The adventures of Prinz Eugen and the young engineer Volume 1.

No.2 Chapter 12

On his way back to Wiedling and the destroyer refit, the young engineer finally managed to get to his and Prinz Eugen dock in the bunker. Entering cruiser dock two, he sorted through his books about naval refits, wisdomcube analysis and rigging material behavior. After he had grabbed the books he thought to be useful, he wanted to make his way back to the destroyer dock. But he was held up once more. In the door to the dock stood Prinz Eugen. "You have been a busy body haven't you?" She asked. "Where have you been the last two days? I have not seen you around and the way you look you haven't rested since then as well." She stated. "True. I was over at the destroyer dock and helped them with all the damage the 4th destroyer group had suffered from a Siren encounter. They were damaged quite badly and now I am on my way to fix their rigging further." He explained, without being in the mood for more explanations or teasing. "I see. The destroyers looked like they went through hell, when I saw them. Z-13 is still not doing better. They are sending a Bulin her way through." Prinz said with concern. "Well, I won't bother you then. But do not overwork yourself, or you will die." "Yea, yea. You say that all the time. So far it has not happened has it?" He said ironically upon her teasing. "Well, if you don't watch out for your health, I as your superior will." She said while slightly laughing. She left the entrance and vanished in the direction of the bunker exit. The young engineer was not sure if that was a promise, joke or threat. Taking it for what it was he made his way back to Wiedling and Z-13s rigging.

When the young engineer arrived back in the destroyer dock, he saw that Wiedling was gone. He sat down in front of the blueprint table and started to go over the damage report and the equipment they had at hand. What resulted was that the young engineer read and worked for so long that he once again forgot time. Only when he started to feel dizzy, he realized that he had been working for hours. After drinking half of the contents of his bottle he looked around and his eyes rested upon the striped down rigging of Z-13. His refit plan was solid, but he had the issue that he could not figure out how to make the connection between the riggings' energy vessels and the new part that is supposed to make up the new hull. Realizing that he was in no condition to continue any proper work, he made ready to leave the dock. Spaced out he walked back to cruiser dock 2. All he could think about was grabbing his coat for a blanket and getting sleep on the sova. When he walked down the girder walkway over the water entrance towards the cruiser docks side,he was ripped out of his stupor of tiredness by a rather angry looking heavy cruiser. "There you are. I was just about to go and stretch your ears long enough that you could tie them together over your head. What did I tell you about getting proper rest? You look like a ghost." She lectured him in an angry tone. The young engineer was surprised to see Prinz Eugen in such a state. He always thought she was the sort of relaxed person that did not care a lot about others and what others did. But this behavior of hers, that anger she expressed about how he behaved was something he did not expect from her. "Hey?! Are you even listening?" She ripped him out of his thoughts again. He actually did not pay attention to anything the cruiser had said after her first phrase. "Are you serious? You spaced out again! Go get some sleep, you nutjob. I am starting to think that there is more wrong with your head than with your personality and work ethic." She said, the first part in angry annoyance and the last part in her more usual attitude of amusement. He was too tired to be affected by her anger or by her trying to hurry him up. "Yeah yeah. I am on my way to get some rest." Was all he said. Starting to walk again he strolled down the hallway. He realized that the cruiser was following him. Not bothered by it he walked into their dock. He grabbed his coat from the hanger and threw himself on the sova and his coat above him. "See you in the morning." He said and gave the heavy cruiser a slight goodby wave with his right, now healed, hand.

He woke up the next morning sweating like he was in an oven. He turned off the alarm of his clock and while getting up he realized the cause for his sweat and built up body heat. His coat was gone and had been replaced by a thick blanket. His coat was hanging at its place on the wall. He guessed immediately that it was probably the cruiser which had replaced his coat with a blanket. A kind gesture for sure, but he had prefered his coat since he would not heat up beneath it that much. He took his coat and left for the Laundry room in the dormitory building. Grabbing his towles and freshly washed clothes he took a shower in the communal showers of the dorm and clothed himself. Returning the used blanket and dirty clothes from the day before he went on to get some breakfast. Finally eating in his old routine was nice. He enjoyed the muffled silence of the canteen when the night guards ate before going to sleep. He did see a couple of new faces. Most were men of a naval infantry battalion he had not seen before. Guessing that they might be brought here from another post to protect the base against potential threats because of the strained situation with the Royal Islands and the fact that the Ironbloods allies were at war with each other, he could understand the reasoning behind it. Packing his things for the day and preparing lunch he made his way back to the docks. Arriving there he went straight back to work, but set himself an alarm for shortly before 9 in the morning so he could go and try to visit Prinz Eugen and return the blanket. Back at the drawing board he continued to read up on rigging modifications and everything he could find about wisdomcube energy transfer. He still had not figured out a way to solve the issue he had since the day before, when his alarm rang. Sighing, he turned it off and walked over to his dock and grabbed his coat and the blanket before heading out to see if the heavy cruiser was awake.

