Commander's Rounds

Entry 87: Softening Iron

The commander waited up on the docks. It wasn't often that Kansen from the Atlantic Division made the way over to visit him, but this time was an exception, it seemed. The commander did wonder why only a few ships made the journey, but he would soon see why. He had files on each of the ships that stepped off of the water and went up the dock.

König was the leader of the Hochseeflotte branch of the Iron Blood, which formed one of the important parts of the strength of the Atlantic Division. When it came to exercises, she was as ruthless with her comrades as any enemy would be, as Bismarck could attest to. She was working in place of the other Friedrich, who was currently in the Iron Blood homelands, but if that role was wearing on her, König certainly didn't show it.

The second was an enormous blonde valkyrie of a woman who wasn't nearly as severe-seeming as her commander- if anything, she was looking around like it was the first time she had been invited to a friend's house. That one was Arminius, one of the ships that only existed on paper until now but had been given a first chance at life... And she seemed hell-bent on enjoying it and seeing what was out there in the big, wide world.

What he didn't expect was a jaunty little companion with a cocky grin, and after comparing her to the files, König also brought along S113, a destroyer. While there was rarely a reason to not bring a destroyer along- Ark Royal could certainly talk your ear off about that- It was still bit unexpected, and he wasn't informed of this extra guest. Still, he was sure that König had her reasons.

However, before he could think too deeply about this König was right in front of him. S113 stopped to have a look around, but didn't interrupt anything her boss had to say. König stood at attention in a way he had only normally seen from Albert, and saluted. "Commander. It is unfortunate that we cannot confer in person more often, but there is the small matter of being on the other side of the world."

He saluted in return "Well, it's good that you made the trip here, even if it was a long one."

König drummed her fingers on the head of her cane. "It seemed only appropriate, considering. Anyway, my assistant here..." She looked around- Arminius was nowhere to be found. "...Has run off." She sighed. "Well, she will return in time."

"König, look!" Arminius came bounding back, with someone in her arms. "I found this really big child! She's adorable, right?" The battleship was hauling Anchorage in her arms, and the cruiser looked a bit surprised, but was otherwise still herself- She was always happy to be held by kind, friendly people. She gave a cheery wave to König.

König shut her eyes, and pressed a couple of fingers to one of her temples. "Yes, thank you. Now, please put her back where you found her."

Arminius left to do as ordered, and then König looked at the commander. "She is... She is like this."

Alexander nodded. "Don't worry, I understand completely." He looked around. "While we do appreciate the visit, I do wonder why you're here? You were pretty light on the details."

"I think it's a necessary precaution." König looked over to headquarters. "Walk with me."

The commander did so. "I can believe you'd want to be sensible about this, but I do wonder why you're here. Did Marco ask you to go, or are you here on your own initiative?"

König nodded. "Marco is occupied with the present, but during my stay here I would like to talk to you about something that's a few steps in the future." She curled her fingers around the head of her cane. "Namely, how we plan to coordinate a joint attack on the Arctic."

The commander let her inside. "You'll be pleased to know that you're not the only one who has been thinking about this sort of thing." He waited until she was inside, and then closed the door. "However, an actual attack is off the table until we know what defenses they have up there, even aside from a whole lot of Siren types that we may not have encountered yet."