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

Launch day anniversary

"These idiots." She grumbled. "Who do they think I am that Eugen and her doofus are just able to take the day off and do whatever while I have to do all the routine jobs in the docks by myself?" She huffed. "Just wait Eugen, I will get you for dropping your chores on me." She muttered to herself while on her way to her dock. Entering cruiser dock No. 1 she walked over to her rigging. The two maws clanked in a form of passive aggressive humming sound while the cruiser patted their heads. Looking at her rigging she realized that someone had been working on them. Some of the lids to the oil and lubricant reservoirs had been worked on and not tightened to the point she normally did. It weirded her out that someone had laid a hand on her rigging without her around. Thinking she knew the likely individual responsible she stomped out of her dock to that of her sister's rigging. Entering cruiser dock No. 2 she saw that everything was taken care of. What surprised her was that there were even status reports already filled out and signed. Apparently the young engineer had worked ahead of time so she wouldn't have to do his and Eugens work. Her anger subsided for a bit. But she was here to check on Eugens rigging to see if it was the engineer who had messed with her rigging. Looking at the way the caps to the lubricant reservoirs were closed on Eugens left maw, she had found the proof she needed. "That moron dared to work on my rigging without my consent or supervision? Who does he think he is? Only old Wiedling was able to be around it without losing limbs." She expressed her frustration. Throwing her hands up in short tempered anger, she decided to go and check on Weser and Mainz in the docks 4 and 3 respectively.

Arriving at the other two docks, Hipper found a note written and signed by Mainz. "We are out getting a new coffee maker and will be back in the late afternoon. LG Mainz & Weser." She read out loud. "You have to be kidding me!?" She yelled out in frustration. "Am I the only one that follows her duty and obligations? Why are the others such slackers?" She erupted. Clenching her hands to fists she walked off back to her dock. At least Eugen and the engineer tried to accommodate her, she reasoned. They may be idiots often but they try to be better, she thought and calmed herself while focusing on her breath. "I might as well enjoy the peace and quiet and read." She said to herself while entering her dock. She had grabbed a novel from one of the bookshelves in the engineer's house. She quite enjoyed the fantasy novels she found at his place. She fumbled a bit to get her bookmark opened up and within a couple of minutes a slight grin of content had replaced her frown, while she followed the adventures of Gulliver. She only stopped reading when her alarm rang, reminding her that her time she had to spend in presence and at the ready was over. Exhaling and stretching her back, she patted her rigging once more before leaving her dock. She hurried through the cold February afternoon. It was barely four in the afternoon and it was already getting dark. She hurried up into her dorm room and changed from her uniform into a set of off duty clothes before grabbing her parka and scarf as well as the key to the wintergarden at the engineers house. She walked through the streets, mindful not to slip on the quickly forming ice. She hated winters here. There was little opportunity for snow to form and it all just turned into rain, hail or snow mud that froze the second a cloud pushed itself in front of the sun or the sun went down. It was all just wet, cold and windy. Looking back she remembered a couple of stents in the mediterranean. She did enjoy her stay in Sardegna as an escort to Bismarck and her sister. The weather was warm, the sea calmer and warmer as well and there was no lousy wind to speak of.

When she arrived at the engineer's house, she unlocked the large gate to the garage yard and garden to walk around the house to enter through the backdoor straight into the wintergarden. She took her parka and scarf off and brushed the rain droplets off of both before placing them over the lean of a chair. She then looked for her watering can and flower scissors. Having both tools at hand she started on the activity she had been looking forward to doing the entire day. Taking care of all the plants she had started to grow here. She checked on her orchids, cut some of the petals on her lilies, watered her prairie gentians. After cleaning up any welted leaves and flowerheads and watering the plants, the cruiser thought about what could be her next flower to add to her growing little garden. She was interrupted in her thoughts by a muffled sound coming from the closed kitchen door. She knew the engineer was out and about with her sister. Curious who it was and to a point upset that someone was interrupting her peace and quiet time, she unlocked the Kitchendoor from the winter gardens side and entered the room. "What are you doing here?" She yelled. "Are you moron not supposed to be out with my sister?" Hipper asked the young engineer angrily. The latter almost jumped under the room's ceiling out of surprise. "Hipper." He exclaimed. "Yes, it is me. Who else would it be, you idiot?" She replied, annoyed. "I did not think you were here." The young engineer admitted. "I suspected you not to be her either." She returned. "Are you and Eugen back already?" She asked. "Sort of. I was just here to go and grab something." He explained. "What is it?" She asked. "For what is the contents of that large box you got there?" She asked again in a more angered tone because the young man took so long with his answer. "Ohh, that? It is something Prinz Eugen and I got together. I just need to bring it to her now." The engineer explained. "Are you her mail delivery boy now as well?" Hipper asked. "She is the stronger one. She should take care of her things and not let her subordinates do it! I am going to wipe that smug smile off her face, when I get that lazy bum into my fingers." Hipper exclaimed aggravated. "Its all good. It was me offering to get it." The engineer explained, trying to calm the cruiser. "So it is your own fault?" Hipper asked and the young engineer nodded. "I suppose there is no cure for stupid." She answered while shrugging.

