“Dammit, I need everyone to stop panicking and listen to me!” Stan yelled at the gathered crowd. They had just returned from their mission, and the grove was already buzzing with news of the Gryalth flooding into the tunnels. The smaller squirrels were terrified. The larger ones were preparing for war. Apparently, Albert had done his best to take charge while Second scouted just how bad things had gotten, but this also meant contact with Jen had dramatically slowed down. Stan wasn’t happy about that at all, and to make matters worse, no one was listening to him in order to start organizing this mess.
“THE MAN SAID STAND DOWN AND LISTEN!” Screamed a voice of authority Stan recognized. Second Smasher had apparently returned while Stan was trying to calm the crowd. To Stan’s astonishment, the crowds listened to this time. The larger squirrels immediately froze and turned towards them, while the smaller ones noticeably calmed down. “I understand that this man is not of our world. I also understand that his son killed someone we believed to respect, but I no longer believe that. This man wields a weapon of our world, and I have sworn to aid it in defense of our homes. So, enough petty squabbling. We have far more pressing things to focus on.”
Stan was impressed and made sure to take note of how well Second Smasher could give a speech. “Thank you, Second Smasher. We all together share a common problem. The Gryalth are here, and before they are done, they want us all dead. My companions and I have fought them before, and luckily we seem to have the benefit of there being fewer of them stationed here, so I believe we can defend your home. We will need to work fast to do so. Messages need to go out to every grove. We are going to have to make our stand united here. We’ve already started the process of fortifying this grove, well, now we need to work on it with haste. Former soldiers of the empire, welcome back to the military. Second Smasher will handle ranks and commands. I want to see the chief architects, Second Smasher, the elders, plus all of my group that is currently here in the meeting hall in one hour. We have work to do.” Stan called to the crowd watching him in rapt attention.
“Thank you for trusting me with this. I will not fail the squirrels. I will see you in one hour,” Second said before disappearing into the crowd.
“I wonder how many knights we will have before everything is through. This new world is quite interesting, Stan. I’m glad you found me,” Excalibur’s voice interrupted Stan’s train of thought.
“Glad to have you too, buddy. Now let’s go plan surviving a siege,” Stan thought back at the sword.
***
One hour later, Stan found himself sitting in the meeting room, waiting on everyone else. While he hadn’t cared about punctuality exactly, he still hadn’t expected to be the first one here. His solitude didn’t last long as the elders, followed by Second Smasher and Albert, quickly filed into the room. Shortly after, the chief architects and with them several other squirrels that Stan wasn’t familiar with. Finally, Ethel and Frank came in last, with even more squirrels that he hadn’t yet met.
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“I’m not complaining exactly, but who are the extras? I don’t believe I know you,” Stan said to the assembled group.
“I took the liberty of inviting a few extra people. We are going to need more than the architects to plan out a defense during a siege, especially if you want to take in all the other groves. These squirrels are all involved in different aspects of city planning. I also sent Tiffany out in search of Cal. He needs to be informed before blundering into a Gryalth patrol, well assuming it’s a blunder, he might just do it because he’s bored,” Ethel explained. Stan was hard-pressed to argue with her. Everything she was saying made sense.
“Alright, well looks like Ethel has just nominated herself as in charge of city preparation. So we will keep Second running the military effort, and I will work to coordinate all sides as best I can. Albert, any idea how long Onelder and my wife will be gone for?” Stan moved on to his next question. He was doing his best not to worry about her, but deep down, he knew that was a lost cause.
“Assuming he does what I told him and doesn’t just decide to abandon us. I would expect them back within a week or two, but this assumes they don’t end cut off and having to try to find other paths,” Albert explained.
“Second Smasher, what’s the state of the military? I assume you’re the only one with any powers besides my group?” Stan asked. He wasn’t actually sure about this one, but as far as he knew, no other squirrel had demonstrated anything.
“Correct, but many of the former soldiers had already made their way here as they heard the safety this grove offered. There are still nearly a third scattered amongst the other groves, though. We should send word to them to defend the migrations to this grove. I understand that the invaders are powerful, but we know these tunnels better than they possibly could,” Stan considered the squirrel’s words for a moment and decided Second had a good point. Unlike the fighting on Earth, this wasn’t out in a giant open city. Things worked a lot differently in confined tunnels.
“Yeah, good idea. Elders, that was what I wanted you here for. I need your fastest scouts to bring word to all groves.” This was met with several nods. “And architects, we need to be able to drop tunnel roofs, and possibly the entire ceiling over the city if we have to fall back. Do you think that’s something you can figure out?” After some internal discussion between the architects, they also gave a series of nods.
As the meeting turned into rounds of discussions on food supplies, weapons, and potential escape routes, Stan realized this was going to be a very long night.