"Kathrine!" both pre-teens lept into my arms with immense vigor. Mercifully, I managed to bleed off their moment, spinning slightly. Meanwhile making sure not to hit anyone upside the head.

Because that wouldn't have gone over well on the news.

"You guys have grown," I snorted, slowly coming to a stop as the two giggled. Of course, I didn't get to see them often, so that was always going to be true.

"That's the pot calling the kettle black," Eren snottered at me, letting out a few more giggles as I propped her and her brother up on my shoulder. My eyes visibly rolled, but I shared her chuckle. Older expressions were some of my favorites, and honestly? It was more than appropriate.

"And you need to stop squirming, mister," I glared up at Gale from his perch, the younger boy sticking out his tongue.

"Gale, you can either sit still or Kathrine can put you down," I turned to face my cousin's wife, who was watching the scene next to my cousin himself, chuckling in amusement.

Lucas was chuckling as well, but for a completely different reason. Mostly the karma of his children using me as a jungle gym. Which, looking back, I wasn't going to blame him for.

"Lucas, it's good to see you again," I'd have gone for a hug, but I was busy balancing his two kids on my shoulders.

"Indeed. It has been far too long," he looked up at me. Once, I'd been taller, if only slightly. Now it was almost humorous. "Don't look too smug up there. You know the family curse will catch up eventually."

"I doubt shipgirl powers will be beaten that easily," I smirked, though part of me realized he was right. Oh well, I'd still have a few more years of being the tallest sibling again. And I was going to hold onto it with everything I was worth.

"So, where's your luggage?" Lauren asked, looking around towards the numerous belts that carried various bags.

"Got everything aboard," I grinned, quite pleased with me using my shipgirl attributes to my advantage. No need to pay for carry-on or anything else. I can just store it aboard. A penny saved was a penny earned and all that.

"You're adapting fast, aren't you?" Gale's head bent down, trying to look me in the eyes. He was vibrating at this point.

"If that's the case, then we should probably head out. Traffic isn't exactly pleasant to deal with," Lucas pointed through the mass of people.

Still, I was a bit surprised by the lack of flashing cameras. It was certainly a different experience than what I had back in Kansas.

"Agreed. I'm sure the two of them are ready to ask Kathrine plenty of questions," both kids were now vibrating on my shoulders. That may just be an understatement.

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"What's it like to be a ship?"

"What's it feel like to be more than a century old?"

"What do repair baths feel like?"

"How do your guns work?"

"Are your fairies allowed to drink?"

"When will you get your IRL buff patch?"

These were the type of questions I had been expecting. Except for the last one, which nearly made me do a dry spit take. Is that what kids are calling retrofits these days?

"Old," I started, working my way through the questions I could answer. "It feels like a warm bath or hot spring, I do suppose." I'm pretty sure a repair bath was meant to mimic a hot spring to some extent. How exactly that worked, I have no clue.

"They work like guns. Techinquily yes, but under a considerable number of restrictions," that little piece of information had come as a relief to my crew, and a bit of a shocker for me. "And your father probably has a bit more information on that front than I do."

I winked at Eren, diverting her attention towards the front seat of the car for a few moments. I didn't know if Lucas was involved with the project, but one way or another, either through word of mouth or involvement, but he'd know more than I do.

"But you didn't answer the first question," Gale paused, immediately ruining my attempt at distraction. Eren's eyes turned around, suddenly now expecting an answer.

"Because it's, complicated," I frowned. "Sorry if this sounds like a cop-out, but it's not an easy, straightforward question to answer. It's like asking a person what it's like to be a human. Or a feline what it's like to be a cat."

"But don't you feel different?"

The question hung in the air, waiting. I mean, kind of, but not for those reasons. Hindsight was 20-20 for a reason. Quite frankly, there had been a few changes in things I liked and didn't like that just couldn't be explained away by having a different gender. Being a shipgirl explained those things perfectly.

Loving water but hating diving, something I previously enjoyed. A bit more love for the marine aspects of paleontology. Things that simply couldn't just be explained away as different experiences and upbringing. The signs were there. They were present. Being a shipgirl was just as much part of myself as anything else. So the answer was.

"No. Not really."

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"This is your room," Lauren opened the door, allowing me into the guest bedroom. Sure, it was a bit small, between the bed and the dresser, but for my needs, it was perfect.