The young engineer ignored her last comment completely and changed topic. "Do you need a ride back to base? I could take you with me." He offered her. "I suppose that would be handy." She agreed. While the young engineer stored his package in a staff car he had gotten from the base, Hipper cleaned up her things in the wintergarden and locked all the doors together with the young engineer before sitting down next to the latter in the car. An uncomfortable silence between them while they started to drive back to base. "I did not scare you too much, did I?" She asked the young engineer. "It's not like I care that much, but I noticed you got a lot twitchier with sudden surprises." She added. "It's alright." He answered. "Things can happen and it was not your intention to scare me." He excused her. "Thank you for asking and apologizing though." He added. "Hey! I did not apologize!" She scoffed. "It's not like I care about you enough to do so." She added, but the slight red shade on her cheeks told the young engineer otherwise. The latter just started to grin. "I really hate that about you." Hipper started the conversation back up. "You are taking up many of Eugens mannerisms." She complained. "You are starting to be a gosh dang tease like her and your understanding of irony and sarcasm is just infuriating." She moaned. "Yet, you seem to stick around." The young engineer countered. "What else can I do? We are literally working meters apart from each other." Hipper tried to defend herself. "You know, I do value you and our friendship." The young engineer explained. "Our friendship? Did the girls in the Northern Parliament really mess up your head so much that you think we are friends?" Hipper tried to insult the engineer. "Not at all. Instead it showed me how much we value each other. After all, you looked after me, we try to help eachother out and we even trust each other with enough to expose parts of us we are normally not comfortable showing to others." He explained. "You might try to hide that behind your toughness and passive aggressive demeanor but alone the fact you asked me how I was after you unintentionally scared me shows that you do care about us. Not to mention how you watch out for your sisters." He adds. Hipper remained silent for a while until the two reached the base and stopped in front of the Shipgirls dorm. When the two left the car and entered the building Hipper finally came up with an answer. "I suppose that you might be right in some respects. But don't you dare to think that outside our private lives we will be anything but our ranks and positions." She threatened him. "Otherwise I might admit that being friends might be something. But don't think that it matters anything to me. I am just trying to not hurt your sentimental personality for Eugens sake." Hipper explained. The young engineer tried to keep a straight face and just nodded while carrying the long rectangular package under his arm.

Arriving at Hippers dorm room door the young engineer placed the package on a wall and waited for the cruiser to say her goodbyes before she opened the door and he could carry on. When Hipper opened the door she was gobsmacked. Her room was filled with Prinz Eugen, Weser, Mainz even Fritz Mahler was there. Next to them a bunch of birthday party decorations could be seen as a large cake with what looked like a marzipan model of her ship form on top of it. "Happy launch day." They all chanted together. Afterwards her three sisters all hugged her and Fritz Mahler and the engineer both congratulated her and shook her hand. Moments later she was presented with small envelopes and greeting cards from three of the five guests before Prinz Eugen and the Engineer came up to her with the package the latter had carried. "We are also supposed to wish you a happy launch day from Wiedling. He tried to come but was not allowed to take the day off. This was his idea and the three of us got it for you together." The engineer explained. Hipper by now was a cherry red amalgamation of flustered embarrassment. She took the package with an embarrassed smile and opened it up. Her eyes widened and her face, for the first time for everyone but Prinz Eugen did the rest of Hippers friends see her genuinely happy and excited. In her hands she has a red electric guitar with a teak colored black and black fittings.

Everyone waited for Hipper to finally say something but instead what happened surprised everyone even more than any words the cruiser could have said. The normally always angry looking, cold and distance keeping Admiral Hipper started to hug everyone out of her own initiative. Even Fritz Mahler and to everyone's surprise the young engineer. "What friends are good for. Who would have thought that the admiration of her friends would crack that facade of my sister that easily." Prinz Eugen chuckled more to herself than to anyone in the room before she started to hand out plates for the cake.

The launchday of the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper was 06.02.1937.