The last adventures with Prinz Eugen. Volume 3.

No. 10 Chapter 7

Eugen was happy to be on her way. It had taken the Admiral and her almost two weeks to get all the clearances for her to go on "vacation" to the occupied territories of Iris. Either way, now they were on their way to pick up her friend. This time she intentionally did not tell her friend that she was coming. For once it was her turn to pleasantly surprise her friend. The only thing that bothered her slightly was the company she was in. Ulrich von Hutten sat in the train cabin opposite her. She wore her headphones and listened to music while they passed the countryside towards the western border of Iron Blood. She still could not fully grasp the battleship. Unlike Friedrich der Große the second H-Klasse battleship was not a leading figure and being that seemed to desire control and rule. She could tell right away that the ship did not lack the intelligence, mindset and strategic thinking to not be equal to other Shipgirls that were in leading positions within the fleet. Instead the ship was seemingly disinterested in everything. But by the way she did things the cruiser knew that the battleship did have her own ambitions. Not strictly the same ones as others in her position but her own. From the interactions she observed between the two H-Klasse battleships and between Hutten and others she started to guess that the ship was more caring that she let on. Her involvement and apparent care for their shared friend added to her hypothesis. Still, the apparent disinterest and care for others was a weird behavior the cruiser could not fully grasp as it was contradictory to von Huttens actions. Either way she guessed she was just used to more talkative company when traveling. After all she was used to sortieing with her sisters or her good friend.

Her observations of her travel companion did not go unnoticed and the black dressed battleship stopped her music and took off her headphones. "When you are done studying me, why don't you start to ask me what you want to know instead of trying to get your conclusions by stealing looks at me?" Ulrich von Hutten asked in a slightly agitated tone. Prinz Eugen had to hide a smile. Going into the offensive are we? She thought to herself before answering. "I am still curious about you. That is right. I have figured you out. But I am still wondering how you managed to become friends with each other." She asked the battleship the open question she had while not letting on what she knew in detail and what else she wondered about. " For the first time in her observations the cruiser saw a genuine smile on the pale face of the battleship. "Well, he managed to infiltrate my defenses by proving persistent and capable in his efforts to socialize and by showing that he was mentally as capable as he was in his job as an engineer." Ulrich von Hutten explained. "He kept being polite and after he had started to give counter arguments to a philosophical question I had talked to myself about, he managed to gain my curiosity. Out of that evolved an exchange of opinions and views on many topics which ensured that he became a regular partner next to Strasser and my sister to have proper conversation with. He is also the only human who is apparently not scared shitless by our presence." She told Prinz Eugen her reasons for befriending the cruiser's best friend. "He has that ability to get along well with others." Prinz Eugen agreed with a smile. "Thank you for telling me." She thanked the battleship. "When that is all I will be happy to return to enjoying the rest of the trip the way I like." The battleship returned with a slight sigh before placing her earphones back on her head and pressing the play button on one side of the headphones.

Eugen leaned back on her seat as well and started to take in the information she had just gotten. The fact the battleship admitted to being friends with her best friend was a revelation she expected from the battleship. The fact that she spoke with hints of respect and admiration to the reason why they became friends surprised her. The reason or rather matter over which they bonded also surprised her. So far she had thought that she was the only one he would have deeper conversations with every now and then. That was the reason why she got back to reading so many books, to be able to understand his points of view and why he admired the protagonists in the novels he read, or to understand the points of view he had based on the knowledge of those books. The fact that Ulrich von Hutten and her friend had founded, built and apparently had maintained a friendship on deep conversations and interactions made her feel weird. She could not put a finger on the notion but the fact that these two had managed to become friends over such a matter for which she had needed years to be comfortable about to open up to someone about her personal views, upset her and she felt a sort of dislike for the battleships because of it.
All she knew was the fact that she wanted to be the one to embrace her friend and tell him the fortunate news before the battleship could do it. Either way she was looking forward to being in the small town where her friend was. The train only had to go a couple of hours to go from Rennes to Saint-Malo.

