==/\== Star Fleet Academy - Dorm Room ==/\== SD240401.24 [10:01]
Khzarr walked into the dorm room, he had half expected it to be empty and there to be a note from Nate saying he was in jail, but instead he saw Nathanial sitting infront of a terminal rubbing the back of his head.
"Fall off your chair again Nate?" joked Khzarr.
"Its about time you got back"
Khzarr knew that arguing with Nathanial would be fruitless, even it had only been an hour. "So how did it go?"
"Good. We can cross off the inspector off our list, I doubt very much that he has anything to do with her disappearance."
"Ok so where to next?"
"I'd say there is a science class with our name on it" replied Nathanial, he wanted to see why so many hits came from Mr. Crax and Will...
==/\== Star Fleet Academy - Science Labs ==/\== SD240401.24 [10:27]
Nathanial and Khzarr approached the lab door, if the schedule was correct Mr. Crax should be by himself in a free period. Nathanial was about to open the door when he heard voices coming from the other side. It was hard to make out, he looked to Khzarr and shrugged before opening the door.
They entered the lab and were confronted with three faces staring their way, Nathanial recognized right away Mr. Crax standing infront of three students all sitting down on chairs in a circle. He then recognized one of the students as Will from the videos, he couldn't quite place the other two students at this time.
"Are you lost Nathanial?" Asked Mr. Crax.
"No sir, I was actually looking for you, I thought you had a free period?"
"Ahh well kind of, I also run a theory craft session for some of my more inquisitive students."
Nathanial had an idea, 'it would make sense' he thought to himself "Sir would Arianna have been part of the theory craft session?"
"Yes, yes she was, why, do you know why she has decided to stop coming?"
"No idea sir, I apologize for disturbing your meeting, I will catch up with you at a later time."
And without waiting for a reply Nathanial headed out the door. He turned to Khzarr and asked.
"So the commandant hasn't informed his staff about Arianna? Or has he asked them to keep it quiet?"
Khzarr knew that Nathanial wasn't looking for a response and as such didn't respond.
"Well I think Khzarr, that we can safely say that Crax and Will were popping up more than everyone else due to the extra circular activities of a theory craft session"
"Are you sure Nate?"
"Positive, unfortunately its leaving us with less and less plausible suspects, I think its time I paid Sara a visit..."
"I'll head back to the dorm room, see if Jahrib has finished collating those videos you asked for..
==/\== Star Fleet Academy - Dorm Room ==/\== SD240401.24 [11:13]
Khzarr entered the dorm room, and was confronted with a distraught Jahrib.
"Khzarr, it wasn't me, I don't know what happened, they were encrypted, I made sure that nothing would happen, I don't understand what happened"
Khzarr knew that Jahrib would continue rambling if he wasn't stopped, so he grabbed Jahrib by the shoulders "Snap out of it, or you'll get to see my Klingon side, now what the heck are you babbling about"
Jahrib went quiet and then looked up "The videos, all of them, they have been deleted"
"All the videos? The ones of Arianna?"
"Yes all of them"
"How can this be Jahrib, they were there a couple of hours ago, and didn't you say you had them encrypted?"
"I..I.. Don't know"
"Alright you need to really snap out of this your fault, and start thinking on how it happened and if we can get them back!" Ordered Khzarr.
That seemed to help calm down Jahrib, he knew that they were all friends and that there would be no negative repercussions even from Nathanial, but he felt responsible and hated letting people down.
Jahrib sat down infront of the terminal and started to hunt for any information.
Khzarr went and grabbed a few glasses of water and sat down next to Jahrib, he knew Nathanial would have lots of questions when he got back, and he aimed to have as many answers as possible
==/\== Sara's Place - San Francisco ==/\== SD240401.24 [11:59]
[Buzzzz] sounded the door bell to her place. Nathanial stood in the hallway infront of the door numbered 11. He figured she would be home as her shift didn't start for another six hours or so.
The door opened to Sara standing in the doorway in her nighty, and rubbing her eyes. Her hair was a mess and she had what seemed to be a pillow seam imprint running down her right cheek.
"Oh its only you Nate" she mumbled while stepping aside to let him in.
He stepped in and let her close the door behind him, he eyed the couch and dropped himself into it. "You look buggered Sara!" He paused for a moment glancing at the bedroom door quietly he added "You don't have someone in there do you?" while pointing towards the door.
"No silly" she said while lightly backhanding the back of his head.
"Awwww" he comically replied rubbing the spot where she had hit him.
Sara plopped herself down on the couch next to Nathanial, resting her head on his lap. He instinctively started to run his hands through her hair, it had become a ritual for the two of them and he thought nothing of it.
"I need to talk to you about Arianna..." he started.
She shifted to a more comfortable position, in the shift his eye caught the attention of some bright yellow, it was then he noticed just how high up her nighty was. He shook his head clearing any thought processes that were about to form.
"What about Arianna now? Do we need to make her more jealous? Are you done with her?" Arianna casually replied back.
"She has gone missing, and I need to know if you had anything to do with it." He layed out clear and simple. They had always been truthful with each other and now was not the time to start playing games.
Her eyes opened and she looked directly at Nathanial. "She is missing? You sure she is not just playing a game with you?".
"No game's, she's really missing, as in unknown. The reason I am here Sara is that I pulled up some surveillance of Arianna over the past few weeks on campus, and you appeared in the videos... So I have to ask, what were you doing at the campus, and how come you were around Arianna so much, before I even told you about her?"
Sara laughed "Oh Nate, you and your conspiracies, even though your so smart sometimes you try to attach too many dots. Do you know Michelle, one of Arianna's best friends?"
Nathanial nodded.
"You dag, she is one of my friends as well, I had never really met Arianna, but the times I have come to campus to meet up with Michelle, there were sometimes when Arianna would be saying goodbye to Michelle, or vice versa. So Nate, I'm sorry hun but I'm not the 'mastermind' behind Arianna's disappearance." Sara noticed Nathanial's face and body language change slightly when she mentioned Arianna's disappearance.
"You really like this girl don't you Nate?" She questioned.
Nathanial wasn't ready for the question, his mind was trying to sort out the new information and process it all, without thinking he blurted out "Yes I do".
Sara sat up and patted her lap for Nathanial to lie down, she knew that he would be here for a while and had alot on his mind, what he needed now was to relax, to help him process everything.
Like second nature he placed his head on her lap and closed his eyes. Her fingers ran through his hair, her fingernails lightly playing with the top of his scalp.
He started to talk, firstly recounting everything that has transpired since that night at The Harasher Lounge. Sara sat there letting him speak and playing with his hair, she knew that he would work through everything in his head, and the best thing she could do is keep him calm and listen.
Sara thought back to the first time she had actually talked with Nathanial, he was so arrogant back then, telling her everything like it was, she had slapped him in the face for being so forward, even if everything he had said was true. He had replied to the slap with a 'thank you' and she then started to cry. For some reason it had felt good to have everything layed out without any lies, or half-truths, thought the truth hurt it was cleansing. Her mind wandered back to the present.
"..And then the inspector, oh he troubles me, he just seems too involved, and useless, yes that's the word, I mean he's an inspector right, he wouldn't have gotten that title for just standing around right?..."
Sara smiled. she had never met anyone else like Nathanial, he really was her knight in blemished armour, he had been there for her through her hardest times and helped her through it, but at the same time he was not perfect either, and had opened up to her with his imperfections.
She noticed he had gone quiet, he was onto something.
He blurted out "No way!"…
