leave this base," Arizona suddenly spoke, making Harvey raise an eyebrow and glance in her direction, non-verbally telling her to explain what she meant by what she said, but then it hit him. Hard.
"That's right… According to our allies' sources, the Iron Blood treats failures very harshly. While not as harsh as the Northern Parliament, they might still be executed, if they return…" he muttered, but in the silence it was nearly as loud as if he shouted those words to everyone present. And he didn't need to turn to know that every single human and the allied Kansen in the room paled at hearing that.
"At least we don't have to deal with the Bismarck, since she's at the bottom of the Atlantic," James added, but what came next was the most shocking thing they heard so far. However, little did they know that he just jinxed it.
"About that… Bismarck is afloat and the current leader of Iron Blood. She got rid of the so-called 'Führer' a few days ago and took his place."
And then, all non-Kansen occupants of the room paled in such a way that one would have mistaken them for vampires, along with their Kansen allies, staring with their mouths open at the smaller blonde Kansen as she dropped the metaphorical bomb on their heads.
And as soon as the Union soldiers and Kansen recovered from their shock, Harvey ordered the group of six members of the Rangers and five marines to handle the escorting of their prisoners to one of the empty warehouses, while Max, Vestal and two other medics took the DD to the infirmary to check if she had any injuries.
Meanwhile, somewhere in Libya
Bernard Montgomery and George Patton cursed in unison, when the air raid horns sounded for what was most likely the fifth time today, leaving them no time to continue with planning the next step in driving off the Afrika Korps and their Sardegna allies further into the sea. But, ever since that accursed Kraut CV appeared, they were the ones forced to give up land to the Iron Blood just to limit their casualties to a manageable level.
"A single CV shouldn't have this many fighter and bomber flights!" a Royal Navy AA gun spotter on their left shouted a few seconds before he and the crew of the gun were turned into a bloody paste by the strafing fire of the enemy Bf-109 fighters, but both generals pressed on, until they reached one of the parked jeeps and started shouting orders to evacuate, but they didn't give the order to move, until every radioman gave the confirmation that they're ready to go and infantrymen, that weren't lucky enough to get into a jeep or a truck, sat on the remaining tanks, leaving the AA crews to buy them some time to get away.
I'll make sure for their families to receive the Purple heart for their bravery and sacrifice, Patton thought with a sad expression on his face as the remains of the field command disappeared behind a sand dune. But the massacre won't leave his dreams for a long time, if ever.
And when they finally reached one of the supporting bases a few hours of ride later, another unwanted surprise awaited the mixed Royal Navy and Eagle Union forces. One that they'll never forget and would talk about to their grandchildren with awe, even if they were laying on their deathbeds.
"Looks like the Kraut has outmaneuvered us," Montgomery stated with a frown as he recognized the symbol of the infamous Ghost division on several of the parked Panzer IIIs and a few armored cars, the rest only having the Afrika Korps symbols painted on them. But what was the most surprising thing? No one fired at their remaining six Matilda Mk IIs, two Covenanters, four M3 Stuarts and half a dozen of M3 Lees, the captured and repaired Tiger 131 and the handful of jeeps and trucks that accompanied them and the staff left at the base didn't seem to be held hostage.
"Be prepared to fire, if they try to attack," Patton said to the comms officer, who relayed the order to the rest of their men, just as the head honcho of the opposing force walked out from a tent and then went to them, no weapons visible. But, that didn't soothe the allied generals' worries at all, both thinking that he had a dagger hidden somewhere on his body.
"I think that it's time for an… Erläuterung, Herren. Please, follow me," Erwin Rommel announced with a thick German accent, when he finally reached them, surprising every single man that could hear him at the moment and the two generals complied with the request soon after that.
Ten days ago, El Alamein docks
"I have to stay here?! The Führer ordered me to return from Afrika just two hours ago!" Rommel shouted in disbelief, when the busty white-haired woman that stood before him with a disinterested expression on her face, told him what Hitler supposedly said. Not that her companion, a small green-eyed blonde with a very short fuse, was much better as she started shouting at his men and insulting them for apparently no reason.
