"Damn, you look like hell," Anong was blunt as ever, as I rubbed my eyes, desperate to keep the sleep at bay.

"Anong, be nice," Laura nudged the taller girl with her elbow. "Kathrine's sister just got summoned. Of course, she isn't going to get much sleep."

"More like no sleep, actually," I grumbled, taking a half-hearted bite out of my apple. One o'clock wasn't exactly the most reasonable bedtime for a school night, but that was still a few hour's worth of shut-eye. Or, at least, it should be. But I was far too excited to fall asleep and with my sleep aid medicine being on the fritz since my awakening as a shipgirl?

That was a recipe for an all-nighter if there ever was one. I should have gotten the medicine thing checked out sooner. But now I was paying for my poor planning.

"Really? An all-nighter? What did you talk about? Boys or something?" Anong cackled before Laua elbowed her. It was hard to miss, even though my previous human existence left me reluctant to date, just simply by age. By mental age, more or less, I had been more than twice as old as some of my peers at that point. Made me feel skeevy.

"It doesn't have to be just guys, either," a voice whispered into my ear, causing me to jump in my seat and nearly bump into Connie. Amelia let out a laugh, falling backward onto her seat at the table. I scowled, hoping there wasn't a blush on my face.

"Just, stuff," I frowned, trying to deflect away from Amelia's comment. "It's been nearly a century since my sisters were active. Each of them is going to have a lot of catching up to do when they wake up."

Sure, that was the case for most shipgirls, as I understood it, excluding those that survived long past the war, as museum ships, or even still active ones. That didn't mean I had concerns beyond that. But honestly, I expected that someone would probably give Louisinia that run down sooner rather than later.

"So, what's Louisiana like, anyway?" Jessica hummed between bites of food. "She seemed pretty fancy."

"Why, are you interested or something?" I just about bit my tongue at Anong's comment, cutting off my words.

"No," Jessica's expression was smug. "But my mother might be though."

Water came spitting out my nose as I coughed, before turning to glare at the dark-haired girl as Anong laughed in the background.

"As a model or something!" Jessica raised her hands in surrender as I glared. "She doesn't swing that way!" I let out a groan, rubbing my temples.

"Please start with that next time," I rested my head in my hands, placing my elbows against the table.

"Well, I think we all know who's going to be handing out the 'if you do anything to hurt her speech'," Laura giggled. This time, my face flushed red with embarrassment.

"Someone has to, and my parents aren't going to be here to give it," I shrugged. I had absolutely no issues with giving anyone who wanted to date my sisters, any of them, a shotgun speech.

Well, twelve-inch shell speech, in my case. Probably a bit more intimidating than a twelve gauge.

"I'm honestly a bit surprised one of your sisters showed up so quickly. We're still missing one of my sisters, after all," Anong crossed her arms behind her head as if resting them. "Happy, but surprised. I'm just hoping we can narrow down whoever I am soon."

I understood where Anong was coming from. I was certainly surprised as well, though it was without a doubt a pleasant surprise. Though in her case, it probably had a bit to do with narrowing down which of the unsummoned New Orleans class Cruisers she was. If my memory was correct, the only ones left were Minniaploes and Vincennes. What were the odds of the other of the pair being a natural-born as well?

That was an interesting question. What exactly were the odds of someone being a natural-born shipgirl? I didn't think they were common, or, at the very least, that common. Natural borns weren't exactly explained all that well, to my knowledge.

"I've been thinking, but how common are natural borns, anyway?" I looked across the table, the moving gears in my brain bringing to a state that could at least pass as getting a proper night's sleep. Everyone shot me a confused glance, and a few shrugs, while Laura stroke her chin.

"I'm not exactly sure. There's been a lot of research done on the matter, but not a whole lot has come out of it," Laura frowned, "Not all classes have a natural-born member, but it's really uncommon not to find at least one in a class of at least five or more ships. I have several other natural-born sisters myself. The only thing I know for certain is that ships that were never finished are more likely to appear as natural borns."

"Because there's a logical explanation on why shipgirls even exist in the first place," Jessica rolled her eyes. "Just enjoy the weirdness and be done with it already."

I frowned. Part of her statement made sense. Shipgirls didn't make sense, so why worry about it?

