The funny thing about routines was, that despite how easy they could be to settle into, they could be easy to disrupt. Especially when those who helped make those routines were no longer present. It would be two and a half weeks. Three weeks tops. I'd only known my sister for a short while, but her absence? It stung. More than I ever imagined it would.

A few flicks of my pencil finished out the last of my history assignment, as I laid down on the cool tile floor. Naturally, part of the repair baths was sectioned off, for things such as refits. Given shipgirls were just as much human as they were a ship, it wasn't all too surprising that refits were more akin to advanced surgery.

As Louisiana's sister, I was able to stay with her during parts of the operation. Parts. Not all. Sadly, as much as I wanted to, I was not able to take time off from school to stay with her. However, just about every other moment I could reasonably manage, I was there for her, watching her sleeping face as Vestal worked.

It wasn't like I didn't trust the repair ship, far from it. It was just.

My sister had been gone for so long. To have her back, but out of reach.

I just didn't want to lose her. Not again. As unlikely as such would be.

So, I would keep watch. At least until the operation had finally finished. I'd even moved a sleeping bag into the area. Sure, there were already repercussions on my sleep schedule, but I didn't care for that all too much.

So long as I could make sure my sister stayed safe, then it would be worth every second.

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"So, that's what happened in school today," I chuckled, shaking my head. That fight had caused no small bit of trouble, though I'd stayed as far away from it as humanly possible. Given how it didn't involve us reincarnated shipgirls, I'd kept my distance throughout the whole afar. Sure, I could have very easily separated the two, but at the same time, that was not my circus, and thus, not my barrel of monkeys. Plus, I knew enough about PR that getting involved would simply be a lose-lose situation. So long as they weren't hurting each other too badly, then getting involved would simply create headaches for other people.

Something I'd rather avoid, personally. Headaches were never fun, especially ones created by the actions of others.

Other than that, classes had been the same as they'd always been. Mostly waiting until I could catch the bus back to base, making as much use out of my free time to get as much schoolwork done as humanly possible. Of course, a decent chunk remained each night once I had arrived, meaning I was still working or reading. Or both, depending on the class. Contrary to some people's belief, reading out of the textbook wasn't a complete waste of time.

It gave me a leg up, as it was.

Still, things would seem crazy from an outside perspective. Louisiana was still asleep, so talking to her like this probably made me look crazy. It felt somewhat crazy, too, but talking to her like this felt, right? Maybe not exactly right, but it helped calm my nerves. Sure, it wasn't much, but it was still something.

But that didn't stop the knot in my gut that despite that, I was missing something important.

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Admiral Kenneth looked at the pile resources, canisters of oil, bits of steel, nuts, bolts, and ammunition. It'd taken a bit of time to get everything built up. Hopefully, it would prove sufficient for a heavy cruiser or similar, if only to give his few Capital ships a bit more breathing room.

He was more than aware of what was happening across the United States in San Diego. Louisiana's summoning had not gone unnoticed by the other world powers, and he knew the Connecticut's retrofit had many eyes upon it. He didn't blame them, as it was only a matter of time before more pre-dreadnoughts would be summoned, intentional or otherwise.

Still, it was good that Kathrine finally had a sister, even if she appeared quicker than anyone expected. His money had been split on New Hampshire being summoned at one of the many naval bases around New York, where South Carolina typically resided. Given the service history she shared with the dreadnought as an escort, it has made for a solid anchor to help her manifest. That was if she didn't appear at the same base or close to her sister. It was a fifty-fifty chance in his eyes. Then there was the name ship of the class, Connecticut, which he thought would show up at her sister's side.

Instead, it was Louisiana. What little he had seen from her made her seem like just as much of a good role model as Kathrine had shown herself to be. From his understanding, Louisiana had already begun receiving her retrofit. He'd seen the design, and he was a bit surprised at the volume of anti-aircraft guns placed aboard. Nearly twice the number of twin five-inch guns than a Cleaveland, a vessel that had considerable more deck space, while the smaller Bofors and Orlikens still were a bit excessive.

But after what happened the first time Kathrine sortied against an enemy aircraft carrier. That excessiveness might just have a purpose. Though they'd have to wait and see just how effective it was.

"Sir? Are we ready to begin?" South Dakota saluted him, standing near the summoning pool, alongside Denver and Pheonix.

