A Texas Reunion
A clear, hot, Summer day on Galveston Island. Texas (BB35), Texas (CGN39), and Texas (SSN775) are having a picnic.
BB35: Lil Tex is just so sweet, (Gestures to the blond sub girl building an intricate sand castle) but she is so feisty. Always looking for something to get into.
CGN39: She's a lot like you, Mom. A real fighter.
BB35: Don't know if i ever looked for trouble like she does. Not that I don't mind a good shootout, and neither do you. Honestly she reminds me more of stories about my mother, the old Texas.
CGN39: You never knew her did you?
BB35: Nope. She gave up her name for me, but...she was gone before I was commissioned. Now, old Saratoga, not our Sara, but the ship that held the name before her knew my mama pretty well. She was her flagship in Cuba. Told all kinds of crazy stories about her, and how she was always insistent that she was the first American battleship.Of course all those girls back then were a little nuts.
(From behind them): Nuts, huh? I'm thinkin' Armored Cruiser New York was probably a little senile before you got to know her, mi hija.
The two Texas girls turn and stand to see the strange voice behind them. Even the sub-girl turns and looks. The woman before them is not quite 5 feet tall, with a moderate bust, and not fat by any means, though not an hourglass figure either. Brown eyes and long black hair with just a few strands of grey to belie her age, with features showing a mix of European and Native American ancestry. She wore a simple blue cotton dress and a blue Navy uniform jacket that had gone out of style before the Great War, topped with a tan cavalry style hat bearing the badge of the 1st US Volunteer Cavalry.
Around her waist was a worn leather gunbelt decorated with silver hammered pesos, and carrying two equally worn short barrel Colt Peacemakers in .45 Colt and a bone handle Bowie knife.
BB: (smiling) USS Texas, Battleship One, at your service.
BB35: Mama? (Runs and hugs her)
CGN39: (hugs them both) Grandma!
SSN775: (joins the group hug) This is so awesome!
Overhead a siren begins blaring. A voice announces, "Abyssal forces have been identified within 50 miles. Seek shelter immediately. All ship girls report for orders."
SSN775: Alright! Time to sink some Abyssals!
BB: (running after the sub girl) YEEHAAW!! Come on girls! Lets see if we can't send them Abyssal-spanish bastards* running!
BB35: (realizing her old Spanish-American war vet friend had been right, turns to the red haired cruiser beside her) Oh, dear lord. Tessa, lets see if we can't beat the abyssals and keep my granddaughter and your grandmother from being sunk.
CGN39: Copy that, Mom. Lets go get 'em!
*- for reference, Gen. Joe Wheeler, a former CSA general, who commanded the US cavalry in Cuba in the Spanish-American war would, on occasion, mistakenly refer to the Spanish Army as Yankees.