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

No. 3 Chapter 3

Prinz Eugen was listening to the conversation between Queen Elizabeth, Sovetsky Soyus, Gangut and Hood. They still argued about the point of who was to be in charge of the polar waters north of Norway and west of the Northern Palairment homewaters. Nothing really important since the Marine could not stretch its forces that far and thin out anyways, Prinz Eugen concluded in her head. "... Eugen, der edle Ritter, ... Kaiser wied'rum kriegen ... und Festung Belgrad." Reached bits of words her ear. She tried to ignore them as a fraction of a thought in her mind. "... Prinz Eugen dies vernommen, ... kommen

seine General und Feldmarschall; ... instruieren, wie man sollt' die Truppen führen

und den Feind recht greifen an." She heard again, now sure that it was not her imagination. She looked around, trying to figure out what was going on. Meanwhile more stanzas of the song reached her. "Prinz Eugenius wohl auf der Rechten tät als wie ein Löwe fechten als General und Feldmarschall. Prinz Ludewig ritt auf und nieder: Halt't euch brav, ihr deutschen Brüder, greift den Feind nur herzhaft an!" Now that she paid attention to the song she could hear it properly and realised which song it was. She felt a slight bit of heat rising through her head. She hoped she was not starting to blush. The embarrassment of hearing songs of praise written in honor of her namesake made her more than uncomfortable. Finally being able to locate the origin of the sound she looked up the stairs to the upper floors. There she could see the young engineer trying to continue to sing the last stanza while smiling like an idiot. "One day he will even be able to get me out of my reserve." She silently muttered to herself while calming down her thoughts with the fact that it was only her friend and subordinate which tried to tease her. She turned to go up the stairs.

Gangut stopped her. "Leaving already? I thought you liked playing mouse while the adults talk." The dreadnaught tried to insult the cruiser. Prinz in return smiled: "It's alright. Afterall you are letting nothing out other than hot air anyways. Just remember to release your steam every now and then, we would not want you to blow a boiler. For your vintage there are few spare parts around." Countered the cruiser in a courteous tone. The old dreadnaughts expression changed from a smug smile to an expression of wild anger. "You can be so happy that we are not out on the sea while having our conversation. Otherwise I would be more than happy to release some steam." Answered Gangut with an increasing volume of her voice. "Don't you worry, since Kronstadt I was able to get some more practice. We had a good time back then didn't we? I think to remember that you said similar things to me there as you said just now." Was the polite but equally cutting reply from Prinz Eugen. "We shall see.The next time you won't fight me with worn out gear." Was Ganguts answer. "Maybe, maybe. I think you would need more than a couple of Bulins to fix you and bring you up to the challenge. But I don't think that there are any competent engineers around that would like to fix that antiquity of your rigging. At least the only one capable of fixing up such a lost cause like you properly is definitely not inclined to help you I would wager. At least not after you broke his wrist." Returned Prinz Eugen another mocking reply. "I would rather be decommissioned than to let your pet touch my rigging." Came the harsh answer from the dreadnaught. "Ohh, watch out, we don't want you to lose face during an international meeting." Joked Prinz Eugen, still keeping quiet in contrast to Gangut. With a hand wave towards Gangut, Prinz Eugen took her leave and left the angry dreadnaught behind her before the latter could come up with a reply.

The young engineer had to stop reciting the old song. He could barely keep it together upon seeing Prinz Eugens reaction hearing the song composed in honor of her namesake. But he also witnessed the conversation she and Gangut had. And at least the latter parts Gangut had to say to their squabble was audible enough to reach the young engineer as well. It looked like Prinz Eugen was still more than happy to anger the battleship. When he saw her coming up the stairs, he left the gallery on their side of the 3rd floor and walked over to the stairs to greet her.