"Thank you," I nodded, already pulling out boxes from my hull, getting a feel for how much space was in each drawer on the dresser. It was a bit smaller than the one back at home, but I hadn't packed much in the way of winter gear.

Seriously, people around here thought the forties to fifties was cold weather. I just sat back and laughed about my home state and her bipolar weather. We even got snow in the summer once. Mother Nature likes to keep us on our toes.

"Dinner will be ready soon. And apologies in advance. They'll probably want to bother you more in the interim," Lauren smiled slightly, and I chuckled. I was not at all surprised.

"Don't worry. I'll get them to help out. That'll give them a release valve for their pent-up energy," I smirked, eyes flashing towards the door. What? They were teenagers. Well, one of them was a teenager. I didn't need rangefinders or radar to figure out they were currently in the hallway. Didn't need lookouts for that one, either.

"I'm sure they'll enjoy that," Lauren's smirk mirrored my own, with her eyes flicking back towards the door, merely confirming my suspicions. Not that I needed mom instincts to pick up on them.

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I could simply tell Lucas was smirking. I could tell, without even looking at him. I guess this was simply more karma for what I did to him when I was a child.

Even before I became a shipgirl, if I wasn't playing around, I could have easily tussled Gale into exhaustion. As a shipgirl, it was more of a question of trying not to hurt him.

Much like Lucas had to do when both I and my brother jumped all over him.

Even Eren seemed to enjoy watching her brother try to tip me over onto her back from her position on one of the chairs. When she wasn't completely absorbed with whatever game she had been playing on her old laptop.

I assume it was a game. I couldn't quite tell from my current position.

"I have a question," I turned my head slightly, with Eren's voice causing her brother to let go, though I was about to tell him to do just that. His legs were getting a bit too close to my spine. "Can you put something living inside your hull? Like a person or something?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I could Lucas nearly spring up in alarm, waving his arms in the universal gesture for no. Wasn't entirely sure what that was about.

"No, I don't think so," I paused, wondering where she was going with this.

"How about none humans. Cows? Deer? Things like that?" again, her question was meet with even more hand waving from Lucas, now joined in by Lauren. Gale was snickering at his parents, but Eren didn't seem to catch on. Or didn't care.

"What about animals that have appeared on warships? Like cats, mice, and rats? Or do those have a spiritual component, like fairy's?" I paused. I was aware of the tradition of a ship's cat, but did that carry over? Did I have a ship's cat?

Gears began to turn in my mind. If I had a ship's cat, something I wasn't entirely going to discredit. Stranger things have happened. But if a ship's cat came back?

I shuttered. Yeah, that was very much a nope, thank you very much.

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While I doubted it was true, I considered the naval base I stayed at in Florida was respectably sized. When taken in comparison to the base in San Diego? It was minuscule. Even before the war, San Diego's naval base was nearly a thousand acres, effectively nearly one and a half square miles.

Even seeing it from afar was quite the sight. Fourteen docks extended out into the water. I couldn't tell from my current position, but many seemed too busy and crowded with people. Other's contained steel hulls, ranging from aircraft carriers that easily dwarfed me in size, to much smaller escort and transport ships.

"You seem impressed," Lucas chuckled, watching me stare out over the base from our current position. Which, to be fair, I most certainly was.

"Because I am?" I rolled my eyes, letting out a little snort as I did so. What? In my defense, the last time I'd been to a naval base of this caliber was Pearl Harbor, which was a lifetime ago, and the ones I had visited as Kansas, which was a blurry lifetime ago.

Which, on the later front, bases had grown considerably in the past near-century since then. As could be expected. Bigger ships required more of everything. Space, crew, fuel. Naturally, things would grow to match.

Especially now shipgirls had been thrown into the mix. I could only imagine the additional resources required to pull that off.

"In her defense, this is the first time she's seeing a base of this size," Lauren elbowed my cousin in the arm. "After all, how long has she been stuck inland?"

Lucas merely chuckled again, as I rolled my eyes. Though I was almost curious how that revelation would turn out. Sure, the reincarnation of the USS Kansas being someone from Kansas was funny and all, but I had to wonder what might come from it.

Still, it was a wonder to behold. Even in the distance, it seemed almost alive.