"I don't think so. Humanity wouldn't have gotten as far as we have if at every unexplained thing we just shrugged and said 'weird's weird,' and moved on," Anong and Laura nodded at my words, even with Connie seeming a bit more engaged than usual. Jessica just gave me another roll of her eyes, before returning to her lunch.

My eyes flicked towards the clock, before widening in alarm. I should probably follow her example.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Louisiana was surprised. While she had no reason to doubt her sister's words, there was a difference between hearing about something and seeing it for one's self. This wasn't even San Fransico, yet this city seemed to dwarf where they had stayed as part of the Great White Fleet.

Louisiana let out a sigh, thinking back to easier, simpler, times, basking in the sun's rays. She didn't have time to look after her summoning, with her excited petite soeur, but now that day had come, it was hard to deny just how much things changed. Her eyes glanced over toward where numerous ships lay in dock. All but the smallest of the vessels were larger than her former self. The largest being ships with flat tops, with not a single gun in sight.

So, just like how the dreadnaught had supplanted Louisiana and her soeur's, the dreadnaughts themselves had found themselves replaced by something new. It was funny, in a way. The dreadnaught, once the pride of the navy, then later left to rot.

Of course, these would have to have been the aircraft carriers that her petite soeur spoke of. The airplanes of their era had been slow. Lumbering. Fragile. Something that was not built for life on the ocean.

But as Louisiana was quickly learning, things had changed. If hardier craft could be constructed, then aircraft launched from ships playing a roll in combat aside from scouting wouldn't be so, outrageous.

Nor did it change how she and her petite soeur were even more obsolete than before. She had almost been tempted to widen the scope of her pranks if only just a little bit. Instead, Louisiana had decided that caution better suited her at the moment. After all, even a fool would be able to put together an increase in disturbances to the arrival of a new individual.

Instead, the time would be better spend observing those around her, bidding her time. She didn't wish to harm anyone, not truly. That would lead to the navy being forced to take a heavy hand with her. An event she would rather not come to pass, even if Louisiana felt her petite soeur was being too soft, given what happened.

Louisiana's fist tightened. Her petite soeur was being incredibly soft. If she were there, Louisiana would put the man's head on a pike for his stupidity. That alone was worth getting payback for, even if only slightly. But she'd have to bide her time before putting any of her current pranks into motion. Pre phase after the next summoning or so? Louisiana brought up her hand to hide the grin that was surely growing across her face.

It was too unladylike to show that many teeth, after all.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Admiral Jeffery ran his fingers through his receding hairline. It was only going to be a matter of time before the media got wind of Louisiana being summoned. Kathrine's identity as Kansas may as well be an open secret by this point, but enough had gotten the message to back off from the pre-dreadnought battleship.

Louisiana threatened to blow that wide into the open and had her problems, to boot. None intentional on Louisiana's part, at any rate. But after the uproar, several members of her namesake state had after Louisiana, or BB-71, was summoned in Japan? There would be calls for Kathrine's sister to at least visit the state. Normally, this wouldn't be a big issue, but Admiral Jeffery knew for a fact that certain parties would try to put some spin on it.

Until they caught wind of her skin color, at any rate. As much as he'd give Tennessee a medal for what she did, Admiral Jeffery would rather not have a repeat of that particular incident. Louisiana didn't seem like the type to respond to such, but he'd been around long enough to know that it's always the one you least expected. And even if Louisiana was willing to let belligerent racism go, Kathrine probably wouldn't.

But that was a matter that could be put off. Louisiana would have to be gotten up to date, and while Kathrine would certainly be doing the best job she could, there was a lot to go over, and Kathrine likely didn't have enough time to even scratch the surface. Then there were general public relations lessons. Kathrine probably wouldn't need them as badly, being a minor herself, but with Louisiana, they would be necessary. Ideally, not to a great extent, but that was something they would have to find out.

And how could he forget the retrofit problem that was sure to arise? While Kathrine had gotten basic fire control training, with basic practice with her anti-air equipment, Louisiana had not. Louisiana wouldn't even have any anti-air armaments, in truth. Not any that could hurt a fly, much less a plane. They could get her up to speed right this moment. Unlike the full retrofit planned for the Connecticut's, they had all of the equipment for the small upgrades that Kathrine had gotten.

