She had never been to Hawaii in her past life but as the group entered Pearl Harbor navy base Ohio watched on in excitement. Unlike the island paradise of her dreams the base looked more like a fortress instead. They had dropped the tanker off before proceeding into the military zone and off in the distance she could see the memorial for the original . Her eyes turned to the flesh and blood one who seemed to have a rather conflicted expression in regards to her corpse. What was going on in the mind of the dreadnought was not something Ohio could honestly empathize with. She didn’t have memories of being a ship and her current body superficially resembled a younger version of her previous self. The emotions that must come with being able to literally look upon your grave and being able to see your previous self had to be something immensely complicated.

  The entrance to the harbor was flanked by defensive emplacements and coastal batteries seemingly straight out of a World War 2 documentary. Instead of beaches and cuties in swimsuits her first impression of Hawaii was that of a coastal fortress with a pair of large turrets tracking them as they entered. “Not gonna lie… I don’t believe Hawaii looked so fortified back home. WW2 would have gone differently if Pearl Harbor had these sort of weapons.” She offered mostly to herself as Ohio was in awe over what would be her new home.

  “Trust me, I know…” Arizona sighed, avoiding looking in the direction of her original body. Ohio looked down at that realizing how insensitive the comment was. “Don’t worry about it kid, I’ve gotten over it since I was awaken nine months ago. Nothing like seeing your grave in person to make it all seem more real. Just remember that we have been given a second chance to protect our people, even if you were not a ship in your previous life you are one of us now.” Arizona skated up next to the CGN and ruffled her hair.

  “If I call you big sister would you be insulted?” Ohio asked the dreadnought with puppy dog eyes. Essex nearby giggled at the conversation as the normally composed and mature Arizona blushed. “Sure kid, since you don’t have any siblings yet I’ll foster you.” The big battleship got over her embarrassment and smiled at the smaller girl.

  Bristol came zipping up and grabbed Ohio’s hand before urging her to go faster. “I wanna introduce you to my sister Laffy! We are way more fun than the Atlantas.” Ohio laughed along as she was dragged towards the dock where a ramp was set up to help them up onto the shore. “We need to get checked out first! If we are good, the dock crew tends to give out snacks!” The little destroyer stated excitedly as they stepped up onto an conveyor or sorts that lifted them up out of the water where mechanical arms were set up to remove the rigging from them.

  “Gotcha Bristol! Let’s make their jobs easy then. I missed breakfast before my death this morning so maybe you can show me where I can get a burger or something after we are done?” Ohio asked sweetly buttering the smaller girl up. Bristol nodded excitedly as she took her place and Ohio watched the work first before she too got into place. Assembly arms began to detach her superstructure backpack as well as the various guns and cruise missile launchers before her rigging parts were stored away.

  “So… what do I have to come back through here to get my guns back?” She asked, watching as her various weapons were packed away along with Bristols and then the others as they too went through the same process.

  “Yes, that would be correct.” A member of the technician crew offered from off the side with a clipboard. Ohio took notice and looked at the man with a questioning look. “You must be the new girl Arizona brought back. Good job out there, a carrier kill on your first sortie is pretty impressive. But yes we take your equipment after a mission for inspection, repairs, and rearming and when you are set for another sortie you will get them back.” Ohio looked slightly nervous at the idea of her stuff being taken away after fighting the Revenants all day. “Don’t worry, you are safe here. Besides, your kind is way more powerful than normal humans.”

  She nodded at everything said to her and tried not to get anxious over it. Not like she needed tomahawks on base but maybe they could let her keep one of her chainguns at least? Nope, carrying warship weapons around was not something that was appropriate on base. Bristol not minding it all helped her nerves though. Said destroyer had returned with a sucker before taking Ohio’s hand again. “Come! Let’s get lunch!”

  Laughing, the cruiser let the cutie drag her around while the Atlanta twins followed along. “You two coming with us?” She asked Arizona and Essex who were busy signing off on paperwork. Essex turned to the question and shook her head. “Go on ahead of us. We need to speak with the Admiral first with our report. Keep your schedule open as you will probably get an appointment with her later on. So keep your radio on.” Ohio nodded at the words before heading along with the other three into the base proper to find food.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “So… As a previous human turned ship, what was it like being a ship turned human?” Ohio asked as the four girls walked along the base attracting attention from the navy personnel going about their regular jobs. “I can’t imagine certain things haven’t been easy?”

