Talnya's adventure on the Mythica

Talnya gently placed her head on the pillow. It was nice of the pastor and his wife to put her up like this, but she knew it couldn’t last. She sighed, her father was dead nothing could change that. Talnya turned over; hoping sleep would take her soon. Her eyes wandered to the sky where she could see the stars peeking out from behind the clouds.
“I wonder if things are better there, if the pain would not be as bad.” A star seemed to expand and Talnya felt as if she was being pulled toward it. All at once there was a bright flash and Talnya found herself sailing through a labyrinth of colored light. Every color was there as well as some new ones she had never dreamed of. Speeding toward her in the other direction was another girl about her age. Talnya only had time to note that she wore strange clothes before they collided. Talnya fell. She squealed as a rough metal floor appeared and rushed up toward her. She hit it with a hard thump. She hurt all over and had a terrible headache.
“What’s this?” a surprised voice exclaimed from her left. The figure was a woman that was at least as tall as most men Talnya had seen. Her hair was short and black with a multi colored cord of beads behind her left ear. Her skin was almost an olive color and her eyes were a peculiar shade of orange. Her clothes were bizarre. She wore what looked like a pair of trousers and a long shirt with baggy sleeves. Over this shirt she had a rectangle of material with a square hole in the top for her head. A belt held the shirts together so they almost resembled a single piece garment. On the belt was a holster that contained a sort of gun and several other things Talnya didn’t recognize. The belt also had what looked to Talnya to be a suspender going over her right shoulder. On it was a funny metal box with a cord attached to it. 
The room they were in seemed to be a small sort of cafeteria. There were twelve tables, each considerably bolted to the floor. Talnya thought they looked a great deal like metal picnic tables. At the far end of the room there was a counter with some odd machines on it. Behind the counter there was a door that must have lead to the kitchen. The walls were hard metal with some odd openings and doors along them. No carpet adorned the floor and the overall feeling of the room was a tough place to refuel before going into battle. Still it was homey in a weird sort of way.
The woman turned to look over her shoulder, “Ey, Mate, take a look at this.”
Talnya looked to another area of the counter where two more individuals were sitting. The first looked to be the height of the woman and was similarly dressed, though definitely more masculine. His hair was the same length as the woman’s and had the same cord of beads. Next to him was a being that looked more like a cat then a person. They had a tail, fur, and everything a cat has, but stood close to the size of a regular woman and walked upright. The cat-person was well arrayed in weapons.
The first walked up to where the woman was sitting and peered at Talnya. Darkness started to enclose on Talnya’s vision. The woman made a move toward her, and then she blacked out.

Talnya’s consciousness slowly returned. When it did, she found herself lying on a bed in some sort of hospital. There was an odd mask thing on her face, covering her mouth and nose. Beside the bed stood the man she had seen in the eating room and another person she didn’t recognize. This one was well over a foot taller than him. She wore pants and a large loose layered shirt. She also wore more jewelry then Talnya had ever seen. Necklaces and chains of all lengths and sizes covered her front and chains and belts encircled her waist. Bracelets on her arms, rings on her fingers, and earrings covering her ears made her look eccentric and rich. Her hair was no exception, silver in color and almost plastered with bead braids and other metal trinkets.
She turned her eye on Talnya, it was almost all white. “I told you, Cap’n, she only forgot to breath, she isn’t sick.” The lady moved to take the mask off. Talnya recoiled from her move. The lady stopped.
“Here now child I am no enemy if you are a friend.” 
Talnya jumped at the appearance of the voice in her head.
“I am Dalyia, and you are aboard the Mythica. With your permission I am going to search your memory for how you came onto this ship.”
Talnya nodded, not sure she could answer mentally. The woman said nothing for a moment, and then took the mask off. Talnya was wary but not too afraid.
“She was switched using some kind of portal, Cap’n, she doesn’t know how.”
The man nodded then offered Talnya his hand. “I am Kyle Dromess, the captain of the D.R.E.C.C. Mythica. You appeared in our mess hall about fifteen minutes ago and promptly passed out. It appears that you switched places with one of our crew named Meena.”
“Meena?” Talnya managed to moan.
