14th May 1941.
Wales steps onto her bridge. She sits down in her Captain's chair to begin inspections of her ship. While checking all her systems and equipment, she thinks, "For something as important as this… why did she chose me…? My eldest sister was right there, yet she didn't say anything… Am I really good enough for this…?"
She shakes her head, "What am I thinking? I've been chosen to protect the one I love. I shall never let any harm befall her!" She looks out of her bridge windows and sees the huge Battlecruiser she'll be escorting. Just gazing upon the Pride of the Royal Navy fills her with determination, "Come one, she's counting on you! Get it together, Wales!"
While trying to encourage herself, she hears Hood on the radio trying to get her attention, "Wales, can you hear me? Is your radio working? I've been trying to speak to you for the past 10 minutes."
"Oh… yes. Apologies, Hood. I can hear you just fine, I was just completing my checks and I didn't hear you before." Wales says, trying to hide the embarrassment in her voice.
Hood smirks, "Oh? So that talk of being chosen to protect the one you love and never letting any harm befall me was part of your checks then?" Wales goes bright red again, realising she said that out loud over the radio. Hood chuckles and carries on, "Don't worry, Wales. This is our private channel. The reason you were chosen is because I asked Elizabeth to choose you for more sorties to build your confidence and experience. Imagine what your sisters will think of you after we return from defeating one, if not both, of Iron Blood's newest Battleships."
Feeling better, Wales smiles and says, "Thank you, Hood. You truly are a shining beacon to us all... I…" choosing to not say she loves her out of embarrassment of it being over the radio, despite it being a closed channel between them.
Hood smiles, "I know, my love. As soon as we get word from Elizabeth or the Commander, we shall begin our interception." She then hangs up the radio to do her own checks.
Wales looks over ship again and a Manjuu hops up onto her shoulder and chirps. She looks at it, "What is it?"
It chirps again and she repeats in English, "My forward quadruple turret is having issues?" She tests it by moving it around and up and down. The Manjuu chirps and Wales says, "It's a firing problem? I think it should be fine by the time it's needed. See if you can fix it." She pats the little bird on the head.
Peeking her head just above the surface but still low enough to remain undetected, a Siren watches as the Royal Battleship she had just infiltrated spins her guns around, testing their traverse speed. She speaks into her communication device, "Royal Battleship weaponry sabotaged. It will fail her when it is most crucial."
The monotone voice on the other end replies, "Maintain your cover, Lurker. When they depart, follow them."
The next day, Sheffield manages to sneak past Prinz Eugen in Kiel and makes it to the port where Bismarck is docked. She disguises herself in Iron Blood attire this time so if someone does see her, she'll be able to play her part now. She approaches the planning room and debates to herself how she'll get inside. She sees a complicated looking lock, but not too complicated for her. She picks her way in and sees a big map of Europe, with the Nazi symbol plastered over every capital city in the continent, excluding the capitals of the neutral countries, the Sardegna Empire and the British Isles. She sees how hopeless her homeland's situation looks, like a little fish about to be eaten by a huge shark…
She shakes her head to refocus on her mission. She takes advantage of nobody else being in there and combs through plans, taking pictures of as much as she can until she gets to a file that intrigues her. She reads the title.
"Operation Rheinübung?" she whispers as she opens it. She finally found what she needs. "Bismarck will leave Gotenhafen and link up with… hmm…" she notices three names under Bismarck's; Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Tirpitz, but they've been crossed out, and Prinz Eugen's name has been added instead.
"The plan changed? But why?"
She suddenly hears the door of the building open and she looks up to see the last person she wanted to see stood in the doorway.
"Who are you? What are you doing in here?" Bismarck demands.
Thinking fast, Sheffield adopts her fake persona and voice, then salutes and replies in perfect German, "Lord Bismarck. I am the Deutschland-class Heavy Cruiser Admiral Scheer. I have been ordered to wait for you here to go over your mission with Prinz Eugen."
Bismarck approaches her, "Have you now? Did you find the plan?"
Unwavering, Sheffield maintains her poker face and responds, "Jawohl."
Bismarck narrows her eyes and raises her hand to take them. "Then hand them over, Scheer."
