Sasha was already waiting for Naomi when she arrived at the transit pods. She was dressed unusually conservatively, and Naomi had to look twice to make sure that it was her. She would still stand out, especially in the stiff-collared security district, but in terms of staying inconspicuous, it was a vast improvement over her usual atire. At least it didn't look like her clothes were about to fall off.

Sasha held her arms out as she saw Naomi approaching and spun around on the spot.

'So, think I clean up well?'

It was hard to miss the sarcasm in her voice.

Naomi waved it off with a smile.

'Good thinking with the clothes, we don't need to draw more attention than necessary to ourselves. I didn't realise you had something like that in your wardrobe though.'

Naomi winked and nodded at the synth-leather jacket her friend was wearing. It was Artan's. He was rarely apart from it.

'Neither did I, I just happened to find it lying around. Thought it would be a good idea.'

Sasha returned the wink, a smile playing across her lips.

So there is something going on there.

Naomi rolled her eyes in response and called the lift that would take them up to the security deck.

That cleared up that little mystery at least. Even if she is still being coy about the whole matter.

They rode the lift in silence, both staring at the floor, avoiding the awkward conversation that neither of them wanted. After a few minutes of staring at a scuff mark on her boots, Naomi started to feel Sasha's eyes burning into the side of her face. She glanced over from the corner of her eye and saw her friend opening her mouth to say something, before closing it again.

Naomi turned to her, hoping that when she broke the silence something useful or insightful would come out. Instead, Sasha fell into her arms, and started to sob. Her chest heaving as she clutched at her friend.

'I tried, I tried to be angry Naomi. I tried to hate you for this, but...but...this was all his own choice. That stubborn, blood...fool.' Sasha's was clenching and unclenching her fists as she spoke. Her words barked out between sobs as she struggled keep herself together. Naomi could see the location tracker progressing slowly over her friend's shoulder and she mentally scolded herself for wanting to her friend to compose herself.

'Are you going to be alright to do this Sasha?'

She was concerned for her friend, but she was also worried about the job they had to do. Security had to know of her and Sasha's ties to Artan. If they drew too much attention to themselves, they would probably be detained on the spot. The way things were progressing, it was event he most likely outcome of their excursion. Right then, Naomi wouldn't have been surprised if there was a Security team waiting for them when the doors to the transit pod opened.

Sasha pushed herself back off Naomi's shoulder, nodding as she rubbed the tears from her eyes.

'It was important to him,' she said, a look of growing determination in her eyes. 'And it's important to you as well. What kind of friend would I be if I couldn't help you out now.'

Her eyes looked a bit red, but her voice had lost the desperate quiver. Naomi felt a burst of love for her friend, and smiled back at her. She gave her shoulder a quick squeeze of support as the lift decelerated and the doors started to slide back.

~

Naomi's old meeting place with Artan was only a short walk from the pod station. For all the pomp and ceremony of the security office, the headquarters was located at the end of a short avenue with parkland on either side. The shouts and cries of children could be heard off in the distance. And Naomi could see the tall facades of the security officer hab blocks rising over the treetops. The more senior officers and their families resided there, whereas the younger, more independent officers, like Artan, typically chose to reside further away from work. Civilian decks were a popular choice, particularly with the newer security recruits.

The tree they were looking for was just as she remembered it. It was old and gnarled, its roots breaking through the earth at its base and trailing over the surface. She wasn't the only one to have used the tree as a makeshift chair. The bark around the bottom of the tree had been worn smooth by people over the years. Fortunately for them, it was currently in between shift rotations and the area was mostly deserted. By Naomi's reckoning, they had about thirty minutes before people would start passing by again.

She sat under the tree, nestling her back into a familiar hollow and stared up along the line of the trunk. She had always found it strange that security had allowed the tree to grow where it did. The trunk was almost up against the wall of the building and towards the top, some of the outstretched branches touched the side of the building.

When she had questioned Artan about it, he had simply shrugged it off. All the secure rooms and data stores were located deep inside the building. The only access the windows granted were to a few minor personnel offices, a few stairways and the canteen. Access into secure areas was subject to a biometric scan, which took thousands of reference points into account. He had told her it was virtually impossible to cheat the system.

As she stared up into the branches of the tree, Sasha paced nervously around the tree, poking the toe of her boot into any place that looked like could hide a memory stick.

