7629. With regards to Victorious' postwar modernization, she doesn't want to talk about it. Her sisters don't want to talk about it, the bloody Royal Navy doesn't want to talk about it. So we're not talking about it.

Portsmouth

"We need more jets."

The unexpected words from Ardent(F184) caused her sisters to look up.

"Huh?" asked Ambuscade.

"We need more jets." repeated Ardent. "The Abyssals are using more and more of those navalized Salamanders, and counting Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales, we have exactly four carriers with jets, while the Americans have ten. It's just like the Falklands all over again."

"Please don't say that name again." whimpered Antelope.

Ardent sighed. "Look, I'm sorry sis, but it's true. The Americans and French do their best, but they have their own fleets to cover, and Eagle and Prince of Wales are needed to cover the Med. Hermes and the armored carriers are doing their best, but we need more air support."

"And just how do you suppose we do that, Ardent?" asked Amazon. "If you haven't noticed, we have all of our carriers that had jets barring the Invincibles, unless you want to try for that supercarrier they wanted back in the 60's."

"Actually, we don't." said Ardent. "At least, not completely."

"Eh?"

"She was retired before any of us were commissioned, but Victorious operated jets."

"She did?" asked Ambuscade.

"What kind?" added Antelope.

"How?" finished Amazon.

"She was refitted in the 50's to carry jets." said Ardent. "Sea Vixens, Buccaneers, Sea Hawks, heck, she could probably take F4s."

While Antelope's eyes widened in glee, Amazon and Ambuscade had more skeptical looks.

And you know what the best part is?" continued Ardent.

"What?"

"If Victorious can do it, the other carriers can. All we have to do is have Vanguard or Diligence work their magic, and boom! Six more carriers' worth of jets giving us top cover."

"I don't know, sis. It sorta sounds too good to be true." said Amazon. "I mean, if that refit was so good, don't you think that the Admiralty would've had them carried out by now?"

"Wait, isn't Victorious here now?" asked Antelope.

"Yeah, she and Illustrious just got back from a convoy run, why?" asked Ambuscade.

Antelope's only response was to grab Ardent and bolt out the door.

"Why do I get the feeling that this isn't going to end well?" sighed Amazon.

At the other end of the barracks, Victorious had just settle down to watch the football match with Illustrious and Ark Royal when she heard someone banging on her door.

"Bloody Hell, can't a girl watch a bloody football anymore?" groaned Victorious as she opened the door, revealing Ardent and Antelope standing there, huge grins on their faces.

"Can I help you?"

"Hi, I'm Ardent, and this is Antelope, and we want to talk to you about getting your post-war refit preformed."

For Victorious, timed stopped as the frigate spoke. Then, the floodgates opened as the memories came back. The cost, the false-promises, the loss of her family, and finally, the betrayal by the country she had given so much to. She started shaking, desperately trying to brace herself against the door.

"Hey, are you alright?" she heard one of the frigates say. She turned to face them, and something justsnapped.

Two hours later...

Ardent groaned as she woke up in the infirmary. "Ugh, what happened?"

"I'm so sorry about what happened." she heard a voice say. "I don't know what came over me."

"Calm down, Vicky." another voice said. "It's not like you hurt them, they just fainted."

"Ardent, are you alright?" Amazon asked.

"I think so, sis. What am I doing in the infirmary?"

"Victorious went into a homicidal rage and you and Antelope fainted." Ambuscade deadpanned.

"How?"

"I'm sorry." cut in Victorious. "I have issues with my refit. A lot of issues. I thought I had gotten over them, but I guess I haven't."

A few hours later, after numerous apologies from Victorious, Ardent and Antelope were speaking with Illustrious before being discharged.

"I get why you two asked Vicky about her refit." said Illustrious. "Honestly, I don't blame you. We need more jets covering the fleet. But Vicky's refit had a lot of problems. It took almost a decade to perform, and it eventually ended up costing so much that they decided to not refit the rest of us, something that Vicky blames herself for. Not to mention that they made the decision to get rid of her the day before she was to return to duty."

"We had no idea." said Antelope.

"We're sorry." added Ardent.

"Don't worry about it. Vicky's okay, and she's going to see the psychologist tomorrow, so hopefully she should be fine from now on."

"That's good." said Antelope.

"I hope she get's better." said Ardent.

Illustrious smiled. "I'll tell her you both said that. I'm sure she'll be happy to hear it."