When we entered the bays I was speechless. Only half the room was actually floored while the other half and the rest was cut out and left for the sea to flow in. Out beyond this a tunnel lead out toward the ocean. Innumerable cutouts extended the floor into the water and ended in circular discs with several cranes hanging down around them. Over each cutout/walkway there was a sign that read out divisions and ships.
"Hey, we're over here." Arizona said pointing over to the far left of the massive building.
Upon finding our respective walkways I noticed with a slight shiver that my name was written in red strikethrough representing a dead, or more accurately, sunken ship.
"Um…what do we do?" I asked curiously.
"Oh you're gonna love this, Penn." Oak said wide a wide grin before walking up her walkway and standing on the disc at the end of it.
In an instant two clamps of steel shot up from the ground and secured her feet before the cranes started to move.
Then the cranes shot up into the roof and descended holding very familiar equipment. In an instant a metal backpack-like plate was screwed into her back and extended out into two short mechanical arms.
Quickly after a miniature superstructure tower was affixed onto her back. It closely resembled her sister's late war configuration.
Then the cranes attached what looked like two pieces of a split bow on either side of her pack before screwing in four (dramatically smaller) turrets identical to her old ones. After that eight smaller turrets were affixed to her split into groups of two on either of her legs and shoulders. What looked like two rudders and propellers were attached to the back of her feet (and lower legs) before she was suddenly launched onto the water at incredible speed.
When she hit the water instead of sinking like a stone she landed on her feet and started skating around on the water
I was in complete awe.
"Well we can't let her have all the fun now can we?" Arizona said before bolting up to her spot and gearing up before launching.
Me and Nevada gave each other a look equivalent to saying "I guess we should go after them" before following after the two.
I was cautious when I stepped onto the disc but before I even realized it the process was over and I was launched onto the water.
I stumbled for a moment but soon found it was rather easy to stand on the sea and began to test myself.
I found I was very agile for a battleship if not a bit slow.
I inspected my body and new additions and quickly found that I was in my prewar configuration.
I was identical to how I was at Pearl Harbor.
In place of their dual eight five inch turrets there were eight single turrets and ten un-turreted gun mounts.
I also quickly noticed that while they were absolutely covered in small caliber AA guns around their hulls I only had four on my tripod tower attached to my back. In fact Oklahoma was practically identical to Nevada in her late-war configuration. Arizona even looked like me in 1945. The only thing I noticed off was the far more advanced looking radar towers.
"I feel old." I remarked.
"You are old, Penn." Arizona reminded me.
"Good point." I shrugged.
"C'mon. It's time to meet the class on the water." Nevada said tapping me on the shoulder before skating past me.
As we came out of the tunnel and out into the sun I had to raise my arm to shield my eyes but as soon as my eyes adjusted I was left in awe of the ocean. It was just as beautiful as I had remembered. The green-blue water sparkled like aquamarine crystals in the sunlight as they peacefully rippled towards land.
I took in a deep breath, taking in the salty sea air.
"Finally…I'm back." I sighed with eyes closed.
"I remember how I felt my first time back on the water, trust me it will never get any less relaxing." Arizona assured me.
I turned my head back to her and smiled happily.
I was back, my sister was back, Oak was back, and I finally got to see Nevada again.
It was just like all my dreams before. I may not have been able to express myself as a ship but I still remember my memories, hopes, dreams, and feelings from back then.
"Let's go, they're right over there." Oak said clapping me on the shoulder with a wide grin.
We sailed over quickly and found ourselves among several battleships and even some heavy cruisers.
"First things first, I need to get an idea of your capabilities." Arkansas (Ark from now on) said looking me over.
"Get into position facing those target ships." She said pointing out a cluster of actual ships in the distance.
"Alright." I nodded.
I fidgeted around with my turrets finding that I could move them freely and rather easily and as I focused on a target my vision actually zoomed in. A red circle in the middle gave me an idea where to aim and the lead indicators would help in windy conditions or against moving targets. In the corner of my vision I even saw a "time to shell impact" estimate. These were clearly new additions as I never had these throughout my actual life. After observing them I picked out four of the closer targets and sighted them in. Two cruisers, a destroyer, and a battleship.
"Targets sighted in." I confirmed.
"Fire." Ark ordered.
"Firing main batteries." I called and with a loud roar of flame twelve 14in shells tore out of their barrels.
The shells arced high into the air before crashing down onto the targets.
One of the three shells fired at the first cruiser tore through the hull and detonated around mid-ship shearing it in half, two shells struck the second and detonated to the front and to the rear causing the ship to capsize, I completely missed the destroyer, and all three shells hit the battleship tearing down its rear tower and blasting two holes into the water line before detonating the magazine. The ship exploded with a massive fireball launching its two forward turrets into the air.
"Six hits, three targets destroyed." I reported.
"Impressive for a ship equipped with the CXAM-1 radar." Ark noted.
