The Niemec Task Force

February 12, 2003 - Waters North of Diego Garcia - Southern Expanse

It was warm here. Far warmer than it had been in Europa. It made sense, of course, since they were almost to the equator, but even if the brain understood it, that didn’t mean that the body wouldn’t be shocked.

The shipgirls and commandos of the Niemec Reich task force sent to the Southern Expanse to join the international hunt were confined to their cabins. The sun was so sharp, and the clouds so sparse, that the steel of the decks was boiling hot.  The U-boats assigned to this task force were the only ones who were spared from the heat, as they stayed submerged until nightfall. An observer looking out at the fleet would question if it was abandoned, given the lack of movement on deck. 

The only ship that had any activity onboard her was the Wilhelm Gustloff, a hospital ship. Wilhelm and the dozens of medical staff who worked under her were kept busy taking care of the rest of the fleet, many of whom had developed fevers, heatstroke, or other illnesses from the foreign climate. Wilhelm was especially worried now that a detached force led by the battleship Scharnhorst had separated from the rest of the fleet, and would be unable to receive proper medical attention. 

"Wilhelm!"

The only person in the fleet who was still in high spirits was its commander, Blücher, the second of the Admiral Hipper-class cruisers, and an Admiral in the Reichsmarine. Wilhelm hadn't really known her before this, but she had served under her younger sister, Prinz Eugen, who was also an Admiral. When Wilhelm had first met Blücher, she had a double take, simply due to how similar they were at a glance. They both had the same platinum blonde hair, the same lean figure, the same rank, and the same MSB training. But once you looked past that, you began to see the differences. Where Prinz Eugen's eyes were a mismatched golden brown and dark grey, Blücher's were both a warm hazel colour. Blücher's hair was also a few inches longer than Prinz Eugen's, and didn't have all of the cat clips that Prinz Eugen collected.

Their personalities also were also different, as Wilhelm had quickly noticed. Prinz Eugen was obsessed with anything that she considered 'cute', to the point that she would often toy with people in order to elicit reactions that she liked. It had put Wilhelm through a lot of stress, and though she thought that Prinz Eugen was a great commander, she was never able to like her as a person in the way that she liked her other comrades. Blücher, on the other hand, was more of the happy-go-lucky type, and had had a smile on her face since the moment Wilhelm met her.

That smile was still on Blücher's face as she walked through Wilhelm's primary ward. She was wearing the Reichsmarine's Jungle Uniform: black field boots, loose olive pants, an olive tunic, and an olive field cap. Blücher had strayed from regulation, and had discarded her tunic to wear a cotton shirt with rolled-up sleeves due to the heat. 

"Good afternoon, Admiral," responded Wilhelm, saluting.

"Oh, relax a bit, Wilhelm!" said Blücher. "Enough with the saluting! And I told you that you can just call me by name!"

"My apologies, Admiral...I mean... Blücher."

Wilhelm still wasn't used to the lack of formality the Blücher maintained. Prinz Eugen had been very tight to regulation, and ensured that all of her subordinates were, too. Blücher, on the other hand, didn't spare most of the regulations and formalities a second thought. She had claimed that it was harder to make friends if you only called each other by your ranks. 

The two of them stood in silence, looking out of a porthole at the rest of the task force. Wilhelm was right next to Blücher's hull, which was at the center of the formation. Blücher's hull was quite similar to Prinz Eugen's, except for the fact that she was slightly shorter. She had the same eight eight-inch guns, the same clipper bow, and the same superstructure. She had yellow markings along the sides of her hull and on her turrets, and a yellow pennant with the Reichsmarine's ensign and a black shield with two keys flew from her mast. They showed her rank, as an Admiral, and identified who she was. 

