Chapter Text

The third Bismarck

Ironblood convoy. On route to main Azur Lane base.

Admiral Hipper smiled as she took a sip of coffee, the gentle sea breeze blew past her. She was surprisingly happy for once. She wasn't being teased by Prinz Eugen for once, as she too was happy. And there was a good reason that both of them were happy, for they were helping to escort their sister, Weser, home to the Azur Lane main base.

It had been so long since they last saw her, so long in fact that she went by the name Seydlitz when they last met her. Her conversion into a carrier was difficult for all of them, especially when she was denied an air wing. But that was all over, and now they could make up for lost time.

They weren't the only one's escorting their sister. There was also the battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, who were both currently sunbathing on the decks of their ships whilst Ravel's Bolero played throughout the fleet. There were also the cruisers Roon and Mainz, and the destroyers Z25, Z26, Z35, Z36, and Z2.

Also, U-556 was there for some reason.

The three sisters were currently sitting at a fold-out table on the deck of Admiral Hipper's ship. Hipper had acquired the best coffee available on the market, plus several pastries and confectionery's made by Dunkerque. She was sparing no expense for this meeting, as this was something she had been waiting for for a very long time.

Weser looked very similar to Admiral Hipper and Prinz Eugen and wore the same uniform, just with a few minor alterations here and there. She was bustier then Hipper, but wasn't as endowed as Eugen, as Weser's bust was only half the size of her more bustier sister. She had brown eyes and long blond hair. She also had a crossbow by her side. Like Enterprise used a bow to launch her planes, Weser used a crossbow to launch hers.

Hipper put her cup of coffee down “It's nice that we can finally talk to each other” she said, “It's been so long that we were calling you Seydlitz last time we met”.

Weser smiled “Yeah, it is. Having my name changed against my will was annoying, I ended up getting used it. Ships get renamed all the time,” she said before she picked up her crossbow “At least I finally get an opportunity to use my crossbow now. I was never able to use it outside of training”.

Both Hipper and Eugen lowered their heads slightly. The Luftwaffe wanting to maintain its monopoly on air-power affected their carrier projects greatly. They wanted all carrier planes to be controlled by the Luftwaffe, but that would mean that the planes would have to be manned planes, with a human pilot. That would mean that when the carrier entered combat, they couldn't activate their rigging, lest they cause a repeat of the first rigging activation incident.

It's was only recently did they allowed the ships to command their own air wings, allowing their carriers to be fully operational.

“It must have been hard on you, knowing that you would never be able to fight due to a petty inter-service rivalry,” Eugen said.

“It was, at first,” Weser said “We tried our best to keep our spirits up, saying that one day they would allow us an air-wing, but. You only need to glance over at Graff Zeppelin to know that not all of us came out of it ok,” she said sombrely. She then perked up “But that's all the past now. We've reunited once again. Three of the five sisters of the Admiral Hipper class,” she said with a smile “By the way, where our other two sisters?”.

Hipper lowered her head “Blücher, doing well, all things considered. It hit her hard, being sunk by old 11-inch coastal guns, and two torpedoes from a nation that doesn't even exist even more. She's gotten better, but it's best not to mention Operation Weserübung or the Battle of Drøbak Sound around her”.

Weser frowned “I see. She didn't have the best service life,” she said, “At least she got to fight. I spent the entire war in port. Any word from our sister, Petropavlovsk?”.

Eugen giggled nervously “Oh, her. Well she's ur” (Gilligan cut to a scene of several Northern Parliament kansen, Petropavlovsk included, drinking and dancing to Russian Hardbass) “She's doing fine, all things considered. We don't get to talk to her much, what with us spending a long time on opposite sides of the war. But we're getting along well,” she said with an obviously fake smile.

It was no secret that Eugen didn't exactly get along well with Petropavlovsk. Her Northern Parliament influence, plus the fact she was sold to the Russian's days after being manifested, didn't give her a good opinion of the Ironblood. But they were still sisters, so they were striving to improve on things. But as of now, they're still working on it.

The sound of thunder brought them out of their peaceful chat. They looked up to see a mass of dark clouds forming above them.

“Oh for fucks sake!” Hipper said loudly “Rain, now! I thought today would be a sunny day today?”.

