Chapter 3-Unsere Marine

Hamburg, The German Empire, September 15th, 1950

Karl Schmidt was standing on board the Elbing-class destroyer, SMS Grossherzog, looking out towards the horizon where waves of white foam foamed and crashed against the base of the cliffs that stood sentinel on either side of the port. He gazed out across the choppy waters that stretched away into the distance as he lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply the sweet smell of tobacco and cigar smoke. He was wearing his helmet and combat uniform, just like many of his fellow marines on board. The Kaiserliche Marine's High Command had Marine-Sturmtruppen stationed on all frigates, destroyers and light cruisers as extra defense against the Saderans' favoured method of boarding actions, as they have demonstrated in the Battle of Hamburg. The Grossherzog, and the rest of the ships of the Kaiserliche Marine's Nordseegeschwader (North Sea Fleet) were chosen to be deployed to the other side of the Gate in Hamburg, and the Grossherzog was the ship that was going through first. That's what German marines did, they went headfirst into the unknown and faced whatever came their way. Just like how they did in the jungles of Guinea, on the shores of Australia, Greece and Georgia, and in the streets of Santiago and the Spanish countryside, they went headlong, without regard to the consequences, to meet whatever the future held for them, for God, the Kaiser and the Vaterland. Karl was one of those marines.

His musings were cut short as the ship's loudspeakers suddenly blared out.

"General quarters! General quarters! All hands man your battle stations!"

Karl sighed and put out his cigarette before heading to the starboard side of the ship, and his assigned on-board machine gun. He quickly loaded the weapon and chambered a round, checking to ensure that it was ready. Soon, he could feel the ship lurching forward, towards the dark maw of the Gate. It was wide and tall enough for the Grossherzog and another destroyer to sail alongside each other as they approached the mysterious structure. Karl breathed deeply as the ships entered, and the sound of the rushing water filled his ears as he stared into the Gate, staring intently into the blackness beyond. His eyes scanned for something to see, anything that would tell him what was awaiting him on the other side of the Gate. But it was all blackness, nothing at all. The only sources of light were the ships' searchlights, shining onto the dark abyss that seemed to extend far into the infinite. Further beams of light to his side confirmed to Karl that more of their destroyers were following behind them.

Their objective was to scout out the immediate area on the other side of the Gate and cover the crossing of their fellow cruisers, battleships and aircraft carriers, until the entire Nordseegeschwader made it to the other side. Suddenly, he could see light to the front of the ship, brightening the darkness and he, alongside the entirety of the crew of the Grossherzog realised that they would soon exit the Gate. As the ships emerged, Karl saw that they were now out in the open sea and that it was night, as unfamiliar stars dotted the sky above them. They were sailing in deep darkness, the only source of light was the bright beams of the destroyers' searchlights as they spread out around the Gate, creating an eerie atmosphere around them.

Suddenly, Karl saw torchlights flickering a few kilometers away from the German destroyers. The torchlights were joined by more and more lights as they moved closer, revealing that they were coming from ships that sailed in front of them in a tight formation. As they approached even closer, Karl could make out the shapes of Saderan oar-driven war galleys, the same type of ships that had previously attacked their homeland. His grip on his machine gun tightened as he saw hundreds of enemy ships closing in on them. There was nothing he could do but wait for their inevitable attack. And wait they did. As the ships closed in on the German fleet, the sun rose above the horizon and Karl saw the single wyvern-carrier that the enemy had release the two wyvern riders that it carried. Curiously, only one of the wyverns stayed above the enemy's formation, while the other one broke away and headed eastward, a fact that the captains of the German destroyers quickly noted down.

Karl watched as the enemy vessels approached them, the tension mounting in the air. Suddenly, the German destroyers' main guns opened fire once the destroyers' captains could confirm that the fleet in front of them was indeed Saderan, due to their flags becoming visible in the sunlight. The noise of the 150mm guns firing at full volume blasted through the air and echoed back to the warships. Karl could see the shells arc downwards towards the closest enemy ships. They exploded upon impact with the ships, sending shrapnel flying high into the air, their sails were torn apart and set alight, their flaming hulls broke in half and sank beneath the surface. The other destroyers of the German squadron followed suit, launching massive salvo after salvo of shells and torpedoes into the enemy's formation, causing the enemy ships to break apart under the devastating barrage. The lone wyvern rider the enemy had didn't stand a chance as the German destroyers' anti-air flak guns and machine guns tore it apart, killing it instantly as both rider and beast disappeared below the surface of the ocean.

