Chores, practice, classes - all in all the day had managed to progress rather quickly even if most of it was a blur in her memory. In the long run Keir supposed that it didn't really matter, she had gotten through the day without alerting anyone that something was up and that was the most important thing.
     Now she had to deal with Blake. She had managed to avoid him so far but she couldn't put it off any longer, not if she didn't want to delay her departure. Pulling off her boot she sighed, tossing it towards the door where it landed with a satisfying thump before starting to pry off the second as she spoke. "System Log in : Keir Lurline, Cadet number 15643." A faint ding told her that the system had heard her command but it took a few seconds more before it finished processing. Keir had never understood why the Peace corps had never updated their systems now that faster ones were widely available but she wasn't going to complain about it now - not when the lag in the slower system  might very well give her a bit of a chance when she made her escape.
     "Acknowledged. Good Afternoon Cadet." The rooms interface responded at long last, it's voice patterned long ago after some pleasant sounding middle aged women.
     "I would like to send a message to Cadet Blake Katte."
     "Understood, Cadet Lurline. Would you like the message to be received on Cadet Kattes personal transponder or go directly to his room?"
     "Room."
         "Understood, Please begin Message."
 "Meet me at our spot in one hour." Keir replied knowing that Blake would understand, she was probably being overly cautious, the instructors had always insisted that private messages were kept private but Keir didn't want to take the chance, she wouldn't put it past them to check the systems if and when something happened and although they would probably question Blake about the message after she was gone there was nothing incriminating in it, it was the best she could do.
    "Message delivered." The systems recorded voice reported breaking the silence of Keir's inner thoughts.
     " System log out."
     "Acknowledged, Good bye Cadet Lurline."
     Once a faint chime signaled the completion of the log out process Keir felt a slight weight lift from her shoulders, in sending the message she had taken the first true step towards her eventual departure, now she had one hour to think up a convincing argument for Blakes help. Judging by the tone in his voice this morning that might be easier said then done.
     Keir had avoided him the entire day, several times he had attempted to corner her but ever observant she had managed to slip away before his advances proved fruitful and Blake finally had to accept that short of causing a scene he would just have to wait for Keir to approach him - despite the gnawing fear in his gut that she would simply leave without doing so. Surely she wouldn't, surely it was his own insecurities coming to light, Keir was not a cruel person at heart and although she could be aloof at times he knew she cared for him. People didn't just walk away from those they cared about without so much as a by your leave...did they?
     Shaking his head slightly to clear such despondent thoughts from his mind Blake swiped his ID card over the panel by his door, tossing the materials from his last closs carelessly on the bed to sort through later.
     "Good Afternoon Cadet Katte, you have one incoming message." The system informed him as he entered. "Please log in and provide Identification to receive."
     "System Log in : Blake Katte, Cadet number 87965"
     "Acknowledged. Message received from Keir Lurline at 4:53 PM this afternoon. Please standby."
     Well it seemed like Keir was wanting to talk after all, although it was somewhat strange for her to have sent the message directly to his room rather then alerting him personally through his transponder, unless of course she hadn't wanted to draw attention. This sudden thought made him instantly suspicious and when the warning chime from the system alerted him to imminent playback a few moments later Blake found himself unsurprised by the message he received.  Glancing at the time Blake frowned slightly, a little more then a half hour had passed since the message had been sent - giving him just enough time to make it to the hanger. Of course Keir would know that... she knew his schedule inside and out, if they thought this meant he wouldn't have time to come up with a decent argument against her actions then she was woefully misinformed, he'd had all day to stew it over. "System log out." He stated before heading for the door and leaving for the hanger, the systems recorded good-bye not even registering in his mind.
     The hanger was an odd place to consider 'our spot', at least in terms of romance. Generally it was the gardens or the observatory or any number of other less noisy and prettier places which got that distinction but Keir had always found the hanger more soothing, it could be noisy if shuttles or personal ships were arriving or if the mechanics and engineers had repairs to see too but Keir liked it none the less, she liked the noises, the smells and even the ships themselves with their sleek metallic lines. It was the place she went to when she wanted to think or be left alone, everyone in the hanger was far to busy to be nosy about anyone else's business and while she doubted that Blake felt the same way he had come to enjoy the time alone. The hanger had evolved into 'their spot' over time and Keir couldn't think of anywhere else she would want to have this particular discussion with him.
     Waiting impatiently she ran her hand along the rounded side of one of the training vessels. It wasn't as impressive as some of the shuttles and nothing in this hanger could touch the larger vessels in orbit for sheer impressiveness... but it was the little vessel she flew most often and she had come to know it well even if it lacked the more advanced AI systems of the larger ships and was wiped frequently to avoid the quirky accumulation of personality that some of the older ships had. Someday...maybe, she would have one of those larger more advanced vessels. It was an unlikely dream, but a dream none the less.
     "Keir?" Blake's voice called out from somewhere down the line of ships and Keir stepped out to wave at him.
     "Over here." She called.
     "Ah, I should have known." He replied, his eyes roving over the vessel she stood beside as he walked over.
     "I'm glad you came." Keir offered.
     "You might not be afterwards." He replied truthfully.
