With Ta-01:

Ta-01 didn't awaken immediately, not on the first try. She started to become semi-aware just as her electrical systems started to fail from the new stresses placed on them. Pain flared as fires started, and she vaguely heard the order her fairies were given to shut down again.

The world, nothing but a blur, went black.

The second try was much more successful. and the Battleship gradually regained awareness as her crew manned their stations. She could feel her boilers warming up.

Her eyes had been closed, she couldn't open them yet, didn't have the power to, but she could hear.

"Of all the most asinine excuses, a PRIZE ship!" There was the sound of someone pacing nearby, "A PRIZE SHIP! Like we're just some, some objects that you can barter for and sell in a court!"

"Didn't you want to just cap her on the spot a little while ago?"

"That's different!"

"Kaaay, how...?"

"She's an enemy vessel! Sinking them is kind of what we are supposed to do.

"Ah, Uhm... I-It's not quite that bad Lao, besides, think of all the intelligence she may have!" a third voice joined in.

Ta-01 still couldn't see, but she imagined, from the accent, that it was the Japanese ship they'd been chasing.

"Now 'hold up! Lets not gloss over the whole 'hey let's shoot the person that just surrendered to me!' thing! That's a pretty important point!" The second voice piped up.

Ta-01 may not have been able to speak, but she agreed, vehemently.

"Oh, and if it was you on the ground begging for mercy, you think they'd have done the same?" There was a short pause, "Exactly!"

She had a point, if 01 hadn't pulled the trigger in that situation, Ru-08 definitely would have. And that wasn't even counting the Re.

"Lao the first things she said to me was 'I surrender', and 'please don't sink me.' She begged, Lao, friggenbegged."

"And you think the humans she's killed didn't?"

They hadn't, most were beyond visual, let alone audible range when they died. 16" artillery was quite impersonal, well, most of the time.

"I like to think I'm not as bad as Jersey."

The flayed bodies the fleet had come across said otherwise, but she was alive, so she was willing to give the benefit of the doubt.

"Dunno, you're the only Abyssal Hime in this forest that I can see."

That other voice was the Himes? She sounded... small, immature, like Kitty-Hawk's escorts.

…

"I'm sorry, I-"

"No no, your right."

"What?"

"I AM a god damn Abyssal Princess. …And yet here you stand, in the middle of my Abyssal fleet, alive."

Well, that answered that question.

"Georgia!-"

"Yeah, right, Chitose is here, too."

"That's... not what I meant."

"Look, you think I'm like Jersey? Tell me, would you be here, alive and unbroken if I was?"

"I... no."

If she'd questioned Jersey like this 'Lao' was doing, she'd have been beaten to death and eaten by now.

"Would Jersey have hugged away your nightmares like I did?"

"You did what?"

"Later ChiChi."

"Don't call me boobs..."

"N-No...she wouldn't..."

The mere thought of Jersey hugging anything was terrifying.

There was a shuffling sound, and Ta-01 really wished her boilers couldstart up a little faster so she could see what the hell was going on.

"Look, I know you're mad, but she's my responsibility now, not yours, if she tries anything, I'll put her down, and you can say 'I told you so' then, ok? But until then your going to have to deal with me having her around. Got it?"

Ru-08 had gone up like a thatch hut under the Hime's fire, and she'd had thicker armor than a Ta-class. Ta-01 would not be 'trying anything' any time soon.

"A-Alright, alright. But I'll be watching her like a hawk. Turrets or no turrets, we've BOTH seen what a pissed off capital ship can do with her bare hands."

"I̷ ̵f̵e̵e̴l̶ ̶c̸a̶l̸l̶e̴d̶ ̷o̸u̴t̸."

Good lord that was bad reception! Was her hearing conking out? And her turrets were... gone?!

Laughter followed, proving that it was just the woman's voice that was off, not her hearing, before the voice of what Ta-01 presumed was her new Hime spoke up.

"Well, I'd say that we've been giving our new friend here enough of a heart attack with all this 'step out of line and we'll blow her up' talk."

"Wait, she can hear us?!"

"Yup! ordered her bridge crew back into their positions like, five minutes ago."

"Oh."

With Georgia:

I squatted down next to the Fast Battleship as she was finally able to open her eyes, her gaze snapped to my face and I couldn't help but grin.

"Hey, you, you're finally awake!" The Ta-class stared at me for a moment, and I took the pause as permission to continue, "You were trying to cross the border, right? Same as us, and that Frigate over there." I thumbed over at Lao who, as promised, was watching the Ta very carefully, her 5" rifle unslung.

"You walked right into that ambush we set!" I said, "We'd be halfway to Da Nang right now if it weren't for you girls!" I finished.

The Ta looked around slowly, still laying on the ground and making no move to get up.

"You... didn't sink me."

I rested my hands on my knees, "Nope! Gave you a choice and you picked the one that lets you keep breathing!" I stretched out an arm towards the larger ship, who flinched, "Names Georgia, but I told you that already." I waved my outstretched hand a little, and eventually the Ta took the hint, reaching out and shaking it. "Though I'm fairly certain you were a little preoccupied at the time."

