"Hi sis," I felt a slight flush to my cheeks, unsure of myself. There was a difference between this and meeting in person, I could already feel it. There would be no hugs this day. A screen denied us that much.

  "Louisiana? Kansas?" I shoved down the almost instinctive bristling as Connecticut fought with the camera, almost seemingly cursing under her breath. "Is that you?"

  "It is, grande soeur," Louisiana spoke, glancing at me.

  "And please, call me Kathrine," I followed, Taking Louisiana's hint. It was a conversation to better get out of the way now, compared to later. It wasn't like I was going to have some variation of it at least three more times in the future.

  "Why?" A surprisingly blunt question. "And why the hell are you speaking French?"

  Louisiana didn't seem all that perturbed by Connecticut's bluntness, hiding her mouth behind her hand as she giggled.

  "Because I want to," even though the screen, I could see Connecticut's eyes roll as if she had expected that answer from the beginning.

  "In my cause, it's because I was born as a human," I kept my eyes on Connecticut's facial features, waiting for some kind of change.

  "What?" the look on her face was almost priceless. Almost. "Since when was that a thing?"

  "Since people were able to summon anthropomorphized warships to battle the legions of hell spawning out of the ocean?" I raised my eyebrow. Though, to be fair, there were more than a few things about natural borns that didn't exactly make sense. Unlike summons, the ship portion was there at birth, completely asleep. It raised a few questions, some of which were fun, to ask, but nobody wanted to answer. Or even had the answers too. How did you go about proving if this had occurred in the past, after all?

  "Fair," Connecticut shrugged. "I'm not sure how that works though. All of this is, strange."

  "On that, we must agree," Louisiana nodded. "I did not believe such experiences to be possible, yet it is truly the case. Though according to our soeur, the strangeness runs both ways."

  "How exactly does that work, anyway? I can still tell that you're our sister, but?" Connecticut's eyes narrowed.

  "Honestly, nobody is sure about the finer details. As far as we know, somehow, a ship's soul gets mixed with a human one at some point along the line, then bam, shipgirl," I shrugged. Honestly, I hadn't concerned myself with the details a whole lot, either. Because things could get downright freaky, like trying to use natural born as proof of Predetermination and God. "There's a lot of conjecture, but all of it lacks any real evidence to it. Evidence we probably won't ever get without a time machine or similar device."

  After all, it would be difficult to prove that natural borns occurred in the past. If there were no Abyssal around to wake them up, then we never would have known.

  " Speaking of differences," Connecticut brought her face closer and closer to the screen. "Your ship portions look different from what they used to be."

  Wait. She could see that? Through the camera? How? Why?

  I couldn't do that, even if I squinted!

  "That is because, grande soeur, I received a retrofit fairly recently," Louisiana's voice sounded almost, teasing. "Our souer also received modification as well, after an incident."

  "What!" unlike last time, Connecticut was less asking a question and more shouting. Loudly. My head jolted backward from the sudden noise, ringing already beginning to fill my ears.

  "So he wasn't lying?" Connecticut slumped into her chair. That was not the reaction I was expecting. What exactly had been going on back there? I hope she wasn't causing trouble. "They intend to make use of us again."

  "It does appear to be the case, yes," Louisiana nodded. "Though seeing protected cruisers that are larger than we are, in dimensions, at least, is still strange."

  Protected cruisers? She meant light cruisers, right?

  "That doesn't explain your equipment, though," Connecticut looked towards me.

  "Haven't had the open time for a complete retrofit yet," I shrugged. "I've been busy."

  "Busy? Busy with what?" her eyebrow raised as if she didn't believe what I was saying.

  "School, mostly," I said, watching her reaction carefully.

  "School? Why would you need?" her face twisted for a moment as if she just realized something. "Right. Born human. I completely forgot about that already."

  "It's no big deal," I shrugged. It stung a little, but I remember what New Hampshire had said. She implied that newly summoned shipgirls had a hard time with the whole natural-born concept. Might have been lucky with Louisania being summoned first. Or maybe she was just better at hiding her thoughts, while Connecticut wore her heart on her sleeve.

  "There will be a long enough break for me to get the full retrofit eventually, though they're going to have to wait until I've graduated before training and missions start in earnest," I shook my head. Of course, I was blessed as is to even be here. My parents were not exactly pleased and set some very firm ground rules for me being here after the initial incident. Though to be fair, most of those things were standard practice for some type.

  "So a partial one, then?" Connecticut clasped her hands under her chin. "What does this have to do with this 'incident' I keep hearing about?"

  "Well," I winced. Beating around the bush wasn't going to help anyone, so I might as well rip the bandage off on this one.

  x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

  I kept a careful eye on Connecticut's face. It was strangely blank. No, not quite blank. There was something just under the surface. Bubbling. Simmering. Boiling.

