The next morning, the Alpha group was summoned to the bridge for a briefing on a one day mission necessary to be completed by sundown. When they arrived, Headmaster Cid was waiting for them with a frown on his face and wrinkle in his brow. Since he had left Garden in the hands of Squall, he hadn't quite grown accustomed to the idea that Garden would be answering its own calls.
"Alright," Headmaster Cid began. "You're probably all wondering why I got you out here in such a hurry. Well, here's the deal--it's another mission I need you to completely." The lot of them exchanged nervous glances--something given with such short notice had to be of great importance. He cleared his throat and began the briefing of the mission. "It's like this... you see, Martine of Galbadia Garden has some very important papers. We need them. We can't let him sign it or else he's putting his name down in agreement to dictatorship in Galbadia. We all know what happened with 'President' Deling now don't we?
"If dictatorship is allowed then Galbadia might attempt the whole world domination thing again. We don't want another war--especially not with Galbadia again, not that I'm doubting you guys wouldn't be able to finish their armies off quickly...I just don't want to cause anymore trouble. Get it?" Cid finished.
"Question, Headmaster Cid," Squall called out. Cid nodded towards him, thus acknowledging both his presence and his question at the same time--Cid seemed rather absorbed in the overall issue and so, he'd missed a very main factor to the entire situation. Luckily, Squall was bold enough to speak out and ask away. "Where exactly do we come in during this thing?" A few murmurs circled around the group.
"Oh yes... thank you, Squall...not letting this senile old man forget his job!" Cid chuckled nervously--more so to himself than anyone else. It was quite obvious he was nervous about the entire mission; the shaky quality in his tone suggested that perhaps under this stress, he might just be cracking. That was something that Squall would never admit for fear of defacing himself in the process. "You guys... you seven...well six SeeDs and Miss Rinoa will have to infiltrate the Galbadia Garden where the papers are being kept. You will search through without blowing your cover until you've found the documents. I've obtained information from our database that they're hidden, so the task won't be as easy."
"That's it?" Quistis asked, a little incredulous. "That's really all we have to do? Go into Galbadia Garden and take some papers from them... that simple? You've got to be kidding me--why is this so urgent then?"
"It'll take longer than 'just a few minutes'. Martine has word that you're all coming but he won't be able to tell who is who so we need to move quickly. He's got the papers already locked up into some special place only he'd know about," Cid explained, then aside to himself, "Damn that Martine... We should have thrown him out for good when we had the chance to..." He looked up and realized that all the others were staring at him as if interpreting by eye contact what kind of curse words were flying through his head. "Yes... well." He cleared his throat. "Why don't you guys just go on and um... get started with your mission as soon as possible."
They nodded and walked away from him a little bit wary. "Alright listen up! I want you guys to get back here in five minutes. Then we'll ride over to Galbadia! Go change into something comfortable--don't make it obvious you're from Garden and move as quickly as you can," Squall directed, taking control of the Alpha team situation. They departed while Squall headed out for the Ragnarok to get the engine warmed up.