     "Blake...please, can't you just understand? How can I continue to devote myself to this place if they won't devote themselves to one of their own members?, if something happens to me will they just brush it under the door and forget about it in favor of keeping an unblemished front to the public? She was my mentor, the one responsible for training me, the one I owe everything to... How can I not try and find out what happened?" She asked, a plea for him to understand in her voice.
     "How do you know she's not just undercover? How do you know they aren't looking for her already?"
     "They aren't."
     "How do you know?" He pressured her a challenge in his voice.
     "I just do okay, I just know and if your not willing to help me then I'll find a way to do it myself." She stated firmly, crossing her arms in defiance.
     "Keir..." Blake said, letting his voice trail off as he took in her pose, her crossed arms and furrowed angry brow. "Keir, I understand that you want to help her, that your having trouble sitting here and doing nothing - but I don't think your thinking about this rationally, if you leave without authorization you know what they will do to you, you are risking everything on the vague hope that they'll forgive you if you prove that you were right. But they won't Keir, they won't. I don't even think Sherra would want you to take that risk, do you?"
     "Does it matter if doing nothing will ruin me anyways?" Keir challenged "I tried waiting for them to do something, they haven't and I can't stay if they don't."

    "And what about us?" Blake asked, his eyes sad as he regarded her.
     "We'll be fine, I'll find Sherra and come back with her, sure I'll probably face some sort of punishment but I don't think it will be anything too bad, Sherra will speak for me and if loosing an agent is bad publicity then I can't imagine a student revolt would be any better. I'll do my time and then we'll be fine." She said, attempting to sound convincing but knowing somewhere inside that she didn't completely believe it herself.
     "I just wish you would rethink this."
     "I have thought about it, it's all I've thought about for weeks now and I'm going to do it with or without your help - but without it things will be a lot harder." She admit letting a small silence fall between them, she didn't like making him feel guilty, making it seem like she was trying to strong arm him into helping her - but it was the truth, she really did need him.
     Taking a deep breath Blake refused to meet her eyes, turning away slightly and letting his eyes roam the hanger deck with its rows of silent ships, composing himself before answering her. "Okay." He said slowly, turning his gaze back towards her. "what do you need?"
     Keir couldn't help but smile as he finally agreed, she had known he would in the end, even if he didn't agree with her he was too loyal, to devoted to leave her hanging when she truly needed him and someday, somehow, she would make this up to him. "Thank you!" She exclaimed wrapping her arms tightly around him and pressing her cheek into his wide and supportive chest.
      Blake couldn't help but wrap his arm's around her just as tightly, although he had promised to help her a large part of him was afraid that helping her would doom them in some fashion, they had always been somewhat of a weird mix but they had made it work. Would they continue to make it work or would this difference of opinion about the Peace Corp eventually do them in? Blake didn't want to think about it and lowering his head he kissed the top of her head, taking a deep breath and reveling in the familiar scent of her hair products. "Don't thank me yet." He whispered. "I don't even know what you want."
     "It's not too bad." She assured him "well it's against the rules obviously but it shouldn't be to hard for you to pull off without getting caught." she stated, her voice slightly muffled against his chest.
     "Obviously." He told her with a slightly sarcastic tone of voice, though he wasn't entirely surprised that she needed him to break the rules, that was pretty much a given when it came to Keir. It was just another example of how different they truly were and perhaps he was a fool for letting her lead him astray but when it came to her, he just couldn't help it. "Now out with it, what terrible thing do you need me to do for you?"
     "It's not that terrible, I just need some information but since I'm not assigned to the upper offices then I don't really have an excuse to be in there poking around."
 Blake was speechless for a few moments before he responded. "And you don't think copying information from the office of a Peace Corp Agent isn't 'that terrible'? I'm pretty sure that's grounds for instant dismissal at the very least." Blake objected.
     "Only if you get caught - and I know you won't, all you have to do is copy one small file, they won't even notice." Keir assured him "If I could do it myself you know I would." She stated "But it I went poking around in the offices they would know for sure that something was up."

    Another day was dawning on Nacrite and already Keir could feel the humidly that would come with it. The rays of light creeping endlessly up her walls radiated a warmth that would quickly turn into a blistering and unescapable heat, but it could be worse the red head reminded herself as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, there could have been a sandstorm. A sandstorm would have drastically altered her plans and with so much time already wasted she couldn't afford a weather delay.
     Today marked three weeks since the disappearance, three weeks with no word, no signs and most infuriating of all no sense of urgency from the Organization. Everything was fine they kept telling her - it wasn't unheard of for an agent to return late and even Keir had to admit that it was a frequent occurrence but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, an inner prickling that refused to go away. Instincts Sherra had called them and Keir had learned not to ignore them during her training with the Peace Corps. Of course that didn't mean that anyone else had to listen to them and the Higher ups in the Peace Corps seemed more then determined to ignore everything she said.
     At first they had tried to sooth her worries but as the days wore on and their placating comments lost any effect they had resorted to stronger methods, outright ordering her to leave it alone and let them deal with it - which she would have been more then happy to do if they had been doing something, anything, about it - but they weren't and the sense of urgency within her had continued to grow until she couldn't stand it anymore. Something had to be done and if the Peace Corps weren't willing to do it... then she would just have to do it herself.