Dalyia pulled one of several metal bars that were in her hair out and held it in front of Talnya’s eyes, “Rest child, I’ll fill you in on anything you need to know in your sleep.” A small light emerged from the stick and Talnya was immediately asleep.
“You there now? Good. I don’t think there is any need to give you a history of the universe, but there are a few things you may want to know.
“First is that you have come from earth, the third planet from the sun in the Milky Way galaxy, to on board the Mythica, a Dalesk battle class ship, that is in the Aries system. We have been here for almost a month waiting for our payment for a cargo delivery. We got it yesterday and are now on our way to Deltk, the fourth moon of the planet Tesb-al. The crew of this ship are buying the moon in its entirety and have just secured the last payment to be made to the Federation.
  “We are doing this because our different species are being sold and driven to extinction where they used to call home. We move a large group every so often to the moon, where they are setting up society.
“I don’t know for sure, but I think Jestel Naray is behind this. See, I felt a tug on my consciousness just before you showed up. She is the only one I know who has the access to and motive to use the kind of equipment that would be required to pull someone half way across time and space. Anyway that is only my suspicion, it doesn’t really mean anything.
“The Mythica has a seven man crew. Kyle is of course the captain and a human like you. Lyey is the one you saw when you first arrived here. Also there when you came was Kkatt. I was at the helm at the time. Our mechanic, Eray, is in the engine somewhere. Our other member is TEL; she serves as pilot and strategist. Our last member is Meena, about your age, also human.
“I assure you, we will try our best to get you home.” With that Dalyia left her head and Talnya slept soundly for hours. When she woke again, it took her a moment to get her bearings. Then she remembered the story in her dream. Dalyia must have sent pictures along with her words, as Talnya could remember what all the individual people looked like. Talnya swung her legs over the side of the bunk and stretched. A sudden lurch shook her and she fell to the floor. Talnya looked up, now fully alert. She hauled herself to her feet and took a step toward the door of the small room. Another jerk threw her toward the wall. She put her hand out to steady herself. The door spiraled open. Talnya stumbled out into the hall. From the picture Dalyia had shown her in her dream, Talnya wandered toward the command deck. She was thrown to the deck many times before she got there.
The door opened and Lyey pulled her in. “Having a bit of a run in, we are. Be best if ya sit tight for this one, kid.” Lyey hauled her over to a seat that was bolted to the floor. Talnya sat and let herself be buckled in. She could see what was going on now. They were fighting with another ship, and they both seemed rather well matched. What was scary to Talnya was that the other ship was twice their size.
“I told you we shouldn’t have let them off so easily,” Dalyia growled at Kyle.
Kyle clung to the arms of his chair, “You almost didn’t.”
“Shields are taking quite a beating, Cap’n,” TEL said from an instrument panel to the side. The walls and front of the room were encompassed in large windows that were only covered in some places by the instruments used to work the ship. There must have been some sort of technology in the glass because portions of it also acted as the screen.
Dalyia pulled the ship into a barrel roll that narrowly helped them avoid more fire. “Is that good enough for you, TEL?” Talnya hoped Dalyia wouldn’t do that again, she had been almost thrown from her seat in the last maneuver.
They exchanged blows for a few minutes though it felt like forever. Soon enough, however, the other ship turned tail and ran.
Kyle leaned back in his chair, “Whew.”
“Never stay to finish a fight,” Dalyia shook her head at the view screen in front of her.
Kyle spun his chair so he was facing Talnya. “Funny welcome you’ve got, at least Meena had a couple of weeks to settle before any conflict.”
Talnya turned her big brown eyes to the captain. “Who was that?” her voice trembled like a kitten in a rain storm.
Kyle unbuckled his seat belt and walked toward the helm where Dalyia sat. “That was an old nemesis of ours; Toolio and the D.A.P.H.F.Y. Spring Bloom.”
“What did you do to them?”
Kkatt came in through the door, “We caught them selling my people into slavery.”
“Isn’t that illegal, even here?” Talnya asked as she started to mess with her belt.
“Technically, yes, but that doesn’t mean everyone is going to obey,” Lyey came over and undid the buckle.