The last of the enemy ships managed to get close enough to fire their ballistas and catapults at the German destroyers, though their inaccuracy meant that there were very few hits, and even the shots that did hit caused only superficial damage. The German destroyers responded with volleys from their AA guns and machine guns. Karl centered his machine gun on the closest ship's ballista crew and fired, dropping two of them dead. He kept pulling the trigger as he brought his crosshair across the length of the galley, killing the enemy soldiers on board as his bullets ripped through the shields placed along the enemy ship's sides. The MG-42 wasn't called the 'Kaiser's Buzzsaw' for nothing, as he lowered the machine gun to fire at the oarsmen below deck, reducing a number of them to pulp. The galley's wooden hull was riddled with holes from the MG42 as it tore away chunks from the hull, before the ship was finally destroyed by one of the 150mm guns of the Grossherzog.

The last remaining Saderan ship foolishly, or perhaps bravely fought on and kept sailing towards the Grossherzog, even though the rest of their ships were now bruning wrecks. The soldiers on board let loose a few volleys of arrows at the Grossherzog before Karl returned fire with his machine gun. He watched as his bullets tore into several of the Saderan sailors, destroying their bodies and shredding the flesh off their faces as their brains splattered against the deck of their galley. Karl kept firing, raking the deck with bullets as he tried to wipe out the survivors that still remained aboard the Saderan ship, the blood of it's crew painting the deck red before the Grossherzog finished it off with it's main guns.

The last remnants of the Saderan ships sank beneath the depths of the ocean, disappearing from view for all eternity. There was no sign whatsoever of Saderan vessels during the remainder of the day, while the rest of the Nordseegeschwader came through the Gate; a fleet of six Europa-class aircraft carriers, two Thule-class battleships, escorted by dozens of P-class cruisers and a hundred destroyers and various support ships and troop transport vessels emerged into the new world that awaited them. They would not be alone. Within just over 24 hours after exiting the Gate, ships arrived from three of the many nations allied to the German Empire; a squadron of ten destroyers from the Kingdom of Sweden and four cruisers each from the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Kingdom of Flanders-Wallonia.

Overseeing the entire operation was Admiral Erich Raeder from the bridge of his flagship, the aircraft carrier SMS Freya. He looked out upon his assembled fleet with no small amount of pride. As, indeed it was thanks to him that the fleet before him was in it's present shape, with the aircraft carriers serving as the centre-piece of the fleet, protected by the battleships, cruisers and destroyers. It was he, along with Helmut Patzig who convinced the late Kaiser Whilhelm II that the renewed German Navy be centred around the use of aircraft carriers. It was the new fleet with it's new doctrine that allowed Germany to defeat the syndicalist navies in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and the Russian Fleet in the Baltic Sea during the Second Weltkrieg. Now, Admiral Raeder was once again writing history as he led his fleet, with the most advanced vessels the world had seen,into the new world beyond the Gate.

He felt a little like Christopher Columbus, heading into uncharted territory for the first time, eager to discover the wonders that lay ahead. All he needed was his first sight of land, and it wasn't for the glory or fame that came with it. A fleet like the one he commanded needed a port for repairs and resupply. While the Gate was their only point of entry into this new world and conveniently led to one of the biggest ports in Germany, it was also a bottleneck where ships had to pass in single file and two-way traffic was not possible due to it's size. For now, half-measures like the support ships in his fleet that carried supplies and equipment for light repairs, along with engineers would have to do. But they wouldn't last forever. They needed a base on the other side of the Gate and they needed one as soon as possible.

His train of thoughts were interrupted by his adjutant, Vice Admiral Rheinhard Dernburg, who reported: "Admiral, every ship in the fleet is present and accounted for. We've crossed through the Gate safely and the fleet is waiting your orders."

"Excellent," Raeder nodded, "What was the outcome of the engagement between the destroyer squadron that we sent through first and the enemy fleet guarding the Gate?"

"The enemy fleet was completely destroyed and no casualties were reported among our ships. However, the captains of the destroyers noted that the enemy possessed a single 'wyvern-carrier'-type vessel, and one of the wyvern riders it had didn't take part in the battle but immediately disengaged and flew towards the east. We suspect that they're either going to warn a backup fleet or a nearby enemy naval base."

"I see. Very good work, my friend. Send an order to the fleet: change course due east and follow the direction that wyvern rider flew in. Send out reconaissance flights and be on high alert, we still have little idea about what we're facing."

Rheinhard nodded. "Understood sir. I'll make sure to pass the orders down the line."

With that, the Vice Admiral retreated, leaving the admiral behind as he continued to look out upon the vast sea. This was where he belonged... this was where he had always been supposed to go. And, with this great opportunity presented to him, he had no intention of wasting any of it. The fleet turned east, following the rising Sun, with smoke billowing from their smokestacks, more than a hundred ships, and aboard them, thousands of German sailors and marines were the vanguard of the Kaiserliche Marine in a new world.

A.N.: Edited because copy-pasting a section from word to a fanfic doc messes up the entire thing. Shoutout to grievousrommel for giving me a heads-up. Anyways, thank you for reading and we'll see the Second Battle of Alnus Hill in the next episode. Take care and goodbye until then.