The adventures of the young engineer and Prinz Eugen Volume 2.

No. 6 Chapter 9

It took Prinz Eugen twelve weeks before she returned after the young engineer had left her in Cayenne. When she arrived in Wesermünde she looked forward to seeing him again and having the opportunity to talk to him.
She received the all clear sign and left the Pilot to some naval infantrymen and the harbormaster to bring it into a drydock while she entered the harbor basin wearing her rigging. On her way to the old submarine bunker she thought about how she should greet the young engineer. She entered the bunker and steered into her opened dock. Arriving there she turned around to the dock doors control to greet her friend. She was surprised to see a young engineering ensign fumbling at the controls. Prinz Eugen had already detached herself from her rigging, while he had just managed to close the gate and start the pumps to drain the dock. Prinz Eugen secured her rigging to its holder to make sure that her maws would not be too harsh to the newcomer. "Who are you?" She asked while the boy waded through the water towards her. He saluted and stammered. " I am engineering ensign Max Urmel. I have been assigned with my team to take care of your rigging." He explained nervously. The cruiser had already had enough of him and waved him off before she drifted over the water towards the workshop area of the dock. It had changed from how she was used to her dock. The shelves filled with books were gone. The small cabinet with tea cooking supplies were gone and the pillow and blanket on the sofa had vanished as well. Some of the pictures she and the young engineer had hung up were also missing, while others remained. Confused, the cruiser turned around to the new engineer. "Where is my engineer and his belongings?" She asked. The ensign twitched in his nervousness and replied after regaining his composure. "Your old engineer was transferred to another posting as far as I know. Otherwise I have no idea." He answered her. Fed up with the lack of information the cruiser decided to go straight to the person that should know exactly what was going on.

Arriving at Fritz Mahler's office she entered despite the protest of the aide. "Hallo Herr Mahler." She greeted him. The former destroyer engineer of the base stood up and smiled at the cruiser. "Hello Prinz Eugen. Good to see you again. How are you?" He asked her. "Alright I suppose. But I would like to know why there is a teen in my dock and not my engineer?" She asked him. Fritz looked at her in surprise. "He did not tell you?" He asked. "Obviously not." The heavy cruiser replied. "When he arrived here he asked me to transfer him to the research department. He said he was going to try out new ideas of how to improve and create new ships. I thought you two had talked about that and that he had informed you that he had received his transfer papers." Fritz Mahler explained what he knew and thought had happened. "He did not tell me anything. Can you tell me where he is?" She asked the base commander. The latter shook his head. "I only know that he was transferred to the research department but I have no idea to which unit." He disappointed her. "What happened if I may ask?" Mahler questioned the cruiser. "It seems like you two had communication issues." He added. "Something like that." The cruiser confirmed. "Well. I will have to leave for now. It was good seeing you again." She said before leaving Fritz Mahler to himself again. The latter watched the cruiser leave with more than one open question.

Twenty minutes later Prinz Eugen was in her dorm room and on a call with Konteradmiral Whalmann, the young engineer's godfather. "Hallo Eugen. I was wondering when I would receive your call." He greeted her. "Hello Konteradmiral. Good to hear you. I suspect you already know why I am calling you." She answered. "Indeed. All I can say to that matter is that I am sorry that things turned out like this. I had a similar conversation with him when he came and visited me. I was also able to hear him out and see that he was quite sorry how things escalated. I think he understands your motivation even though he disapproves of the decisions the Ironblood made." The Konteradmiral explained to the cruiser. "So he already calmed down and saw things from a different perspective again?" The cruiser asked more herself than to her listener. "You know how he is." The Konteradmiral agreed. "Although he also told me that he wanted to stay separate from us for some time until he could process all that had happened. It seems that your physical attack on him has eroded the trust he had in you. At least he told me that he was unsure how he felt about you." Whalmann told her. "Can you tell me where he is?" The cruiser asked instead. "I can tell you the unit he is serving with, but I think he has already ensured that he has some more time away from any of us." He explained. "What do you mean by that?" She asked the Konteradmiral. "Well, he took to things better when he talked to me about our navy's secret, than when the topic came up between you two. But even the bond of family can be strained by such secrets being revealed." The Konteradmiral explained. "The last position he worked at was at the Naval Shipyard Weser AG. But from his last letter he had sent me he informed me that he would leave the country for some time to work on research." Wahlmann informed Prinz Eugen. "Thank you for the information." The cruiser said. Before the two ended their conversation the Konteradmiral gave the cruiser a last word of advice of sorts. "Don't be worried about things too much. If I know one thing about my Godson then that he values those he is close to the most. And next to his siblings we are closest to him. Just give it some time and I am sure the two of you will be on good terms again." He ended their call.
Prinz Eugen placed her phone on her dorm room table and thought about the last words the Konteradmiral had said. They made some sense to her and she took a bit of comfort from them.