A metal jingle accompanied Dalyia as she got out of her chair, Talnya realized that Dalyia hadn’t been wearing a seat belt, “This isn’t the first time they have attacked us since we took their captives.”
“One time we almost lost all our crew,” Kyle added somberly.
A ghostlike figure emerged out of the floor. Nearly devoid of any recognizable shape, it appeared to be a translucent head with a cloud for hair. Talnya recognized it as Eray, the phantom like Escat.
“Ah, Eray, you and Dalyia need to check over the engine and defenses. I don’t think I need to explain how you need to do it.”
Lyey leaned on one of the chair backs,”Certainly not, Mate; I would venture to say Shy and D run a diagnostic at least once every other day.”
Kkatt flicked her tail and turned back toward the door, “I’ll go check on the weapons systems.”
“TEL, you and Lyey go and check how the hits we took are going to affect the structural integrity of the hull.”
“Aye Cap’n.”
“Right then, Mate.” TEL and Lyey headed out one of the side entrances, leaving Talnya and Kyle to talk.
“I’d offer you a tour, but Dalyia probably already gave you one.”
Talnya nodded, “In a dream.”
“That’s how she works.”
Talnya looked around at the ship, “How did you get it?”
“The Mythica? There’s a story.” Kyle settled back into his chair to begin his tale. “It was about ten years ago. I had just taken a ship from my employer and was hiding in a port on Catorna, that’s just off Sierea. I had accidently taken my bosses’ daughter along and she was driving me crazy. I left, leaving that ship behind, I needed to find another so I could continue in my career. I searched for days and my money was running out.
“One day I stumbled quite unexpectedly on an assassin waiting to do a job. How little of fate I knew that day! I made a deal, never to say anything if they helped me get a ship. They agreed. I realize now, that she could have killed me and been off scot free, but she was far more complicated than that. We stalked one of the Federation’s cargo ships for about two months. I didn’t learn much of my companion in that time, seeing as she was constantly in and out.
“We made our move when the ship accidently went into unmonitored space. I personally think my companion had something to do with that. We locked the whole crew in a hold.”
“And then you kept the ship?”
“This ship isn’t even Athuzrian class, never mind the size of a Federation Cargo ship. I knew that I could never get away with piloting that ship around, never mind keeping a low profile. So we checked the main cargo bay to see if there were any smaller ships. That was when we found the REX that we redubbed the Mythica.”
“Wouldn’t they still have recognized it?”
“We have been altering it over the last years and the Federation didn’t get word of the theft till we were well on our way. We fueled up the Mythica from their supplies and grabbed anything else of value. It was then that I recruited the first member of my crew, the assassin who had been helping me.”
“TEL?”
Kyle smiled, “No, Dalyia.”
Talnya’s eyes shot open, “Dalyia was an assassin?”
“She still has all the training memorized. It’s hard for Dralions to forget. Dalyia and me flew the Mythica alone for almost two years. Then we chanced upon Lyey in a bar off Dreas in the third quadrant. She had started a brawl and needed help to get out of trouble. We gave it and she joined the crew. The next one we got was Eray, though I didn’t realize she was there until and year later. She just floated up through the hull when we were near Brolovae a year and a half after finding Lyey. Kkatt came next at the end of that year, we actually tracked her down. TEL joined up three years after. Meena we found in a ship wreck about six months ago.”
“So that’s how you got your crew. What profession are you in?”
Kyle considered before speaking, “Lyey would call us liberators of the more expensive goods that come through our system, but really we would be more accurately labeled as pirates.”
“But pirates are bad people!”
“We do what we have to in order to survive, as it is our moon doesn’t yet have industry and trade to support itself, so it needs help. We provide that help.”
Talnya’s arm was starting to tingle so she rubbed it. “Couldn’t you just give people rides around?”
“And risk them finding out where this ship came from? Not likely, trust me, Talnya; we don’t have a lot of options. Why are you doing that to your arm?”
“It’s tingling.”
Kyle narrowed his eyes, “Does it do that a lot.”
Talnya shook her head. Kyle jumped up and grabbed his com link, “Dalyia, someone is trying to transport Talnya out of here!”
Sparkles appeared on Talnya’s skin. Kyle reached for her. She was gone.