"I don't have anything to compare it to considering it was the only thing I ever had." I said with a shrug.
"Well, if you want a comparison…" Arizona grinned.
"Go ahead Arizona." Ark nodded.
"Targets sighted in." Arizona reported.
"Fire." Ark ordered.
"Firing main batteries." Arizona called.
With a powerful roar of flame twelve 14in shells tore out of her main guns and soared through the air before crashing down onto a group of four destroyers.
At least two shells hit each and every destroyer sending them to the bottom almost instantly.
"That's…I…" I stammered.
"That's the difference between AEGIS and CXAM-1, Penn." Nevada shrugged.
"That's not fair, little sis. You've gone and outclassed me!" I chuckled punching her lightly on the shoulder.
"What can I say? I'm awesome." Arizona smirked.
"It's fair to say that by WWII standards your accuracy is impressive but by modern day standards…you really need some work." Oak admitted.
"Clearly." I sighed.
Ark brought her hand up to her headpiece and it sounded like she was talking to somebody before taking her hand off and looking over to me.
"Well you won't have to wait long, Pennsylvania. The Admiral managed to find some of your newer parts in storage and a full set of the AEGIS combat system. You're scheduled for a refit within the hour." She informed me.
"Good for you, Penn!" Oak cheered.
"It's just a refit…" Nevada pointed out.
"But…it's still exciting…" Oak said a bit quieter now.
"Hey, it's exciting to me." I said throwing my arm around Oak triumphantly.
"You're such nerds…" Arizona chuckled.
"Eh." Me and Oak shrugged.
"You should get moving; the Admiral is very enthusiastic about refits and gets a bit irritable when you make him wait." Ark pointed out.
"So I'm excused?" I asked curiously.
"What did I just say? Go Pennsylvania." She said pointing back to land.
"Got it, I'm gone." I said skating off towards the bays.
Figuring out how to get out of this get up was the most challenging part of the refit process as it took me a minute to find out that there was a switch at the bottom of my launching bay.
"Wonder what this does…*click*" I wondered before flipping it.
Within a second I was grabbed out of the water by a crane and lifted onto the platform where the cranes began to disassemble my armaments from my body. With a quick dusting off of the shoulders I sprinted off to go find the Admiral.
As luck would have it I ran into him on the way to his office and I've never seen someone happier to see me…maybe even including my friends.
"Penn! May I call you Penn?" He exclaimed.
"Sure, everyone else does." I shrugged.
"Great, follow me to the dry dock." He said before speeding out the doors towards the launching bays.
I followed him and just now did I notice the smaller building off to the side of the bays labeled "Dry Dock". We entered through the front doors and I saw that inside there seemed to be places that did in fact look a lot like human sized dry docks with guns and various metal bits strewn around.
We walked a bit before coming upon one simply labeled "PA"
"I have my own dry dock?" I asked surprised.
"Of course you do, there's one here for every warship ever brought here." He explained.
"Please stand on the platform right here facing me." He said motioning to a red steel plate surrounded by cranes and familiar (and some not) equipment.
I did as asked and as soon as I did my feet were locked in place by metal feet clamps.
"This should only take a moment." He said pulling a tablet from his pocket and pressing the screen a few time.
The cranes quickly pulled my parts from the bays and put my combat outfit back together.
"I'm sure you've guess by now that you're due for a major overhaul on almost every level." He pointed out.
"Yeah, considering I've been rusting on the ocean floor for roughly seventy years it's not surprising." I remarked.
"True enough, this will take a while please just relax and be patient." He said tapping away at his tablet.
About an hour later he finally put down his tablet and looked me over.
"Perfect! You're fully up to date." He announced.
"A full AEGIS combat system, an updated version of your 1945 superstructure configuration, 14in/50cal main batteries to replace your 14in/45cals, over 110 assorted anti-aircraft guns, eight coaxial dual purpose five inch gun turrets to replace your old five inch guns, completely reworked propulsion and steering gears for greater speed and maneuverability, and a brand new paint job to replace your rusty old hull!" He marveled at his accomplishment.
"You're all good to go." He said before pressing another button disassembling my combat outfit and releasing the feet clamps.
"I feel stronger...and faster." I said inspecting my body.
"And everything looks so much clearer…" I noted.
"Well it wouldn't be much of a refit if it only improved your combat form now would it?" He laughed clapping me on the shoulder before quickly moving towards the door.
"Hey Admiral…" I called.
"Yes?" He asked turning back.
Fire flashed in my eyes for a second.
"Kaga and Akagi wouldn't happen to be located here would they?" I asked quietly.
"Of course not. None of the Pearl Harbor battleships are supposed to come in contact with any of the five attack carriers from the attack. Too high a risk of friendly fire." He said a bit on the cold side in his tone.
"Yeah…smart move." I said before walking past him and out of the building.
"I'll find you." I said through gritted teeth.
"...and then I'll make you suffer just as bad as we did." I said holding the scar on my cheek.