  "I'm going to kill him," her face didn't even twitch, as if she was saying she was going to take out the trash. "I mean, I was planning on doing that since I first heard about this whole mess, but hearing about it from your mouth just passes me off even more!"

  "No!" I shouted, rubbing my temples, before my eyes widened in realization. No, in hindsight, they'd probably just tell her. Denver wouldn't be able to keep her mouth shut, so it would be best to hear it from them. "Look, the guy's been sacked. I don't even think he could get a job sacking groceries at Walmart at this point. He's not worth it."

  "Don't care. He tried to get you killed, either intentionally or through his mind-numbing incompetence. I'm not going to let that stand!" Connecticut ground out, practically growling out the words.

  "And it hasn't been let stand, by literally anyone. Let the sleeping dog lie. He isn't going to trouble anyone else ever again," I put just as much weight behind my tone as Connecticut put hers, while Louisiana remained silent. She'd been quiet for most of our conversation. I wasn't entirely sure why. I hadn't missed her facial expressions during our talk on what had happened. Even if Louisiana wasn't inclined to bury the hatchet, she wasn't picking it up either, which is about as good as I could hope for.

  "Fine," Connecticut let out a whine of annoyance. "But I reserve the right to punch him in the face if our paths ever cross."

  "That's battery though," I groaned, rubbing my temples as a headache began to brew behind them. "You can't just commit battery against a former admiral, whether or not they deserved it."

  I was thankful that she had no idea how to use the internet. If she didn't know how to make use of technology, then she can't figure out what the man looks like. At least until we get her out here, where the odds of them crossing dropped into the extremely unlikely territory. Seriously. The spiteful, pitiful old man wasn't worth the effort of seeking out revenge. What's done is done. Being very publicly booted out of the Navy for nearly getting an underage, natural-born shipgirl killed?

  Such wouldn't do him any favors with his career going up in smoke around him. The only types of groups that such an act would do him any favors with? Even being contacted by such would put him in even more hot water than he just got himself out of. Unless spite overwhelmed good sense, which, to be fair, would always be in the cards, then he wouldn't try to reach out or get in contact with such organizations.

  They might try to reach out to him, but that wasn't exactly my department. That was more of an FBI and CIA sort of deal. In my opinion, he was already getting a harsh enough punishment for his actions. He crashed his career, had absolutely no prospects in anything else he tried to do in life, as no business would want someone with his degree of stigma attached to their company, even if it was scrubbing toilets.

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  No need to go around stirring the pot over it. Doing that might earn him sympathy, which was something I didn't want.

  "Look. He's ruined his own life, and is going to have to deal with that basic fact for however long he has left. There's no need to go out and try and pick a fight over this, okay?" I ground out, hoping to get the message through her thick skull. He. Wasn't. Worth. It. He would never be worth it.

  "Honestly, it's a more painful punishment than anything you could reasonably get away with inflicting on him," I crossed my arms. I'd put my foot on the ground too, loud enough for her to hear it, but I didn't want to break anything.

  "Reasonably," Connecticut frowned, scratching her chin as I groaned, resisting the urge to repeatedly smash my face into the desk the computer rests on. "But fine, since you seem to think the punishment is, sufficient, but I don't think the rest of our sisters will share in that opinion."

  A bridge I'd have to cross three more times, granted, but only three more. After that, we were home free. Of course, it would probably take a tank battalion or two, if Connecticut was anything to go by.

  "But off that note, how have things been going for you, since you got summoned," I leaned back in my chair, hoping to get the topic changed for good.

  "It's, odd," Connecticut frowned. "It's been nearly a century. So much has changed. The Second Great War, something we never thought would happen, was fought. With it, the dreadnought, what had supplanted us, had been rendered obsolete."

  I couldn't ignore the slight grin on her face as she spoke those words. The supplanting of dreadnaughts by the aircraft carrier was something she almost took glee in. That was worrying. I hope there wasn't a chip in her shoulder over the march of technology. Sure, it sucked, but that was the nature of things.

  "And despite the Second Great War, those that fought against each other are now allies," Connecticut nodded. Something that was, generally, touch and go for a while. That went without understatement. It had taken a while for things to smooth out. Scars left by war were not things that healed easily. That was simply the nature of things.

  "Still, I have no idea about what to do with the new battleships though," her expression turned to a more dour one. "They're so strange. And some of them have weird clothes."

  Right. She was operating on late 19th, early 20th-century clothing sensibilities. Louisiana probably was as well, now that I thought about it. Oh, they were going to have a heart attack the moment they laid eyes on some of the more, modern, swimwear. It's a damn shame nobody went to the beach anymore these days. Even the one piece I had would be worth the reaction alone, much less some of the things I've seen worn.

  "South Dakota is chill," I said, trying to hide my sudden bout of chuckles. "She saved my life you know."