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"Is that?" I paused, looking at the girl dancing on what looked like a makeshift stage, her red twin tails bouncing in the wind. The faint sound of her voice pierced into the car's interior. I couldn't exactly make out the words, which was odd, given how she seemed to hold a microphone in her hand.

"San Diego?" Lucas almost seemed to wince.

"She seems to have forgotten to plug in the microphone, again," Lauren sighed. "Thank goodness for small mercies."

"What? Is she a troublemaker or something?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. Neither of them made sounds that sounded good.

"I wouldn't say that," Lucas started, looking over to his wife.

"She's just," Lauren sent a glance toward her husband.

"Loud," he finished, rubbing his ears.

"Very, energetic. To the point where I find myself agreeing with her sister," Lauren frowned. "She just can make it difficult to hear yourself think."

"So, basically shipgirl stuff taken to an extreme?" I frowned, turning my head to watch as a girl with brown hair, also done up in twin tales, with a similar uniform, began dragging San Deigo from her stage.

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"It is a pleasure to finally meet you," the Admiral before me offered out his hand for me to shake. I did so, carefully, but firmly. A firm handshake was one step in a good first impression, but I didn't want to injure him, either. "I've heard quite a bit about you from word of mouth. Mostly from your cousin."

I chuckled as Lucas rubbed the back of his head.

"Though that was before all this, Kathrine," his face became somewhat more serious. "I must extend my apologies, though I imagine Admiral Kenneth has done plenty of that."

"Yes, sir," I nod, eyes keeping my gaze locked with his.

"Right now, our primary goal is both your training and your continued education, as you can imagine. Though the time we can put into the former is somewhat limited, as there will probably be more beneficial once you've received your retrofit," I nodded, understanding his reasoning. "Which is, to be blunt, likely to take a while."

I almost blinked. Something about the design's already starting to breed? That didn't sound good. Ultimately, the man cleared his throat with a hardy cough.

"In the meantime, you should spend some time getting acclimated to the base. We're a lot larger out here, and we even have classes that I suggest you look into in place of a more practice-oriented regiment," he continued. That made sense. "And you have a perfect guide."

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Me, sir?" Lucas seemed a bit surprised.

"Correct. You're family, after all," the Admiral seemed to be somewhat amused. "Someone is already covering your shift for the day, so don't worry about it."

"Yes sir!" Lucas stood, giving a brief salute, as I stood up, doing the same.

"Dismissed," he said, as we turned towards the door. "Oh, and Kathrine?"

"Sir?" I looked back at the older Admiral.

"You may call me Admiral Jeffery," I paused for a moment.

"Yes sir."

"I'm honestly a bit surprised you didn't go for a Game of Thrones reference," Lucas looked at me as the door closed.

"Seemed disrespectful," I shrugged, "Plus, as far as I'm concerned, the show's overrated, anyway. Mark my words."

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"Well, these are the Battleship dorms. Quite frankly, right now, I don't know exactly how much you'll be using your room here," Lucas frowned, staring at the massive building in front of us. "With you staying with us and all that."

"Fair. Still, it would probably be good to at least know where the room is, on the chance I do need it," I offered. After all, knowing exactly where my room was, if I did end up needing it, would be wise. Much rather know where it was and not need to visit than need to use it and not know where it is.

Plus, if any of my sisters were summoned here, I'd probably end up spending much more time at the dorms. Sure, Lucas's house had some room for more people, but spoilers, that room was for more children. And sure, there might be room for one more of us. Two if we squeezed.

"True," Lucas muttered as he made his way inside, me following behind him.

Inside looked like a small entrance, with a closed-off desk, alongside a screen door leading further inside. It looked like one of those that required a keycode, or a card.

"Strange," Lucas muttered, before tapping a bell on the desk. Its sharp ring cracked through the silence before a snort came from the other side of the desk. Slowly, a woman stood up, stretching and smacking her lips.

I've seen pictures of Iowa. I've even seen a few of Yamoto. Even then, the shipgirl before me looked as if she had an inch or two even on the largest Japanese battleship.

How they managed to procure an oversized navy t-shirt for such a behemoth, let alone a matching pair of sweatpants, was beyond me. As was how she'd been able to fit back there in the first place. Seriously, she'd either curled up like a cat or folded herself behind the desk, because that was not physically possible.

"New Hampshire, I wasn't aware you were in charge of the check-in," my heart nearly skipped a beat in my chest. New Hampshire? Had I missed something? Had I overlooked any details?

