"So Jenny can't bring the wires for the project."

"Haven't you heard about Maxwells vine?"

"So tired I can't even!"

"I'll show him up in the simulator tomorrow!"

Maltak sat on a bench outside the garrison. His hood pulled over his face, he sat in a strategic position to hear most of the gossip in the building. It should be midmorning break for the upperclassmen in a few minutes and those were the tidbits he'd been after for a while.

"Hey!"

Here comes a teacher. Not tangoed with one of these in a while.

She had on the normal garrison teachers uniform, but with heals because the shoes weren't that regulated. Her hair was bobbed and her make up tasteful.

"Yes?" Maltak asked not moving the hood.

"The public are not allowed on the grounds without permission-"

"Technically this bench is not on garrison property, or at least, this half of the bench. Now if I was sitting on the other side of this bench, then you might have an argument."

"Just leave, you're making the students uncomfortable."

"You're making them more uncomfortable than I am," he said nodding towards a group of students who had stopped to watch. When the teacher turned to look they booked it back to the building.

"I will call security if you do not leave."

"They can't do anything because I'm not on the property," Maltak shrugged and sipped his slushie. "Someone was not thinking when they put the bench here."

"Why are you here?"

"…I'm drinking my slushie…"

"Are you spying? Stalking?"

"Are you insane?"

She glared and Maltak continued to sip.

"Look," the boy said, "It's a beautiful day. I've not been able to relax like this for a long, long, long time. I've dreamt of this slushie for almost a year. I just want to sit here, watch those lizards over there and enjoy the day."

"Your hood is too far up to be enjoying it," she said folding her arms.

"I burn easily," he replied with a shrug, "Can you imagine the torment? I love the sunshine and I'm betrayed by my own skin!"

"Fine," she said convinced she couldn't do anything more, "But you scoot an inch to the left I'll know by those security cameras and you will not get off easy."

She stormed away and Maltak let out a low whistle.

"What a noob," he muttered shaking his head. Of course he knew where the cameras were, but for her to just point them out to some random guy was very stupid of her.

()

"Who are you?"

Maltak stopped and turned around. Behind him were three cadets, their arms folded and bossy looking. It was evening and he'd just been on his way back to the cave with a slushie for GG.

"Who's asking?"

"We've seen you sitting on that bench for days now," said the boy to the right. "what are you doing?"

"…I'm sitting on the bench," he said, "with a very dangerous and toxic slushie…extra sugar. And when I'm feeling extra suicidal I get extra sour."

"We won't be patronized."

"We know what you're up to."

"Oh?" Maltak grinned, "I highly doubt that, but you're welcome to give it your best shot."

"You can't stop us," said the one on the right with a narrow-eyed glare.

"And I'm going to have to stop you there," Maltak raised a hand. "I don't want to stop you, I don't even know what you're doing. I'm trying to figure out why I can't get in touch with Sam Holt."

No response.

"Hello?"

"This is fishy," said the boy on the left.

"How do you not know?"

"Its been world wide news for months!"

Maltak shrugged, "I've been busy. What happened to Sam?"

"Commander Holt has been institutionalized," the leader of the trio explained. She was a small girl but gave off a very forceful aura. "He came back from space talking about these bad aliens called…Jara?...oh well, and there was a huge uproar. The only way to get everyone to calm down was for them to put him in the nut house. Now we answered your question, you tell us how you know Commander Holt on a first name basis and why you need him."

But Maltak was covering his face with his gands and groaning. Was he too late?

"Umm," Maltak waved his hand while he tried to find the words. "Right, we don't have any time. I thought I'd have a least a few weeks, but I guess not."

"What are you talking about?"

"Look," he said, "I can't tell you everything, but I'm getting the feeling that we're on the same side. I need help getting Commander Holt out of that place along with anyone else that might have been caught."

"Caught?"

"We're gonna bust him out?"

"I don't get it."

"Just!" Maltak held his hands up for silence. Then he pulled out a small pad of paper and a pen. "I'll give you a list of names. I want you to look up these people. Are they safe? Are they in jail/institutionalized/missing? If missing, where were they last seen? I want checks on every authority figure in the garrison and a list of govt officials from every country that called Sam Holt crazy or didn't believe him; remember to follow paper trails because that's where you'll find all the two tongued ones."

"Why should we trust you?" the leader scowled and refused the paper. "You wont even show us your face."

"My name is Maltak," he said shoving the list in her hand, "I'm not showing my face because scary people don't like me and the Galra- the aliens Sam talked about- are working behind the scenes here and they REALLY don't like me. I'm here to get rid of them and every corrupt official making deals with the Galra."

"Galra?"

"Well, I can name a few countries that won't have leaders anymore."

"Don't you think you're putting yourself just a little too high?" The leader questioned. "who are you to dictate who rules or is in charge?"

"You misunderstand," Maltak said, "I couldn't care less who rules or is in charge. I'm getting rid of the scum that is a threat to the heros of the universe. Four of your own kind are out there right now fighting the evil Galra thinking that their families are safe. I came here to make sure that they were."

"Didn't five go missing?"

Oh yeah…forgot to count myself…

"Whatever," Maltak dismissed that error, "My point is that I'm here to remove the threat from this world. To do that I need you guys to help me out; sadly, even if I know what needs to be done, I do not have the talent or skills."

They stepped back to talk amongst themselves. Maltak waited and thought about what to do from there. He didn't have a lot of time. Though, to put the brakes on would mean to take risks he didn't feel he had the right to take.

"Fine," the leader held out her hand, "My name is Maryne. This is Otis, my engineer, and Greg, my communications officer."

"Pleased to meet you, now I really need that information so I can come up with a plan."

"How will we contact you?"

Craaaaap!

"…tomorrow you have the day off, right?"

"Yes?"

"Wonderful, then you can meet me here early tomorrow morning."

Maryne nodded, "Sounds good."