11:00 Hours
Scapa Flow, Royal Navy of the United Kingdom
POV, Royal Navy Commander, docks.
It was yet another brisk and bright day, and with that, came more work to do.
Naturally, being the commander at an Azur lane base meant mountains of random paperwork, however today (and the few days before this) were a bit different,
The Iron Blood Battleship Bismarck had sunk Hood,
The traitors of the Iron blood used to be part of Azur lane, but now, they had degraded themselves down to allying with the very thing they fought hard to destroy.
The commander was usually a relatively happy person, but bringing up Hood's death (sinking) was enough to get him in a terrible mood for the rest of the day.
He did practically put every Shipgirl asail to demolish the Iron blood battleship and in the process take vengeance for Hood's loss.
It was headed by King George V, and she had two aircraft carriers and the fellow Battleship Rodney to provide support,
Even though for some reason, instead of attacking supply convoys or trying to escape towards the Atlantic coming from the Eagle Union like the Admiralty thought she would, instead it seemed to turn back, heading towards Iceland.
Which was a strange move to say the least, you would've thought they would press their advantage, but they didn't
So, lucky them, the Royal Navy kept their merchant ships.
But that didn't change the fact that Hood was gone, that was still a lingering feeling hanging over the occupants of Scaapa Flow like a dark cloud.
Despite this, the Commander was still trying to put on a morale boosting attitude, just do not mention the sinking.
—————
The Royal Navy commander was doing a routine check of the port.
The Kan-sen ships were busy getting managed in port from the day's recent sorties, and their owners were playing a game of volleyball on the beach.
However, there was one certain ship that was staring out at the ocean.
"Top of the morning Prince of Wales." The commander said
Prince of Wales hesitated, almost like she didn't expect anyone to speak.
"Oh! Top of the morning to you too commander!" Prince of Wales said, giving a slight bow.
"What brings you out here?" The commander said, sipping from a small cup of tea one of the base's maids just brought him
"I came over to check my ship... but it seems that it hasn't been fully repaired yet." She said,
"You eager to fight?" The commander asked,
"Well, yes...." She said, breaking eye contact for a second,
"Something is bothering you, I know from that look." The commander said,
"Permission to speak freely, commander." Prince of Wales said.
"Granted." The commander said.
"Well, frankly... I'm worried for my sister.... Something feels off" Prince of Wales said
"Now.... Do not worry, she has plenty of backup, I think she can handle herself just fine." The commander said,
"Yes... but. We lost Hood, I don't want to lose my sister too.." Wales said, sighing a little.
The commander took a deep sigh.
"I see....
How about a quick patrol near the base, you should be able to do that without issue, and it could help in case any Ironblood stragglers come to assist their golden goose." The commander said.
"Alright sir... that sounds like a good idea... but why can't I help my sister?"
"I see your sentiment, and I think you have a point... but I already lost us the pride of the Royal Navy, it would be a terrible day for me to loose a battleship as well..." the commander said.
Prince of Wales did a short nod.
The commander patted her on the shoulder
"Alright, the Cruiser Suffolk will be going with you, stay safe for me please." The commander said,
Wales did a salute.
"Yes sir!" She stated, before the commander turned away.
But while she turned to go her own way, she saw a small, shiny item in the commander's pocket,
Her vision was better than that of a person, so she was able to see it,
It was a golden oath ring, with the word "Hood" engraved in it.
Wales took a deep sigh,
even though it was she who was tasked with being in the same fleet as Hood, having your significant other be sunk must be an absolutely horrible experience.
So was the reality of being a Kan-Sen in the royal navy.
———————
12:00 Hours
30 kilometers off the coast of Scapa flow.
POV, Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales and the Kent class Heavy cruiser Suffolk were patrolling a few Kilometers due north of Scapa flow,
Wales was sitting on her shipform's bridge, carefully monitoring the water below.
It was no surprise why the Commander wanted Suffolk to be her company,
She made it apparent that she loved patrolling and reconnaissance, especially with her latest retrofit, which gave her an advanced Type 284 radar.
