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

No. 9 Chapter 10

The engineer finally managed to find an empty table. His head was buzzing and he felt drained. For the last couple of hours he had been talking with the sakuran ships to only then be captured by Zara and Pola who invited him to the same procedure at the Sardegnan table. His mouth thoroughly talked dry, the engineer finally enjoyed a nice, cold beer while leaning back and catching his breath. Looking at his pocket watch, he realized he had talked away most of the day and it was already past seven in the evening. Looking around he found the buffet which could satisfy his longing for some nourishment. Emptying his beer he made his way across the room to get some of the food. It only took the engineer about 20 more minutes to get himself some dinner and a place to eat it. He had sat down together with four young officers of the administrative staff of the navy. He remained silent and enjoyed his food, just happy to listen to what the others had to say. The fact that most of it was about the matter of the physical attractiveness of the ships, did not surprise him and with a slight chuckle he continued to eat his soup as one of them tried to find new words to describe the beautiful form of Gneisenau. "See, even the old engineer thinks you are full of hot air." One of them included the engineer in their conversation after hearing the latter chuckle. "What do you think, who is the most beautiful of the ships?" The other asked his opinion on the matter. The engineer finished his current spoon full of soup before answering. "Well, I have no preference in such regards. They are all fine people." The engineer found a diplomatic solution. "Sure they are but still none of us would ever be able to get even one number from any of them." The third thwarted his friends' hopes and dreams. The engineer had to involuntarily chuckle even more, remembering that he had basically private messages with at least half a dozen ships of the Ironblood alone. "Willy, it sounds like our comrade here disagrees with you." The first one redirected the attention of the others back to the engineer. "Sure, did you get the number of any of the ships today?" The young man named Willy asked the engineer. "Well, no one has been killed for asking politely yet." The engineer answered. "Sure I would give an arm and a leg for having a date with just one of them." The second of the group answered. "Well I am not sure if they like a hock and a peg. But sure try your luck." The engineer laughed. "Most of them don't bite." He added with a smile. "And you know that because?" The fourth asked him. "I talked to plenty of them and count many as friends." He answered. "As if!" The first claimed. "Are you trying to pull our leg?" The second asked while the other two looked at the engineer skeptically. "Not at all." The engineer answered. "Sure." Willy answered now as well and waved the engineer off. The latter looked back to where he had last seen Krohnstadt and Chapayev before locating Prinz Eugen coming from one of the bar counters with a glass of Whiskey and Cognac in her hands. He waved his right arm to show her where he was. Perfect timing, he thought and smiled. "Just wait a moment and see who is going to show up." He offered them and grinded a foolhardy smile. The four young officers all had different expressions of astonishment on their faces as it was Prinz Eugen that sat down next to the engineer and handed him the glass of Cognac. "Thank you very much." He thanked her. The cruiser looked at her smiling friend and the four awestruck officers. "Okay, what is going on?" She asked her friend in an amused tone with a slight smile on her face. The engineer took a sip from the liquid courage he so very much enjoyed before answering her. "These gentlemen here have been thinking about trying to talk to you and other Shipgirls but they did not muster the courage to do so. I told them that it is quite easy and that most of you are kind and sympathetic people. They did not believe me and I asked them to watch out who was about to arrive when you came over. Now I think they are shell shocked by your presence and the fact that we can just converse. They seem to think of you as demigods or proper ones and could not have imagined to be able to talk to any of you in a manner of a normal interaction." The engineer explained with a chuckle as he smiled at his best friend. Prinz Eugen let out her laughter of amusement she so often used when she tried to either pretend or play a role but thought that things were truly amusing. "So my appearance was just the right cue on perfect timing. As always." She chuckled. "Well I was not just here to indulge you in your little jokes." Eugen smiled her devious smile. "The official opening dances are about to start and I need a partner." She announced. To his amusement the engineer could hear two of the other officers at the table gasp for air after they heard her invitation to dance with her. "Sure, I would be happy to, as long as I don't have to be threatened by Hipper again while dancing with her." He laughed before turning to the others. "You see they are alright. Nothing to worry about." He smiled. "Just be polite and try your luck." He added before emptying his glass and standing up. "Do be careful though, some of us are a bit blunt about things. We would not want any of you in sticky situations, do we?" Eugen added with her teasing smile, which embarrassed all four of the young men all at once.