"You heard her, Dummkopf!" the blonde shouted and Rommel's eye twitched at the insult. He was no stranger to insults, but to be called an idiot by a girl that was young enough to be his daughter was unexpected.
But then, he thought over what they said and found several things that were completely un-Führerlike. He was a nutjob, true, but demoting the entire Afrika Korps from duty to be practically slaves to those aliens named after those fictional characters from the Odyssey wasn't something that even he would do, when the war is at a stalemate. Well.. Not at the moment anyway.
And with that in mind, he decided to gather his most loyal men to talk about what to do next, not knowing that they'll be on the run from their own troops not even six hours later, not to mention learning that Hitler was dead and that the new leader of their country was Bismarck.
"Wow," Patton whistled after the story ended, "being hounded by troops from your own country for no reason? I guess that we can make a temporary truce and work together to escape from this sandy hellhole and bring this news to the Allied command on the Isles or the States. Or both, if we get lucky."
Montgomery nodded his approval at that after a few seconds of hesitation. After all, this was a desperate time and to solve it they needed a desperate measure. And this truce was their best option, even though no one of them was overly happy with it.
And then, the three men spend the rest of the night making plans on how to take El Alamein back from the Sirens and hold it with minimal casualties at least until the ships, tasked to take them to the relative safety of the Isles, arrive.
The next day, Liverpool docks
Winston Churchill shook hands with Dwight Eisenhower, the handful of surviving politicians and bowed to the last surviving member of the royal family, princess Elizabeth, when they stepped out with their entourages from their jeep and carriages, all of them confused why had he called them here… well, except Eisenhower, who suspected what it might be.
"I hope that it is important, prime minister," the freshly knighted Sir Nicholas Winton said and Winston nodded, before leading the three dozen people to where Belfast was waiting to receive them to the shock of everyone, except Winston himself.
"Why is a maid here?" Eisenhower was the one who broke the silence with a confused expression on his face and Winston allowed himself a small smirk, when the princess said that she had never seen her before, even if she was wearing a uniform similar to what the royal maids were wearing.
"My name is Belfast, masters. Please, follow me," she said and the humans did so, soon arriving at a group of summerhouses in a newly made park, only one of which had occupants - a few sailors and Kansen chatting together.
"Your majesty, general Eisenhower, sir Winton, our host would arrive soon," Winston announced and led them towards the centermost empty summerhouse, allowing the princess to sit first, and after a while Belfast served them some tea, while her sisters, Sheffield and Edinburgh, did the same for the rest.
"I doubt that you brought us here just for some tea, prime minister," the princess stated, but before he could answer, he noticed Queen Elizabeth nearing and so, he stood up, the rest following him confusedly, until the small BB entered the summerhouse with Warspite, Illustrious and Prince of Wales following right after her.
"So, this is my namesake, commoner?" she asked, when they finally sat down and Winston nodded in response at the admittedly dangerous small woman's query, before clearing his throat.
"Your majesty, general, sir Winton, gentlemen, may I introduce you to the BB, her majesty Queen Elizabeth?" he announced and noted the reactions of his companions. Surprisingly, only Eisenhower wasn't confused too much, unlike the others. He was only mildly shocked.
He was also the first one to compose himself and offered a hand for a handshake, which the small self-appointed leader of the Royal Navy took, surprising the man with the force of her grasp, but he once again regained his composure.
"General Dwight D. Eisenhower, from the Eagle Union," he introduced himself and shook hands with the rest of their host's entourage, who then introduced themselves in response.
"President Roosevelt sent his regards and wanted me to say that one of our Navy commanders and Admiral Nimitz will arrive soon with one of your kind," the general announced after that and Winston sighed in frustration at forgetting the fact that the president might've called the general about this.
"So, your scientists managed to make a breakthrough with their batch of cubes?" Winston asked, to which the general shook his head with a small smile on his lips.