Much to my unsurprised disappointment, I had not. Her hull was too large, guns much too numerous. I didn't know why I had gotten so excited. I knew I was the first of my sisters to return. So why had I gotten my hopes up?

"I'm not. The usual got in later than expected so I'm covering for them," the battleship named after my youngest sister got out between yawns. "See?"

She pushed open a door, with Lucas and I peering inside, seeing someone shoveling food into their face in a hurry. I couldn't quite tell if the individual was a shipgirl or not, but they certainly appeared hungry.

"Really Johnny?" Lucas's voice caused the individual in question to spit out whatever it was he'd been eating, sputtering out a few words.

"Anyway," New Hampshire closed the door, turning towards me instead. "I'm guessing she's why you're here?"

I felt the larger battleship's gaze look me up and down as if she was sizing me up.

"I like your dress," her compliment took me off guard.

"Thank you," I stammered out, trying to figure out something that I could give a compliment in return. "I like your pants."

Really? Had I really just said that? Pants? PANTS? Did I really just compliment her pants? Out of all the things I could have said, that had to be the stupidest. At least if I complimented her eyes or something it could have come off as a very poor flirting attempt!

"Really? Thank you," she chuckled, stopping me from burying my head in my hands out of sheer embarrassment. "You're the USS Kansas if I'm not mistaken?"

I noticed Lucas freeze up slightly.

"Please, call me Kathrine," I said firmly. Getting called Kansas was something I was going to have to get used to. But that didn't mean I had to take it on the chin every time, either.

"I see. Apologies, then," New Hampshire hummed, looking between the two of us. "I do suppose that makes much more sense."

"Apology accepted," I watched as she began typing in at the computer, continuing to hum to herself.

"I understand. My oldest sister is a natural-born, like you," New Hampshire shook her head as if shaking off memories. "You'll get no further mix up's from me, honest. And on that note, here's your card."

"You scan it at the door, and your room number is on the back," I flipped the plastic rectangle over, making note of the digits on the back. "While there is plenty of spare space normally, I'd highly recommend just storing stuff in your room, and nowhere else. You'll never know when we'll get an influx of new ships. We don't typically have to deal with escort ships having to stay here in the battleship dorms, but sometimes it happens."

"Thank you. I'll keep that in mind," I nodded, putting the card in the door with a satisfying click.

"Oh, and one more thing," I turned around, halfway through the door. "Whatever you do, don't lose it. Ever. The last thing any of us want is a repeat of the Canteen Incident.

"Guh," Lucas shuttered in what could only be disgust. "I remember that incident. It wasn't pretty."

"Let me guess," I crossed my arms. "This is some type of military-grade noodle incident that can only be referenced but never actually spoken of because of how crazy it was?"

Both of them made a face.

"When you put it like that, it makes it sound less impressive," Lucas offered.

"What do you mean, less impressive?" I frowned. Something told me I was going to be mentally bailing on this conversation in short order.

"We're the largest shipgirl base in the world. We currently have a noodle incident scoreboard against Yokosuka," New Hampshire's lips grew into a smirk. "Last I checked, we were in the lead."

"Last I heard, they had an incident involving fire control hoses, destroyers with fireworks, and Japanese hornets."

And I'm off to find my room now.

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"Are those?" I looked at the small cluster of girls. Even without their rigging, their frames made it clear they were destroyers, and in one particular case, a destroyer escort.

"Taffy Three?" Lucas whispered. "Yes, they are. I would highly advise we steer clear of them right now."

If half of what I heard about that particular group of ships was true, I'd agree. It wouldn't surprise me if they saw a pre-dreadnought as an easier target than say, Yamato.

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"This is the laboratory. When engineers aren't busy with repair work and base upkeep, we're generally here, helping the repair ships with design and other projects," Lucas grinned, as I watched people run back and forth.

"Wow. This place is big," I muttered, gazing towards the open ceiling. I hadn't been entirely sure what I'd been expecting. A bit more of a traditional lab, perhaps?

Maybe they weren't keeping one on such an active military base.

"Of course, one of the projects right now is the idea's for your retrofit," Lucas hummed, tapping his chin. "Vestal should be around here somewhere. Word from the grapevine says that she's been having trouble narrowing down designs."