"Ru-08... she shot me." The Ta stated, she didn't sound all that surprised.

"Ru-08?" I let go of the Ta's hand, rubbing my chin, "The Battleship that shot you in the groin?"

"Y-Yes."

"I saw that, man, that had to hurt. Like, I'm no expert thankfully, but getting shot in the lady-parts must have stung something awful." I said, more to keep the ship talking than anything.

"I... my legs hurt more. They were tearing off-" The Ta's eyes widened, and she suddenly tried to sit up.

Lao shifted subtly, aiming her 5" gun at the Ta, but held her fire as the Battleship squealed and fell back to the ground, gasping a little.

"Hmm, looks like the welds aren't quite strong enough, probably going to have to go over them again if we want you walking under your own power." I said idly, reaching down and running a finger over the weld lines just below her belly button.

The Ta seemed to shiver at the touch, "W-Welds?"

I nodded, "You didn't think I'd just leave you legless, did you? You are a little heavy to be carted around in the jungle missy." I reached down and patted her knee, "Your old legs were mostly intact, but your pelvis was basically pelverized." I snorted at my own pun, "I replaced the whole works of it rather than trying to fiddle around with fitting your old legs on a different hull."

The Ta's voice went up a couple octaves, as she tried to lean over for a better look at herself, "D-Different hull?"

"Ah-yawp!" I leaned back, giving her some room, "Try moving them around! hopefully we got all the connections right. You were a twitching mess last time we tried to wake you up."

The Fast Battleship obeyed, and slowly her knee's rose up as she curled her legs in towards herself, this, incidentally, allowed her to see her black-clad legs.

"H-How-? What!?"

I smiled happily. "I'm glad you asked!" The Ta's gaze remained fixed on her knees as I continued, "Your keel and a good part of your hull, from your quarter deck clean through to your fresh water tanks were just sorta gone. So! I got replacements from the only other wrecked Battleship in the area!"

"T-These are 08's legs." The Ta said numbly.

I shook my head in a negative, "Nope! They're your legs! Now anyway. She wasn't using them, though it was a job putting the fires out."

"I-I..." Th Ta looked over, "how?"

I cocked my head a little, "I literally just told you."

The Ta seemed to flinch at that, as if I was going to hit her, before she continued in a more subdued voice, "What... are you going to do with me?

I put on my most serious expression, "The Senate will decide your fate."

"I'm, sorry?"

I made a 'meh' gesture, "Well, the prize-courts, basically, I'm what you'd call a 'Privateer', a sort-of 'legal pirate'. All your booty is now mine." I flicked her knee, "Including that booty I just stapled onto ya, so take good care of it for me eh?"

Chitose looked at me, mortified, "G-Georgia!"

I craned my head to look back, "C-Chitose!" I called right back at the sputtering Tender.

The Ta startled, looking at the flustered Chitose, as if having just noticed her for the first time. "You let Kanmusu into your fleet? I saw them travelling with you, but I didn't think..." She asked slowly, panning her gaze across the group, flinching as Lao put both fingers up to her eyes, before pointing at her.

Her panning gaze stopped on Diane as I replied, "Well, Chitose isn't in my fleet really, she's with the Japanese government. Though she's been travelling with me ever since I Woke Up, if you know what I mean..."

I trailed off as I realized the Ta was ignoring me. I turned to follow her gaze, and looked at Diane. "Oh yeah! we have a Ta class here already!" I said, "Say hi Diane!"

Diane waved a hand daintily at the prone Battleship, "Hello miss, I'd say it was a pleasure to meet you but-"

"Why didn't you tell me?" The downed ship interrupted.

Diane blinked, lowering her hand, "I'm... sorry?"

"Why didn't you say anything? All those months, you were spying for another Hime? And you didn't say a word, not to 03, or 02, not even me!" The Ta's words became louder with each sentence, gaining strength as she seemingly forgot her fear, "You could have told us, we'd have followed you out. But you never said a word, and now 2 and 3 are dead."

I stood, looking over at the girls before gesturing at the prone ship, "Okay I have no idea what she's on about, you?" They shook their heads, mystified except for Diane, who gained a look of realization.

"I... the Re-class. She referred to me as 04..." Diane said haltingly, "May I ask you your name, Miss?" She continued.

The Ta frowned, "Why are you acting like you don't know me?!" she shook her head before continuing, "You... Jersey found out that you disappeared after Long Xuyen, she found out that shortly before the battle trucks were sent out to collect an Abyssal spy. You know her 04, she may be mad but she isn't stupid, she connected the dots, knew it was you."

Diane reared back, as if affronted, "I am not a spy! I wasn't even present at the battle you spe-"

"Do you have any idea how close I was to being scrapped then and there? Just for being your Sister ship!?"

Chitose's eyes grew wide, and she put a hand to her mouth as she looked between the two Fast Battleships.

"Oh, no."