Looking up at the towering Battleship, Sheffield curses herself internally for not photographing the plans instead of wasting time reading them then and there. She reluctantly obeys and hands them over. Bismarck looks through them and says, "Did you read them?"
Knowing that the plans would be for Bismarck's eyes only, Sheffield simply says, "Nein, Lord Bismarck."
Bismarck then says, "Then how did you know that Eugen is going with me?"
The colour drains from Sheffield's face. She's been caught out. This new Battleship was not only powerful, but also considerably more intelligent than the heavy headed buffoons like Scharnhorst. Bismarck sees Sheffield's inner thought process trying to think of an excuse, then interrupts her by grabbing her by the neck and hoists her up in the air, then slams her into the wall with enough force to crack it with the back of Sheffield's skull, almost concussing her. She glares menacingly at her and growls, "You're not Iron Blood! How DARE you impersonate a ship who I know full well has no Kansen! Now, I'll ask again. Who. Are. You?"
Sheffield remains silent. She spits in her face and Bismarck throws her across the room in retaliation then wipes her cheek.
Sheffield flies across the room and lands face-down on the glass table. She tries to pick herself up, but she feels a hand on the back of her head. Bismarck lifts her up by her hair and shoves her downwards, smashing her face through the table. Sheffield screams in agony and puts her hand to her right eye, as she's gone blind in it and is bleeding heavily from it. Bismarck winds up a kick, then sends Sheffield across the floor against the wall.
Thinking fast, Sheffield stands up against the wall and reaches for her pistols, only for Bismarck to impale her to the wall by her shoulder with her flagpole. Suddenly unable to feel or move her right arm, she reaches for her left pistol instead, but Bismarck grabs her left wrist and aims Sheffield's pistol under her own chin.
Due to the pain she's in and barely conscious from the trauma to her head, Sheffield accidentally speaks English, "Bloody hell…"
Bismarck then switches to English as well, having studied the language of her enemy. She glares at the pinned Cruiser. "So… you are a Royal Navy Kansen…" She looks at Sheffield's pistol. "Interesting… a miniaturised 152mm triple gun… You are a Town-class Cruiser. I suspect firing that delivers the same firepower as the one on your ship... How did you do it? How did you sneak in here? Tell me everything and I may just let you limp home."
"And if I don't, you'll send me to one of those camps of yours? Or will you have the guts to finish me yourself?" Sheffield hisses defiantly.
"Camps? What are you talking about?" Bismarck asks, confused.
"They… never told you? I'm not surprised. The Nazis never tell you lowly grunts anything, do they? Perhaps before seeing us as the monsters, Perhaps you should look into it…"
Feeling faint from her blood loss, head trauma and her own weapon digging into her chin, Sheffield uses her last resort. The Battleship sees Sheffield's pistol turn into bright blue cubes that zoom into Bismarck's face, making her instinctively back up and then they fly out of the building, throwing the whole base into an alert as Sheffield's ship forms, turns its cannons towards the building and levels it. The explosion sends Bismarck back a few metres and allows Sheffield to snap Bismarck's flagpole off the wall and push herself off of wall, broken flagpole still in her shoulder to prevent herself bleeding out. She then proceeds to beat a hasty retreat before the Battleship could get her ears to stop ringing.
Sheffield gets to her ship, which is getting pummelled by the port's defences. "Bloody Krauts…" she mutters to herself as she tries to nurse her dead arm. She stands on her ship and makes it move out at full speed. She then turns her ship into rigging and darts away as fast as she can, blowing up coastal guns along the way.
Bismarck watches as Sheffield gets away with vital intel. She can't possibly go fast enough to chase her down. She looks over her shoulder to see fire crews putting out the inferno that was the planning building. She also sees Lindemann racing over to her with a very unhappy face. She starts to think about what Sheffield said.
Eugen had heard of the commotion in Gotenhafen and has sailed out a bit to block the Kiel Canal and sees Sheffield skating along the water and wonders how she's doing it. As she tries to fire on the Royal Cruiser who manages to slip past her, Eugen looks at Sheffield's rigging and smirks. "How very interesting…"
Sheffield summons her ship again. She sits in her Captain's chair and puts pressure on her shoulder wound as she sails away from Jutland and makes a beeline back to Scapa Flow, losing blood from her face as well as her consciousness…