Jarl
darthcourt10
Well worn.
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Shaithan
Jarl
Shipgirl summonings had seen a lot of oddities over the years. From venerable ships-of-the-line to sleek wooden frigates, ironclads, caravels and galleons, to the more modern warships. In few countries was the inherent randomness of the summoning felt as dearly as in countries like Sweden, Denmark and Norway. All nations had, just like any other European nation with a navy, started summoning. Coastal battleships, minesweepers, destroyers, frigates, destroyer escorts, there were a lot of ships willing and able to serve. And then there were the odd ones. Namely, the viking longboats, ships that either appeared at random or sometimes in a summoning.
These girls were free-spirited, plunderers and merchants, explorers and conquerors, all united by one thing. Obsolescence so complete it wasn't even funny.
It had been agreed to station them on Gotland, Bornholm and Rügen, far from the fights of the North Sea and the North Atlantic. And there they had stayed, building up villages near the shore, talking to various historians about their time, giving testimony of an age of strife that still sent people dreaming.
Tirpitz got along with the vikings like a house on fire. She had been built as a commerce raider, the biggest one there ever had been. She had been stationed in Norway and would gladly call it her second home. It also did help that the vikings made various meads and generally had a horn to share with Tirpitz.
It also amused them that horns were still used for drinking after all these years.
Tirpitz sat in the hut of the chieftain of Jelling auf Rügen, Helga Leifsdottir, discussing plans for the summer. "We can definitely swing by Wacken," she said, absentmindedly taking another sip. "Should be loads of fun and debauchery. But, I've had a second idea. The North Sea is mostly secure. What do you think about an expedition to England? We gather all the viking girls and cross over from Denmark, Norway and Sweden to England in one massive fleet. Of course I'll be there for protection, as would be some other girls, and we'll have to clear it with the admirals, but I think they understand that you need to go out more than some miles along the Baltic coasts," she said slowly.
Helga gave her a smirk. "Ha, that will be a sight to see," she chortled. "Going west, we're really not doing that often enough. Remember that trip to Russia?" she added.
Tirpitz laughed. "Oh yes, I don't think that Irkutsk expected a group of 60 Vikings to come out of the morning mist from Lake Baikal," she gave back. "We'll have to clear it beforehand, there's what, about a thousand of you by now, we can't simply set out on our own," she added.
The chieftain leaned back. "True," she mused. "But I am intrigued, a viking to England. I think many of my girls would be up for that. And I think the girls of Gotland and Bornholm would be with us here," she continued. "I do hope that I will one day be able to make the long voyage, from Norway to Iceland, from there to Greenland and finally down to Vinland. A thousand years have passed by since, I would greatly enjoy making this trip again. As would my captain," the she said wistfully.
Tirpitz chortled. "I'm sure he would. And he'd definitely rub it in the face of Columbus that he did it first," she said with light laughter.
Helga laughed. "Ha, well spoken, my friend. Now talk to the admirals," she said. "I will begin plans myself," she added.
Tirpitz nodded. "Don't expect it quickly, we might not be able to set sail for months," she cautioned.
The chieftain chuckled. "A viking needs planning, you don't just jump aboard and set sail, hoping for the best. A jarl needs to be elected, too," she explained.
Tirpitz nodded again. "Very well then, I shall talk to Hartmann and Cunningham," she said slowly. "I will be back soon to finalize the plans for the summer festival tour, but I think nothing will impede that," she promised.
Helga grinned. "Wonderful. We shall see each other soon," she said, offering Tirpitz a firm handshake.
When Tirpitz returned to the Naval Base, she ran into Admiral Hartmann carrying a toolbox. "Admiral?" she asked curiously.
Hartmann nodded. "Tirpitz," he said distractedly. "Could you hold that?" he asked, handing the battleship the toolbox.
Tirpitz did so, wondering what the Admiral planned.
Soon they came to his office. And before the office sat a piteously yapping Wolpertinger.
Tirpitz added 2 and 2 and got 5. "A fox flap?" she asked.
Hartmann nodded. "Seriously, who had the great idea to let young, impressionable Wolpertinger kits spend a lot of time around cats?" he groused good-naturedly. "They expect free passage everywhere," he muttered, absently petting the happy Wolpertinger.
Tirpitz could have sworn that the little one grinned.
Hartmann set to work with a big grin. "Heh, those home improvement store ads were right. There's always something to do," he quoted with a chuckle.
With a big heave the admiral lifted the door from its hinges, before giving a piteous whine.
With a sigh Tirpitz plucked the door from his hands. "You're not getting younger," she chided gently.
Hartmann grumbled under his breath, before straightening out again. "Pah, it's nothing," he stated confidently.
Tirpitz graciously chose to not poke his spine. No, she'd tell her sister who would then sic the base doctor on Hartmann.
She put the door on two sawbucks that had already been set up in the office, an action that convinced the little Wolpertinger to fly up and curl up on the door.
Hartmann gently picked the little Wolpertinger up and deposited her on a couch that had a big sunlit spot. The Wolpertinger gave a happy yap and yawned, curling up on the spot and dozing off.
Hartmann took a look at the door, considering. "It needs to be big enough for an adult fox," he muttered. "Now, the question is, how high should I set it?" he muttered. "Let's see," he trailed off, making sketches on the door.
Tirpitz decided to watch it, the large cat flap Hartmann had also bought stood forgotten under one of the sawbucks.
"Yes, this should work nicely," Hartmann finally declared, using the folding rule to sketch where he wanted to cut.
With great care he began sawing out a square from the door. The little Wolpertinger got up and curiously watched the proceedings, sneezing when she took a sniff at the sawdust.
After a few minutes, Hartmann was done and put the square on the door. "Sand paper," he muttered, searching through his toolbox until he found it.
Tirpitz held the Wolpertinger in her arms, watching as Hartmann went to town on the wood, smoothing the edges. "Hinges," Hartmann muttered, searching the toolbox again.
Several minutes later, Hartmann fixed the newly-built fox flap to his door. "No more 'Let me in! Let me out! Let me in!'" he said with a laugh.
Tirpitz looked at the window and down at the Wolpertinger in her arms. If the little one could speak, she'd have been saying "Oh, really? Challenge accepted!" Tirpitz almost pitied the Admiral. Key word, almost. The Frozen jokes were neither forgiven nor forgotten.
Hartmann turned to Tirpitz. "Could you..?" he asked with a sheepish grin.
Tirpitz nodded. "Sure, can't let an old man do the heavy lifting," she said slowly.
Hartmann gave her a mock glare. "I'm in very good shape, I'll have you know," he grumbled.
"For a dinosaur," Tirpitz shot back. Then she handed him the Wolpertinger and went to put the door back on its hinges.
