Sisterly Reunions (Afridi and Punjabi)

It's sometime after Frontier Day in 2401, outside the city of Peshawar in the like-named valley of Pakistan, such downriver from the famous Khyber Pass. Two delightful shipgirls, both of whom view this part of the Indian subcontinent as their spiritual homeland, chanced upon a free-roaming herd of dromedary camels. Of course, said herd is watched over by a local farmer, but he knows these two ladies for many past visits, both in hardlight hologram form when such became commonplace in the early XIV Century and then late in gynoid bodies much more advanced in ways than the famous Data (who had been restored effectively to true life thanks to the efforts of his spiritual brother Dr. Altan Inigo Soong) could ever be; such being the ever-advancing march of technology. None the less, the herd knows of these two strange-smelling humanoid creatures who love to bring food to them, so they are relaxed in their presence. The true "native" shipgirl of this land is the SI of USS Afridi, named in honour of the ancient Aprīdī peoples who call the area in and west of Peshawar their home since before the days of the Mughal Empire and the latter British Raj before the peoples of the Subcontinent were forcibly severed due to religious reasons after the Second World War in the mid-XX Century. Like her sister and the others of her generation of Port Weller girl, she is seen as a "Tribal", paying homage not just to her namesake people, but also to two destroyers of the name which served in the Royal Navy, the first in the Great War and the second briefly in the Second World War before being sunk by air attack. And while her service has been seen as long and honourable, it has been marred with tragedy. Created originally at the turn of the XXIV Century as the synthetic "soul" of a Shangri-La-class cruiser, Afridi would commission in 2300, serving on that hull for twenty-five years before being paid off. Next came a Constellation-class aviation cruiser, commissioned in 2327 and serving for twenty-two years before it was lost in battle against the Cardassians in the aftermath of the Setlik campaign. That drove the poor shipgirl into an Abyssal state for seven years, she being recovered enough to take up a Nebula-class hull in 2358. Her luck with that hull didn't go well either; in 2374 during the retaking of Deep Space Nine, the hull was wrecked with major casualties not far from Bajor itself. Afridi would once again plunge into grief, one that would last until 2378. The next year, she helped commission a Broadsword-class cruiser in the skies over Peshawar itself, said commission lasting for twenty years and ending peacefully this time. And she was at Utopia Planitia over Mars awaiting her next hull, a Sagan-class ship, when the Frontier Day "silliness" happened, this time, without losses even if she deployed with little of a proper watchkeeping crew! Her sister and guest today is the SI of USS Punjabi, namesake of the Pañjābī peoples who live not far to the east of Peshawar in the valley of the same name where five tributary rivers of the famous Indus flow to come together downstream from Bahawalpur. She also pays homage to a Royal Navy Tribal-class destroyer, the only one to bear the title of His Majesty's Ship, of the second generation built prior to the Second World War. With her original hull built also by the famous cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, she would commission also as a Shangri-La-class in 2300, said commission lasting an impressive FORTY YEARS before she was paid off. A Renaissance-class cruiser came next from Port Weller Spacedocks on Earth, commissioning in an atmospheric orbital ceremony over Lahore itself in 2342. Said commission would last until the incident that saw her sisters Zulu and Nubian wrecked in the Mutara Nebula near the site of the infamous Genesis Planet; having been alerted by their distress calls, Punjabi's captain sent the ship in to help rescue the crew...and then the ship itself would need rescuing thanks to one of Nubian's warp nacelles clipping her own engineering hull! Casualties were light and a Broadsword-class tactical cruiser would be prepared for her by Queenston Station, such commissioning in 2370. She would last through the Dominion War with ease, she being there for Afridi's few survivors in the Second Battle of Deep Space 9. Paid off in 2398, she would commission her fourth hull, a Sagan-class ship, in 2400 from Utopia Planitia, she being ready to help out with Frontier Day the following year. New adventures await, but both girls are busy with the camels now...