~~~Chesapeake~~~

"Ahoy there!" I called.

The ship approaching us was enormous, almost three times the length of a ship of the line. Its iron form loomed above me, and it traveled at speeds I hadn't thought could ever be reached. Its largest cannons were carried in four large boxes, which to my surprise and horror rotated to point at me. I also noted half a dozen strange tubes with cylinders inside pointed towards me. Were they for firing some form of rockets? Were they even weapons?

I felt very small. I knew that I was larger than my equivalents from the 1600's, but just how far had shipbuilding advanced in the two centuries since I was broken down? How far had cannons advanced? Was Jessica correct when she'd informed us that if we were ever attacked by anything modern, we might as well spend the time praying for divine intervention instead of fighting?

The outline of the ship seemed to waver for a moment, and then vanished entirely. In the time it took to blink a girl had taken the ship's place, and was gliding over the water towards me. Her black clothing was extremely risqué, to the point it almost didn't exist. Her right arm seemed to be covered with a smaller model of her ship form, and her left arm contained a form of cannon within a decorative shark mouth. Golden light burned in her eyes.

Everything about her clothing repulsed me, yet something deep inside my chest resonated with her. That smoldering coal of raw emotions told me she was kin.

I tried to think of what to say, but came up with a blank. Thankfully, the choice was taken from me before I could freak out and give away the deception.

"Hello sister."

Those two words sounded so… seductive, and yet so threatening at the same time. Did she know about my siblings and the humans hiding next to me, or was this just how she normally talked? Was this an Abyssal thing, could I now talk like that as well? The idea was both terrifying and appealing.

"What are you?" I asked, a hint of fear entering my voice.

She grinned. "Can't you tell? I'm a heavy cruiser."

That was what cruisers were nowadays? I couldn't even imagine how much bigger a modern ship of the line would be.

"Who are you anyways?"

She sniffed. "Maybe if you had a radio I'd deign to share my name with you, but all I see here is one of Alabama's failures. She's the only one who'd pull back someone like you. I always knew girls like her couldn't be trusted, especially when it's to do their job right."

The smoldering coal inside me burst into flames. "I'm not a failure!"

Her grin turned into a sneer. "And what successes have you had? You couldn't have lost that mast in battle, you would never survive one with the enemy. I bet you ignored your betters telling you your place isn't on the frontlines and set sail by yourself. It looks like you couldn't even handle the weather."

I almost shouted back that I had survived battle (if my short engagement with Constellation could even be called that), but restrained myself. I wanted her to believe I had been damaged in a storm, I didn't want her to think that there might be other ships out here.

"So what if I did?" I bit out. "What do you want?"

She tilted her head. "I'll admit I was a bit curious at seeing such a small boat adrift in the ocean. Imagine my surprise when I found out it had an even smaller ship aboard it."

I ground my teeth. "If you're just here to belittle me, I'd appreciate it if you would leave me in peace."

The heavy cruiser made a placating gesture with her arms. "Now now, no need to get uppity. Now that my curiosity is sated, I'm sure that I could lend you some assistance with your propulsion problem. That is, if you ask nicely."

"I have my crew working on fixing it." I said evenly. Well, that was a bit of a lie. Without access to proper timbers, the only thing I could do was rely on my foremast and mizzenmast to pick up the slack from my lost mainmast. My crew was, however, fixing some of the damage that losing the mainmast had caused to my deck.

The Abyssal heavy cruiser burst out into laughter, a horrid sound that made me wonder if her mother was a hag or banshee. "You have your crew fixing it? What a joke. You almost had me there for a moment, as if one of us would have a crew."

Wait, did Abyssals typically not have crews? Was something terrible going to happen to my crew? I gripped my worried feelings and pushed them into the burning coal, and tried to put a smile on my face.

"I thought the situation could use a little humor." I said, hoping that I masked my confusion.

The cruiser wiped a few tears from her eyes. "I needed that. Well, see you around." She then turned and began to speed away from me.

"I thought you were offering assistance?" I called out before I could stop myself.

"As if I would ever help something as lowly as you? Farewell sister."

The cruiser soon vanished into the fog, and the sound of her engines slowly faded away. After about half an hour of waiting, I decided that the asshole wasn't going to come back.

"I think she's gone." I said.

"That was fantastic!" Jessica cried as she shot upright. "I'm nominating you for a Tony award. I think those are the ones for acting…"

Constellation gripped me in a short hug. "I'm so glad you're alright."

I looked to United States, and saw that she was deathly pale. "Don't ever do something that dangerous again if you can help it."

"Th-th-thank you." Mumbled Arthur.

There was a slight pause, and everyone turned to Christopher.

"What?" He asked. I coughed, and tried to look like I was both humble yet expecting massive amounts of praise from him.

"Oh, uh, I guess you did well." He said.

I grabbed the hatred and rage that coursed through me and shoved them back down into the coal. It felt a little hotter than normal, so I tried to distract myself with something else.

"She was a full sized warship when she arrived. I wonder if I could do that?" I wondered.

"I'll take your word for it, but aren't you a little bit more worried about what she said about not having a crew?" Constellation asked. "Or the bit about how she seemed to think you were summoned by someone named Alabama?"

On the one hand, I'd never heard of a warship named Alabama. On the other, I was a little bit worried about my crew. Extremely worried about my crew actually, but thoughts that they might suddenly disappear were thoughts I didn't want to have in my head so I was focusing on other things right now! "Nope! I want to see if I can truly sail the waves again as I once did. Besides, I think it's my turn to play towboat."

I grabbed the rope United States had dropped, leaped out of the longboat, and proceeded to gain the distance I would need if I was successful.

"But your mast is broken!" Called Jessica.

I looked back over my shoulder. "I have two others that are perfectly fine! It'll only be for a short while anyways."

I slowed to a stop and began to concentrate. After a moment, I stretched a muscle I didn't know I had. I reached out farther than my human arms could ever reach, and became myself once more.

For the first time in over two centuries, the USS Chesapeake floated on the waves.

"Holy shit, it worked." I heard Christopher cry. "Wait, Jessica, what are you doing? Get off that rope!"

"Fuck it, I'm drinking the Kool-Aid and seeing how deep this rabbit hole goes!"

The energy was draining out of me fast. The muscle burned, it hadn't ever been exercised before and it protested at being used.

"Jessica no!"

"Jessica yes!"

I couldn't hold this form much longer. I pushed to hold it for just a few more seconds, but I lost my concentration when a pair of feet pounded across my decks. I let go, and was human once more.

I grinned back towards the longboat. For a moment, just a moment, I had been myself in my full glory.

"Shit!" Called a familiar voice from inside of me.

I turned my gaze inward in horror, and to the extra crewmember I'd picked up in the past few minutes.