Arriving at the heavy cruisers dorm room, the young engineer knocked. Expecting to knock again he did not move a step back from the door. He was therefore surprised when it opened and he stood face to face with Prinz Eugen. Just the space of the doorframe between them. Taking a step back to get a more comfortable distance between them the young engineer greeted her. "Good morning. I did not expect that you would be so quick to the door. I wanted to bring your blanket back. Thank you for the kind gesture, but I have to admit that I tend to get too warm under such a big blanket." She looked at him somewhat embarrassed. "Okay. Just though I get you a proper blanket so you would not freeze. Also, since when are you awake?" She answered, her last question asked in a suspicious tone. The young engineer rubbed the back of his head. " Well, since 6, as always." He said. "Why am I not surprised by that? You went to bed half past three. You have less than 4 hours of sleep. How do you sustain that?" She asked. "I can't really. I managed that only for a couple of days. So I guess that today will be the last time I will manage to do so." He answered, now it was his turn to feel somewhat inconvenient while explaining. "You better get some rest today. Otherwise I will relieve you of your duty for a couple of days." She said. "Thank you for returning the blanket though." She added. "I have nothing to do all day. Have you any jobs to do that I can tag along to?" She asked. Again surprised, the young engineer was taken back for a moment. "Not really. I do need to get home later today. I need to make food, otherwise the groucheries we bought a couple of days ago will spoil." He said. "Good, looking forward to dinner then. Send me a message on Juustagram when you are done and on your way home." She smiled. "Uhh, sure." All the young engineer managed to answer. The cruiser smiled her signature smile and closed the door again. Sometimes the young engineer still could not understand this shipgirl he had been working together with. Not worrying about it any further he went back into the docks to try to figure out a solution to the refit problem.

When he arrived in the destroyer dock he saw two of his colleagues standing in front of his drawing board. Getting up to them he saw that it was Wiedling and Fritz Mahler who both studied his blueprints and notes. "Good morning you two. How are you?" He asked them. Both turned around to see him. "Quite alright." Said Wiedling. "I am okay, but certainly still worn out from what we did the last couple of days. Judging by the way you look, you should also be at your end." Said Fritz Mahler. "Yea, today I will manage still." The young engineer assured them. "Your plans and Ideas do look nice. But the two of us have also no solution to the issue you have found. We have no idea how to get the rigging to adapt and accept the new parts and equipment." Wiedling said while scratching his chin. "Well, I do think that the idea of using wisdomcube energy could be the right idea. I mean their energy was used to create the shipgirls in the first place and their energy is the stuff the Bulins and repair kits use to fix the ships and bring them up to their full potential." Added Fritz Mahler. "I have no idea though how we could achieve that." He finished. "Would it be possible to use the capacity of a Bulin or Wisdomcube to achieve the right amount of energy needed to change the rigging and to adapt it to new specifications? Most likely, since as far as we know the energy is used by a form of controlled will. The will of the Builns to use their energy to break the limitations of the shipgirls is used by them to achieve this. Therefore if we get the will of a Bulin to be concentrated on changing the rigging to be refitted that should work theoretically as well." Stated the young engineer. "The issue is just that we would probably need two Bulins, one to change the rigging and one chnage Z-13 right?" He continued his line of thought. "I am not sure about any of this but it would be the best way we could try to create a refit ourselves." He ended. Wiedling and Fritz both nodded upon letting his argumentation run through their heads. "Well, I guess we will apply to get a couple of Bulins and Wisdomcubes issued. Who knows, maybe we are able to get it all and try out this idea." Said Wiedling. "Anyways, I would say until then we all have earned a day off. You two are dismissed for today. Especially you." He continued and looked at the young engineer. The latter laughed and the three engineers said their goodbyes before they left the destroyer dock.

Thinking about his promise to the heavy cruiser he thought it would be a nice idea to prepare some food with which he could surprise her. He therefore decided against texting her that he was done and went to his home alone.