Hartmann was incredibly pleased when the fox flap worked as intended. Even if it was a bit too big, the important thing was that it worked. With a happy grin, he sat in his chair. "Now, Tirpitz, why did you want to see me?" Hartmann asked, while the Wolpertinger made excited use of the fox flap in the background, yipping happily.
Tirpitz grinned. "It's the Vikings," she began. "They feel cooped up and a need to stretch their legs," she explained. "Going to festivals and such is good, but they need to face the sea, need to brave it for more than just some short hours of transit along the Baltic coast. Going through canals to far-off places is well and good, but they miss the North Sea and the North Atlantic and they want to sail these waves once more," she laid out.
Hartmann nodded. It was a known problem, the older girls, especially wood-and-sail ones needed activity in their life. Being sidelined so much had strange results. Victory bothered her bumblebee whenever she could or otherwise put her nose everywhere. Constitution grand-mothered the whole US Navy, a job that filled her. And they tended to take to the sea. Even if it were only coastal runs hawkishly watched, they still could sail for longer periods. And of course, there was Temeraire. The mad frigate and her quest for relevancy.
"What do you propose then?" he wanted to know.
"Well, I've talked with Leifsdottir a bit and we came upon the idea of an expedition. Gather all the Viking girls and set sail in one massive fleet, destination England," Tirpitz laid out. "Depending on how we do it, we can have them land either en masse in London or stage raids of coastal towns," she continued. "Maybe make a festival out of it," she suggested.
Hartmann rubbed his chin. "Well, how do you propose we get them over there? They're relatively slow and there's quite a few of them, too," he wanted to know.
"A small escort fleet. Mostly our girls. Especially the various auxiliary cruisers. Maybe the Danes, Swedes and Norwegians send a few of their girls, possibly we could add the Poles," Tirpitz gave back. "It wouldn't take too long, either. I'd estimate that the girls, with favorable winds, should need about four, at most five days for the crossing from Oslo," she laid out.
Hartmann stood up to take a look at one of the maps in his office. "Five days you say?" he asked, receiving a nod from Tirpitz.
"Well, the Baltic is secure, so the Swedes may well be able to dispatch quite a few ships. Don't know if Finland would want to be part of it, but Denmark and Norway might well help out. For the time being we could station some of our girls there," Hartmann mused out loud. "Hell, it might be a good chance for our auxiliary cruisers and Shin'you to get some practice in," he continued.
"Well, I'll have to talk it over with the British, the Swedes, the Norwegians and the Danes, but I'm pretty sure that leading a fleet of Vikings to London shouldn't see any objections," Hartmann finally said to Tirpitz. "Though, when would they want to sail?" he asked.
Tirpitz shrugged. "I figure it might be early next year, in spring," she guessed. "They have festivals over the summer and autumn isn't exactly good sailing weather. The winter is right out," she elaborated.
Hartmann nodded. "Very well, this gives us time to plan. I'm pretty sure we can arrange for something special," he promised cryptically.
Tirpitz saluted and pretended not to notice how the little Wolpertinger snuck on Hartmann's seat.
She had barely closed the office door, when Hartmann let out an indignant "Hey!" obviously directed at the Wolpertinger.
Days went by, convoys were escorted, Abyssals were fought, festivals were visited and early summer turned to autumn.
Tirpitz looked up when she got a mail, summoning her to Admiral Hartmann.
On the way she smirked at seeing several new fox flaps. It seemed the little Wolpertingers had chosen the base as their permanent home, at least this far none of them had made any moves to leave the base. So far the three girls tended to generally stick together, rooming in a burrow near the battleship barracks. She gave Prinzregent Luitpold a salute in passing, the older battleship discussing an upcoming trip to Bavaria. It took her a moment, but then she remembered. The old Bavarian huntsman and the vet that had helped them out a while ago. It took another few moments to connect the dots. Obviously Bayern and her friends were worried, the actions of the American wizards had shaken up a lot of girls with human friends. Tirpitz herself wasn't involved in that, so she wasn't too concerned.
She knocked on Hartmann's door, waiting for the muffled "Enter," opened the door and stood still.
Hartmann sat in his chair, one of the three Wolpertingers on his lap, one circling around the ceiling and one dozing on his couch.
"You wanted to see me?" Tirpitz asked.
Hartmann nodded, continuing to pet the very content Wolpertinger. "Sure. Now, I've talked with the various other admirals. The British are amenable to letting the Vikings come to London, Cunningham suggested a parade up the Thames. Afterwards, a fair can be arranged in Hyde Park. Now we only really need a date," he said slowly.
Tirpitz nodded. "That is great to hear. I'll have to talk to Leifsdottir about that," she said excitedly. "And, who would you suggest for escort duty?" she wanted to know.
Hartmann grinned. "I've asked the auxiliary cruisers, they're completely enamored by the idea. Shin'you also agreed to escort duty. So, you'll have a group of roughly 30 escort ships, in addition to whatever else the other nations send," he said.
Tirpitz grinned. "That sounds great," she gave back. "Now, if there's nothing else, I'll call Leifsdottir," she continued.
Hartmann gave a small wave. "Yes, that's all for now, I'll have to plan a visit to St. Brendan," he said, giving the formerly circling Wolpertinger an exasperated look, as the girl now rested on his keyboard. "Too much exposure to cats," he grumbled in her direction, getting a very smug vulpine grin in return.
Tirpitz left with a chuckle, glad that she wouldn't have to deal with foreign dignitaries.
Leifsdottir was audibly excited when she heard the viking had been approved. "These are great news, my friend," she shouted gleefully. "On equinox we will hold thing on Bornholm, all Vikings will assemble there. Please come and bring those auxiliary cruisers you've talked about before," she requested.
Tirpitz nodded and marked it down in her logs. There were still weeks until autumn equinox, ample time to notify all the auxiliary cruisers and ensure they could be there. Especially Kormoran, the girl had returned and immediately run off to Australia, ostensibly for a rematch with Sydney. Though if scuttlebutt could be trusted, this "rematch" was more both of them being very awkward around each other. Constant insults, grumbling about how the other was insufferable and violently denying any underlying tension, while also denying positive feelings for each other. Classic tsundere courting rituals, fun to watch from a safe distance.
Further weeks went by, Tirpitz was mostly busy with North Atlantic patrols, convoy protection and keeping an eye on potential abyssal spawns in the Arctic Ocean. The last thing they needed was an Abyssal installation taking over Svalbard. Or worst case Greenland or Iceland.
Finally, Equinox arrived. Tirpitz sailed out from Rostock with the group of auxiliary cruisers, Shin'you and a very cross Sydney, who, in her own words was merely there to ensure that Kormoran didn't get herself killed before their rematch. No one bought it in the slightest, but teasing the light cruiser about her worries for Kormoran got old quickly. Too much tsun for any one person to handle.