A whirling sensation overcame Talnya as she was thrown to the bottom of some kind of cylinder. She slowly raised her head. The room was dark, only some small red lights showed through the gloom. It was unbearably warm and Talnya felt sick. Suddenly a bright light illuminated the room. An odd, reptilian lady stepped forward. She wore a rich gown and many jewels.
“I had hoped you’d be younger, that way you would have been a more fitting replacement for Dalyia.”
So Dalyia had been right it had been her they were trying to replace.
“Well, since you haven’t accomplished your purpose, you have no real use. I hope you enjoy your stay, it will be the last one you ever have.” The woman turned and walked out, turning off the lights as she went, leaving Talnya again in the darkness. Softly, Talnya started to cry.

“She was here then she was gone,” Kyle sat there holding his head. Lyey and Kkatt sat beside him. TEL was at the helm with Eray, and Dalyia was pacing the deck.
“This whole thing stinks of Jestel, and I fear if we don’t find her soon, there won’t be a Talnya left to save.”
“Well then, D, we’d best be getting on with it.” Lyey got up and pulled her gun belt tighter.
Kyle put his hand up, “No, Lyey, if we tried to break in there it would be our death.”
Kkatt stood up, “So what then? If we stay here and do nothing then we condemn her to death.”
“Nothing so drastic,” Eray said as she floated higher, “We stand no chance against Jestel and her forces. Not by storming her flying fortress, but by sending her the one thing she can’t resist and won’t expect; Dalyia.”
Kyle stood quickly, “I won’t hear of it, we do not send one of our members to the slaughter no matter the circumstance.”   
Dalyia turned to face him, “Kyle, Eray is right. I’m the only thing Jestel is really interested in. If I suddenly appear there, it is likely that she will forget about Talnya and come after me.”
Kyle shook his head, “I won’t hear of it, and that’s final. We will make an effort to get her back, but we are not going to send in any one of our crew alone.”
Dalyia frowned and turned her head away.
Kyle sighed and sat back down in his chair. “Dalyia, due to Jestel’s interest in you and our uncertainty of what all this is about, I’m going to have to ask you to stay behind.”
“Now hold up, Mate…”
“No Lyey, I’m going to be firm in this. I am not putting anymore of our crew in Jeopardy then need be. I’ll let her make suggestions on how to go about this, but she is not coming on the actually mission. Am I clear, Dalyia?” All eyes turned to Dalyia.
She sighed deeply, “As you wish.”

As soon as they had a fixed plan, they put Dalyia in a pod and dropped it on an asteroid. They were going to attack Jestel’s ship while trying to get a transport look on Talnya. TEL and Eray were still uneasy about leaving Dalyia, but orders were orders.
“You girls ready? We have to do this fast, we can’t give Jestel any opportunity to figure out what we are doing.” They used the Mythica’s cloaking device to get just outside visual range of the B.R.E.S.K. Dread, Jestel’s ship. “Kkatt, you ready to give us some heat?”
“Aye Cap’n,” Kkatt radioed back from the artillery room.
“Alright. Everyone be alert, we will have to get at least a fourth as close as we are now to the Dread before we will be able to pull Talnya out of there.”
Lyey picked up her own radio, “Remind Dalyia to install a better transporter after this is all over.”
“If we’re alive,” TEL muttered from the helm, “I still wish Dal was here, I’m not as good at this as she is.”
“Let’s get this on, ladies.” Kkatt fired as TEL raced toward the Dread. Lyey was in the transport room with Eray.
“Mate, I’m not getting any reading on Talnya.”
Kyle was quick to answer, “Keep trying, if we don’t get her this time, we won’t get a second try.”
Eray floated nervously. Lyey raised an eyebrow at her, or she would have if she had eyebrows. “Shy, what’s got you so uncomfortable?” Eray reformed herself into an expressionless blob. Lyey shook her head and let her eyes wander back to the screen in front of her. She tried to locate Talnya again but with no success. In a fleeting glance she noticed that two of the trans-tracers were missing.  Lyey grabbed wildly at her com link, “Shy what did you and D do?” Roughly hitting the button Lyey started relaying her suspicion to Kyle. “Ey, Mate, where’s Dalyia?”
“At the asteroid. Why?”