"No. Apparently, it was the dumb luck of the commander that will arrive with the admiral," Eisenhower answered and Winston raised an eyebrow at that. That was… unexpected to say the least, but also welcome news.
"We have also heard about the Sakura empire attacking your base on Hawaii," Prince of Wales suddenly announced and Eisenhower's face showed a plethora of emotions and Winston could've bet an entire year's worth of his cigars that the general was remembering what he felt, when he first heard about that.
"It was unsuccessful. Pearl Harbor crew managed to get most, if not all, of the AA defenses back online after the initial Siren attack that took out a large number of my countrymen. And the defenders apparently had help from some Jap defectors."
Upon hearing that, Winston almost dropped his tea cup from the surprise he felt as his mind tried to make sense of what was said. After all, he heard about the fanaticism of the Japs in the former China, which also made it nearly impossible for him to imagine such an event happening and so, he lit up a cigar and took a breath of the smoke to calm his nerves, a habit of his that everyone around him had already grown accustomed to.
"And about this commander and admiral of yours, general," the princess suddenly spoke up, "will they assist in retrieval operations of our expeditionary forces in Africa?" she asked and looked at the only Eagle Union citizen sitting nearby, who put down his cup of tea to answer.
"That was the plan, your majesty. If I have to guess, they'll bring at least one CV with them for AA support against the air forces of Graf Zeppelin, even if none of them would know about her presence, until they are told here," Eisenhower answered and Winston nodded at the decision. After all, if he chose to get the information to them, there was always the chance that they'll just narrowly miss it or that someone that shouldn't know it would learn about their plans and counter them.
And then, the talk shifted to other matters than the war, easing the mood and allowing them to feel at least a little bit better than before.
Somewhere in the North sea
Tirpitz sighed for what was most likely the millionth time since she was exiled here by her sister just because she disagreed with her decision to completely side with the Sirens, instead of probing them for weaknesses and then beat them in the name of the Vaterland. That and the cube enhancing of the Iron Blood soldiers.
Schwester, why did you choose to betray humanity? she wondered and soon scowled, when her sonar detected incoming ships, which were most likely another fleet of Siren ships anyway. And so, she slowly prepared her rigging, while she released the poisonous fog that she luckily had a resistance against.
I also heard about a mission, led by Blücher, to the Pacific… I hope she didn't die, she thought as she waited for the ships to enter her main guns' firing range to snipe her targets, in which she a plenty of practise, thanks to the supply ships passing by her position as they tried to get supplies to the fanatical Iron Blood forces in Leningrad.
But then, she heard the cracking noise of someone using the comms on the frequency that she hooked herself up to and so, she opened the channel to listen in out of sheer curiosity. After all, the Siren forces never did so before and she wanted to know just what was happening in the world, due to being cut off from it for at least two weeks already, but she could only hear parts of the whole conversation.
"...you really think… best course of action?... We… Bismarck went too far… right? Issuing… order to… kill Rommel… again thinking about… I say? He's one of… never understand you, Eugen… it! Ufufu… so~"
Interesting… she thought and lowered her rigging a bit, but still remained alert, just in case. After all, it might be only a trap set by either Observer Beta or Observer Delta for her to receive a Black cube, much like Bismarck did. She was sure of it after comparing the Bismarck she knew, the new one and the soldiers enhanced, and subsequently corrupted, by the Siren produce. And what she realized after doing so, wasn't something nice.
And ironically, it was also the very same reason for her current exile. But, she wasn't alone here for the first few days. She managed to sneak off some of the younger and less fanatical sailors with her but they all died by the Siren supporters' hands not even an hour after they landed in Oslo to resupply, and due to that, she chose to be constantly on the move and not getting close to the shore. Ever again.
The only option other than surviving like this, or dying, is joining forces with Azur Lane… And I don't think that they'll ever trust me, even if I help them win.
But, when she was lost in thought, she failed to notice that the contacts on her sonar were slowly nearing her position, instead of heading for Leningrad.