"Just from the grapevine, huh," I teased, giving him a gentle ribbing. "The Admiral said something to that effect earlier today."

"Besides, shouldn't you know more about this than I do?" Lucas just shrugged.

"How do you put it, again? I'm an engineer. I solve practical problems," I let out a snort, and I could hear a few other chuckles come from nearby. Showing him that video had not been a mistake.

"All problems are practical problems," a voice interrupts us. She was a shipgirl, that much was clear, though she lacked any visible armaments. Still, she seemed familiar. Not personally so, but it remained a close thing. There was just something about her hat and blue eyes that seemed familiar.

I just couldn't quite place it. Maybe it was her outfit? It certainly wasn't the usual I'd come to expect, though a repair ship wearing grease and oil splattered overalls alongside a long-sleeved shirt made sense. Oh right, repair ship, that should have been obvious.

"Vestal, this is my cousin, Kathrine," Lucas offered, identifying her for me. Wait, Vestal? Her summoning had made the news, so there were quite a few pictures of her in circulation. Between her hair being tied up in a ponytail and the overalls, it was no wonder I didn't recognize her.

She didn't say anything in response, intent to continue to gaze at me, before pulling out a notebook and pencil. I wasn't quite sure what to do, even as she lifted my arm slightly, before jotting down more in her notebook.

"Can I help you?" I asked, feet shuffling slightly, my eyes managing to catch a peek at the page she was drawing on. Vestal's deft hand was making notes, annotations, and at the center of it all, lay a schematic.

My schematics.

"No, that will be all," Vestal closed the book in her hand with a crack, before it vanished. "As I expected, seeing you in person was most certainly helpful, though there is a lot I still need to do before your retrofit can be given the seal of approval."

"Thank you?" I mean, I most certainly was. Calling it a retrofit almost seemed like saying it was a drastic understatement of the workload.

"You're welcome," Vestal smiled, a warmer expression came across her face. "Now that you have my ear, however, is there anything that you might have in mind?"

I paused. Anything? Well, if I had to choose one thing I'd particularly want. Well, anti-air was to be expected, as was just about anything I'd want that'd be considered necessary. If it was something a bit more trivial.

"Would torpedo tubes be a possibility? Not like the ones I have now, but ones like destroyers have," Vestal just looked at me as if I'd grown a second head. Given how the US removed torpedo launchers for most of their cruisers in favor of more anti-aircraft guns. "I know, it's probably a bit much to ask for those."

"I will try, but given everything else has priority on the matter, I won't make any promises. Your anti-air defenses are already going to prove enough of an issue for me to be willing to compromise them simply for the sake of having torpedo launchers," Vestal jotted down a few more notes. "However, I'll make note all the same, for the sake of future reference."

"I expect as much," I shrugged. No harm, no foul I supposed. "Thank you anyway for listening."

"Torpedoes? Really?" Lucas whispered as Vestal started heading towards her workstation.

"What? I killed an Abyssal with them. I kind of feel nostalgic," I chuckled at his expression.

"That happened just a few weeks ago, how do you already feel nostalgia?" Again, I shrugged. I didn't have to explain how my brain worked. Because I wasn't entirely sure on that front myself.

"No wonder you feel so old sometimes," he just shook his head.

"I'm going to start feeling old once they start remaking games from my childhood," I laughed, though I wasn't joking. The war may have put a dent in quite a few markets, but the moment it ended, I knew those two remakes were coming out.

"You keep saying that. I'm wondering if that day is going to,"

"VESTAL!" A loud voice echoed from across the building. Even from where I stood, I heard the repair ship let out an annoyed groan, face resting in her hands.

"Who is that?" I frowned, trying to spot the origin of the bellowing voice. Though Lucas was also rubbing his hands against his temple.

"Langley, if I had to guess," Lucas let out a sigh. Langley? As in, the first aircraft carrier ever built, Langley? I mean, given how many American carriers were named after older carriers or ones that had been previously lost, it wouldn't surprise me if there was more than one Langley around.

"She comes down every few days, asking about the helicopter progress. Which, in all honesty, is a lot more complicated than it looks, and only the repair ships can work on it," Lucas waved his hand, as a shipgirl, smaller than even Vestal, made her way out of the crowd. "Honestly, it's probably best to ignore her. Vestal can handle herself."

I paused for a moment, watching the two talk to one another.

"Nah. I think I have a different idea."