World of Warships is doing a Halloween themed ship stories contest. I was interested so I tried to come up with something for it.

The World of Warships

Something was wrong. Commander Albert Wentzel could feel it in his gut. He and his crew were ordered to set sail for Two Brothers, a battlefield where a million men had laid down their lives. While the fleet was being divided, Wentzel tried to place a call to the Fleet Admiral.

When he was first brought to the World of Warships, Wentzel had seen vast seas of opportunity, of glory, of honor, and endless battle. He had amassed a crew of fearless, loyal sailors. He had bested battleships, blown up cruisers, scorched destroyers black, and sent carriers limping away with nary a plane left on their scarred decks. He had seen everything, and he had destroyed everything.

The battleship commander had also been bested himself. Wentzel remembered what it felt like, to be surrounded, overwhelmed by incoming fire, and killed. He and his crew knew death, in all of its gruesome forms. In this world, death was inevitable. The only question was victory. Wentzel and his men always looked ahead, to victory and victory alone.

Through countless battles, the commander rose up the ranks until he was able to take command of the most powerful German battleship, the Großer Kurfürst. He had captained the Bayern and the Gneisenau. He had indulged in the legend of the Bismarck. He had experienced the full might of the Friedrich der Große. Wentzel earned his glorious command, and his crew had served with distinction from the outset.

Now Commander Albert Wentzel was here, standing on the bridge of … the Scharnhorst. The Scharnhorst was a good ship, fast and exceptionally well protected. Even so, just being here troubled him greatly. He was one of the most well known and respected men in this world. He should be on the bridge of the Kurfürst. In the beginning, he dared not ask the Fleet Admiral about the decision to reassign him. Now he was frustrated enough to try.

“Admiral, tell me why. What is the purpose of our reassignment to the Scharnhorst?”

“Almost to 21 points. Just a little more,” said a voice on the far end of the line.

“Admiral?”

“Yeah, well I’m sick of that broken sub, so we’re playing lower tiers.”

Useless, Wentzel thought. The Fleet Admiral always seemed to be talking right past him, speaking in riddles, telling jokes, and answering questions no one asked. Wentzel stayed on the line regardless. There was still a little time, and he needed answers.

When the fleets arrived at Two Brothers, Commander Wentzel prepared for a tactic many thought suicidal. He planned a delayed, but otherwise direct assault on the enemy fleet between the two islands comprising Two Brothers. The tactic had failed as many times as it had won him and his fleet the battle. Victory to the bold and the cunning; death to the timid and the stupid.

Albert would have to hang up and see to the battle soon, so he made one last attempt to get an answer out of the Fleet Admiral. When he put the phone to his ear, what he heard sent chills down his spine.

“You brought the wrong ship!”

“What?” Albert swallowed hard. Was there some kind of miscommunication between them? Knowing the Admiral, almost certainly.

“Haarlem’s a tier 8! Oh we @#%!&* up. Fail div.”

What was a fail div? “Admiral, please. Why were we reassigned?” Wentzel hoped that whatever he meant by wrong ship, it would somehow lead to him commanding the Kurfürst again.

There was a long pause, but eventually, the Fleet Admiral gave him an answer.

He would never forget those dreaded words.

“There it is. Balao.”

Wentzel slammed the phone down and stormed out of the bridge.

Balao. That cursed submarine. That bane of banes. Wentzel had sunken more than his fair share of submarines in recent months, but in turn, his beloved Großer Kurfürst had also been devastated time and time again. Wentzel remembered each time the credit for his destruction went to the Balao. He knew all too well why the Fleet Admiral wouldn’t let him be bested a fourth time. That submarine had cost him the command of the ship he loved so dearly.

Even knowing the Balao was the source of all his troubles, there was little he could do about it. There was another battle in front of him, and the Fleet Admiral was rambling about the Haarlem and something called a fail div. Just once would the man say something coherent?

Commander Wentzel returned to the bridge of the Scharnhorst and steeled himself for the battle ahead.

The Scharnhorst waited until well into the battle before beginning her push through the center of the two islands, but Wentzel received numerous reports in the meantime. Almost none of the news was good. Ships much more powerful than his were appearing on the far side of the island. Some of them were legendary, like the Yamato. Wentzel feared he might not accomplish nearly as much as he set out to do. There was something unusual about the makeup of the two opposing sides. His plan was set, however. They were going in no matter what.

“Head straight through while they’re distracted on the right flank,” Wentzel ordered, “Once we’re on the far side, we’ll sink the King George, and then capture their-”

“We’ve been pinged by a submarine, sir!”

“Torpedoes, just off the bow!”

They had barely made it into position when everything fell apart. The Scharnhorst lacked hydro-acoustic search equipment, and by the time anyone was able to spot the torpedoes, the helmsman could do nothing. Everyone braced for impact, but Wentzel stole a glance at the deadly wakes. Was he seeing things, or were there six of them?

“No.”

“There it is. Balao.” The Fleet Admiral’s words suddenly sounded like a warning.

“What is the Balao doing here?!” Wentzel cried out.

“We’ve been pinged again!”

“… oh my God ….”

This was a fun little thing to write on the side. I’m not sure if fail divs are spooky per se, or even facing off against the Balao, but there’s a weird ‘parallel worlds’ thing going on that Wentzel hasn’t caught onto, and that makes things just a little bit unsettling. I actually wouldn’t mind making an actual series out of this since the game has plenty of characters to either use as is or take inspiration from.

We’ll see. I just went through the trouble of writing it so I figured it should be on the blog as well.