They had more than enough spare machinery. Being among the largest naval bases in the United States had perks, after all. Getting Louisiana an upgrade to her equipment to that small of an extent wouldn't take long at all. He wasn't expecting Louisiana to see any action, at least until the full retrofit was done and after rigorous testing, to boot. But it didn't hurt to be prepared.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Of course, Admiral Jeffery could also just order the full retrofit done. It would take time for everything to be built, shipped, and handled. Even with the twin-twelve-inch batteries being built for several older dreadnaughts, those did not grow on trees. It'd take a few months for all four guns to be built, even if the order being but in, alongside the eight twin-eight inch guns. Those would be slightly easier in size, but not volume.

That was going to be a conversation that he was going to have to have with both shipgirls, however. One way or another, he was going to have to decide on the matter. Because Kathrine still needed to be in school, he was already leaning towards Louisiana, simply due to that time constraint. Then they could begin with the shakedown cruise and ironing out any kinks in Vestal's design.

To be frank, he wasn't entirely sure on what roll the retrofitted Connecticuts would serve. Even with a miracle, they'd be too slow to keep up with fleet carriers and light carriers, so escort duty was off the table, like with many of the older dreadnaughts. Green water duties were an option, and the power of twelve-inch guns would be appreciated in such a roll, but that's where many of the dreadnaughts found themselves operating. Not exactly awful, but he had a suspicion that the rest of Kathrine's sisters wouldn't take as kindly to many of the older dreadnaughts when compared to Kathrine herself.

Acting as heavily armed escort for jeep carriers was an option. Battleship grade armor, with battle cruiser and heavy cruiser guns, all on a package the size of a light cruiser? That would give just about any enemy vessel besides battleships and carriers at least some pause. The same could go for seaplane tenders, such as Langley. Admiral Jeffery remembered hearing something about how Kathrine had defused a situation between Langley and Vestal on her first day.

Maybe that was an avenue worth pursuing? Langley had made no attempts to hide that she didn't like being kept out of the fighting. Despite being a seaplane tender, and an old one, at that. Letting her stretch her legs, even on a minor operation, might do her some good. But at the same time, Langley was very much the Grandmother of the entire carrier fleet. Losing her again would be unacceptable.

Admiral Jeffery tapped his pin against his desk. Maybe she could help with some training exercises? It would possibly help Langley from going too stir crazy. And he'd been meaning to get Connie in for some practice as well. Even with her retrofit, she sorely needed attentional practice anyway.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

I hadn't exactly gotten a chance to look at Louisiana's rigging when she had been summoned. I'd been far too excited about having one of my sisters back to being distracted by such details. But now that I got a look at it, there were a lot of differences, and those were before my minor refit.

Sure, hypothetically, we would both have the same rigging as sisters. But in practice? Not so much.

My rigging was split bow to stern, with my twelve-inch guns placed atop my hands, with the rest hanging off my sides, attached just above my waist, with a smokestack and the conning tower strapped to my back.

Louisiana's rigging, on the other hand, was split port to starboard, right between her smokestacks. While her conning tower was connected to her back as well, that was the only similarity left, as her twelve-inch guns were attached to the ship portion of her rigging, which hung around her waist. Our boots were similar as well, hiding underwater torpedo tubes.

Then there was, of course, my refit to consider. Louisiana's deck was covered in numerous smaller guns of various sizes, while mine had pretty much been replaced wholesale with the twin five-inch batteries and a handful of twin Bofors.

Her various guns launched numerous salvo's downrange towards the targets that littered the bay. Louisiana's aim was better than mine when compared to my larger guns. It wasn't too surprising. She still had most of her memories while I still had a lot of practice to put in.

But comparatively, my five-inch guns were more accurate than the vast majority of her smaller guns. As to be expected from a dual-purpose armament that was among the greatest large anti-aircraft guns used during the war.

That was not much of a consolation prize, however, when Connie was outperforming us at both small and large arm gunnery. Each crack from her sixteen-inch main battery was either marked by a direct hit or a massive eruption of water close to her target. Far beyond the range of our twelve and eight-inch guns at that. Expected? Absolutely. A sixteen-inch main battery gave Connie just one barrel short of any of the US fast battleships, in the same caliber to boot. If she had gotten some type of Iowa-style fire control system, then it would explain her accuracy.

Given how she had her duel purpose five-inch guns, an armament that certainly wouldn't have been around for the original Lexington class Battlecruisers, then it was safe to say Connie had gotten a retrofit of her own. Which was a good sign, given how she was around my age.