“It was,” Eugen said replied as she picked up the, and put it over the table. She stopped just as she finished putting it up “Do you girls seance that?” she asked.

“Yeah, we feel it” Hipper replied as she looked around. It was an odd feeling, the kind you get when something impossible is happening around them. Or, when a mirror sea was opening.

“All ships, battle stations” Scharnhorst shouted over comms “We've run into a mirror sea. All ships, activate your rigging and prepare for Siren contacts” she ordered.

The three sisters wasted no time in preparing their rigging. Hipper waited for her sisters to get to their ships and activate their rigging before she herself activated her rigging. Soon the three sisters were standing side by side, weapons and aircraft ready for battle.

The rest of the fleet was ready for battle as well. The kansen had activated their rigging and were now entering a defensive formation, and the mass-produced ships that were with them all had their weapons ready for battle.

“You know. This is my first real battle” Weser said, sounding very nervous “I'm, I'm kind of scared right now” she said as it started to rain.

“Don't worry, we've got your back, sis” Hipper said as she raised her weapons, ready to fire at the first Siren ship she saw.

“It's going to take more than a few sirens to stop us now,” Eugen said with a smirk “With our AP shells, and your planes, nothing will be able to stop us. Besides, we have an entire fleet around us, so any sirens are in for a nasty surprise”.

They waited for several tense moments, waiting for the sirens to show up, but none did.

“Where the fuck are they?” Scharnhorst shouted over comms, annoyed that the sirens hadn't sent anything against them yet.

“Ur, guys,” Z35 said over comms “Why is it raining upwards?” she asked.

Everyone's focus quickly turned towards the rain. Indeed it was raining upwards, with the rain droplets moving up their body's and flying upwards towards the sky.

“Ur, is this normal for a mirror sea?” Weser asked sounding confused.

“No” Hipper replied “I've never seen anything like-” she said before the rain suddenly remembered that it should be going down instead of up, and came crashing down in a few seconds of very heavy rain, soaking everyone “This,” she said sounding rather annoyed.

“What the hell just happened?” Mainz asked over comms.

“I have no idea” Gneisenau replied calmly.

“Well that was anticlimactic-” Hipper said before she heard a distinct beeping sound in her ear. It was Morse code, a cry for help.

“It's an SOS distress call,” Z2 said over comms “It's originating north-west of our location. That's interesting. Its estimated location is directly at the epicentre of that strange weather phenomenon”.

“You mean, whatever caused that upwards rain, this SOS distress call is coming from its epicentre,” Scharnhorst said.

“Indeed, it is quite strange,” Z2 said calmly “Recommend we proceed towards the source of the SOS with caution. This could be a siren trap”.

The entire fleet confirmed the order before they changed course towards the distress call.

“Weser, deploy some fighters to act as spotters” Z2 ordered, “We need eyes on whatever is sending that SOS”.

“Copy” Weser responded, quickly loading a plane onto her crossbow and launching it into the air and sending it towards the SOS “Aircraft away. ETA one minute”.

The fleet proceeded towards the source of the distress call. Moving cautiously just in case this was a trap.

“Weser” Hipper said, turning her head towards her sister “What's it like, commanding aircraft?” she asked.

“It's, strange” Weser replied, “I can see perfectly through my own eyes, but I can also see from the perspective of the plane's themselves. It was rather strange and unnerving at first. But I got used to it”.

“It must have been hard, getting used to being an aircraft carrier when you were originally meant to be a heavy cruiser,” Eugen said.

“It was. But I had Rhein and Erich Loewenhardt to help me” Weser said, “They were really-. Hold on a sec, my planes are almost at the target location-. Mein Gott in Himmel!”.

“Weser, what is it?!” Scharnhorst asked over comms.

Weser was quiet, very quiet. Eugen and Hipper could see a shocked look on her face. It was after several seconds did she reply “It-it's. It's the Bismarck”.

“What!” was the collective response from the rest of the fleet. There was no way that it was Bismarck, as they all knew that both Bismarck and Tirpitz, plus their younger versions, Ottilie and Alfrena, were all back at the main Azur Lane base. There was no way that Bismarck herself, or any of her sisters for that matter, would be out here without them knowing about it first.

“That can't be Bismarck. If it was, we would have known” Scharnhorst said “Are you sure the optics of your planes are working?” she asked.

