"Subs. Lots of them."
"Joniec?"
"Almost doubtlessly."
"Finally!" Yost Lauritz exclaimed, "A chance to get my revenge! Tell everyone who doesn't absolutely need to be here to get off the ship. I want nothing but a skeleton crew."
"Is that wise going into battle, sir?"
"No, but I'd rather not have their blood on my hands."
"You think we're going to be defeated that badly, sir?"
"No, as a matter of fact I think we will have an astounding victory, but I'm not going to give up today, so either Joniec or myself are going to die in this battle, and I don't want people to die who don't have to if Joniec blows up the Olaf V."
***
"There's a troop transport in my sights, first admiral."
"Excellent. Fire the first torpedo," replied Joniec.
***
"We've been hit!"
"Verdammnis," whispered Olensheim, "We're ruined."
***
"I've got Joniec! The flagship always fires first in the Eastern navy!"
"A damn stupid thing to do on their part, but I'm quite happy about it. Are all the nonessential crew gone?"
"Yes, sir,"
"Good. Close in on the bastard," spat Yost Lauritz.
***
"We're being attacked," said the scanning officer in contemptuous disbelief.
"What kind of an idiot would attack the flagship first? It's always the best in the fleet, and least likely to be damaged," wondered Joniec loudly.
"An idiot who is out for blood."
***
"You heard me! Get every soldier off this ship and onto another one," Olensheim yelled.
"Sir, that's insane! We can't move troops around in the middle of a naval conflict!"
"Well, we're going to! I don't want a single German soldier to die before we reach the German mainland."
"And the sailors?"
"That's up to them."
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