The thing would be held some hundred meters from the southernmost beach on Bornholm. Hundreds of viking shipgirls had assembled, waiting for the last participants to arrive.
Finally, the last girls arrived, and Leifsdottir stepped forward, coming to a stop under a Silver Linden tree. The tree was young, a scant few years old, having been planted there by the first Vikings to return.
"Welcome," she began grandly. "It pleases me greatly to see all of you here for the thing," she continued. "In accordance with the old laws, I call upon the chieftains and the lawspeaker," she stated clearly.
Five more girls stepped forward. "I am the lawspeaker," the youngest-looking one stated. "What cause is there for calling a thing?" she asked formally.
Leifsdottir grinned. "A viking!" she announced. "Too long have we stayed cooped up in the Baltic Sea, idly milling between Gotland and Rügen and not doing much else. We were not meant to sit idle!" she said passionately. "And an opportunity arose! My friend Tirpitz proposed a trip to England, setting sail for a voyage across the North Sea, once more coming upon the shores of England," she laid out.
The lawspeaker nodded. "I have heard you," she confirmed. "Do you wish to issue a call to arms then?" she wanted to know.
"Nay. We might find a fight on England's shores, but most of all it shall be a state visit, an exercise for those sailing with us as our protectors against the monsters spawned from Niflheimr and a chance for us to stretch our legs, to sate our wanderlust with a journey across the high seas," Leifsdottir explained.
The lawspeaker pondered these words. "I see," she said regally. "Tirpitz, it was you who suggested it, please tell us more about this viking," she requested.
Tirpitz slowly stepped up. "It is as Leifsdottir said, a journey across the North Sea to London. I have talked about it with my admiral, who in turn talked with his colleagues and they agreed to this journey. The girls here with me will be tasked with escorting you the whole journey, as the North Sea might be comparably safe, incursions do happen," she stated. "The fleet would be assembled in the Skaggerak and then move west to London. In London, it would be a parade up the Thames, with an additional fair to be held in Hyde Park afterwards. I am not privy to the plans the British have for the fair, nor the parade. But I would guess that they will send their sailing girls to meet us," she continued.
The lawspeaker nodded. "So a visit to allies it shall be, honoring the alliance and the common fight," she stated seriously. "With a possible tourney as a show of good will and commitment," she continued.
One of her fairies popped up, dressed in rather fine regalia and looking extremely pleased. "Hej!" it shouted.
The lawspeaker nodded. "Canute agrees," she said formally. "It will be like the time when he visited Rome for the Coronation of the Holy Roman Emperor," she added.
Tirpitz took it as a good sign. "So, the expedition is approved?" she wanted to know.
The lawspeaker gave her a level look. "Not yet," she stated. "So far no one has levied cause against it, which is what will happen now," she stated seriously. Then she turned to the wider audience. "Helga Leifsdottir has called for a viking, an expedition to England, protected by the Deutsche Marine, to visit the Queen's realm and her shipgirls," she stated clearly. "Has anyone cause to declare against this endeavor?" she wanted to know.
The various girls broke out in hushed whispers, debating and questioning. Finally, it became clear that none of the girls had any reservations. Their protection was ensured, the voyage had the go-ahead from higher-ups and finally, many of them longed for a longer voyage. Even if it was only across the North Sea, it would be their voyage, the speed would be set by them. It was a bit of liberty they hadn't realized they missed as much as they did. Going into Asia was fine and there were sights to see and fun to be had, but it was no journey across the high seas.
Several girls piped up with variations of "No cause can be made against this," and the lawspeaker nodded.
"Very well," she said. "Helga Leifsdottir, the thing approves your viking. Now, we need to elect the jarl that will lead us, who will hold responsibility for the great journey," the lawspeaker laid out. "You can now nominate candidates," she continued.
After some more debates, three candidates were selected. Helga Leifsdottir, as she had called for the journey. Lina Ragnarsdottir, chieftain of the Visby Vikings. And finally Tirpitz, as the whole thing had been her idle idea and she was the one who was in charge of their protection, so it made sense to have her be overall in charge as well.
In the end, the vote was close, but it would be Tirpitz' responsibility to lead the fleet to and from London.
The lawspeaker nodded. "So it is decided. Come the summer, we shall set sail for England once more. Jarl, we trust you to lead us there," she laid out.
Tirpitz nodded. "I humbly accept the title and will see to it that you all reach England safe and sound," she declared firmly.
Leifsdottir turned to the assembly. "We need to look our best for this journey. We need to look impeccable," she declared.
"You just want to score a new conquest!" someone heckled to chuckles from the crowd.
"Like most of you aren't going to do your own conquests," Leifsdottir gave back with a smirk, leading to louder cheers.
Sydney meanwhile felt conflicted. She kind of wanted to join the fleet that would protect the vikings, but admitting it was difficult.
"Another cruiser would be quite welcome," Shin'you quietly said from behind the squeaking light cruiser.
"Don't do that!" Sydney reflexively snapped, before calming down. "Sorry, mate, you startled me," she apologized. "I'm bad with surprises," she explained.
Shin'you nodded. "Apology accepted. I shouldn't have sneaked up on you, so please accept my apologies as well," the auxiliary carrier gave back.
Sydney grinned. "No worries," she said, holding out her hand.
Shin'you grabbed it and shook it. "So, will you join this fleet?" she wanted to know.
Sydney gave a thumbs up. "You bet I will, someone has to keep that duplicitous Kraut on her toes," she declared grandly. "Can't let her out of my sight, who knows what she'll do if left unwatched," the light cruiser stated forcefully.
Shin'you wisely chose to not mention that the most likely answer to that would be 'watch Sydney like a hawk and get incredibly flustered when asked about it' as far as she could see.
Elsewhere, Kormoran was intermittently glaring daggers at Sydney, much to the amusement of her fellow auxiliary cruisers.
Tirpitz had meanwhile sat down with the various chiefs, talking about the trip. And it became clear that it wouldn't be happening before August at the earliest. For March, April and May there had been expeditions into Asia set up, June would see a riverine journey towards the French Mediterranean coast before going on into Spain which left July to prepare goods. The great invasion of Wacken could not be called off under any circumstances, so it left the end of August. Festival tickets had been bought already and the various girls were not too keen on not going.
"So, mid to late August, huh?" Tirpitz mused. "Well, can't fault you guys for making your own plans, would have done the same," she continued, taking a sip from the horn offered by the lawspeaker. "August should have good sailing weather still, but we better don't put it off until September. I have tickets to the Party.San, which is the week after Wacken. A few days to come down from that, and then we could set out on the 20th. Shame about the Breeze, but we'll make our own entertainment," Tirpitz laid out.
