[color=f49ac2]Off the coast of Cape town.[/color]
The mighty battleship Bismarck was still going strong, the formation holding except the scout planes alternating in scouting runs and refueling aboard the Bismarck itself.

Suddenly the scout plane that was currently out made a sharp turn, the lookouts confused of its sudden movements, almost scared or panicked.
After a short five minutes the scout was in radio range, the radio not good enough for long range communications, but good enough for short range communication within a few kilometers.

A young officer ran from the observations deck and hurried to the captains quarter, banging the door furiously until the angry old sailor opened.

-"What is it!? I was asleep, i hope it's something important for your sake!" Kunz Hoehner roared out, only wearing his undershirt and underwear.

-"Warships, at least four vessels. Big ones sir!" The heavy breathing mixed with the erratic voice of the officer. It was only met with the shocked awe of captain Hoehner.

[color=f49ac2]Fifteen minutes later, Bismarck's meeting room[/color]
-"The problem is simple, what sort of action do we take?" Kunz Hoehner asked as an open question, expecting suggestions to help him figure out this predicament. A silent murmur with several scratched shins and worried emotions followed.

-"We could fight our way through..." One suggestion came, the inevitable suggestion.

-"I have thought about that, according to our scout forces the vessels seem to be of great war design, dreadnought type vessels. Each one of them posing little true danger to the Bismarck, but four of them at the same time.... and with no good knowledge what sort of supporting navy present..... i don't think we can outfight this one."  Kunz told in a blatant way, no avoiding the problems present.

-"Then we should seek a diplomatic solution, speak to the bastards.... damn commonwealthers!" Another officer spoke, anger showing in his voice.

-"We have no way of proving these are commonwealth vessels, they fly the colors of the local government...." Kunz spoke but was interupted by the previous speaker.

-"What the heck else would it be? South africa is a nobody and everyone knows that. They can't pull four dreadnoughts out of their arse!" The officer was fuming, but not as much as captain Hoehner.

-"YOU BE SILENT, AND WATCH YOUR MOUTH!!!" Hoehner roared, then he calmed and spoke again.

-"We're not going to achieve anything with anger........ the vessels, they do not seem to be of commonwealth design. In all honestly non of our files have any direct matches for the ship types."
He made a short pause.
-"It may be commonwealth vessels, but we have to assume that it is some sort of hidden reserve held by south africa without anyone knowing. A true feat of subterfuge... i agree that we need to speak to them."

-"But how do we contact them? Our long range radios are busted, and we can't send in a scout plane within its radio reach since they will probably shoot it down." The same officer who had awoken the captain earlier brought to attention. Kunz solemnly remembered his lost slumber.

-"This is the biggest problem we face, our chance of fighting our way to the port is too slim, so the way of contacting our.... foe? Will be a dangerous task." The captain spoke the part 'foe' truly wondering what they were facing.

After a short time of murmuring and silence, the lookout officer spoke again.

-"Perhaps... a weather balloon... with a hole in? And a buoy..." He was met with utter confusion.

-"What on earth do you mean?" Came from the crowd, putting to word what everyone was thinking.

-"Listen, we take a weather balloon with a message, then we cut a hole in the top so it looses altitude slowly. Attach a buoy with a message to the... south africans... and then, i dunno, have a meeting?" The lookout officer began strong, but lost his confidence somewhere mid sentence.

After a pause where it looked like people couldn't decide if the idea was stupid or genius the captain spoke once more.
-"Since we cannot turn back, due to our low fuel storage, our only option is to go forward.... although we do not want to engage in unnecessary combat... i say we go with this idea." Many looks fell upon the captain, betraying their skeptic attitudes to the plan.

-"Let me speak." A rather lanky officer with a crooked nose and glasses spoke, and was gestured to continue by mr Hoehner.
-"I say that this is to risky, there is no certainty that the message will reach them, and by the time we manage to send a new one we will be in visual range anyway, and thus most probably within firing range. I suggest we go in at full combat readiness, and use signal flags as we close in."

Kunz Hoehner nodded agreeingly.
-"That is a valid point, we will combine the two. Get that message out, prepare it for immidiate launch. Bring the ship to full combat readiness, let us not be caught off guard. I want this ship able to fire at the first sign off trouble. Men, MOVE OUT!!" Kunz ordered his staff whom immediately left for their separate posts in quick paces.

As Kunz made his way to the bridge with a few other officers, a general message was sounding all over the ship.

*All personell, battle stations. All hands to battle stations.*

Which was repeated a few times until the command staff had made their way to the bridge.

[color=f49ac2]Flagship of fleet outside Cape town of The Republic of South Africa[/color]
One of the scout planes was now visible again, and as the plane was about to enter AA range it turned and dropped something.
It looked like some sort of balloon with red smoke coming out of it, and with a buoy attached.

The device fell rather fast towards the surface of the ocean and during its last 100 meters it entangled itself and corkscrewed and hit the water surface hard.


[hider=Message in the balloon, and being sent with signal flags.]
This is the captain of the German empires pride, Kunz Hoehner commanding the battleship Bismarck.

You are to provide a safe haven for us against the commonwealth alliance forces in this area, and provide materiel to repair our vessel.
If you wish to discuss this, send out ONE of your vessels under a white flag and we can meet its captain aboard our vessel.

All other vessels are to withdraw, if you fail to do this we will open fire.
If you fail to keep the route to the harbor open, we will be forced to open fire.

May the reich stand eternal, for the fatherland!
[/hider]

The message was not one of friendship, but of need.
Kunz Hoehner knew that one on one the old dreadnoughts could not stand a chance against his vessel. But a four on one gun duel could force the Bismarck into a retreat, and thus loose precious fuel and ammunition for naught. Even worse the ship could sustain irreparable damage which would need a dry dock, and Kunz could not afford that to happen.