"They're really letting us stay here?" Nevada asked Elizabeth as the four battleships examined the Navy Lodge. "This is better than even the cabin my captain had."

"Or my Admiral's quarters." Pennsylvania added.

"Well, the Navy felt that you deserved better than to be packed like sardines on bedspring mattresses," Elizabeth replied. "And the lodge wasn't going be attracting any new visitors with the war, so what better to use as your quarters? I've taken the liberty of preparing a room for each of you, though if you wish to stay together I can gladly set a couple of the two-bed suites up for you until the navy decides where the four of you are going to be stationed."

"You don't need to do that ma'am." Oklahoma told her as she shuffled around on her crutches. "One of us can just sleep on the couch. We're used to catching some 40 winks in less comfortable places."

"Are you sure?" Elizabeth asked, receiving a quartet of nods from the Standards. "Very well then. The couch has a fold out bed in it if you want something a little more comfortable, and Elizabeth will suffice. I'm not old enough yet to be called ma'am on a regular basis."

"If it makes you feel any better Liz," Nevada responded as she helped her hobbling sister into the room. "We're all over a hundred years old."

"You don't look a day over thirty." Elizabeth responded, earning a chuckle from the four battleships as doors to the room closed.

"So, what the hell are these suppose to be?" Oklahoma asked as she looked at the blue, black, and grey splotched uniform that sat on the bed. "This some sort of wearable dazzle camouflage?"

"I don't know Okie, but what ever it is, they want us to wear it. Can't blame them either. Penny's the only one out of us who wouldn't cause the chiefs to lose their minds, and I don't know how you didn't leave a trail of midshipmen looking for their jaws."

A sly smirk spread across Oklahoma's face as she smoothed out her scandalously short skirt. "Now what ever do you mean sister?"

Nevada simply shook her head before throwing one of the pillows from the couch at her. "Just get yourself cleaned up." Watching as Oklahoma struggled to get over to the bathroom, she let out a sigh. "Need any help there, sis?"

"I'll manage." Oklahoma replied before hobbling into the room and closing the door.

Grabbing one of the key cards for the room, Nevada stepped out into the hallway to grab the uniform from her room, almost running into Pennsylvania in the process. "Great minds." She said, pointing to the uniform in Pennsylvania's arms.

The Younger standard simply nodded. "So where do you think they're going to be sending us?"

"Don't know Penny, it just better not be the fucking Atlantic."

"I doubt the navy would be that stupid enough to do that. Not with the Japs waltzing into Pearl and our little cousins nowhere to be…" Pennsylvania was cut off as a loud crash came from Nevada and Oklahoma's room immediately the fan inside kicked on. Rushing into the bathroom, the two found a still fully clothed Oklahoma picking herself off the floor.

"You doing alright Okie?" Nevada asked as she went to help her sister up.

"Yeah… just slipped trying to get out of this get up." Oklahoma responded as she got herself seated on the toilet. "I don't need any help though."

"Alright sis." Nevada replied as the two stepped back outside to give her some privacy. "We'll be right outside if you need us though."

"Should have kept her at the docks with Medusa." Pennsylvania said after the door had closed.

Nevada shook her head. "Wouldn't have stayed even if we had tried forcing her, and the doc's got more important people to worry about."

-

"Okay, one last cut… and there. Chief, get a dressing on that wound and hand me a gauze roll while you're at it." Medusa calmly said as she removed what was left of South Carolina's right arm from the operating table. "Corpsmen, find me a plastic bag big enough for me to put this in…" Her voice trailed off as she heard the unmistakable sound of someone throwing up into the metal sink. "If you need to step outside for a moment or two, I won't judge you."

"Doesn't seem fair to do that and leave you all the work ma'am." The kid responded after wiping his face. "Besides, can't run out of the room with my boss watching."

Medusa simply rolled her eyes. "You can leave the macho bullshit for your buddies at the bar, because no one here's going to blame you for leaving after working to save someone in South's shape. If you're already puking at this point, you won't stand a chance once I start poking around what's left of her machinery. The same thing goes for you chief."

"My first couple tours were in Afghanistan ma'am." The older man responded with a smile. "Unlike junior here, I've seen a dead body before."