The other girls in the circle nodded. "It seems a wise move. We should give ourselves some slack though. If the weather is too awful, we can't set out after all. We could tie ourselves to the Jarl and have her pull us, but...," Lina Ragnarsdottir offered.
"True. And there may be other unforeseeable things happening. The whole thing with St. Brendan's comes to mind," Helga Leifsdottir added.
"Oh, yeah," Tirpitz shuddered. "Poor buggers, getting abandoned by the wizards like that and now having to put up with Austrians squatting on their land," she joked. "Out of the frying pan and into the fire if there ever was a good example," she added, earning a friendly punch on the arm from Helga.
"Down girl," the chieftain said playfully. "Don't go around assassinating the character of the Austrians, especially now that your navy will have to train an Austrian navy," she added.
"Oh, don't remind me. Their carrier is in the final stages of fitting out and now we need to train their crews," Tirpitz gave back. "They have four frigates and this carrier. And we need to train a few hundred Austrians that likely can't even swim to the man and are likely to get seasick in the bathtub," she groused.
"Just admit it, you're just looking forward to trolling the Austrians long and hard," Lina stated, before taking a deep swig from her own horn.
"Believe it or not, I don't," Tirpitz admitted. "Sure, I'll grouse about them, but mostly they're going to be handled by Hartmann's second. Having to answer to a Turkish-German woman with a brutal Berlin accent is more than enough suffering," she added with a chuckle.
"Oh my," Helga giggled. "A female Prussian Ottoman. Cubed indignity," she observed.
Tirpitz grinned happily. "Oh yes, I'll definitely film the reactions once the Austrian sailors arrive," she promised.
The others held up their horns with a cheer. "To schadenfreude, the best kind of joy!" they toasted.
"To Schadenfreude," Tirpitz agreed.
Several hours later the viking assembly dispersed from the thing. Further questions would be handled via modern communication, Skype was invaluable for such things. They had used the time to get to know the various auxiliary cruisers that would join them on their journey and had traded stories with them. SMS Wolf had impressed them, her daring journey to Australia and back home was exactly the kind of story that set a Viking's emotions aflame.
Tirpitz returned to her scheduled duties, convoy escort and hunting Abyssal battlegroups. The video of the Austrian reaction to having to serve under a female Prussian Ottoman had sent the viking girls laughing for days.
It was in January that things took a turn for the weird.
Helga looked towards where her friend stood in the harbor, 5 abyssal destroyers hiding shyly behind her. "You told me over Skype, but, to be quite honest, I thought you were kidding," she said slowly.
Tirpitz groaned. "Don't remind me. Hartmann wants me to keep feeding them and otherwise make sure they're happy, Kanzlerchen laughed so much she began to puke when I told her and these girls are damn shy," she laid out.
"I can see," Helga said dryly. "Are they afraid?" she wanted to know.
"Somewhat," Tirpitz gave back. "They're feral destroyers and one of their first big interactions was running into a hunting party from a particularly nasty abyssal," she explained.
"How nasty are we talking here?" Helga wanted to know while slowly moving towards Tirpitz and the destroyers.
"Cannibalism," Tirpitz gave back. "We're not entirely sure if it was who we suspect it was, but it may well have been girls from South Atlantic Raider. Which would indicate that her name is more about where she was born than indicating where she does roam," she added.
"Ouch. So, what do the little ones like? Food, I mean," Helga asked.
"Yes," Tirpitz gave back with a smirk.
Helga playfully punched her friend. "Oh, don't be like that," she said slowly.
Tirpitz grinned. "They very much like anything. They're ferals, if they didn't catch anything they didn't eat, so getting food is something quite important to them," she explained.
"Well, lucky for them, I have some honey bread with me," Helga said, producing a few loaves of bread from her hold.
The little destroyers perked up at that. Tirpitz grinned. "Sure, go ahead. She's a friend," she encouraged the little ones.
Cautiously the little ones peaked out behind their flagship, curiously eyeing the treat the viking held out for them.
In the end, the Ro-class was the first to come forward and take one of the offered loaves.
After about a minute, the others came out as well and happily let themselves be fed by the viking.
"I'd guess they will join us on our way to London," Helga remarked, while handing out the last of the breads she had made.
Tirpitz shrugged. "Maybe," she gave back. "There was that incident in Scapa a few days ago. From what I heard, the Brits have asked Wanko to come and help with negotiations. Meanwhile, Hartmann is interested in having the Princess set up shop on Heligoland, after all, there's abyssal ruins there and she might be able to use them or help the scientists there figure out what they do and how. Then there's Wanko's sister," Tirpitz laid out. "The little princess lost her fleet, I'm pretty sure she'd love the little ones here to bits," she explained. "And she'd be better at caring for them than I am," she finished.
Helga gave a slight, noncommittal hum. "If you say so," she added afterwards, keeping her own thoughts on the matter to herself. "So, they will for the time being follow you around?" she asked.
Tirpitz nodded. "Yeah. Lucky for them it's my work shift, I don't think they'd take my absence for longer times well right now," she explained. "Depending on how things go, they might come with us to England in August," she added.
Helga nodded, waving idly to a few other vikings that were milling about on the waterfront or returning from their fishing trips. "Well, I don't think the others will have a problem," she mused. "The little ones seem nice enough," she added, while the little ones were lazily circling in the harbor.
Further weeks went by and it became obvious that Bismarck was expecting. Same as her girlfriend. Some people seemed to have expected them to get married due to that, but the two had bucked expectations. They would marry when they felt like it, not when there were circumstances others felt demanded it.
For Tirpitz it didn't mean a lot of change. Bayern would be the flagship for the time being and unlike her sister she did get along with the older battleship. The main problem would be Bismarck. Using Elder Sibling Privileges, Bismarck had ordered Tirpitz to be present for the launching of her nieces, something Tirpitz wasn't too happy about. Babies were small, fragile, loud and looked like Winston Churchill. She wasn't too keen on having one of these things around. Especially when it turned out that it would be two sets of twins. Still, this was something she hadn't been able to blow off, so their plans had to change. The due date was tentatively put for the tenth of August and Bismarck had already said she wanted her sister there for a week at least. The twentieth for their setting off day might be in jeopardy, but thankfully, they had been able to plan in some slack.
Overall, things were going according to her plans and this was simply excellent.
With a content grin, she petted one of the Wolpertingers while watching her destroyer girls getting fed by a group of Fletchers. In a few hours she would set out from Wilhelmshaven again, escorting a convoy down the African coast to the Congo and then South Africa. There they would take over a convoy headed for the Caribbean before returning to Europe with another transatlantic convoy.
