SUBMARINE NAVAL BASE, GROTON CONNECTICUT
"Ouch! Take it easy, Arleigh. I need that fin." "Quit squirming and maybe you'll keep it." US fleet healer Arleigh Burke hissed, her dark eyes reflecting the white hot light of the welding torch she was wielding. Her patient, a crazy, brilliant Virginia-class submarine who took on a Russian submarine in the ice, sailed through a minefield, and just for the fun of it, took on a Russian destroyer! All while trying to prevent WW3 she might add! Arleigh's nerves were fried to the point where she had no problems letting Arkansas have it!
"You are damn lucky you even have all your major parts, you know that?!" She hissed as she worked. "Ramming the ocean floor at 15 knots, it's a miracle you only broke three fingers, two ribs, and fractured your shoulder." "A miracle I'm alive in other words. Is that what you're trying to say Arleigh?" Arkansas replied. Arleigh wielded her torch threateningly over her head. "Don't get smart with me missy!" She hissed. "What you did was reckless and the most stupidist thing I've ever heard of. Even New Jersey thinks it's insane. New Jersey!" "So don't go near mines and destroyers. Right, got it." Arkansas chuckled, cowering as Arleigh wrapped her lightly on the head for that comment.
"Vsem privet." greeted Virginia as she sailed up to the pair. Arkansas groaned. "Very funny, Virginia." She sighed. Virginia chuckled. "That was a nice piece of work off Psolvsky. You've been recommended for the Presidential Unit." "Swell." Arkansas muttered. "Well don't cheer all at once." Virginia said. "The conquering hero of the hour deserves her just deserts." Arkansas rolled her eyes and shifted slightly in her berth, just enough to face her sister and look her in the eye. "First off Virginia, I didn't conquer anything. Second off, I'm no one's hero." She turned back, resting her head on the dock with a loud "harumph." Virginia wasn't perturbed. "I concede the first point. But you're a hero to me. Hell, you're a hero to everyone who knows what you did out there! It's a shame more can't know about it. You saved the world from a nuclear catastrophe. You got everyone out alive!" Arkansas wasn't moved. Her thoughts were 3000 miles away, back in that fjord in Russia.
"They've locked onto me. You need to get out of here Arkansas."
"I'm not leaving without you!"
"Don't be a fool like I am. Those ASROCs are after me! Now get going!"
"What are you doing, Mystic? Mystic? Come back here!"
"Run Arkansas! RUN NOW!"
"MYSTIC! MYSTIC NO!"
Arkansas shuddered, her uninjured fin slapping over her eyes to hide her tears from the world. "Not everyone." She rasped quietly. Virginia looked down, silent for a moment. "I know. I know." Mystic had died saving her mothership. Taking a missile meant for the larger submarine. Having carried DSRV's herself, Virginia knew how attached Arkansas was to Mystic. For a fleet boat, a DSRV was like their child, their friend, their sister all in one. To lose her like that, it must've torn Arkansas apart.
Virginia moved up next to her, getting a good look at the wounds that marred her youngest sister's hull. There were two long scratches along her right flank where she grazed Tampa Bay's sail. There was a gouge mark on her docking collar and a scrape at her stern from where Mystic had accidentally collided with her when she was torn off her deck. All across her head were scorch marks from very close passes of tracer rounds and a few live bullets from the Russian destroyer as it frantically worked to shoot down the missiles aimed at her. One had even struck her just next to her eye. Arleigh had examined it and determined that while Arkansas' vision might be a little blurred in that side for a few days, it would heal up just fine. It was the broken bones she was more worried about. The high speed impact with the bottom, even if it was soft mud, was more than enough to cause damage. Arkansas was lucky that bone fragments didn't pierce her lungs or puncture a vital organ. Virginia wasn't blind to how her sister winced, moving gingerly as she held her side. Arleigh had yet to set those bones and Virginia was sure that when she did, Iowa would be hearing Arkansas' screams from Los Angeles. Despite this, Arkansas had emerged from her ordeal relatively unscathed. She was certainly in better shape than Tampa Bay. Virginia still hadn't informed Bremerton of her loss. As the eldest Los Angeles-class, she had a right to know what happened to her sister.
"I have one last question." Arkansas grumbled a bit but she removed her fin and looked up. "What?" She sighed. "How'd it feel to be a flagship?" Virginia grinned. Arkansas groaned. "Virginia..." "No seriously. You had the Russian president aboard and a top Admiral, he flew his flag aboard you. How'd that feel?" Arkansas vowed to toss Virginia into a sandpit the first chance she got. That still didn't excuse her from answering her sister's question though. "It felt, interesting." She said. "Interesting. Is that all you're going for? Tell me how you really feel?" Virginia said. "Fuck off!" "Touchy." Virginia chuckled, laughing some more when Arkansas stuck her tongue at her. She wasn't finished yet though. She had one more annoyance card to play. "By the way, you have a special secret admirer now." Arkansas' eyes widened, then she groaned. "Oh no. Virginia don't tell me you told South Dakota everything." "I plead the fifth!" Virginia sang. "I bet you do." Arkansas growled. "She just got in from deployment last night but she'll be by later." Virginia said. "Have fun~"
"Virginia! Virginia when I get out of this dock you are so dead!" Arkansas called after her as her big sister sailed away with a flick of her rudder. "Damn it Virginia, do you hear me?!" Arkansas tried to rise but Arleigh whacked her hard across the neck and knocked her back down. "No moving!" The healer growled. "Should've tossed her in the sandpit when I had the chance." Arkansas muttered. "The only tossing you're doing for the next 6 weeks is that in your sleep. You're confined to your berth until your ribs heal." "You are out of line!" Arkansas growled, rising to her keel and baring her teeth at Arleigh. She regretted her aggressive stance almost immediately when the destroyer gave her a grin. The kind of grin that Arkansas had seen before on her more, mischevious sisters. It was the grin that said 'things' are about to happen. "Am I?" Arleigh purred. "Oh shit..." Arkansas managed just as Arleigh flipped her over, keeping her immobile with strong straps. "Now this won't hurt a bit. Hehe..." "Arleigh? Arleigh? I'm sorry. I didn't mean it I... FUUUUCCCCKKKKKKKKOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW!"
Virginia sighed as she heard Arkansas screams. "Arleigh must be setting her ribs." She said, looking to her right and seeing South Dakota, still fast asleep. The young submarine didn't even react to Arkansas. She just rolled over and kept on snoring.