“I'm one-hundred percent sure that it is Bismarck” Weser replied “I went through an eight-day course on recognising friend from foe. I know what our ships look like, and that ship looks exactly like Bismarck,” she said “Odd, the ships tilting heavily to the port side, I wonder-. Mein Gott!”.

“What is it Weser? What have you seen” Z2 asked calmly.

“There is a massive gash all along the starboard side of the ship” Weser replied sounding shocked “It's dangerously close to the waterline”.

“I see. That would explain why it's tilting to one side” Z2 observed, “It's doing so to avoid flooding from the other side”.

“It must have flooded the port side of the ship to avoid further flooding. Impressive” Gneisenau remarked.

“Didn't Texas flood half of her ship, just so she could fire her shells farther then they had any right to go?” Z35 asked.

“Indeed she did, the crazy woman” Scharnhorst replied, “The only ship to hit her targets during D-day. Still, what on earth could have caused damage like that?”.

“I don't know, but it can't be good for us” Z2 replied calmly “Weser, can you see anyone on board the ship?”.

“Negative, I can't see anyone. Their all probably inside the ship” Weser replied, “Wait, I've got eyes on the ships name plaque. That's odd, it says Moltke on it”.

“Wait, you mean, that we're dealing with a Bismarck class ship called 'Moltke'!” Scharnhorst said in disbelief “How is that even possible? There were no plans to make a third vessel of the Bismarck class, nor were there any plans to name one Moltke”.

“Well, we can find out why it's called that once we talk to its crew,” Z2 said calmly as the unknown vessel came into view.

It did indeed look exactly like a Bismarck class ship, weapons and all. They were approaching the vessel head-on, but they could see that it wasn't moving. It was just holding there, still as the water around it.

It was unnerving to see a vessel that they recognised, but at the same time, they didn't recognise it. There was no third vessel of the Bismarck class, nor was there one named Moltke.

They had a lot of questions, hopefully, they could be answered by whoever was on board that ship. If they were still alive.

“Holy fuck!” Scharnhorst gasped as she saw the gash on the side of the ship “You weren't kidding about the damage to the starboard side of the ship. That is a massive gash”.

“Indeed, I'm almost surprised the ship is still afloat,” Z2 remarked “All ship's hold” she ordered, and all of them stopped “Hipper, take Z35 and Z36 and investigate that ship. Find it's crew, and get some answers from them. I want to know where that ship came from”.

“Rodger” Hipper responded before she skated off towards the ship “You heard her 35 and 36. Form up on me,” she said, getting a Rodger from both destroyers.

“Stay safe out there, sister” Weser said over comms.

Hipper smiled “Don't worry, I'll be careful” she said as the three ships moved towards the Bismarck class ship, Moltke. Hopefully, they could find out where it came from, and what caused that massive gash in the side of the ship.

The vessel was almost like a ghost ship. There was no activity coming from it. Its guns remained still, and it was obvious that its propellers were not turning. Was there even anyone onboard? There would have to be at least someone, as ships don't deliberately flood themselves.

The three kansen jumped up onto the deck of the ship. Kansen were not really designed for land-based combat, as walking with their rigging on used up more fuel. So, as much as some people would like to use them as walking artillery platforms, it was extremely fuel inefficient.

“We're on board the ship” Hipper reported as Z35 and Z36 raised their weapons.

“Copy. We're holding well within weapons range” Z2 said “If you need assistance, just call for it. We'll be there as soon as we can”.

“Copy that,” Hipper said over comms before she turned to Z35 and Z36 “Come on you two. Let's go find someone who can hopefully give us some answers,” she said as she walked along the side rail of the ship, looking for one of the ships metal doors. It would be more likely to find someone on the inside of the ship, not the outside.

It was slightly difficult to walk along the ship, as it was leaning heavily to the side. As much as she would have liked to flatten the ship out, it would have only spelt the ships doom, as water would flood the ship.

“You sure someone's still onboard this thing?” Z35 asked as she and her sister awkwardly followed Hipper towards a door.

“There has to be” Hipper replied “Someone had to flood half this ship,” she said as she reached the door and opened it.

“Hello,” a young and quiet voice said as they opened the door. The three Ironblood kansen instinctively pointed their guns at the figure in front of them.