'Damnit Naomi, where the hell is this thing? Do you think he even had a chance to hide it here? Wouldn't they have been watching him too closely?' She was just dropping onto her knees to start searching through the grass when Naomi called out to her. Sasha turned to see Naomi staring up into the branches of the tree with a smile on her face.

'How are you at climbing trees,' she asked without looking away.

'You've got to be kidding me?'

Naomi shook her head in response and raised a finger to point at one of the branches about halfway up the tree.

Sasha followed the path indicated by her finger and saw a small bird's nest nestled against the trunk, right next to an open window.

'You can't see it from where you are, but there is something in the nest. I can see it glinting in the light from here. Give me a boost.'

Before Sasha could react, Naomi had jumped to her feet and had one foot wedged into a hard knot in the trunk.

Sasha came up behind her and cupped her hands together for her to step into. She grunted as Naomi settled her weight into her hands and pushed upwards, reaching for a handhold on one of the lower branches.

Naomi swung herself up deftly, straddling the branch before slowly getting to her feet and scrambling up the trunk to the next branch. A minute later she was sitting next to the nest, her legs dangling over the side of a branch, waving a small silver stick in Sasha]'s direction. She smiled before tucking it inside the interior pocket in her jacket and starting back down the tree. Pausing only briefly as she passed the window to make sure that no one was coming down the stairs inside.

When she reached the lowest branch, she hopped off and landed softly on the ground next to Sasha, her face flushed from the effort. She smiled at her friend, excitement glinting in her eyes and held up the memory stick.

'Got it,' she mouthed as she caught her breath and slipped the stick from her jacket and into Sasha's hand.

'Right, I'm starving. This morning was a bit too eventful to bother with breakfast. Coffee?'

Naomi had already started back towards the lift before Sasha had a chance to answer her. She hurried after her friend, catching up with her before they reached the main avenue again. As she matched her pace to Naomi, she plugged the small drive into her mDeck and started the file transfer. Once the data was on her own server she would feel much safer, especially with the level of encryption she was planning on using.

'How long will that take?' Naomi asked as Sasha removed the small drive.

'I had already plugged in all the variables you sent me; your father's baseline and the environmental stabilisation data. My LAN is already sifting through the data...' she glanced upwards for a few seconds, a smile playing across her lips.

'Another six hours, according to the estimate, and it should be able to start recovering the data. After that, who knows? It depends entirely on how much corruption was introduced and how long it takes before the rate of degradation becomes too high.'

Naomi was about to call the transit pod when she heard the lift locks engage behind the closed doors. The console on the wall next to the lift indicated that someone was on board. They glanced at each other and tried to look casual as the doors lid open.

Naomi cursed quietly when she saw who was walking out.

Sasha glanced at her sideways, unsure who the man exiting the lift was. She forced the concern from her face as she noticed the three uniformed officers standing directly behind him. And the distinctive insignia pinned to their chests. Division Nine officers. The section of security tasked with escorting high ranking members of the crew in public.

The man in front, smiled as stepped out of the lift, and focused his attention on Naomi. Sasha felt something uncomfortable settle in the pit of her stomach.

'Good afternoon, Naomi. I am surprised to see you up here? Is there anything I can do to help?'

Naomi snapped to attention instinctively, a few seconds too late for propriety, but given her shock at seeing the man, she didn't think she could have done better.

'No, sir. Just had plans to meet a friend for lunch.'

Naomi's eyes dropped towards her feet as she spoke, and she pursed her lips.

'Officer Shaw?' The question was slow and measured.

'Yes, sir.' Naomi's response was quiet and she nodded slowly, keeping her eyes on the ground.

'My officers have informed you then...?' He trailed off, letting the obvious question hanging in the air.

'Yes, sir. They did. I am still in a bit of shock.' Naomi had looked up again, fixing her eyes on some point over the man's shoulder.

'We all were Naomi. He was a good officer, we had high expectations of him. I'm hoping our investigation may shed some light on the matter. My condolences to you as well, for your father's death. He was a good man. I am sorry I could not make the cremation. His death has caused quite a stir and I had some rather urgent matters to attend to.'

'That is quite understandable, sir. Thank you for your kind regards.' She managed an awkward smile of thanks in his direction, and he nodded in acknowledgement.

'Take care of yourself Naomi. The death of a loved one is hard, and I can only imagine how difficult it would be to process the manner of your father's. It would be a shame to lose a promising officer like yourself.' His last words hung in the air between them.