Jarl
Shipgirl summonings had seen a lot of oddities over the years. From venerable ships-of-the-line to sleek wooden frigates, ironclads, caravels and galleons, to the more modern warships. In few countries was the inherent randomness of the summoning felt as dearly as in countries like Sweden, Denmark and Norway. All nations had, just like any other European nation with a navy, started summoning. Coastal battleships, minesweepers, destroyers, frigates, destroyer escorts, there were a lot of ships willing and able to serve. And then there were the odd ones. Namely, the viking longboats, ships that either appeared at random or sometimes in a summoning.
These girls were free-spirited, plunderers and merchants, explorers and conquerors, all united by one thing. Obsolescence so complete it wasn't even funny.
It had been agreed to station them on Gotland, Bornholm and Rügen, far from the fights of the North Sea and the North Atlantic. And there they had stayed, building up villages near the shore, talking to various historians about their time, giving testimony of an age of strife that still sent people dreaming.
Tirpitz got along with the vikings like a house on fire. She had been built as a commerce raider, the biggest one there ever had been. She had been stationed in Norway and would gladly call it her second home. It also did help that the vikings made various meads and generally had a horn to share with Tirpitz.
It also amused them that horns were still used for drinking after all these years.
Tirpitz sat in the hut of the chieftain of Jelling auf Rügen, Helga Leifsdottir, discussing plans for the summer. "We can definitely swing by Wacken," she said, absentmindedly taking another sip. "Should be loads of fun and debauchery. But, I've had a second idea. The North Sea is mostly secure. What do you think about an expedition to England? We gather all the viking girls and cross over from Denmark, Norway and Sweden to England in one massive fleet. Of course I'll be there for protection, as would be some other girls, and we'll have to clear it with the admirals, but I think they understand that you need to go out more than some miles along the Baltic coasts," she said slowly.
Helga gave her a smirk. "Ha, that will be a sight to see," she chortled. "Going west, we're really not doing that often enough. Remember that trip to Russia?" she added.
Tirpitz laughed. "Oh yes, I don't think that Irkutsk expected a group of 60 Vikings to come out of the morning mist from Lake Baikal," she gave back. "We'll have to clear it beforehand, there's what, about a thousand of you by now, we can't simply set out on our own," she added.
The chieftain leaned back. "True," she mused. "But I am intrigued, a viking to England. I think many of my girls would be up for that. And I think the girls of Gotland and Bornholm would be with us here," she continued. "I do hope that I will one day be able to make the long voyage, from Norway to Iceland, from there to Greenland and finally down to Vinland. A thousand years have passed by since, I would greatly enjoy making this trip again. As would my captain," the she said wistfully.
Tirpitz chortled. "I'm sure he would. And he'd definitely rub it in the face of Columbus that he did it first," she said with light laughter.
Helga laughed. "Ha, well spoken, my friend. Now talk to the admirals," she said. "I will begin plans myself," she added.
Tirpitz nodded. "Don't expect it quickly, we might not be able to set sail for months," she cautioned.
The chieftain chuckled. "A viking needs planning, you don't just jump aboard and set sail, hoping for the best. A jarl needs to be elected, too," she explained.
Tirpitz nodded again. "Very well then, I shall talk to Hartmann and Cunningham," she said slowly. "I will be back soon to finalize the plans for the summer festival tour, but I think nothing will impede that," she promised.
Helga grinned. "Wonderful. We shall see each other soon," she said, offering Tirpitz a firm handshake.
When Tirpitz returned to the Naval Base, she ran into Admiral Hartmann carrying a toolbox. "Admiral?" she asked curiously.
Hartmann nodded. "Tirpitz," he said distractedly. "Could you hold that?" he asked, handing the battleship the toolbox.
Tirpitz did so, wondering what the Admiral planned.
Soon they came to his office. And before the office sat a piteously yapping Wolpertinger.
Tirpitz added 2 and 2 and got 5. "A fox flap?" she asked.
Hartmann nodded. "Seriously, who had the great idea to let young, impressionable Wolpertinger kits spend a lot of time around cats?" he groused good-naturedly. "They expect free passage everywhere," he muttered, absently petting the happy Wolpertinger.
Tirpitz could have sworn that the little one grinned.
Hartmann set to work with a big grin. "Heh, those home improvement store ads were right. There's always something to do," he quoted with a chuckle.
With a big heave the admiral lifted the door from its hinges, before giving a piteous whine.
With a sigh Tirpitz plucked the door from his hands. "You're not getting younger," she chided gently.
Hartmann grumbled under his breath, before straightening out again. "Pah, it's nothing," he stated confidently.
Tirpitz graciously chose to not poke his spine. No, she'd tell her sister who would then sic the base doctor on Hartmann.
She put the door on two sawbucks that had already been set up in the office, an action that convinced the little Wolpertinger to fly up and curl up on the door.
Hartmann gently picked the little Wolpertinger up and deposited her on a couch that had a big sunlit spot. The Wolpertinger gave a happy yap and yawned, curling up on the spot and dozing off.
Hartmann took a look at the door, considering. "It needs to be big enough for an adult fox," he muttered. "Now, the question is, how high should I set it?" he muttered. "Let's see," he trailed off, making sketches on the door.
Tirpitz decided to watch it, the large cat flap Hartmann had also bought stood forgotten under one of the sawbucks.
"Yes, this should work nicely," Hartmann finally declared, using the folding rule to sketch where he wanted to cut.
With great care he began sawing out a square from the door. The little Wolpertinger got up and curiously watched the proceedings, sneezing when she took a sniff at the sawdust.
After a few minutes, Hartmann was done and put the square on the door. "Sand paper," he muttered, searching through his toolbox until he found it.
Tirpitz held the Wolpertinger in her arms, watching as Hartmann went to town on the wood, smoothing the edges. "Hinges," Hartmann muttered, searching the toolbox again.
Several minutes later, Hartmann fixed the newly-built fox flap to his door. "No more 'Let me in! Let me out! Let me in!'" he said with a laugh.
Tirpitz looked at the window and down at the Wolpertinger in her arms. If the little one could speak, she'd have been saying "Oh, really? Challenge accepted!" Tirpitz almost pitied the Admiral. Key word, almost. The Frozen jokes were neither forgiven nor forgotten.
Hartmann turned to Tirpitz. "Could you..?" he asked with a sheepish grin.
Tirpitz nodded. "Sure, can't let an old man do the heavy lifting," she said slowly.
Hartmann gave her a mock glare. "I'm in very good shape, I'll have you know," he grumbled.
"For a dinosaur," Tirpitz shot back. Then she handed him the Wolpertinger and went to put the door back on its hinges.