One her other side was Gneisenau, the younger of the two Scharnhorst-class battleships. She was substantially longer than Blücher, by about thirty meters, and had nine eleven-inch guns mounted in three turrets, with two in the forward position and one in the aft. Her turrets had blue markings on them, the same colour as the lines on her hull, which denoted her rank as a Kommodore. She flew the Reichsmarine ensign from her mast, underneath a blue pennant. The pennant, like Blücher's, bore the Reichsmarine ensign, along with a white and gold shield, and a yellow stripe where it met her mast. It identified her and her rank, as well as the fact that she was serving as deputy commander of the fleet's main force. 

Arrayed around the three of them in a circle were three destroyers, Z31, Z33, and Z34, and six submarines, U-37, U-66, U68, U-69, U-99, U-103, and U-107. The formation felt hollow, and it was, after the departure of the detached force earlier that morning, under the command of the battleship Scharnhorst. Two destroyers, Z37 and Z39, as well as four submarines, U-48, U-123, U-124, and U-125, had gone with her. 

"Blücher?" Began Wilhelm, breaking the silence.

"Hmm? What is it, Wilhelm?" Blücher responded, but they both kept staring out at the fleet.

"I was wondering..." began Wilhelm, unsure of exactly how to continue, "I don't want to criticize High Command, but, why are they sending us out here? We may have signed a treaty with Hollandia, but we're still at war with Gual, Oceanica, and all of their colonies. One of our three heavy cruisers, and two of our three battleships, all of whom could turn the tide on the frontlines, being sent here. Why, Blücher?"

She turned to look at Blücher, demanding an answer. Blücher kept staring forward, at the see, before finally speaking. 

"To be honest, Wilhelm, I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know!?" 

Wilhelm had lost her temper, and raised her voice against a superior officer for the first time in her life. She was a hospital ship, and belonged near the frontlines, where she could treat injured soldiers, not in the middle of an ocean, doing who knows what.

"No one in High Command knows what were looking for. All we know is that seven other countries have mobilised fleets for this. The Westarians and Yamato signed a ceasefire about a month and a half ago, and not too long after, they sent fleets towards the Southern Expanse. a few days later, the Hollandians came to us for a peace deal, and an Oceanic fleet left the front lines. As far as we can tell, those four nations actually know what we're looking for. After that, every other major power decided to send a fleet of its own."

Wilhelm was shocked. She couldn't believe that they were taking such measures over something that they didn't even know anything about.

"Even so, why do we need such a powerful force? If it's just a search, it should be fine with just a bunch of submarines and destroyers, right?"

Blücher turned to look at her for the first time in their conversation. 

"As it stands, Wilhelm," she began, her face missing its usual brightness, "Our fleet might be too weak."

"What do you mean? This is half of our heavy firepower!"

"Our ally, Mediterrenea, decided to send a fleet centered around two battleships, Roma and Dante, the heavy cruisers Zara, Fiume, and Bolzano, as well as several dozen light cruisers and destroyers."

"...What...?"

"It's true that Hollandia has a weak fleet, and that most of the Gaul forces are on the front, but the Oceanic fleet is far stronger than ours. Aerial reconnaissance and convoy raiders report that the Oceanics have sent a fleet with five battleships, four aircraft carriers, between two and five heavy cruisers, several dozen destroyers and light cruisers, and at least four submarines. We can probably expect Yamato and Westaria to have similar fleets, possibly larger ones, considering that they aren't in an active war anymore."

Wilhelm was too shocked to speak. According to what Blücher had just said, Oceanica was sending a fleet similar in strength to the Reich's entire surface navy, and that several other countries would probably make similar moves. 

"I'm sure you can guess, Wilhelm, but we're going to have to fight fleets like that during this operation. I'm certain that there will be a lot of casualties in a battle like that, which is why you're here with us. Regardless of whether or not we find whatever it is that we're looking for, it would be a miracle if even half of this fleet survives."

The two of them stood in silence, thinking over Blücher's words. When the Singularity had been destroyed, Wilhelm hadn't really understood just how much the world was going to change in such a short amount of time. It was as if the world was collapsing around her, and burying her in the rubble.