In the end the rest of their trip was without any hindrance. The two ships had spent their time by themselves and did not really interact. But what the cruiser realized was that the battleship and her friend also shared a similar taste in music. Not only had he first suspected that when her friend gave the battleship some music back in Kiel but what she heard out of the headphones of the Shipgirl confirmed her suspicions that both shared overlapping tastes. The fact that the battleship had also figured her out in her observations and called her out had told her that she was at least as observant and used to the game of observation and assessment of others. She liked and disliked the battleship.
"Let's get to the harbor command and figure out where he is." Ulrich decided and started to walk off the train platform. Eugen tugged her coat into place and quickly followed the battleship, dressed in her black and red coat, into the train station building. "My guess would be that the hospital is close to the old castle in the Hotels." Eugen estimated. "Maybe. We will figure it out when we get to the command building. Do you have the papers for visitation from the Admiral?" Hutten asked the smaller cruiser. "I do. It would be a great pain if I had left them at home." She chuckled while tugging on the strap of her map satchel to assure the battleship. Ulrich only rolled her citrine colored eyes at the cruiser's attempt to humor her. Eugen smiled and shrugged while continuing on. "The command is located in the castle if the map and information given to us is right." Eugen told the battleship while she orientated herself towards the direction of the building and along the street they would have to walk. "Just straight ahead through the harbor and then turn north northeast." She told Ulrich von Hutten. The battleship nodded before brushing a strain of her glossy black hair out of her face. Walking along the tall back clad battleship the cruiser and her got plenty of eyes staring at them. "It seems most here have never seen a set of well built ships." Eugen jested upon seeing how the battleship seemed to look around their surroundings in slight discomfort. "Don't worry. Most humans think we are only other humans that dress alternatively." She assured the battleship. "Most would never guess that we are actual ships unless they see us with riggings or have a high interest in the navy." Eugen continued. "The neighbor of our dear friend almost needed a year to figure out that I was not a human." She laughed to amuse the battleship, but also to indicate to her that she was more experienced in contact with humans outside the navy. "Either way, don't be bothered by the odd stare. We only have a couple hundred meters more to go." She ended with her taking the initiative of their conversation once more. The battleship only nodded slightly while putting the collar of her coat up, to partially protect her from the wind and the looks.
Eugen had to hide her amusement under her poker face. Seeing the big, mean battleship so flustered by the curious looks of a couple of humans delighted her.

Friedrich der Große sat in her room looking down on her notes, maps and pictures. She smiled, everything she had planned and accounted for was getting set up the way she planned. With Bismarck's blessing she had disbanded the research unit and fleet in Kiel and had set up Mahler and his team to follow her plans. The work they had done was invaluable but with the new direction she would give them now would not only allow them to awaken those that were built or started to be built. Soon the Ironblood would be the fleet that would be the first to make truly unparalleled breakthroughs. All it took was what she was best at. She looked at a small framed picture of her namesake. All she needed to do was do what her name sake was great at, she smiled. Now she only needed to have free reign until her work was done. Bismarck would be the face of the fleet but she would play the role of that ship's namesake. Being the one that pulled the strings to make things possible. Like an orchestra conductor, she would remain hidden in the trench of the orchestra, leading the orchestra, directing them to play the music to which the actors on the stage performed. Soon her last pawn was ready to become her extra Rook to allow her to operate free of control and worry.

Eugen and Hutten both shook their heads. "Who places a rehabilitation center on an island that is basically only a gun battery and bunker system?" The battleship complained. "I guess they figured that the building there was secluded enough to be used as a quiet place to rest and recover." Eugen mused. "Either way we need to get there. The commander said that there would be a ferry that goes to the islands to ferry troops and supplies to them. " Eugen named her intentions. "So I suggest we get the next ferry to where we need to go." She suggested. "At least he can't run from us." She chuckled while taking the lead from the castle down the inner harbor basin near by where the mooring for the ferries and E-Boats are. "Where would he run to anyways and why would he?" Ulrich asked a question that was pointless as far as she was concerned. "You never know with him or rather what he got himself into." Eugen laughed. "I thought you had figured that out yet." She teased the battleship."Either way we should get there. The sooner we can leave the better." Hutten expressed herself and her desire to be done with it all. Eugen smiled, despite the battleships smarts she was able to get under her skin. She was by far not as much of a power figure as her sister was. She shrugged before her thoughts returned to surprising her friend, the notion filled her with excitement as they passed along the fenced off parking lot in which loads of supplies were stacked that were transferred by one very busy pram and its crew. Eugen and Hutten both knew whom they had to ask to get a ride along the next time the ferry would go to the island they wanted to go to.