From the corner of her eye, Naomi could see Sasha struggling to contain her surprise at the man's words. At least she wasn't alone in her interpretation of his words. She nodded in response and saluted him swiftly, hoping that Sasha would follow her lead.

She stifled a sigh of relief as Sasha followed her lead, even if the salute was a bit loose. Deep systems had a rather loose meritocracy as opposed to a formal hierarchies of the Bridge and Security. She was both unused to and uncomfortable with formal displays of rank.

Nodding at Naomi, the man and his entourage moved on swiftly, walking down the short avenue to the security offices.

Sasha watched them go. The three officers spread out across the street, heads in constant motion as they surveyed their surroundings.

They walked onto the lift and stood in silence until the locks disengaged and the lift started to move.

'Who the hell was that?' Sasha burst out, no longer able to contain her surprise, as soon as they were alone.

Naomi cringed, uneasiness crawling up her spine. She cast her gaze around the inside of the pod. There was video surveillance of course, but there weren't meant to be any audio pickups on the transit system. A small concession to the crew's privacy concerns. After all that she had been through in the past few days, she was beginning to find that hard to believe anymore.

'Sasha, that was Director Rashford, the Chief Investigations Officer.'

Naomi had to supress her laughter as Sasha's eyes bulged.

'What the fuck Naomi!'

'He never wears his rank insignia in public, not normally anyway. He likes to provoke...well your reaction, in people when they find out. You would never had any reason to deal with him in Deep Systems. You did well though.'

'I figured keeping my mouth shut was a good idea with three Division Nine's standing there looking at me like I was armed to the teeth.'

Naomi stifled a small laugh. 'Intimidating, aren't they?'

Sasha friend shifted back against the wall of the lift and sank to the floor with a deep sigh. 'I've only ever seen one Division Nine officer in my life Naomi, at least up close. And he was fucking surrounded by three!'

Naomi shifted awkwardly as she realised that her friend didn't know.

Fuck! If you get of of this Artan, I'm going to kill you myself.

Naomi sank to the floor beside Sasha.

'There's something you need to know...'

The rest of the sentence caught in her throat.

Sasha looked at her enquiringly, curiosity piqued.

'You've met at least one other Division Nine, although you didn't know it at the time.'

Sasha shuddered visibly at the thought, then stared at Naomi, an unblinking, questioning look in her eyes. The response was only one word

'Artan'

There was a brief pause as her words sank in, and then Sasha was jumping to her feet, anger flashing on her face.

'Naomi, what the fuck are you playing at?'

'He got his transfer notice last month. He was reassigned to Division Nine.'

Her response was quiet and measured, and she couldn't bring herself to look at her friend as she spoke.

'Why didn't he tell me? Why did he tell you?'

Naomi cursed him again. She didn't have a response to that.

'Why couldn't he just tell the fucking whole story for once?'

'Because, Sasha, Division Nine officers don't serve aboard their home ship. In fact, they don't serve aboard any ship within a five-year radius.'

Sasha choked back her response as Naomi finished talking, then opened her mouth to speak again, but instead of saying anything, she just sank back to the ground in silence. She looked as raw as she had earlier Naomi broke the news of his detainment. Worse even. Now she looked broken.

'He was going to tell you the afternoon I found my father.'

Naomi's eyes were locked on the corner of the pod. She just couldn't bring herself to look at her friend as she spoke.

'He had been trying to get out of it. He had even come to me to see if I could pull some strings with my father.'

She felt tears burning behind her eyes as she continued.

'Division Nine is an assignment. You don't apply. And you don't say no when they come knocking.'

Naomi finally summoned the courage to look at Sasha again.

'He tried everything to stay here, but this was bigger than him. Bigger than all of us. I didn't know why at the time. I just thought he was nervous or something.'

'But he had no choice. Same as me and this shit. This is no situation I ever wanted to be in. I'm only two years past reckoning. Still years away from completing my full training. This whole situation. This responsibility. This burden. It's too much for me.'

She was openly crying now. The first time since she had arrived back at her quarters after finding her father's body.]

'You've come so far with me Sasha. But you can still get out. You can still say no. You still have a choice.'

Sasha looked back at her, tears in her eyes as well, but they couldn't hide the determination she saw on her friend's face.

'No, Naomi. I never had a choice, nor did he.'