Hartmann was incredibly pleased when the fox flap worked as intended. Even if it was a bit too big, the important thing was that it worked. With a happy grin, he sat in his chair. "Now, Tirpitz, why did you want to see me?" Hartmann asked, while the Wolpertinger made excited use of the fox flap in the background, yipping happily.
Tirpitz grinned. "It's the Vikings," she began. "They feel cooped up and a need to stretch their legs," she explained. "Going to festivals and such is good, but they need to face the sea, need to brave it for more than just some short hours of transit along the Baltic coast. Going through canals to far-off places is well and good, but they miss the North Sea and the North Atlantic and they want to sail these waves once more," she laid out.
Hartmann nodded. It was a known problem, the older girls, especially wood-and-sail ones needed activity in their life. Being sidelined so much had strange results. Victory bothered her bumblebee whenever she could or otherwise put her nose everywhere. Constitution grand-mothered the whole US Navy, a job that filled her. And they tended to take to the sea. Even if it were only coastal runs hawkishly watched, they still could sail for longer periods. And of course, there was Temeraire. The mad frigate and her quest for relevancy.
"What do you propose then?" he wanted to know.
"Well, I've talked with Leifsdottir a bit and we came upon the idea of an expedition. Gather all the Viking girls and set sail in one massive fleet, destination England," Tirpitz laid out. "Depending on how we do it, we can have them land either en masse in London or stage raids of coastal towns," she continued. "Maybe make a festival out of it," she suggested.
Hartmann rubbed his chin. "Well, how do you propose we get them over there? They're relatively slow and there's quite a few of them, too," he wanted to know.
"A small escort fleet. Mostly our girls. Especially the various auxiliary cruisers. Maybe the Danes, Swedes and Norwegians send a few of their girls, possibly we could add the Poles," Tirpitz gave back. "It wouldn't take too long, either. I'd estimate that the girls, with favorable winds, should need about four, at most five days for the crossing from Oslo," she laid out.
Hartmann stood up to take a look at one of the maps in his office. "Five days you say?" he asked, receiving a nod from Tirpitz.
"Well, the Baltic is secure, so the Swedes may well be able to dispatch quite a few ships. Don't know if Finland would want to be part of it, but Denmark and Norway might well help out. For the time being we could station some of our girls there," Hartmann mused out loud. "Hell, it might be a good chance for our auxiliary cruisers and Shin'you to get some practice in," he continued.
"Well, I'll have to talk it over with the British, the Swedes, the Norwegians and the Danes, but I'm pretty sure that leading a fleet of Vikings to London shouldn't see any objections," Hartmann finally said to Tirpitz. "Though, when would they want to sail?" he asked.
Tirpitz shrugged. "I figure it might be early next year, in spring," she guessed. "They have festivals over the summer and autumn isn't exactly good sailing weather. The winter is right out," she elaborated.
Hartmann nodded. "Very well, this gives us time to plan. I'm pretty sure we can arrange for something special," he promised cryptically.
Tirpitz saluted and pretended not to notice how the little Wolpertinger snuck on Hartmann's seat.
She had barely closed the office door, when Hartmann let out an indignant "Hey!" obviously directed at the Wolpertinger.
Days went by, convoys were escorted, Abyssals were fought, festivals were visited and early summer turned to autumn.
Tirpitz looked up when she got a mail, summoning her to Admiral Hartmann.
On the way she smirked at seeing several new fox flaps. It seemed the little Wolpertingers had chosen the base as their permanent home, at least this far none of them had made any moves to leave the base. So far the three girls tended to generally stick together, rooming in a burrow near the battleship barracks. She gave Prinzregent Luitpold a salute in passing, the older battleship discussing an upcoming trip to Bavaria. It took her a moment, but then she remembered. The old Bavarian huntsman and the vet that had helped them out a while ago. It took another few moments to connect the dots. Obviously Bayern and her friends were worried, the actions of the American wizards had shaken up a lot of girls with human friends. Tirpitz herself wasn't involved in that, so she wasn't too concerned.
She knocked on Hartmann's door, waiting for the muffled "Enter," opened the door and stood still.
Hartmann sat in his chair, one of the three Wolpertingers on his lap, one circling around the ceiling and one dozing on his couch.
"You wanted to see me?" Tirpitz asked.
Hartmann nodded, continuing to pet the very content Wolpertinger. "Sure. Now, I've talked with the various other admirals. The British are amenable to letting the Vikings come to London, Cunningham suggested a parade up the Thames. Afterwards, a fair can be arranged in Hyde Park. Now we only really need a date," he said slowly.
Tirpitz nodded. "That is great to hear. I'll have to talk to Leifsdottir about that," she said excitedly. "And, who would you suggest for escort duty?" she wanted to know.
Hartmann grinned. "I've asked the auxiliary cruisers, they're completely enamored by the idea. Shin'you also agreed to escort duty. So, you'll have a group of roughly 30 escort ships, in addition to whatever else the other nations send," he said.
Tirpitz grinned. "That sounds great," she gave back. "Now, if there's nothing else, I'll call Leifsdottir," she continued.
Hartmann gave a small wave. "Yes, that's all for now, I'll have to plan a visit to St. Brendan," he said, giving the formerly circling Wolpertinger an exasperated look, as the girl now rested on his keyboard. "Too much exposure to cats," he grumbled in her direction, getting a very smug vulpine grin in return.
Tirpitz left with a chuckle, glad that she wouldn't have to deal with foreign dignitaries.
Leifsdottir was audibly excited when she heard the viking had been approved. "These are great news, my friend," she shouted gleefully. "On equinox we will hold thing on Bornholm, all Vikings will assemble there. Please come and bring those auxiliary cruisers you've talked about before," she requested.
Tirpitz nodded and marked it down in her logs. There were still weeks until autumn equinox, ample time to notify all the auxiliary cruisers and ensure they could be there. Especially Kormoran, the girl had returned and immediately run off to Australia, ostensibly for a rematch with Sydney. Though if scuttlebutt could be trusted, this "rematch" was more both of them being very awkward around each other. Constant insults, grumbling about how the other was insufferable and violently denying any underlying tension, while also denying positive feelings for each other. Classic tsundere courting rituals, fun to watch from a safe distance.
Further weeks went by, Tirpitz was mostly busy with North Atlantic patrols, convoy protection and keeping an eye on potential abyssal spawns in the Arctic Ocean. The last thing they needed was an Abyssal installation taking over Svalbard. Or worst case Greenland or Iceland.
Finally, Equinox arrived. Tirpitz sailed out from Rostock with the group of auxiliary cruisers, Shin'you and a very cross Sydney, who, in her own words was merely there to ensure that Kormoran didn't get herself killed before their rematch. No one bought it in the slightest, but teasing the light cruiser about her worries for Kormoran got old quickly. Too much tsun for any one person to handle.
