The dim light flickered overhead as Hayvna once again slammed a fist against the door of the cell, hoping to get someone's attention. An hour earlier, the female had finally managed to break out of her rope bonds and had since been attempting to escape. The throbbing pain in her metal prosthetic eventually made her stop banging her fist and she clutched her arm close to her chest, breathing out harshly through her nose. She closed her eyes as she listened to the now familiar hum of a starship, which became her only clue as to where she was. Just not about who had taken her.
Hayvna opened her eyes as she gritted her teeth against the pain, willing it to die down. 'They must have damaged it when I was taken. No wonder it hurts...Bellatrix is going to be pissed.' She thought silently as she pushed away from the door and stood up a bit straighter.
"Think, Hayvna!" She hissed aloud to herself as she began to pace the cell, clutching her arm close to her chest. "You've escaped so much worse. The crew is looking for you...just remain calm and think of an escape plan until they do. Easier said than done."
Hayvna approached the door once more as she inspected the reinforced lock on it as she had been for a while now. It was a rather complex-looking lock, one that required a code that she didn't have access to. The only good thing about the lock was that it was Starfleet technology. She pressed her right palm against the door, feeling the vibrations of the ship beneath her hand.
"There has to be another way." She whispered as desperation crept into her voice and she struggled to control the rapid breath that raced out of her. She thought of her crew-Commander S'Nira, her motherly and sharp-witted First Officer; Dr. T'lirri, her CMO and partner. Were they searching for her? Had they even noticed her absence?
That thought sent a ping of anxiety through her chest as she quickly shook her head to clear it. Knowing those two, they were probably tearing up half the galaxy to look for her. Now that thought made her smile.
"Focus. We need to focus." Hayvna told herself as she let go of her arm and clenched her fists. "You are Captain Hayvna Vevva of the USS Arsenal. I will not fall like this."
She took a deep breath to center herself and surveyed her surroundings once more. Now that she had a clearer head, Hayvna could tell the room wasn't as barren as she had originally thought. A small cot lay against one wall, the thin blanket crumpled and cold. She paced again, her mind racing with possibilities. If she could only find something—anything—that could aid in her escape.
Suddenly, her eyes caught a glint of metal beneath the cot, half hidden by the thin blanket on top. She knelt, her heart racing as she pulled it out and grinned a joyous grin. It was a small shard of metal, likely broken from the cell's structure over repeated use. It was crude, but it could be useful to stab at the lock with. As she held the shard in her hand, the pain in her arm flared again and she nearly dropped it, but she gritted her teeth and held onto the shard tightly in her other hand, feeling it bite a bit into her skin.
She went back to the door with a quick pace in her step and studied the lock more carefully. It remained unbreakable, which she had already figured out. She wouldn't be discouraged, though. Looking for a weakness, she knelt and stabbed the shard into the lock, twisting and poking as she tried to feel for any sort of give. In her hand, the metal seemed foreign, a constant reminder of her frailty.
The minutes stretched into a torturous eternity while she fumbled with the mechanism. Her vision became blurry as sweat beads formed on her forehead and the ache in her arm intensified. She gave a quiet groan as she tried to focus, but her energy was running low. "Don't give up...keep going."
Suddenly, there was a loud clang from the hallway that must have been outside the cell, the sound reverberating through the corridor and interrupting the near silence. Hayvna froze in her kneeling position, her heart racing in her chest. Footsteps approached rather quickly, heavy and deliberate in a way she knew meant someone wanted her to hear them.
"Shit!" She quickly scrambled to her feet and backed away from the door, hiding the shard in the back of the waistband of her uniform pants. The door opened with a creak and a hooded, burly figure clad in dark armor walked into the room, holding a Starfleet-issued phaser in their hand. This was a different man from the one she had seen before, and he appeared to be quite high in ranking.
"Captain, still trying to escape, I see. And here I thought I got everything in your little cell to your liking." The man spoke in a low tone, a sneer twisting his lips.
Hayvna straightened herself up, forcing herself to stand tall against the pain in her arm and the threat of the phaser in the man's hands. "I don't know who you are or what you are after, but you will not get away with this." Despite the fear in her heart, her voice remained steady.
The cloaked man chuckled darkly as he stepped further into the cell and took an advancing step toward Hayvna, forcing her to take a step back. "Oh, my dear Hayvna. Let's not be so hostile. Wouldn't want something bad to happen to your crew now, would you?"
"You wouldn't! They haven't done anything to you!" She shouted back as her heart plummeted at the thought of something happening to her crew. "What do you want from me?"
"I think you know, but then again, Laura wasn't quite sure either." The man replied as he stepped towards her again and lifted his hand slightly to grin at her. "Your mother was quite stubborn."
"I don't know who you are, but don't you dare mention my mother." Hayvna replied as her voice suddenly dropped and she gritted her teeth at the strange man, a wave of dread washing over her. How the hell did he know her birthmother?
"Oh, of course, my mistake. It's not like Laura didn't put up a fight too." He replied as he suddenly advanced on her and her body hit the wall as she backed up, his thick arm bracketing her neck, and the phaser shoved directly into her metal left shoulder.
Hayvna choked on a gasp as his grip tightened on her. "How do you know my mother?" She whispered through gritted her teeth.
The man let out a chilled laugh as he lifted the hood covering his head and replaced the phaser against her shoulder. The face she saw under that hood caused her movements to stop and her breath to choke in her throat. "You...you can't be."
"But I am." He replied as he released her and took several steps back, watching her stare at him in shock. "You know very damn well who I am, my little Hayvna. And we need to talk. Father to Daughter."
