The last adventures with Prinz Eugen. Volume 3.

No. 12 Chapter 5

Less than an hour later Tristan was in one of the cargo holds of the ship that had been refitted as a workshop for riggings. Working together on different riggings with Gangut, Eugen, Ulrich von Hutten and even some of the destroyers who had escorted Gangut on her mission. To Tristan it felt awesome to once again get his hands on some of the tools he was so used to working with every day and he was surprised to see the great condition Ganguts rigging was in. Ever since he and Andrey got to replace so many of the old worn out parts, his engineer colleague had been keeping their ship friends rigging in top condition. All that needed to be done was to wash her steel rigging, clean some of the coal soot off it and refill the oil and lubricant reservoirs. In comparison to that he could tell that Eugens rigging was taken care of by someone who was less motivated. To his anger he could find spots in which rust had formed and eaten not only through the layers of protective paint coats but also managed to eat into the steel. Some of the rubber seals were worn out or had been made brittle through the exposure to the harsh environment of the sea and were not replaced. But what angered him the most was the bad condition of Eugens guns. The amount of fouling and soot around the gun breeches and in the breeches as well as inside the turrets showed him that outside of the regular cleaning that engineer and Eugen performed, his successor was clearly not looking into the internals of his friends rigging often enough. Soon enough Tristan sat on the back of one of Eugens riggings maws as if it was a horse and brushed cordite fouling out of a gun breech of a partially disassembled turret. Eugens rigging emitting all to familiar metal rumbles Tristan knew were sounds of comfort as he cleaned the rigging of the grime. While performing his work and more or less quietly mumbling threats to the not-present persona of Eugens current engineer, he did not realize that Gangut, Eugen and Ulrich von Hutten all had come together to quietly chat and enjoy some bottles of coolant while observing him. "Are those threats promises?" Gangut asked him as she heard one of his curses upon the other engineer who had neglected Eugens rigging. "Those? Nothing I would really commit, although you can be sure that his superior gets a message to chew him out properly." Tristan assured the old dreadnought as he looked up. Seeing the three ships all sitting together on some stools and crates he stopped in his work. "Are you all done?" He asked them. "I am. Nothing really to do other than basic maintenance." Gangut chuckled. "I am here giving you moral support and enjoying the view." Eugen added as she gave him a playful and a knowing wink which made Tristan choke on his breath for a moment as he tried to retain his composure in front of the others as well as his position on Eugens rigging. "And I think Ulrich wanted to ask you for help." Eugen added before nodding her head towards the black and red clad battleship. "In that case let me help you. Cleaning the rigging is nothing its owner couldn't also do." Tristan answered right away as he threw his left leg over the riggings back and slid off it in a motion he had not performed in what felt like an eternity, but he still had in his muscle memory like swinging himself out of bed. Dusting the dirt off the overall he had been given he handed Eugen the brush. "There you go. Do have some care and treat your other half well." He smirked as he placed the brush into her hand.

"So Ulrich, what's the problem with your rigging? Is it the loading mechanisms again?" He asked his third friend present. Brushing a black strain of her hair out of her face and tugging it in behind her ear she shook her head. "Nothing like that. It seems that the third joint in my left starboard rigging is having issues moving. When I transitioned to the meeting point that joint was stiffer than the others and made grinding sounds similar to the ones coming from it now." She informed her friend and former engineer as they walked over to her rigging. "I couldn't find a reason for it though." She added with a slight huff of frustration as her facial expressions grew a bit dissatisfied as small wrinkles formed on the arch of her nose. "We will see if we can find the issue." Tristan assured her as he began heading over to her giant rigging. The seaspider like center body of her rigging began prancing its sharp black steel legs as he approached and its maws came down and together to greet him like two giant dogs. Already in that movement alone he could see that her starboard rigging maw was moving slightly more cumbersome than the port one. Greeting them back he soon reached for one of the larger spanners to undo the bolts that held some of the armor plates that protected her rigging like giant scales. But with only one hand properly working he did struggle to add enough force to get them to move until suddenly the resistance of the tightly screwed down bolt gave way as if there was nothing.That was, as he realized, because half way down the long lever of the spanner Ulrich von Hutten had placed one of her hands on the spanner to help him as she applied her demigod like power to easily undo the bolt. Looking up at her Tristan once again realized how weak he was compared to the ships, next to remembering how much of his physical capability he had lost. But what stunned him even more was the sympathetic smile he got from the battleship. Facing away from the others it was only visible to him. Despite her presence sucking away warmth and light and emanating dread. Her smile was warm. "You may have been weakened but don't think you are not capable otherwise. Your wit is far more so your strength than anything else." She added in an unusually soft tone Tristan only knew from Urlich when she was musing about philosophy when she thought to be alone. Giving her a thankful smile back in return he continued on, unsure what to answer to her words of encouragement. Lifting the armorplate off her rigging Ulrich von Hutten and Tristan soon found the issue in the moving joint of the rigging. Caught in one of the large ball bearings in the joint socket they found a bent, dented and scratched up screwdriver. Looking at the abused and broken tool Tristan already formed an idea on how that tool ended up there. "Ulrich?" He asked the battleship. "Who was the last person to perform maintenance on your rigging before you left?" He asked her. "That was Adalbert and Heinrich." She answered him right away and for once she grew a smile at the deadpan expression that formed on her friend's face before the latter began to rub the arch of his nose with his good hand. "What's going on?" Eugen asked as she saw the odd situation between the two. "Tristan is just questioning the validity of anything he has told our dear second iteration Panzerschiff sisters for one of them forgot a screwdriver in my rigging." Von Hutten told the Iron Blood heavy cruiser. Eugens laugh of amusement upon hearing what was going on broke the rest of them as well and soon Hutten chuckled almost as much as her friends for once as they all could imagine their compatriot, Prinz Adalbert searching for the missing screwdriver in her workshop right now.

