Occasionally, the Commander would take a walk around the port if he finished his paperwork early. He actually found his walks quite stress relieving, and would often get to witness many things as he walked. However, this time, he saw what he recognized to be Manfred von Richthofen on a creeper underneath a Ju 87 dive bomber inside the port's aircraft hangar. He walked over and looked underneath the plane.
"Do you need any help?" the Commander asked.
"Oh hey Kommandant." Richthofen rolled herself out from underneath the bottom of the plane, and got off of the creeper. She had several patches of oil slick on different spots across her face.
"Here, let me clean those off for you." The Commander grabbed a rag that was sitting on the floor and wiped off the oil on her face. Such close contact was a little too much for Richthofen to handle, and her cheeks began turning a bright red. When the Commander was done, she quickly grabbed the rag and covered her face with it for a few seconds before putting the rag down.
"I could use an extra pair of hands, actually, and since my sister isn't here right now, yours is the perfect pair. Would you mind passing me that screwdriver over there?" The Commander went to the spot the German carrier was motioning to, grabbed the screwdriver, and handed it to her.
"Thanks."
A few long moments passed while Richthofen continued working underneath the plane. While the Commander was watching her work, he couldn't help but feel like she looked very cute while working. He always appreciated hard-working girls, but he felt something different towards Richthofen that he just couldn't describe. The Commander didn't want to get too absorbed in thought however, so he decided to break the silence.
"I didn't know you had a sister."
Richthofen slid out from the bottom of the plane using the creeper.
"Yeah, I do, Max Immelman is her name, she's out on a sortie right now, she's expected to come back tomorrow." The carrier looked around for a few moments before spotting a second creeper.
"Do you mind bringing that other creeper over and helping me out under here? I need some hands-on assistance." The Commander walked over and grabbed the creeper, put it on the floor next to the plane and rolled underneath it next to his secretary. After working together for a few minutes a question came into the Commander's mind.
"Why are you even working on this plane anyway?" The German Carrier put her tools down and stared at the Commander.
"I've always been into piloting, aviation, and all sorts of stuff like that. And it's always been a dream of mine to be able to pilot a plane for myself."
"Well why can't you fly your own planes?"
"In the Iron Blood, the regulations clearly state that carriers like me are not allowed to fly our own planes, however, we are allowed to pilot aircraft that we privately own, thus why this plane is here."
"But how did you get the money to-"
The German Carrier put one finger on the Commander's lips
"We don't talk about that."
The two stared at each other for a few moments, subconsciously acknowledging the somewhat romantic atmosphere. After those few moments, however, the two brought themselves back to reality and continued working. The two proceeded to work on the plane together for the next few hours.