  Sure, she hadn't been the only one, but it was her shields that had kept me sheltered and safe.

  "Indeed, ma souer," Louisiana hummed from next to me. "I owe her thanks. All of us do."

  There was a subtle hint to Louisiana's words, as well as in her eyes.

  "I know, I know," Connecticut raised her hands as she muttered. "I'll apologize to her eventually."

  My eyes widened. I didn't think we were intended to have picked up the last bit, but it came across clear as day all the same.

  "Apologize? Apologize for what?" my eyes narrowed. "You better not be creating trouble for her."

  "I'm not! We just got up to a rocky start, is all," Connecticut looked down at her feet, but I wouldn't be buying what she said even if she hadn't. I heard the shouting when I called South Dakota. Sure, part of it could be the larger battleship restraining her from potentially mauling Denver, and while that was certainly worthy of an apology, it seemed to run differently than that. Especially because it sounded like South Dakota was already struggling to get Connecticut to the computer room without Denver's intervention. Especially with that whole eventually bit. There was something more going on here.

  Louisiana chuckled faintly. "Now, grande soeur, be honest about what's wrong."

  Good to know I wasn't the only one who didn't believe what Connecticut was saying.

  "It's nothing. We just got off on the wrong foot!" Connecticut said again but was no less convincing than she had been the first time.

  "No, no, we are talking this one out," I was putting my foot down on this one. Sometimes people just didn't get along, and that was fine, but there was more to it than just that. It better not be because Connecticut had a grudge against battleships or something. "I don't want you to be carrying a grudge because of something nobody has any control over."

  "No control? What a joke," Connecticut scowled, looking as if she was about to kick something. Perhaps I'd poked a nerve. "We never got a chance to shine. Part of the Great White Fleet, but even by that point, we were obsolete. All because the Brits had to reinvent Naval combat."

  Connecticut spit out the words as if they were poison on her tongue. "And we had to follow them, too."

  "But that happens to every ship ever laid down. Eventually, another class will come, with bigger guns, better armor, better speed," I understood where my sister was coming from. We were laid down and were rendered nearly obsolete in a matter of years.

  That sucked, it really did. But technology marches on, and during that period, the advancement of shipbuilding technology was lightning fast. You could build a ship with all the bells and whistles, only for it to be outdated by the time it got off the slipway.

  Without the Washington Naval Treaty, it only would have gotten more out of hand. Even if it was the treaty that had nearly all pre-dreadnoughts scrapped, baring a handful of coastal defense ships for Germany, and Mikasa, who was embedded in concrete, the odds of us seeing service again were non-existent.

  "I know that! Connecticut brought her fist down with a sickening crunch, splinters flying through the air as a chunk of the table came flying off.

  "It still doesn't change that I should have been able to do more, for both of you. Maybe they could have kept us around for longer. But I failed everyone else instead," Connecticut's head dropped down. "I failed all of you. If I had been able to fight harder, then maybe."

  Louisiana and I shared a look. This, was not what I had expected. This was not what Louisiana had been expecting either.

  "Sis, you could have wrestled the entire High Sea's Fleet into submission by yourself and it still wouldn't have changed a damn thing. Nobody is the blame. Yourself included," my expression softened. I hadn't realized she was blaming herself for all this.

  "Our petite souer is right. You are being too hard on yourself. While, I, myself, also do not care for how short our run was, I would also be unable to deny that it was a good one all the same," Louisiana nodded, echoing my sentiment.

  "Thanks," Connecticut rubbed her eyes with a cloth she pulled from, somewhere. "I needed to hear that."

  I smiled gently. Was the problem magically fixed? Doubtful. The root probably remained in place, but the first step in fixing a problem was admitting that one was had. This was a good first step. One with hopefully many more to follow.

  A noise came from the other side of the screen, one I couldn't quite understand.

  "Sorry, but I think we might have to cut this shorter than we planned," Connecticut wiped the last of the tears from her eyes. "Hopefully, I'll be in California sooner rather than later."

  "Agreed, grande souer," Louisiana hummed, a soft smile on her face.

  "Don't be afraid to get in touch with us," I nodded, giving an awkward wave to the camera. "It might be a bit difficult if you don't have a phone."

  "But I can ask South Dakota to send the message, I understand," she gave a slight salute, fumbling for a moment with something. "Oh, and before I forget. Kan, Kathrine, you're in charge of keeping Louisiana out of trouble until I get there, okay?"

  Connecticut didn't even bother to close out of the video call, bolting out the door at top speed.

  "Do you have an idea what she's talking about with that last bit?" I looked at Louisiana. Why was I in charge of keeping her out of trouble? Shouldn't it be the other way around, because she's the older sister?

  "I'm not sure, petite soeur," Louisiana's face also looked slightly perplexed by the statement.

  Oh well, I'm sure it was nothing.