"Well. At least that was an easy enough fix." Tristan chuckled. "Let me check if there is damage we need to take care of but otherwise I think your rigging should be fine now." He summed up his further plans. "I will have to have a word with Adalbert when we get back." Ulrich added to his comment as she bent the misshaped screwdriver back into shape with her fingers. "Perhaps not all your engineers are as good as this one you made a captain." Gangut added with a confident grin on her lips. "It is a shame to deny him his nature. But I am sure you two and your command have your reasons." She reasoned while giving their friend a playful punch on the shoulder which made the latter stagger back from the force of Shipgirls attempt at a light impact. "Was that too much?" Gangut asked right away with concern on her face. Ulrich von Hutten had extended an arm to catch Tristan should he have stumbled further than the two steps he took to the side. "It's all good, I was just unprepared." Tristan smiled a flustered smile as he caught himself and began rubbing the quickly developing sore spot on his damaged shoulder. "At least you went for the bad side." He added and teased Gangut. "You are taking more and more after that darn cruiser." The dreadnought in return accused her friend. "Maybe I should return to threats of violence against you as well." Gangut in turn teased Tristan and Eugen as she formed her hands to fists and took in a fighting stance, eyeing up the two before letting her guard fall once again while beginning to laugh her thunderous laugh. "Ya mozhet moy brat nichego plokhoy prichinyat'." Gangut added after catching herself and ruffling up Tristan's hair while showing her large sharp toothed smile as the former engineer grew beet red but let her do as she pleased. "What is she saying?" Eugen asked as he was hiding her stunned surprise to everyone but Tristan. "Net net net." Gangugt warned her friend to not spoil what she had said and what embarrassed him so much. And Tristan to his other friends' surprise nodded in agreement as he tried to find his composure.
"I suppose that we should continue our work." Ulrich von Hutten offered as she lifted the heavy armor plate easily back up from where they had placed it to have a look at the issue. "That is a good idea." Tristan agreed as he turned to work on the battleships rigging to get out of the awkward situation. Gangut chuckled in amusement while Eugen observed the others carefully to get a proper read and understanding on the dynamic.

Her friends and Ganguts more than odd behavior made her feel as if she had lost that closeness to Tristan and now had to share it not only with Ulrich but also with Gangut of all ships.
She was more so surprised about the fact that it bothered her how close Tristan had grown to the old Dreadnought. Despite not being on good terms with Gangut and Gangut being a source of fright and horror for Tristan for so long. Her friend had become good friends with the old battleship. She somehow admired him for the seeming ability to forget and forgive and become friends with her. Although she could not shake the irrational thought of suspecting that there was more going on between them.

Eugen regretted not learning the language of the Northern Parliament. She could speak Iron Blood, Iris, Sardegnan and the language of the Royal Island, but she or her namesake had not learned that language. Perhaps she would have the opportunity to learn the language at some point. But first of all she was going to figure out what Gangut had said to her friend. But that was an issue she would resolve when they were alone again. Perhaps even in the remaining hours they had onboard the ship before they were to be dropped off at the Iron Blood coast. But she was sure that she was going to have the opportunity to ask that question when they were finally home once again until then she would pay even closer attention to her former old foil.