"We are, South Dakota," he nodded, looking towards the pool as the music began to play. Already, he could feel the pressure beginning to build up in the air. He'd hardly gotten a chance to speak before the resources set aside began to flicker and fade, the water in the pool spinning and twirling, light rising off the surface. There was a crack.

Then, strangely, it stopped. The water stilled, the light died. His eyes glanced over towards the materials, finding that they were gone. And the pressure was still in the air, unchanged. No, not unchanged. Growing stronger?

"Well that was anti-cli," Denver didn't get to finish her sentience before the pool erupted in a torrent of water, surging upward towards the ceiling. Admiral Kenneth shielded his eyes for a moment as gravity reasserted himself, crashing down like a hammer.

It did not take long before the water to still, revealing a figure standing in the pool, where a figure in a familiar dress stood. It was blue, like Kathrine's was, but with sleeves that went halfway down her arms. Likewise, there was a white handkerchief around her neck, but unlike Kathrine, she had white stockings, which, from his angle, looked as if they continued up into her knee-length dress.

She looked about a half head shorter than Kathrine had been, last he saw her, with short curly hair that nearly matched Kathrines. If it wasn't for the fact her hair was grey, almost appearing white in color. Then there were her green eyes, harsh and almost piercing with their intensity.

"My name is Admiral Kenneth, of the United States Navy," he saluted, saying the words as he had said numerous times before. The shipgirl in the pool's eyes narrowed for a moment as if evaluating him for some unseen quality.

"I am BB-18, USS Connecticut, the first of my class," she returned his salute, "I heard you had a use for me. I do hope what I heard was right."

Admiral Kenneth hid his frown quite well. Given Kathrine's reaction, he figured that a few of her siblings might carry a grudge against the Navy. They were far from the only ships that did, after all. Almost every nation had more than a few who had some degree of issue or another, mostly due to poor treatment or outright negligence.

Regardless, this would be interesting. He was going to have to wonder just how well Kathrine would take this though.

Or how Connecticut would take knowing that two of her sisters had been already around.

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Louisiana speed across the water, with me bringing up the rear. As much as my eighteen knots allowed me to keep pace, at any rate.

I wasn't sure exactly how fast she was going, but it was not anywhere close to whatever it was they'd expected out of the retrofit. Louisiana had to be faster than that. Easily. Still nowhere near as fast as Connie, but certainly faster than intended. She was pulling away much too quickly to be going only 21 knots.

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Still, as jealous as I was, I was even more excited by the revelation. I wasn't sure if she was going fast enough to be included in a screening force for fleet carriers, but she had to be close. And if she was close? Then so would I, after the retrofit. More speed was far from a bad thing, even if we wouldn't be able to keep up with pretty much any cruiser when it came to a chase, much less anything smaller. But that was what the range of the twelve-inch guns was for, after all.

Of course, speed was only one part of the trails that I knew Lousania would be busy with over the next few days. Which would all sadly fall on school days, so I wasn't going to be able to help all that much on that front. Still, Lousania already looked like she was getting the hang of it.

I grinned at my sister as she turned to face me, a large smile on her face, unabashedly reaching ear to ear. Watching her have fun like this was nice.

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"You're meaning to tell me that Louisiana is reaching twenty-five knots?" Vestal's eyebrow creased, processing the information, the twitching of her fingers telling Admiral Jeffery that if she had them, she'd be sifting through blueprints until she found the right one.

"At present, though that was during the speed trials. Still, that puts her at four knots faster than what was originally designed. A knot or two would be a pleasant surprise. However, my primary concern at the moment is if you would be able to repeat this accomplishment," Admiral Jeffery ran his fingers through his beard. Vestal nodded.

"I'd have to look through my notes, and run a few tests, but I should be able to. Wouldn't want Kansas to end up getting the shorter end of the stick by mistake," Vestal seemed to chuckle to herself slightly.

"And Connecticut," Admiral Jeffery added, as Vestal's eyes widened in surprise. "I got word from Admiral Kenneth a few days ago. He managed to summon Connecticut."

"Do Lousania and Kansas know?" Vestal frowned, pausing for a moment.

"Not at the moment. Louisiana was still completing her retrofit when I received the news, while Kathrine has been distracted by her sister's said retrofit, so I figured the added stress of her sister being summoned on the other side of the country wouldn't be worth it. However, with that cleared up, I'll be notifying the two of them shortly," he still wasn't entirely sure what would be done on that front, however.