The thing would be held some hundred meters from the southernmost beach on Bornholm. Hundreds of viking shipgirls had assembled, waiting for the last participants to arrive.
Finally, the last girls arrived, and Leifsdottir stepped forward, coming to a stop under a Silver Linden tree. The tree was young, a scant few years old, having been planted there by the first Vikings to return.
"Welcome," she began grandly. "It pleases me greatly to see all of you here for the thing," she continued. "In accordance with the old laws, I call upon the chieftains and the lawspeaker," she stated clearly.
Five more girls stepped forward. "I am the lawspeaker," the youngest-looking one stated. "What cause is there for calling a thing?" she asked formally.
Leifsdottir grinned. "A viking!" she announced. "Too long have we stayed cooped up in the Baltic Sea, idly milling between Gotland and Rügen and not doing much else. We were not meant to sit idle!" she said passionately. "And an opportunity arose! My friend Tirpitz proposed a trip to England, setting sail for a voyage across the North Sea, once more coming upon the shores of England," she laid out.
The lawspeaker nodded. "I have heard you," she confirmed. "Do you wish to issue a call to arms then?" she wanted to know.
"Nay. We might find a fight on England's shores, but most of all it shall be a state visit, an exercise for those sailing with us as our protectors against the monsters spawned from Niflheimr and a chance for us to stretch our legs, to sate our wanderlust with a journey across the high seas," Leifsdottir explained.
The lawspeaker pondered these words. "I see," she said regally. "Tirpitz, it was you who suggested it, please tell us more about this viking," she requested.
Tirpitz slowly stepped up. "It is as Leifsdottir said, a journey across the North Sea to London. I have talked about it with my admiral, who in turn talked with his colleagues and they agreed to this journey. The girls here with me will be tasked with escorting you the whole journey, as the North Sea might be comparably safe, incursions do happen," she stated. "The fleet would be assembled in the Skaggerak and then move west to London. In London, it would be a parade up the Thames, with an additional fair to be held in Hyde Park afterwards. I am not privy to the plans the British have for the fair, nor the parade. But I would guess that they will send their sailing girls to meet us," she continued.
The lawspeaker nodded. "So a visit to allies it shall be, honoring the alliance and the common fight," she stated seriously. "With a possible tourney as a show of good will and commitment," she continued.
One of her fairies popped up, dressed in rather fine regalia and looking extremely pleased. "Hej!" it shouted.
The lawspeaker nodded. "Canute agrees," she said formally. "It will be like the time when he visited Rome for the Coronation of the Holy Roman Emperor," she added.
Tirpitz took it as a good sign. "So, the expedition is approved?" she wanted to know.
The lawspeaker gave her a level look. "Not yet," she stated. "So far no one has levied cause against it, which is what will happen now," she stated seriously. Then she turned to the wider audience. "Helga Leifsdottir has called for a viking, an expedition to England, protected by the Deutsche Marine, to visit the Queen's realm and her shipgirls," she stated clearly. "Has anyone cause to declare against this endeavor?" she wanted to know.
The various girls broke out in hushed whispers, debating and questioning. Finally, it became clear that none of the girls had any reservations. Their protection was ensured, the voyage had the go-ahead from higher-ups and finally, many of them longed for a longer voyage. Even if it was only across the North Sea, it would be their voyage, the speed would be set by them. It was a bit of liberty they hadn't realized they missed as much as they did. Going into Asia was fine and there were sights to see and fun to be had, but it was no journey across the high seas.
Several girls piped up with variations of "No cause can be made against this," and the lawspeaker nodded.
"Very well," she said. "Helga Leifsdottir, the thing approves your viking. Now, we need to elect the jarl that will lead us, who will hold responsibility for the great journey," the lawspeaker laid out. "You can now nominate candidates," she continued.
After some more debates, three candidates were selected. Helga Leifsdottir, as she had called for the journey. Lina Ragnarsdottir, chieftain of the Visby Vikings. And finally Tirpitz, as the whole thing had been her idle idea and she was the one who was in charge of their protection, so it made sense to have her be overall in charge as well.
In the end, the vote was close, but it would be Tirpitz' responsibility to lead the fleet to and from London.
The lawspeaker nodded. "So it is decided. Come the summer, we shall set sail for England once more. Jarl, we trust you to lead us there," she laid out.
Tirpitz nodded. "I humbly accept the title and will see to it that you all reach England safe and sound," she declared firmly.
Leifsdottir turned to the assembly. "We need to look our best for this journey. We need to look impeccable," she declared.
"You just want to score a new conquest!" someone heckled to chuckles from the crowd.
"Like most of you aren't going to do your own conquests," Leifsdottir gave back with a smirk, leading to louder cheers.
Sydney meanwhile felt conflicted. She kind of wanted to join the fleet that would protect the vikings, but admitting it was difficult.
"Another cruiser would be quite welcome," Shin'you quietly said from behind the squeaking light cruiser.
"Don't do that!" Sydney reflexively snapped, before calming down. "Sorry, mate, you startled me," she apologized. "I'm bad with surprises," she explained.
Shin'you nodded. "Apology accepted. I shouldn't have sneaked up on you, so please accept my apologies as well," the auxiliary carrier gave back.
Sydney grinned. "No worries," she said, holding out her hand.
Shin'you grabbed it and shook it. "So, will you join this fleet?" she wanted to know.
Sydney gave a thumbs up. "You bet I will, someone has to keep that duplicitous Kraut on her toes," she declared grandly. "Can't let her out of my sight, who knows what she'll do if left unwatched," the light cruiser stated forcefully.
Shin'you wisely chose to not mention that the most likely answer to that would be 'watch Sydney like a hawk and get incredibly flustered when asked about it' as far as she could see.
Elsewhere, Kormoran was intermittently glaring daggers at Sydney, much to the amusement of her fellow auxiliary cruisers.
Tirpitz had meanwhile sat down with the various chiefs, talking about the trip. And it became clear that it wouldn't be happening before August at the earliest. For March, April and May there had been expeditions into Asia set up, June would see a riverine journey towards the French Mediterranean coast before going on into Spain which left July to prepare goods. The great invasion of Wacken could not be called off under any circumstances, so it left the end of August. Festival tickets had been bought already and the various girls were not too keen on not going.
"So, mid to late August, huh?" Tirpitz mused. "Well, can't fault you guys for making your own plans, would have done the same," she continued, taking a sip from the horn offered by the lawspeaker. "August should have good sailing weather still, but we better don't put it off until September. I have tickets to the Party.San, which is the week after Wacken. A few days to come down from that, and then we could set out on the 20th. Shame about the Breeze, but we'll make our own entertainment," Tirpitz laid out.