"Oh woooooowww! The sky looks so beautiful today Prince of Wales!" Suffolk said,
The sun was about midway into the sky, beaming down through numerous clouds from the morning's rain and drowsy weather, there was even a quite visible rainbow streaking through one of the larger clouds, and Suffolk was absolutely lost in the sight of-
"Keep your head in it, we're patrolling, remember?" Wales said.
"Oh..... yes ma'am! I-....." Suffolk began, and suddenly stopped.
"You what?" Wales said,
"Something just showed up on my radar, no! There's two now! Hwah! Three! Now four! now five!" Suffolk said, getting more and more distressed.
Wales's eyes shot open wide,
Ironblood?
Sirens??
She took a breath, before her tone got stern and to the point
"okay. Tell me where they are, and how big they are." Prince of Wales said.
"Uhh, uhhhhh.
They don't look too big, and they are moving at twenty knots, I-I think it might be a few girls." Suffolk said
"Hmm, they might be friendly considering how close they got..., But Suffolk said that the contacts were small, Kan-sen are much smaller on radar if they have already summoned their rigging... they could be looking for a fight" Wales said to herself
She then contacted Suffolk
"Alright, we'll get closer to them and see just who they are, but do not shoot unless I explicitly tell you to." Wales said.
"U-Understood!" Suffolk responded
Prince of Wales's ship began to turn a bright glowing blue,
It then turned to a blinding white,
Then the battleship exploded into a bunch of miniature wisdom cubes, which then fly around and formed on Prince of Wales's back, transforming from the ship into her rigging.
With her rigging, she gracefully touched down onto the water's surface, being able to stand on the water with her rigs summoned,
Suffolk did the same, albeit with marginally less grace,
"Alright, point me in the direction where you saw those contacts from before" Wales said,
"They are to our west!" Suffolk said.
"West." Price of Wales said, immediately taking off in that direction without so much as a second thought,
——————
Due West, four minutes later
"Hello!" Suffolk shouted,
Nothing,
"I thought we would've found them by now" Wales said, looking around.
The water only had relatively smaller waves today, so she had great visibility in all directions.
Other than the Azure vastness of the ocean, were a few small, uninhabitable rocky islands.
However, despite there being nothing around, Wales still had a feeling in her head.
Like they were being watched.
She had already scanned the surface upwards of seven times for submarine periscopes, the Ironblood did have a very dangerous submarine force after all.
However, there were none,
Likely because if they drew close they would likely be depth charged to oblivion by destroyers, but that hadn't stopped Ironblood U-Boats from getting into ports and absolutely harvesting ships docked,
Royal Oak was sunk by a U-Boat who snuck into Scapa flow just some one and a half years ago, so it certainly wasn't a impossibility.
However, while she was scanning the water for the eighth time, she managed to find a spot of red behind one of the rocky islands around her.
It was someone trying to stalk her!
Wale's instincts kicked in immediately
"Who's there!" She shouted, immediately pointing her main guns.
Wales's shouting had started the Kansen that was looking at her, as well as Suffolk who was busy staring off into the sky again.
The stalker tripped over, a Wales got a good look at her.
"Norfolk? What are you... hiding?" Wales said.
"Wales!" Someone said from behind her.
"Oh thank God..." Wales said to herself.
"George, I was worried about you!" Wales said,
Just as she was saying that, a bunch of other Kan-sen came out from behind the rocks,
Wales was confused,
Why would they be hiding?
"Oh, you're a sight for sore eyes Wales" King George V said.
Wales could notice that her rigging was hit, it was raked with bits of shrapnel and burns, and George had a large cut on her face
"What happened to you? You look.... terrible.
Did you get the Ironblood battleship??" Wales said, eagerly anticipating an answer
George sighed
"Not even close."
"W-Wh-what?" Wales said, her face getting a slight shade paler.
"How far away is the base? I have a very detailed report for the commander, I'm afraid the Ironblood has something completely beyond even our worst fears." George said.
"30 clicks that way. We best get going." Wales said.
——————