  Atlanta giggled as Bristol watched with child like curiosity about the conversation. “Besides the obvious, my main thing is that I have to eat now. Oh and sleep! Sure the ocean is nice but sleeping on an actual bed is heaven!” Atlanta stated while San Diego held back her opinion about the matter. “I like Ice Cream! I couldn’t eat that while I was a ship!” Bristol exclaimed happily before running ahead of the group threatening to run over any sailor who didn’t get out of the way of the destroyer.

  “I meant more like… you know body functions and such?” Ohio clarified now that Bristol had taken off. Atlanta gave an expression of disgust at the idea and her sister burst out in laughter. “Let me guess… We don’t have those problems in this form?”

  “Nope and thank the gods for that. I couldn’t imagine carrying a child or leaking oil once per month.” San Diego offered as she wrapped an arm around her older sister. Ohio released some tension at hearing that. “That does mean though that you aren’t getting any older either. We are functionally immortal as long as we aren’t killed.”

  That caught Ohio’s attention instantly. “Wait… so I’m stuck looking like a teenager for the rest of my life? But…” With great sadness she checked her chest as it dawned on her that she wasn’t growing any.

  “Welcome to our lives. Cruisers are stuck in that weird middle phase. Destroyers get to pretend to be kids eternally, Battleships get to be busty, and Carriers get to be all elegant and mature. We get carded at the bar regardless of our age.” Atlanta added that part to the conversation.

  “Well that sucks… Not sure being able to fling Tomahawks is worth giving up my adultness.” Sighing softly Ohio watched as Bristol made it to the mess hall and waved at them to hurry up. “Coming! Just having an existential crisis Bristol.”

  After the four girls arrived, Ohio was confronted with a buffet style mess hall not too different from back in college. Liquid began to pool in her mouth as the smells of food assaulted her senses. Bristol caught sight of another child her size and without warning a silver haired girl came running towards them. “Laffy! Meet my new friend Ohio! She sunk a carrier alone with a cruise missile! It was so awesome!” Bristol was doing a rapid fire introduction as who she assumed was Bristol’s sister arrived.

  “Hi Laffy! I’m CGN-42 USS Ohio. Your sister has told me about you.” The nuclear cruiser smiled before putting her hand out to the kid to shake. Laffy just looked at the offered hand and then up at Ohio.

  “, nice to meet you too Ohio. Are you sure you’re a cruiser? You look like a lanky destroyer to me.” The pipe-size destroyer said with a smirk before hauling her sister off for food and leaving the cruisers behind in her dust.

  “Did I just get sassed by a child?” Ohio deadpanned as the two Atlanta sisters broke out into laughter. “You get used to it. Laffy is blunt but reliable. Now let’s go get food and then we can show you the dorms.” Atlanta responded, leading the three through the mess hall to refuel. While Ohio didn’t need food thanks to her nuclear reactor she was like any good American and wouldn’t turn down a free meal.

  ______________________________

  Arizona and Essex were standing in the Admiral’s office while the others were off doing their own antics being the responsible adults they were. The woman behind the desk was older with her greying hair hidden under her hat and wrinkling hands were hidden under gloves. She was Admiral Helen Armstrong of the US Navy and had been the commander of Task Force Pearl since the current war with the Revenant Fleets began 3 years ago. During her time she had seen most of the ship girls that had awaken for the US Navy but now she was being briefed that a guided missile cruiser from the 80s had arrived in her waters. Not just any cruiser either but one of the Virginia class nuclear cruisers… She only had one question though for her two largest ships, “Did she mention if she was carrying nuclear warheads?”

  Arizona shook her head at the question with Essex slightly concerned. “Admiral, didn't we already try nuclear weapons when the war began? Do you think things would be different with Ohio?” The carrier tried not to assume the Admiral’s intentions. During her time with this fleet Admiral Armstrong had never done anything to harm them. Surely there was nothing sinister about these questions.

  “Yes, but like missiles being more effective in her hands… Maybe this new ship could be what we need to finally run that Battleship Lord holding the Solomons off and finally liberate the Anzacs. Keep this between us or I’ll be forced to court marshall you both. For now USS Ohio will be joining Task Force Pearl, let her know that I want her in my office at 0700. I can at least give her the night to get settled in before we start working again. Any questions before I let you both go?” The old Admiral asked but the two just shook their heads no.

  “Great then! Good job you two. If everything goes well we might make our first headway since establishing a connection with the JMSDF. You are dismissed!”