The other girls in the circle nodded. "It seems a wise move. We should give ourselves some slack though. If the weather is too awful, we can't set out after all. We could tie ourselves to the Jarl and have her pull us, but...," Lina Ragnarsdottir offered.
"True. And there may be other unforeseeable things happening. The whole thing with St. Brendan's comes to mind," Helga Leifsdottir added.
"Oh, yeah," Tirpitz shuddered. "Poor buggers, getting abandoned by the wizards like that and now having to put up with Austrians squatting on their land," she joked. "Out of the frying pan and into the fire if there ever was a good example," she added, earning a friendly punch on the arm from Helga.
"Down girl," the chieftain said playfully. "Don't go around assassinating the character of the Austrians, especially now that your navy will have to train an Austrian navy," she added.
"Oh, don't remind me. Their carrier is in the final stages of fitting out and now we need to train their crews," Tirpitz gave back. "They have four frigates and this carrier. And we need to train a few hundred Austrians that likely can't even swim to the man and are likely to get seasick in the bathtub," she groused.
"Just admit it, you're just looking forward to trolling the Austrians long and hard," Lina stated, before taking a deep swig from her own horn.
"Believe it or not, I don't," Tirpitz admitted. "Sure, I'll grouse about them, but mostly they're going to be handled by Hartmann's second. Having to answer to a Turkish-German woman with a brutal Berlin accent is more than enough suffering," she added with a chuckle.
"Oh my," Helga giggled. "A female Prussian Ottoman. Cubed indignity," she observed.
Tirpitz grinned happily. "Oh yes, I'll definitely film the reactions once the Austrian sailors arrive," she promised.
The others held up their horns with a cheer. "To schadenfreude, the best kind of joy!" they toasted.
"To Schadenfreude," Tirpitz agreed.
Several hours later the viking assembly dispersed from the thing. Further questions would be handled via modern communication, Skype was invaluable for such things. They had used the time to get to know the various auxiliary cruisers that would join them on their journey and had traded stories with them. SMS Wolf had impressed them, her daring journey to Australia and back home was exactly the kind of story that set a Viking's emotions aflame.
Tirpitz returned to her scheduled duties, convoy escort and hunting Abyssal battlegroups. The video of the Austrian reaction to having to serve under a female Prussian Ottoman had sent the viking girls laughing for days.
It was in January that things took a turn for the weird.
Helga looked towards where her friend stood in the harbor, 5 abyssal destroyers hiding shyly behind her. "You told me over Skype, but, to be quite honest, I thought you were kidding," she said slowly.
Tirpitz groaned. "Don't remind me. Hartmann wants me to keep feeding them and otherwise make sure they're happy, Kanzlerchen laughed so much she began to puke when I told her and these girls are damn shy," she laid out.
"I can see," Helga said dryly. "Are they afraid?" she wanted to know.
"Somewhat," Tirpitz gave back. "They're feral destroyers and one of their first big interactions was running into a hunting party from a particularly nasty abyssal," she explained.
"How nasty are we talking here?" Helga wanted to know while slowly moving towards Tirpitz and the destroyers.
"Cannibalism," Tirpitz gave back. "We're not entirely sure if it was who we suspect it was, but it may well have been girls from South Atlantic Raider. Which would indicate that her name is more about where she was born than indicating where she does roam," she added.
"Ouch. So, what do the little ones like? Food, I mean," Helga asked.
"Yes," Tirpitz gave back with a smirk.
Helga playfully punched her friend. "Oh, don't be like that," she said slowly.
Tirpitz grinned. "They very much like anything. They're ferals, if they didn't catch anything they didn't eat, so getting food is something quite important to them," she explained.
"Well, lucky for them, I have some honey bread with me," Helga said, producing a few loaves of bread from her hold.
The little destroyers perked up at that. Tirpitz grinned. "Sure, go ahead. She's a friend," she encouraged the little ones.
Cautiously the little ones peaked out behind their flagship, curiously eyeing the treat the viking held out for them.
In the end, the Ro-class was the first to come forward and take one of the offered loaves.
After about a minute, the others came out as well and happily let themselves be fed by the viking.
"I'd guess they will join us on our way to London," Helga remarked, while handing out the last of the breads she had made.
Tirpitz shrugged. "Maybe," she gave back. "There was that incident in Scapa a few days ago. From what I heard, the Brits have asked Wanko to come and help with negotiations. Meanwhile, Hartmann is interested in having the Princess set up shop on Heligoland, after all, there's abyssal ruins there and she might be able to use them or help the scientists there figure out what they do and how. Then there's Wanko's sister," Tirpitz laid out. "The little princess lost her fleet, I'm pretty sure she'd love the little ones here to bits," she explained. "And she'd be better at caring for them than I am," she finished.
Helga gave a slight, noncommittal hum. "If you say so," she added afterwards, keeping her own thoughts on the matter to herself. "So, they will for the time being follow you around?" she asked.
Tirpitz nodded. "Yeah. Lucky for them it's my work shift, I don't think they'd take my absence for longer times well right now," she explained. "Depending on how things go, they might come with us to England in August," she added.
Helga nodded, waving idly to a few other vikings that were milling about on the waterfront or returning from their fishing trips. "Well, I don't think the others will have a problem," she mused. "The little ones seem nice enough," she added, while the little ones were lazily circling in the harbor.
Further weeks went by and it became obvious that Bismarck was expecting. Same as her girlfriend. Some people seemed to have expected them to get married due to that, but the two had bucked expectations. They would marry when they felt like it, not when there were circumstances others felt demanded it.
For Tirpitz it didn't mean a lot of change. Bayern would be the flagship for the time being and unlike her sister she did get along with the older battleship. The main problem would be Bismarck. Using Elder Sibling Privileges, Bismarck had ordered Tirpitz to be present for the launching of her nieces, something Tirpitz wasn't too happy about. Babies were small, fragile, loud and looked like Winston Churchill. She wasn't too keen on having one of these things around. Especially when it turned out that it would be two sets of twins. Still, this was something she hadn't been able to blow off, so their plans had to change. The due date was tentatively put for the tenth of August and Bismarck had already said she wanted her sister there for a week at least. The twentieth for their setting off day might be in jeopardy, but thankfully, they had been able to plan in some slack.
Overall, things were going according to her plans and this was simply excellent.
With a content grin, she petted one of the Wolpertingers while watching her destroyer girls getting fed by a group of Fletchers. In a few hours she would set out from Wilhelmshaven again, escorting a convoy down the African coast to the Congo and then South Africa. There they would take over a convoy headed for the Caribbean before returning to Europe with another transatlantic convoy.
. As for Ptchyr's voice, Imagine a more raspy Doctor Pol.