Honestly, I shouldn't be too worried about my retrofit, anyway. The more practice I had with the new equipment, the better off I'd be in actual combat.

Slowly, we made our way to the end of the course.

"I think we both have room for improvement, ma soeur," Louisiana bowed slightly, in a manner that already confirmed what I was going to get her for her birthday. "You outperformed us by no small margin, Miss Connie, was it?"

Connie's face lit up like a tomato, trying to hide her face from my sister's words. Her uniform was strange, a bit difficult to put into words, but it was like a combination of both Lexington and Saratoga's outfits. The dress was longer than Saratoga's, coming up to just above the meek girl's ankles. But instead of being white or grey, it instead took after the color of Lexington's clothes. White near the top, with the sides being a lighter grey before both gave way to a deep blue the further down one went, becoming completely dominant by the time one reached the skirt. From what I could see, the outfit was completed with red socks, bearing a black stripe up the middle.

"We still have one more exercise to go, right?" I'm really happy that shipgirls had multiple copies of the same outfit. Because something told me I was either going to want or need a bath after whatever was coming our way.

So, what exactly was it? I scowled, looking around. Submarines were among the first things that came to mind. None of us had any anti-submarine equipment, so that might be a bit redundant, but testing us on how we reacted to an unconventional situation. One that we weren't equipped for?

Possible, but probably not. An attack from the sky, then? If that was the case, then Connie was the only ship between the three of us with radar, which meant she would be the only one who could alert us to anything coming from that direction.

"Contacts," Connie's words were brief, but I only needed to see where she was gazing, off in the distance. Sure, I couldn't see much, with my mark one human eyeball and the setting sun, but between the battlecruiser's gaze and the upward direction, it was pretty safe to assume what was coming our way.

Immediately, my crew sprung into action, replacing the balloons meant to represent my anti-surface ammunition with those that simulated anti-aircraft shells. Bofor members scrambled into their positions, all guns going on high alert. As I've already learned the hard way with Ranger, my upgrades wouldn't be enough to cut it, even against a modest number of aircraft. My fire control systems simply weren't designed for it.

Connie was pretty much our best hope, and honestly, she was probably a good one. Fully modernized, and her rigging was bristling with a considerable number of Bofors and Oerlikon, not to mention twenty five-inch, dual purpose guns. Her anti-air armament could probably match that found on any of the United States fast battleships during the war, and that was no small statement.

"Ma souer? What are you two looking," Louisiana cut off her own words, meaning the aircraft had finally entered visual range. They were scarcely notable, merely tiny dots in the sky. But those tiny dots were growing larger, and they were growing fast. Diver bombers? Torpedo bombers?

The answer was probably both. Regardless, we needed to get underway. Sitting still like ducks was just going to make us an even easier target. An easier target than Louisiana and I already were, at any rate.

"Louisiana, try to stay between me and Connie as much as possible!" my plan probably wasn't a good one. However, Louisiana had very little clue on what airstrikes even were, unless she had gone in towards one of the classes today. Which I was fairly certain she hadn't. And Connie hadn't spoken up yet, so either she had a plan and wasn't telling us, or she didn't have one.

Now came the possibly stupid part. Do I play it safe and stay behind Connie's anti-air bubble? Or do I use myself as bait to draw in some planes, possibly allowing Connie to pick up some easier kills while they tried to set up their attack runs?

No, that was, stupid. Why would I even think that? Connie had more than enough firepower to make such a maneuver unnecessary. I could be screening for her, as Connie was probably the more important and valuable ship, being honest in evaluation. However, Louisiana had no real measure of defense besides her armor, and as I found out the hard way, armor simply wasn't good enough.

Plus, without radar, it wasn't like I'd be able to hit any of the planes heading our way. Maybe cause a few to fly off course, but it'd take a lucky shot to cause one to divert at range.

Finally, Connie nodded, quickly getting underway, moving just fast enough to make sure we weren't left in her wake. I scowled. Maybe trying to act as a screen, as stupid and fruitless as it would be, might have been a better idea after all. She had practically cut her speed in half, leaving her a lot more vulnerable than she otherwise would me.

Watching as a few planes maneuvered around Connie's flack bubble before pressing in the attack, I realized that no matter what happened, this was not going to be pleasant either way.