“Check again for me.”
“Ok,” Kyle activated Dalyia’s tracer and checked his map. “See she’s right there.” There was a pause, “right in the same spot where Jestel’s ship is.” He brought his fist down hard on the arm of his chair. “Why do I get the feeling she set this up?”
“Care to explain Shy?” Lyey asked as she replaced her com unit to its holster.
Eray reformed her face, “Dalyia knew none of the plans you would come up with would work, so she took a couple of tracer-locks and went on her own.”
“And she told you about it.”
“I see everything, whether I admit it or not.”
Lyey again contacted Kyle, “We best withdraw, Mate. D’s planning something and until we figure out what, there’s little chance of helping her.”

Dalyia ejected just before the pod smashed into the side of the Dread. Covering her body with scales she avoided the flames and made her way in through the hole. The ship was in an uproar, the Mythica was firing on them and Kkatt was putting on quite a show. Putting her back to the wall she waited for some lackeys to pass.  The moment they were gone, she took off at a famous pace down the corridor. Eerie swamp green light provided the only illumination and there was the distinctive odder of unkept bodies and filth. Though Jestel tried to project an image of sophistication it couldn’t be farther from the truth. Dalyia concentrated on Talnya’s mental signature and homed in on her position. She knew she was getting close but some idling workers were causing a hold up. Pulling out her farrblade she advanced. A typical Dralion weapon it could do anything she had need of and presently that was a distraction. She could easily take them out in seconds but that would alert Jestel of her position, something she didn’t want just yet. Changing her farrblade to a staff with a blinder on the end, Dalyia gathered her strength. In one swift motion it was thrown into the midst of the lackeys. The light blinded them and they scattered. Dalyia jumped to where her farrblade had landed. She gave the hesitant a swift blow to the behind and continued on.
The passage passed swiftly beneath her and she was soon outside where they were holding Talnya. Dalyia quieted herself and stroked Talnya’s consciousness to reassure her. Dalyia opened her holster and pulled out a light charge string. Using her farrblade to force them into the wall, Dalyia sent a detailed picture of what she was doing to Jestel. She could feel the reptilian woman’s hate. Dalyia set the first charge and stepped back. The penetrating beam moved from the first charge knob to the next and so on. Dalyia kicked in the circle and it fell out. No light penetrated the darkness of the room, but Dalyia could see just fine. Talnya was leaning against the side of a glass cylinder, waiting for her. Dalyia casually walked up to the consol controlling the prison of glass. She knew Jestel’s forces were getting close, but she was not worried. The glass lowered as Dalyia pressed the appropriate button. Talnya was at her side in a moment.
“Thank you, thank you.” She sobbed into Dalyia’s side as she hugged her.
Dalyia clipped the tracer-lock onto Talnya’s blows collar.
“No time for that, Talnya, the Dread is attacking Deltk even as we speak.”
Talnya looked up at Dalyia in horror, the dried tears on her face making her look in yet more dread. “How can that be, we haven’t moved.”
“In a ship this size you wouldn’t feel the movement,” Dalyia pressed the button in the middle of the tracer-lock, “I’m going to stay here and make sure nothing like this happens again.”
“What?” Talnya felt her skin tingling again and watched the sparkles appear, “No!”
Dalyia watched Talnya disappear and turned to face Jestel’s forces.

“’Ere ya are then kid, I was wondering when you’d be showing up,” Lyey lifted Talnya off the sending platform and put her on the floor, where she promptly collapsed. “But where be D? You didn’t leave her behind, did ya?”
Talnya shook her head. “She said she was going to make sure this didn’t happen again.”
Lyey brought her fist down hard on the wall next to her, “What is up with Dralions and futile heroics?”
“No Dalyia?”
Both Lyey and Talnya jumped at Eray’s sudden appearance.
“Gosh Shy, don’t do that.”
“I’ll help her.”
“Cap’n needs you here.”
Eray took on an expression that looked almost mad. “He’ll need Dalyia more, Deltk is under attack.”
“What! How can that be?”
“It is; you’re probably wanted on the bridge. I’ll keep Talnya company.”
Lyey nodded and walked out the door.