"And what exactly is the plan on that front? On one hand, I know Admiral Kenneth would appreciate another ship in the fleet, but I don't think he has the facilities to complete a retrofit of the scale performed on Louisiana," Vestal frowned, voicing many of his concerns out loud.

"From what I understand, plans are very much fluid, at the moment," Admiral Jeffery frowned, for several reasons. From what Kenneth had told him, Connecticut carried a grudge. A pretty harsh one, at that, and seemed to have a little issue showing it. Kathrine hadn't displayed any such behavior, nor had Louisiana.

Which created quite a few complicating factors. While the Connecticut class, to his knowledge, hadn't been treated poorly, they had been built just before Dreadnaught entered construction, some of them, even after that. Which was naturally going to cut into their time in service, one cut even shorter by the Washington Naval Treaty, which saw nearly all Pre-Dreadnaughts scrapped.

It wasn't too big of a surprise that a vessel that had originally been built as the apex of American engineering, only for them to be rendered near obsolete in less than a decade. Most vessels could count on more than a few decades in service, even if older vessels got relegated to training or put in reserve. But in four short years, they had been rendered yesterday's news. Less than that, in truth. The class was on a time limit the moment Dreadnought was laid down, being commissioned the same year the Connecticut class was.

So ultimately, it wasn't too surprising that there would be a grudge. Even if Kathrine didn't seem to hold one, but she had also spent time as a human before this, likely changing her thoughts on the matter. He wasn't sure about Louisiana though. At first glance, she seemed just as well-mannered and straight-laced as Kathrine had been. More in both respects, as well as being considerably more ladylike than her naturalborn sister.

But as for a grudge like the one Connecticut was described to have? He hadn't seen any evidence of such a thing. If she had hidden such, she hid it with the skill to make even a professional spy jealous. However, at moment, he had no reason to keep an eye on her. Even with a grudge, she probably wouldn't do anything too out of hand, even by shipgirl standards.

"Fluid?" Vestal shook her head, likely picking up on how much he could say about matters, and more importantly, what he couldn't say. "That doesn't sound promising."

He wouldn't disagree with Vestal's assessment, but in the long run, he doubted there would be considerable issues on the matter. Headaches being plentiful where Connecticut ended up staying? Especially early on when she would be operating on that grudge with very little time to build up trust. By the barrel full, in fact.

Of course, then there was the matter of Kathrine's first sortie, an event that once again had him swearing. It wouldn't take long for Connecticut to find out about that mess, and he doubted she would take that revelation well, even with the one responsible being removed from his position. That was the biggest concern he had, at the moment. If anything, it would only serve to confirm Connecticut's suspicions. In her eyes, the Navy just attempted to toss aside one of her sisters for being outdated.

In short, the fool's actions were still biting them in the ass, and it likely wasn't going to get any better with each sister summoned. Even if Kathrine was willing to leave it as water under the bridge and Louisiana listening to her sister over the matter, there was no guarantee that pattern would hold.

Which left anywhere from four to five pre-dreadnaughts with grudges and the ability to see at least someone in the Navy had been willing to throw them aside. Why was it so hard for some Admirals to remember that shipgirls were also human beings? It was actions like this that caused no end of trouble. One would think people would have enough good sense or self-preservation to avoid angering a shipgirl to that much of an extent.

Still, the man's punishment would hopefully go some way to show them that such matters would be taken with the seriousness such demanded. It wouldn't be much, but it would be something, and sadly, that would have to do for the time being. He just hoped it would be enough.

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Connecticut's teeth ground against another, rage nearly radiating off her body in thick, angry waves, threatening to drown anyone around her. She was tempted to march out at put that bastard's head on a pike! He had hurt her sister! Tried to get her killed!

Two things were stopping her from doing so, however. Firstly, she had zero ideas on where to find the man. A considerable obstacle and she doubted, despite what she had heard, that anyone else would know either. Even if they did, they'd be, unwilling, to give her such information. Nor would such actions accomplish anything beyond getting her into trouble. She knew that. But it didn't make the image any less cathartic than it already was.

To make matters worse was the fact that her youngest present sister was on the other side of the country, so she couldn't fix what crap she had been feed. A few months ago, it wouldn't have been an issue, as Kansas had been here.

She wasn't entirely sure why the move had to happen in the first place. Born human? Why exactly had that been so important? They were Kansas's sisters and family, not anyone else.