Rule by Falkeno

Rule 11021. To all shipgirls, please note that the influx of Otters in Scapa Flow are actually the X-craft and their subsequent variants. Cuddle them at your own peril!

Rule 11021a. Nobody is to tell Tirpitz that the Otter she has adopted as a pet is actually X6 (Aka one of the X-craft that successfully attacked her!)

To Admiral Collingwood, it was a peaceful day in Scapa Flow. The sky was on its best form, the wind was subtly swaying the grass, and the horde of otters were clustered around the shore.

Wait, horde of otters? Collingwood did a double take. Yep, definitely a horde of otters, strange. Then Collingwood made a mistake, he picked up his binoculars, otters were otters after all. At least until he saw the massive pair of explosives strapped to their sides. At this development, Collingwood did the only logical thing.

"Georgie!" Collingwood shouted as he slammed the large red button reserved for Vanguard's more 'Interesting' experiments. Mentally the admiral began drafting a letter of complaint for the desk of Admiral Masson. This had to be one of Provence's messes after all.

=O=

"Provence didn't do this," Resource sighed as she held up one of the rather calm, if heavily armed animals in question, gesturing to the pennant number in its fur. X24.

"So who do I need to blame? Because I don't remember asking for any X-Craft, or XE-craft!" Collingwood demanded. The last thing he needed was more explosions around Scapa. Vanguard alone provided more than enough already.

"I don't know sir, it's like the MBT's all over again," Resource replied.

Ah yes, that mess had been one of the many reasons Cunningham had lost the plot, and they still didn't have an answer.

"Erm, Admiral, we have a small problem," King George V broke in, snapping Collingwood from his thoughts.

"Oh god, please don't tell me the destroyers are trying to make them pets?!" Collingwood gasped.

As if on cue, the voice of Saumarez piped up from somewhere.

"So cute, but so deadly!" That was a mental image that would be doing the rounds in his nightmares for weeks.

"No, it's just that we're… missing some of the X-Craft, and a few of the XE's as well. I've had a list up, along with an idea of where they might have gone." King George V explained, holding up the document in question.

Collingwood took one look at it, then legged it towards his office at a speed that would make the Abdiels jealous. He had phone calls to make, urgently.

=O=

"Uhoh!" Vanguard muttered to herself. She didn't know what to make of the scene before her. On the one hand, Tirpitz was currently the picture of adorableness, pruning over the otter that was currently cooing in her arms. But on the other hand, that 'otter' was HMS X6, one of the X-Craft that had attacked her in 1943, and it was currently carrying enough explosives to put her girlfriend in the docks for a few months.

"Aww, look at him, he's so adorable!" Tirpitz beamed obliviously as she stroked X6, resulting in a chirp from the midget submarine.

"I could sink you, but I'm too comfy" Vanguard mentally translated. At least they had that much going for them.

Glancing around, Vanguard was glad Collingwood had gotten word to her when he did, otherwise X6 would've been the least of their worries. The good news was that whilst X6 had found her 'target', the others had mostly been intercepted enroute by the destroyers that she'd quietly impressed into helping her, who were currently mimicking Tirpitz in their affection of the midget submarines. They were sort of cute after all.

However, any further thoughts on this front died a sudden death when Vanguard spotted the form of a smiling X10, the sole X-Craft that hadn't been accounted for, sneaking into Altafjord's cruiser barracks. A building where Vanguard knew for a fact, currently housed a sleeping, and therefore defenceless Lützow.

Smiling, Vanguard slipped out of Tirpitz's distracted gaze, before running at flank speed after X10. It wasn't good form to let an ally get blown up in her sleep.