Eray turned to Talnya, “I don’t like this; I know Dalyia can hold her own against an army, but her and Jestel have a history together.”
“What history?”
Eray shook her head, “I don’t know. Come I’ll take you somewhere safe.”

Thump. The last one hit the floor. Dalyia stood over him, her chest only just beginning to heave from effort. The clapping from the upper deck did nothing to surprise her.
“Bravo, assassin, bravo. Now why couldn’t you have done that on your last job?”
Dalyia didn’t bother looking at her, “Only a fool aligns themselves with a precarious individual.”
Jestel leaned a little over the railing, “I suppose that makes you a fool, you and I were partners for years.”
“Offence meant,” Dalyia turned to smile at Jestel, “I was referring to myself as the individual.”
Jestel’s knuckles turned white as she clamped her hands harder on the metal bar. “I never needed you.”
Dalyia started toward the stairs, “Oh no? I remember where I found you, desperate for a job and failing any one you got. I fixed one of your mistakes, and we became a sort of partners. But something happened. You took to the money and forgot how you got there.”
Jestel pulled a gun out of her ornate bag, “Not another step.”
Dalyia raised her head higher and continued up toward Jestel, “What’s to stop me from killing you now? The Dralions you captured? We freed them and moved them to a haven. The crew member you captured? Not likely, you’ve captured none. My own conscience? Fat chance, I’ve been regretting letting you live every day since you killed my sister. This has been a long time coming, and you know it.”
“I’ll destroy Deltk.”
Dalyia laughed, “You’ve been trying to take it from us for months, and you won’t destroy it. Not so hastily.”
Jestel held the gun higher. “I sent one of your crew to the planet Earth in the eighteenth century. If anything happens to me you won’t see her ever again.”
Dalyia cocked her head; the smirk painting her eyes into shimmers on her face, “Really? Someone doesn’t check their equipment often enough.”
Jestel kept the gun trained on Dalyia as she walked back toward the control panel. In a moment the image of the transport room came onto screen. Jestel practically howled at the sight of Eray and Talnya resetting the machine.
Dalyia stepped onto the platform where Jestel was standing, “Not so in control now, are you?”
Jestel raised the gun level with her chin, “I may not live past today, but this will be my consolation.” The bullet fled the barrel and made its way toward Dalyia. A hard metallic clang sounded as it flinched off the silver dragon’s scales.
Dalyia lowered her reptilian head and growled at Jestel, “You’ve forgotten why we are called Dralions.” Dalyia opened her cavernous mouth, sending a jet of flame at Jestel. Her burnt scream filled the confines of the ship.
Dalyia raced toward the bridge, scattering lackeys in her wake. Once there she activated the self destruct mechanism and ran toward the transport room.

“Ready?” Eray asked from the consol. Talnya stood on the platform. The machine was set to switch her back with Meena.
“Don’t I get to say goodbye to Dalyia first?”
Eray gave a sympathetic smile, “There is no time, we’ll probably never see each other again. For what it’s worth, you’re not a half bad crew member. Goodbye Talnya.”
Talnya looked out the view screen at the peaceful space, “Maybe it isn’t as peaceful as I thought.”
“It’s peaceful; you just have to be at peace with yourself.”
Talnya felt the pull and the stars growing closer. She stole one fleeting glance of the transport room; Eray floating next to the controls, and Dalyia smiling and saluting her. The stars made their path of light and Talnya could see Meena ahead of her.

In a moment she was back in her bed in the pastor’s house, her adventure over. Talnya didn’t know how Meena had fared on her visit but she knew it was nothing like her adventure on the D.R.E.C.C. Mythica.
Talnya crossed her arms on the windowsill and stared out at the starry night.
“I may never go back there, and people may never believe that I ever went. But I’ll always remember the crew, what they were willing to do for me, and most of all what they taught me. Dalyia may have been an assassin once, but I couldn’t ask for a better friend. Eray may have been a little scary, but I’m glad I can say I know her.”
Talnya looked at her hands, they had a bit of oil on them and they were bruised, but she put them together and prayed.
“God, I didn’t know if you were there before, but after you helped me when I was so far away from home, I can’t doubt it. You really are in control, and I’m happy to call you my Savior.”