“Dammit, are you sure?” Stan had just heard the news from Ethel. Cal had only been gone for a month, but the squirrel scouts who had been sent out to investigate the pools had already been returning, and they all shared similar, if not the exact same, news. None of it was good. The Gryalth were moving on the remaining pools. It was as though they knew their potential opposition had already fallen.
“I didn’t see it for myself, but I have no reason to doubt the scouts. I assume you know what this means, Stan?” Ethel responded as she set two squirrels down on the chair next to her. They had accompanied her into the room, riding on her shoulders.
“Yes, we don’t have time to wait for Cal to get back. We need to secure the pools now and figure out a way to hold them, too. You wouldn’t happen to have any ideas, would you? Because I don’t think the squirrels are ready to fight a war against an alien invasion yet, if ever,” Stan slumped down in his seat. This was nearly the worst news he could imagine. However, they had learned the pools were unguarded, which meant they likely knew about the rest of the squirrels and groves, and to make it even worse, they could know about their group. Inaction was no longer an option, but he had no idea what the proper action was either.
“Not really. We could probably hold one or maybe two if we’re lucky, but the twelve we have identified just don’t seem realistic, especially if we want to oppose them. Being stuck in an ever-expanding siege with no way of knowing the totality of enemies resources just seems suicidal,” Her answer to Stan’s question was about what he had expected, even if he had hoped she might have some other solution.
“I may have a potential solution,” Stan spun his head to the corner of the room where Excalibur was resting against a wall.
“I’m open to anything, so let’s hear it,” If his talking sword could help, he’d be glad to let him.
“So, as I understand it, the main issue is securing these pools for their potential use later, but we also don’t know if they have enough mana in them to produce a spiritual bond or not, so we can’t know which ones would be the greatest priority to hold until we are already holding it and have revealed our strength to the enemy. Does that sound about right,” The sword had vocalized Stan’s chaotic thoughts much better than he had himself? He was impressed with his new partner.
“It does,” Stan said, waiting to hear the solution that went with this.
“We disregard the idea of holding anything. We assemble a small strike force as quickly as we can and head out to drain the pools. I should be able to absorb all of their power, which should also give me enough energy to duplicate your loop awareness in myself by strengthening our bond. This won’t be without its own problems, though, if I’m wrong on how much mana is available in the ponds, we won’t have enough, and this will leave me in a state building towards an overload,” Stan thought it wasn’t a bad idea. He wasn’t big on the risk to Excalibur, but making the sword loop-aware would be amazing for future loops.
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“Okay, let’s say we are short on energy after this. How do we fix that?” Stan asked.
“Well, that’s easy, we take the Gryalth pools,” Stan had expected the answer to come from Excalibur. Instead, Ethel had spoken, and she was right. It was a very simple solution.
“Yes, we could do that. I can’t imagine they’ve corrupted the pools beyond my ability to make use of them,” Excalibur backed up Ethel’s idea.
“We’re going to have to do this quick and with as much force as we can as we need to. Ethel, you and Frank are both with me and Excalibur. Since Jen is already out scouting the Gryalth lines the best she can, we can’t really pull her back. We can use Albert and Onelder as go-betweens and relay of news. I think we need to talk to Second Smasher. We are past the time for niceness is trying to snap him out of his delusions,” Stan needed that squirrel ready to defend the grove in case of an attack.
“Okay, we should also leave Tiffany here. Albert and Onelder will likely need him in case of any further translation issues,” Stan realized he had entirely forgotten about the crab when she brought him up.
“Yeah, that's a good idea. Is there anything else I’m missing?” he asked. He was starting to understand why Cal hated taking charge and preferred leaving the real planning to Andy.
“Well, now that you mention it. I’m not sure leaving Second Smasher here is the best idea. He was devoted to their now fallen empire, and Cal and I did not have an easy fight to bring him down,” Stan had asked, so he pushed down any annoyance he may have briefly had with her questioning his decisions. Whether either of them liked it or not, there was a very good chance they’d need the squirrel's help before this planetary excursion was all over.
“Neither am I, but we need his help, and maybe he will understand that through his help, a new, stronger, and less awful squirrel nation can be forged, or at the very least, he cares enough about his brethren that he doesn’t want them all dead. Cal would give him a chance, and I’m pretty sure you would too if you were in my position,” The more he considered it, the more he was sure that Ethel would give Second the same opportunities to find a new purpose in life.
“You’re right. I would, and so would Cal, but just because you aren’t Cal doesn’t mean I’m going to stop pushing. I’m old. I’ve earned the right to be cranky and cantankerous,” She laughed as she said this.
“I don’t think that line is going to work much longer, and honestly, I don’t even know how old I am anymore,” He joined in on her laughter as he briefly tried to figure out his age before giving up.