     This resolution was easier said then done however and half a week had passed before she had been able to steal, gather and borrow everything that she would need, days that had seemed to go on forever as she nervously kept up the façade of a cadet toeing the line while she stole and plotted escape behind the scenes. It had not been easy and it went against everything she had sworn against upon joining the Corps but what choice did she have? None. She would deal with the consequences of her actions after she returned with Sherra.
     A glance out the window showed the sun quickly gaining altitude, if she didn't hurry she would be late for inspection. Hastening her actions she buttoned the shirt of her uniform, trying to ignore the rising sun emblem and the guilt it caused her in light of her recent actions. A ray of light in the darkness, a savior for all those who couldn't help themselves, that's what the Peace Corp was supposed to be, that was the heart of the organization - but what good was all of that if they couldn't even save one of their own?
     Strapping on her gear she fumbled with the buckle even as she flashed her ID at the door, ducking under before it's rising surface to join the throng of white clad cadets hurrying towards the parade grounds.    

     Blakes eyes roamed the crowd ahead of him, with everyone dressed the same way it was sometimes hard to pick out one particular cadet - but that was the point of uniforms wasn't it? To create a sense of unity, a sense that each and every one of them belonged to something bigger then themselves? He had believed it once and he supposed that deep down he still did, or at the very least he still believed in the Corp's mission, in the base tenants of what it stood for, sure there were some questionable decisions and once in a while the rules were chaffing and hard to live with but in an organization this large such things had to be expected. It was all for the greater good - he just wished he could convince Keir of that.
     She was his best friend, and even a little bit more although neither of them had officially talked about it, it was something that had evolved organically, a logical next step that hadn't needed to be discussed or talked about - it just was and the thought of loosing that, of loosing her, was enough to make his chest tighten.  Her actions lately had been questionable at best, and while she had been trying hard to hide it Blake was sure that the instructors saw her flagging devotion, her skeptical acceptance of orders and he was positive that, if she went through with her plans, she wouldn't get away with it.
    A flash of red hair bobbed in the crowd ahead of him and Blake picked up his pace, pressing through the crush of fellow students to catch up to his quarry. "Keir!" He hissed quietly from behind her in an attempt to get her attention, reaching out to grab her shoulder when his quiet attempt failed to elicit a response. "Wait up." He asked as she glanced over her shoulder, a guilty expression flitting across her features at the sight of him. It was all the confirmation that he needed and although he struggled to hide it Blake knew that his own disappointment shone through. He had been foolishly hoping that she would come to her senses, but that didn't seem to be the case.
     "Really?" He asked in disbelief. "Are you still thinking about doing this?"
     "I have too." She answered
     "No, no you don't you can leave it alone like you were ordered and let them deal with it." He replied, a trace of heat rising in his voice, couldn't she see how insane this idea was? Couldn't she fathom what she was risking?
     "Be quiet!" She hissed, her eyes flickering over the students walking nearby. "We'll talk about this later."
        "Will we?" He asked "Were you even planning on saying good-bye? Or was I going to wake up one day and you'd just be gone?" He asked, his voice lowered slightly to keep from drawing any more attention.
     "Of course not." She replied, shaking his hand off her shoulder and quickening her pace to put a couple of students between them before calling back over her shoulder "We'll talk later, I promise."
 Knowing that catching up to her again would be pointless Blake ran a hand through his hair in frustration.
     "Girl trouble?" Came the snickering voice of someone near by.
     "Shut it." Blake replied, irritation in his voice as he stalked forward eyes following Keir as she disappeared into the crowd ahead of him, not even bothering to look back and see who the speaker had been.
    What in the world had Blake been thinking? Trying to talk to her about things in front of everyone like that? Oh she knew he was mad at her and that he didn't understand why she was going to leave, to him, being a member of the Peace Corp was the culmination of his life's goal, it was all that he had ever wanted to be and she understood that... once upon a time, a very short time ago, she would have said much the same thing about herself but things change and Keir knew without a doubt that she couldn't continue her studies and graduate without seeing this through, she'd never be able to forgive herself if Sherra was never found. Keir had already accepted the possible consequences of her actions - there was a pretty good chance that she would be expelled when this was over... maybe even arrested and charged and while the thought of giving up all of her hard work, her years of study had been painful, the thought of loosing Blake was worse, that was a wound which continued to fester deep within her soul and all she could do was cling to the hope that someday both Blake and the Organization would understand and forgive her.  Frowning slightly Keir was shaken from her inner thoughts by the blinding daylight which assaulted her as she stepped onto the parade ground. Later, later she would speak with Blake as promised. She had too...she still needed his help.
     Lining up with her  fellow cadets Keir tried to focus on the present, it wouldn't do to get reprimanded and assigned punishment duties today but concentrating was hard given the way her mind was whirling about in anticipation because as guilty as she felt about what she was going to do and as horrible as it was to think about loosing Blake...Keir couldn't help but admit that she was also excited about it all, finally, at long last, something would be done.