"Then finish up with that trauma pack and hand me the suction catheter. I need to see what's left of her boilers before I start prepping her for the flight back to Dago."

"You think you'll be able to put her back together ma'am?" The younger man asked as he eyed the damage to South's chest and abdomen.

"I got to agree with the kid. I know some of these girls have come back after being shot to hell, but she had to have taken at least two broadsides worth of 14-inch shells and god knows how many secondary battery hits. It's a miracle we were even able to pull her out of the harbor."

"Clearly you two never worked on repairing US ships before." Medusa responded as she began cleaning South's wounds. "From tin cans to flattops, if their crews could limp them back to a harbor, we could get them from floating scrap to shipshape. And I have to at least try to do the same for South Carolina. I owe Nevada, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Arizona that much."

"Son of a bitch!" She said a few moments later, hastily replacing the bandages on South Carolina. "We need to get her ready and on a medevac right now."

"What do you see ma'am?" Both men asked in unison.

"Nothing good." Medusa replied. "And what I don't see is even worse."

-

"Well, that took less time than expected." Admiral Enfield said as he looked over the piece of paper that had just come in from The Pentagon.

"At least we're getting to keep two of them sir." One of his aids interjected. "I half expected the four to be scattered to all four of the mainland bases."

"Navy's smart enough to know that the standards aren't worth much unless they're in pairs at least." Enfield replied. "Besides, with a pair of standards here holding down the fort, they're free to shuffle North Carolina where ever they happen to need her without risking another repeat of what happened today.

"I'm sure the girls aren't going to like it though." He added as he picked up the phone to call the Navy Lodge. "Especially the two heading to the east coast."

-

"You eat like this all the time Elizabeth?" Nevada asked as she dug into the pile of food before her.

"Not always," Elizabeth responded with a smile. "But I try to treat you girls to a little something special after a battle. Oddly enough, your little cousin North Carolina asked the exact same question when she got here."

"Wait." Nevada said, looking up. "If there are other girls here, how the hell did those two battleships walk into the harbor? A North Carolina against any two of us would have been little more of little more than a warmup for her, even after our 30's refit. Two Fuso class battleships that looked like they were built to their original design plans, they'd be little more than target practice for her."

"Well, the others have been on deployment since yesterday morning, But I don't know the reason why. I'm sure they'll be able to tell you when they get back here. If fact…" She added as the sounds of footsteps sounded in the halls.

"They're actually back." Bowfin said as the six submarines made it to the door way.

"We heard about what happened at the base." Barb added as they took their seats at the table. "That's one hell of way to make an entrance."

"Wished we had made it back a little earlier." Oklahoma replied. "If it weren't for Arizona dragging us out of whatever place we got sent to after we're sunk, I don't know if we would have made it back in time."

"Well better late than never." Argonaut responded, her gaze fixed on the youngest member of the quartet. Almost immediately the room went dead quiet as the other three Standards turned towards her.

"Care to explain what you meant Argonaut," Pennsylvania asked firmly. "Because you know something we don't."

"Why don't you ask Arizona?" Argonaut answered as she got up from the table.

Before she was even standing Argonaut felt a hand grip her right shoulder, its fingers digging into her skin. Looking over, she saw Nevada standing next to her. "We weren't asking her." The battleship said, her golden eyes never moving from the sub as she forced Argonaut back into her seat. "We were asking you. Now what the hell are you accusing my sister of?"

"It's okay Nevada. She didn't mean anything." Arizona pleaded with her older step sister. "She's just strung out after everything that happened today."

"Okay sis, I'll leave her be." Nevada replied, the pat on Argonaut's shoulder a guarantee that they'd be talking later. "So where were you six when everything went down in the harbor?"

"Engaging another group of abyssal a couple hundred miles south of the island." Bowfin replied.

"Abyssal?" Pennsylvania asked. "Don't you mean the Japanese? Because that's who we fought."

"Maybe we should leave this to the admiral." Mingo said. "He'll be able to explain what's going on better than we will."

"Speaking of my husband," Elizabeth said as she put her phone away. "There's a car on the way to take you back to the base. He'll have answers for you there."

"Good." Nevada asked. "If we're not fighting the Japs, I want to know who those two ships were then."