The video feed was dark when it opened. Artan's face was illuminated by the soft blue-green glow of a console. He was hunched over. His eyes were wide and nervous and he kept glancing back over his shoulder. It was a one-way feed, she was receiving video and audio from his side, but her camera and mic were both inactive.

'Naomi, I need you to listen. I'm in trouble, big trouble. I got in, I got the data, all of it. It's in here.'

Artan waved a small memory stick in front of the screen. 'I've been caught. Someone was waiting for me. Expecting me. I don't know how long I have. Security will be here soon.' He glanced over his shoulder again. Naomi could hear the heavy tread of boots in the background.

Artan looked back at the console, panic and fear beginning to rise in his eyes. He swallowed once, almost audibly, and his face calmed.

'I don't have much time. I'm not going to be able to get this data to you.'

He looked to the left of the console and she could hear his fingers tapping on the keyboard. A string of numbers flashed up on her console and she waved a copy command at the screen.

'That will get you in Naomi.' He bent over again as he spoke. 'You know that place where we used to meet up.' He paused again, swallowing once more to compose himself, but was unable to completely control the shaking in his voice.

'I've left something there for you. Something special. Sasha is going to hate me for it, but it's for you.'

He paused again, his cryptic message both delivered and received. 'Naomi,' he looked back at the screen, tears visible in his eyes. 'My sister died when I was seven'.

Artan never talked about his family. His parents and his older sister had all died in an accident years before they had met. A rare catastrophic failure on an intership shuttle.

'You never met her, but she would have loved you. Tell Sasha...' he cut off as the door to the security station slid open and the security team entered.

She couldn't see them from her angle, but she could tell from the rattle of gear that they were armed. Artan kept his eyes on the screen as they entered the room, slowly raising his hands in the air and standing. He was turned sharply around as one of the security team grabbed his arms and forced them into restraints. One of the team moved past the screen, their shadow turning it dark and a few seconds later the connection was cut.

Naomi fell back into the chair, cursing softly to herself in disbelief. Artan had been detained. Yes, he had breached protocol. But this wasn't about that. Nor was it a reprisal for her snooping. This was a demonstration of their reach, an example to make sure she stayed away from her nascent investigation.

Whatever happened to him would be on her. She had drawn him into her web of intrigue. Now he was in trouble, and still doing his best to help her out.

She sent a comm request to Sasha] and opened her access to the Bridge Almanac as she awaited for her friend to answer. Nothing was showing up about the detainment yet. It wasn't long after the incident, but situations like this generated an automatic report that would show up very fast. She gestured for the console to refresh the feed and got up to pace the room. Fear and anger tangled in her chest as she looked at the screen again.

Still nothing.

Security was keeping it quiet, They likely mobilised fast when the tip came through. Whoever had ordered the detainment, might not even have sent an official request. Highly irregular, but Naomi would probably never know if it was just an oversight, or a purposeful act. Most likely, by the time the report was generated and distributed, it would be sanitised and Artan's involvement would be publicly known.

Naomi wrung her hands in frustration as she continued to pace back and forth across her quarters.

Artan had been wrapped up nice and neatly as a warning. Whatever leverage he had used to get into the security room had likely been a setup. After all the lives the Burner's has sacrificed to further their political agenda, they wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice a lone trainee security officer.

Whatever trouble Artan was in, it was completely out of her hands. With her father gone, she didn't have a friendly ear in command to whisper to. Both the First Mate and Chief were high ranking officers, but after the death of the captain, and up until his replacement was appointed, no one officer was given the powers or responsibility of the position beyond was was required by the normal running of the ship.

Sasha finally responded to the call and her image appeared on the screen. She was yawning, her eyes still blurry from sleep.

'Naomi, what is it?' Concern rode the edge of her voice as the look on Naomi's face shattered her drowsiness.

She almost hesitated, but she owed her friend the truth.

'It's Artan. He's been detained. Security aught him accessing the security feeds and took him away.'

Sasha stared blankly at her through the feed, still shaking the cobwebs from her eyes as the information sank in.

'Damnit, damnit, damnit, DAMNIT!'

Sasha's voice grew progressively louder as she processed the information. She flung something off screen across her room. Naomi heard it smash against the wall. When Sasha's head turned back into view, Naomi could see tears streaming down her face, the muscles in her jaw straining against her anger.

'Sasha. I'm sorry.'

There wasn't much more that she could say. It was her fault in the end wasn't it. Even if there was very little that she could have done to prevent the situation. If this was meant as a warning, then something like this was certain to have happened sooner or later.

Sasha looked away from her, briefly unable to meet her eyes. Her jaw working as she choked on her words.

Naomi waited for her to speak, her own eyes downcast.

'Did he...? Did he at least get the data?'

Naomi could see the struggle that it was for her to get the words out. She looked away again, glancing down at her hands.

'I think he got it out. He managed to transfer it to a data stick. He got caught before he could leave the building, but I think he managed to hide it while they were taking him away. I'm going over there now to see if I can find it.'

'I'm coming with you then.' Sasha disappeared off screen for a few seconds and returned with a jacket and an mDeck. 'I can start the analysis right away. Once the data is on my system it will be almost impossible for them to gain access. They picked the wrong Deep Systems Analyst to piss off. Where do you think he made the drop anyway?'

Naomi looked down at her hands again.

'Before...when we first met...'

When Naomi had first met Artan, she had turned down his initial advances. But after training in BASIC together, they had been close, and eventually they had spent a few months together. Before eventually realising that their lives were taking them in different directions. The split had been mutual, but they had remained close friends, with only a minor period of awkwardness in between. A period that Artan had quickly put an end to.

'When Artan and I were together, I used to get off my shift a few hours before he did. I would head up to the security deck from the bridge and wait outside his building while I went over my training material. We used to go for dinner in one of those pan-European cafes on Deck Two when he finished up his shift. There's an old, ancient really, oak tree planted just outside the main entrance to the security block, it was as good a place as any to wait...I think he managed to hide the data stick there on his way out with the security team.'

Sasha obviously knew about Naomi's relationship with Artan. Of course her friend knew they had been together, but they had never talked about it in conversation. Naomi had never really talked to anyone about it. It had never seemed important. After they ended things, they had gone straight back to being friends, like nothing had ever happened.

'You sure?' Sasha asked quietly. Naomi noticed a subtle change in her tone, was she jealous that Artan had called her?

'I'm sure.'

There was a pause, then whatever was bothering Sasha seemed to lift. She even managed a watery smile as she looked up and caught Naomi's eye for the first time since the start of the conversation.

''I suppose it makes sense. I don't think I've ever even been up to the security level, never mind knowing about a dead drop. Or potential one at least. I just wish...' She trailed off briefly for a minute and they both sat in the silence. Although it was more comforting now than awkwardness of before.

'I'll see you by the lift on Deck Three, we'll go up together. I don't know my way around the area anyway.'

Sasha cut off the call before Naomi could say anything else.

'Damn!'

Naomi slammed her fist on the desk before reaching for her off-duty uniform.

So there was something between her friends. She was happy for them of course. There was nothing more than friendship between her and Artan now. He was like family.

Naomi just didn't know how she was going to tell Sasha about the second message Artan had given her. The one about his sister and whatever it was that he had hidden in the only picture he kept of his family.