The hapless mechanic stood up so quickly he hit his head on the fin of the Rheinland Gunboat, and dropped his arc-cutter. Alarming as the pain was, the site of the angry Commander Schprokets, glaring red-faced and sweating, was quite a bit more riveting. One arm and both legs mechanical, he looked like something out of a nightmare. And he was really, really, not happy about something. Something the mechanic was doing.
"Um, stripping her, sir. For parts. Decommissioned."
"The JAEGER?! DECOMMISSIONED?!"
"Yes, sir, Commander, sir."
The commander looked positively apoplectic. This was the mechanic's worst day this year, bar none.
"Son, do you have ANY idea how many times this ship has saved my life? Jan may not want her anymore, but I'll be damned if I'll let you cut her apart like a frog in biology class!"
"Sir, you should be aware that she needs extensive work to get ready for action again. The corsairs really did a number on her last time out."
The commander glared at the mechanic and said in a calm voice. "You may notice that I also needed some 'extensive work' recently. You suppose I should have been 'decommissioned' instead?"
"NO SIR!" Gulp...
Schprokets spun around, and stormed off to the hanger office, and yelled back over his shoulder; "You will not do ANYTHING else until I return. Got me?"
"Sir, yes sir!"
Lots of yelling in the hanger office, but not for very long. Schprokets soon returned, with a self-satisfied smirk on his face. People with bionic limbs often get their way.
"Son, you are to inventory all the parts you need to get this girl shipshape, and report to me personally. I will arrange for you to get those parts, and then you will make the full restoration of this ship your primary purpose in life. Understood?"
"Yes sir. My mission in life, sir!"
Schprokets patted the armor, near where a Corsair bolt had blasted through.
Old girl, he thought, neither of us are ready for the pasture yet...
Captain Schprokets entered the room, where Admirals Krieg and Hiltraud, and Viz-Admiral Freelamen were waiting, not terribly patiently.
He took a seat, looked at them, and smiled.
"Well?" exclaimed Freelamen. He had somewhere to be.
"I suppose you are wondering why I asked for this meeting, Admirals.", began Schprokets.
"Yes" said Krieg. "We don't mind taking the time, if its important. Seeing as how you gave three of your four limbs for Rheinland."
"Oh, don't forget my liver, pancreas, lower colon, one kidney, and several ribs. And some muscle and tendons in my remaining arm." The roles of the missing organs were being played by several million nanobots. Even fifty years ago, this man would be dead. The constant improvement in medical technology made all sorts of things possible, even in Rheinland, where such advances were less of a priority. Stoic people lived here.
"Get to the point, Herr Schprokets. Please." Admiral Hiltraud interceded.
"Very well. You are giving the Cruiser Neustadt to Captain Pschorr. That will never do. I want her."
The flag officers were stunned. One does not simply walk in to Command and demand a cruiser.
"On what basis," Kreig spoke slowly, nonplussed by this demand, "do you think we should instead give command of the Neustadt to you."
"Simple. Pschorr is incompetent. I am not. He will not fight unless his cowardice somehow is overcome by his naked ambition, and when he does, his stupidity will get his men killed. I will not. I am currently the best Captain available for the job, save Kreiger, and you are now building a cruiser for him, if the damned Hessians would just stop intercepting the materiel convoys."
Schprokets had their attention, and he kept pushing. "Keep that idiot Pschorr behind a desk, where he can't wreck anything or kill anybody. Give me the boat. You won't be dissapointed."
Admiral Hiltraud cleared her throat, then responded. "Captain, there are protocols for this sort of thing, you know."
"And when, Admiral, " replied Schprokets, "have you ever known me to worry about protocol?"
Never, really.
Schprokets continued. "Have you met Pschorr, ma'am, sirs?"
The Admirals had to admit that no, they had not.
Schprokets laughed. "Then this will be easy. Meet him yourself. Even better, buy him a beer or four. Thats all it would take. Man can't even drink. He'll be filling your ears with so much scheise you'll need antibiotics to avoid an infection."
Krieg smiled. "We will do so. If your are right, the Neustadt is yours. If not, well, we will let you know either way."
The Captain smiled in return, stood, sharply saluted, then left the room rapidly, metal limbs and servos making their characteristic clatter.
He'd given them an excuse to go drinking at the officer's mess. So they'd come out ahead anyway.
Schprokets grinned as he strode the corridor. Military politics. He saved his exercise of that dirty work for when it mattered. And it did now. He wasn't exaggerating. Pschorr really had no idea what he was doing. His only use to the Military would be if they could somehow convince the man to command some Hessians, and get them killed instead.
The Captain's eyes narrowed as he thought of the crew of the Neustadt and the possibility that they could be under Pschorr's command in less than a month.
It would be a cold day in hell, before he'd let that happen.
Freelamen stood up from his chair and walked out of the room quickly to his next appointment, but an better idea came to mind. He waited for Krieg and Hiltraud to make their way out of the room and signaled them to stop, keeping just enough distance so their voices wouldn't reach Schprokets ear.
"Admirals, permission to take the night off tonight?
Hiltraud raised her eyebrow, "For what reason, Vize Admiral?"
"Oh, I plan on taking Schprokets on at his little game."
Both the Admirals smiled and nodded their heads as they walked to the end of the corridor. Meric stood there with a grin on his face and walked off to his officer only a few floors down to grab his comm device and contact Pschorr personally for a little 'celebration' on his newly appointed Cruiser.
Pschorr received the transmission and replied no more then 5 minutes later with a surprised yet happy look on his face, accepting Freelamen's offer for a drink. Meric smiled again, yet an evil smile, one you'd usually see him with just after blowing up a Hessian Sabre.
With no time to lose, Freelamen walked off to the bar not to far from his building where Pschorr was already waiting for him. Pschorr greeted him and smiled, holding out his hand. Freelamen took a second to reply with the same gesture, and walked in to the bar offering to pay for Pschorr first drink. They sat down on one of the stools as the bar cheered when Freelamen walked in. Meric looked up at the corners of the wall, looking for where the security cameras were located in the bar itself. One was just sitting on top of them, watching Pschorr as he started chugging down his first glass of alcohol.
Meric ordered a drink for himself just after Pschorr has finished his second. He started telling random stories of his past actions in the military, slowly moving on to his total lack of female interaction, by the time his third drink was down he was wobbling as he tries to walk over to a table across the room, yelling what was confidential information about the Military, along with the random spurts of puke that dripped from his mouth. Half way through his forth he tried giving a Freelamen a hug calling him 'his hero'. Meric, still with the evil grin on his face, pushed Pschorr aside and said outloud, "Congratulations, you've been demoted, Commander."
Pschorr didn't understand what he had heard and chugged the last of his drink down, a mistake on his part as he collapsed to the ground just afterwards.
"Idiot..."
Meric left the bar quickly leaving Pschorr on the floor and walked back up to his office. He logged in to the security footage from the bar and downloaded the data from the beginning and end of their stay. He forwarded the video to Schprokets with a message at the end of it.
"Fine, you got your Cruiser. Now shut up, get in the damn thing, and blow up that wing of Unioners that's been bugging us before I change my mind."