There were holes in the Sailfor. I could even hear a slight hiss of air loss. Frost had formed on one wall, and from that, we found the hole.
"Not big enough to worry about," Krisin decided.
I supposed he was right. What we did was going to be over fast. So we went on by and up to the control deck. A couple bulkheads had sealed off areas breached by our attack, but overall, the ship had stood up to the battle.
It still had power. I suspected Sima of that work, reluctant though she must have been to help the aliens. She had kept the ship -- and her people -- alive.
We saw signs of were in what might have been words carved into the walls. Lisel took shots of them, and I thought he sent those off to the station if we didn't make it back.
Not that we had any doubts about this.
The control deck was a mess with several pieces of alien technology in place. I had a moment of consternation before I realized that the regular controls had to still be there since the Sailfor had no trouble maneuvering into the dock.
Krisin made a growling noise that sounded as if it should have come from Lisel. Then he threw himself into the work.
I listened to the odd sounds at the communications station and realized I was hearing the were trying to contact the Sailfor. I had heard their voices in the past, the sounds for which they'd been named. The words all seemed to be high-pitched variations of w and r. Wr. Wwwr. Wrrrr.
Did they leave the communications open? I signed for silence and went to examine it. There was one little device stuck in the comm board with an indention on the top.
I grinned at Lisel. He looked worried.
I jabbed at the indentation -- up and down several times while I made were sounds. I had heard them often enough that I did a reasonably good imitation while hoping the off-and-on link would make it sound as if we had a bad communication board. I only tried for about fifteen seconds before I yanked the link out and tossed it to Krisin. He took it out of the room. When he came back, he sealed the bulkhead behind him.
"Can we fly her?" I asked.
"Systems are intact," Krisin replied. Lisel was at the weapons board and gave a grunt of approval there.
I settled at the pilot's station. The chair had been restructured to fit a were, and I was not comfortable. No matter. This wouldn't take long.
"Krisin, have them turn us loose," I said. He had his communit on, and I'd heard him mumble now and then to people on the station. "I don't want to do more damage to them."
It took a moment, but I felt the Sailfor drift free of the constraints. The boards came on, and the screen flickered to show -- strange colors, sharper shapes, and more contrast. That must have said something about the were. It was giving me a headache, though --
Krisin had done something. The screen changed back to normal. I nodded my thanks, not that it was a better scene. I counted eleven were fighters, and the Mother Ship was still limping away so slowly that I had the odd feeling it might turn back on us.
"I don't want them turning back on the station," I said.
"Yeah, I had that feeling," Lisel replied. "I'll take the ones on the right. The fighters will lose interest in the station, and I think we can worry the ship."
"There's a were fighter in the bay," Lisel said.
"Huh."
"We'll need safety suits," Krisin said. "They should have some in the bay. I'll go check things out while everything is still calm."
He hurried off.
"This is insane," Lisel mumbled.
"Well, it really is calm compared to most of what we've been doing," I replied.
"That's not what I meant."
"Oh. Do you mean deciding we can fly a were craft with no idea how they work? I've seen part of the fighters they've brought in. We know the were are shaped a great deal like us in the basics -- two arms, two legs -- and hands with six to eight fingers of sorts. The three of us have had more contact with were craft than anyone else."
"That's still insane!"
"Of course it is," I said. There was no denying it. "But --" I waved toward the controls in front of me. "The were flew this ship. We can fly theirs. Do you have a better idea? Other than be on the Sailfor when it goes up in a blaze of glory?"
"Somewhere between your species and mine, I think some switch got put in place," Lisel said. He sounded entirely serious. "Some sort of defense against insanity --"
"It's not species," Krisin said over the comm. "It's just her."
"I'm not sure that's better, especially given that we're in this with her."
"Something we can discuss over a couple beers. The were fighter looks intact. I'm not sure how to get in, though. Blowing a hole in the door seems counterproductive."
"Did you find safety suits for us?" I asked.
"Huh. Yeah. I suppose it doesn't matter if it can't hold an atmosphere, does it? I've found the lock on the scan. I think if I blow that --"
"Safety suit first, my friend," Lisel said. "No telling what might come out when you open it. And be ready for trouble."
"Yes," he said. "Good point."
I could hear a flurry of were voices on the comm. I didn't attempt to answer them, but I could see the fighters were starting to respond.
"We're about to come under attack," Lisel pointed out.
"I noticed. Start taking them out. I think we can still get there."
I didn't, however, say that I thought we could survive it.
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