Sisterly Reunions (Nubian and Zulu)

"Nubey! Why do I have to wear THIS?! It's too prudish!" "Oh, hush, Ama! You look good in it!" It's after Frontier Day in 2401, one of the many markets in the city of al-Ḵurṭūm, once capital of the independent state of Sudan and now part of the United States of Africa. Two lovely shipgirls, true twins spiritually even if they don't look like it physically (save for the basics), are busy taking some time away from their nominal duties as the synthetic "souls" of Starfleet starships to destress from the matter concerning the last remnants of the Borg Collective and the rogue Changelings and do some catharthic shopping. And while there's no real unified pan-African culture even these days - the many wounds of European colonization, never mind the Great Catastrophe which saw United Africa come together after the Third World War, are still visible everywhere - the visitor from old South Africa clearly doesn't care to dress so conservatively in public. Still, her host's desires mean more to her than almost anything in existence, so suffer she will...! Those who know these two would say they were still under the "Curse of Zubian", relating to an incident in the First World War where the surviving sections of their namesake Royal Navy destroyers were fused together to serve as a new ship, their names brought together in a portmanteau of their separate names so that conflict could be seen out. The host is the shipgirl AI of USS Nubian, namesake of the legendary kingdom which ruled the middle Nile River valley for centuries in the days of ancient Egypt, being so prominent that said peoples would become a plaything in the competition between rival kingdoms right until the creation of modern Sudan under joint Ottoman/Egyptian control in 1820, the first step in a century-long process to reassert their own cultural identity. Created as the synthetic "soul" of a Shangri-La-class cruiser at the turn of the XXIV Century, Nubian would get her first hull from the legendary Baiqoñýr Ğáryş Ailáğy in Kazakhstan, one that would serve a spectacular forty years before being paid off. Next would come a Renaissance-class cruiser built by Port Weller Spacedocks at Queenston Station, such commissioning in 2342 and serving for twenty-six more years until a horrible collision between both her and her twin sister while exploring the remnants of the Mutara Nebula which had been effectively gutted by the Genesis Incident of 2285. Both girls would get Broadsword-class cruisers built also at Queenston Station in 2370, they being in good enough shape to not only survive the Dominion War, but sail on for two decades BEYOND the Treaty of Bajor. Paid off in 2398, Nubian would commission her fourth hull, a Sagan-class cruiser, two years later, a year before Frontier Day. Her spiritual twin is the shipgirl AI of USS Zulu, namesake of one of the most famous indigenous people groups from Africa who controlled a kingdom that stood up to the might of the British Empire for nearly the whole of the XIX Century; confronting such natural warriors would automatically earn them respect from the decision makers in London and that saw three warships of the Royal Navy be given the common name of the AmaZulu. Inheriting quite a proud tradition (as did Nubian), Zulu would also be woken in 2300 and get her first ship built by the famous cosmodrome in Kazakhstan under contract from Port Weller Spacedocks. The first USS Zulu, a Shangri-La-class cruiser, would be in commission for an eye-popping thirty-eight years before being paid off, that being replaced by a Renaissance-class ship built at Queenston Station. As noted above, the second USS Zulu would often partner up with the second USS Nubian on various missions, including the ill-fated 2368 probe of the remnants of the Mutara Nebula that got both ships wrecked. Zulu would also get a Broadsword-class ship, serving on that for a total of twenty-eight years through the horrors of the Dominion War and the shattering of the Romulan Star Empire. Finally, in 2398, she would commission a Sagan-class cruiser, which she serves on to this day; like Nubian, Zulu was able to get through Frontier Day without issues.