Teral looked around at the squirrels gathered in the tiny chamber. He didn't
usually hold the meetings here, but this wasn't your usual mission, and this
was the only place he was *certain* was secure.

It was a bit cramped, though. What with the printouts, and maps, and his nest
in the corner, and the console over by the wall, there wasn't much room to
stand, but they managed to anyway.

Teral shooed everyone out of the way and unrolled a map of Ohio. He pointed
to the large blue circle representing UCirc, and followed a thick black line
west until it hit a red triangle and split off six ways.

"Right here," he said, "the bunnymover lines from southern Ohio meet the 
northern line from Detroit and Canada, the lines west towards Indianapolis
and Fort Worth, and, although I'm sure the bunnies have forgotten, the line
east to UCirc."

"I can read a map, Teral," said the head of maintenance. The other squirrels
giggled, but quieted with exaggerated politeness at Teral's glare.

"Now," he said, "For something you *don't* know -- some squirrels down in
Missouri reported an unexplained blackout at a bunny warren. I asked some
of the other scouting groups to check out any warrens in the vicinity, and
it looks like it affects at least all of the midwest. [flick!] This is too
good an opportunity to pass up."

"Even in a blackout, a warren like that's not going to be a pushover. You
*do* remember Rabbit's Tail..." Teral nodded. "Well, it can't be as well as
I do. [chitter] And those were civilian warrens. [flick]"
 
"We also had more than five troops."

"We do this time, too," Teral said, "The warren isn't heavily guarded because
normally, help is only ten minutes away by bunnymover from half a dozen
warrens. But with the power out communications are cut, which leaves them
cut off. [flick]" He pointed to the small blue dots and lines which covered
the map. "These lists of mine have been circulating for awhile... most of you
signed up months ago, but I didn't call you because I knew Loren would miss
you. Well, I've been sending others out, techs, scouts, even a few of the
scientists. Although I'd like to know how they got their paws on the sign up
sheet... it doesn't matter. They've been converting squirrels all over the
country and setting up small bases, and keeping an eye on bunny activity.

"I got back their reports yesterday, and we've got about two thousand 
 squirrels within a few days of Sandusky." He pointed to a human city located
 near the bunnymover line, about halfway along. "We count about five hundred
 milbuns at Toledo, so it should be a slaughter. We come in through the 
 tunnels and we're on them before they can react."

"It'll be a slaughter all right," the veteran chittered, "If they get any 
 hint that we're coming..."

"Are you planning on using those transports we've been fixing up? Do you know
 how LOUD those things are? Not to mention slow..."

"They'll have the whole force dug in and waiting for us by the time we reach
 the station, bunnygun emplacements and everything."

Teral grinned. "Did I forget to mention the diversion? [flick] We've gotten
in touch with some sympathetic humans at Toledo University, they'd probably
be Fudds if they knew about the AoF's existance. There's a few hundred
squirrels in Indiana that can't make it to Sandusky in time, but can be in
Toledo. Together with the humans that should be a credible threat."

Maintenance was studying the map. "Looks like you have a LOT of squirrels in
Indiana. Why not wait for them? Or just do a frontal assault?"

"Well," Teral said, "None of them are armed... that's one of the things I
need you all for, to gather all the weapons and stuff we'll need and load it
in the transport."

"Best way would probably be to ferry it down through the air vents," 
maintenance said.

"Yeah," said the third in charge of security, "No one ever watches those
tapes. I don't know why you bothered putting them in in the first place." 

Teral glared at him. "It was so no one could do what we're about to," he
said. "I was *planning* to feed in my personal overrides and shut them off,
but it'll take longer for them to figure it out if I don't have to. Anyway,
here's the list of things we need, tell me if I've forgotten anything."

"What're these for? Portable factories? Spare transformers?" the tech 
chittered. "The old factory computers we replaced? What are you planning to 
do, make the weapons on the way?"

"Oh, yeah," Teral said, "That was the other thing. You know how overloaded
our factories have always been." They nodded. "Well, we don't dare expand
the facility here. In fact, we had to cut back when they upgraded the meters
on the power grid. But if we can take over this warren --"

"We can use their generators! Fusion power instead of those stupid line taps."

"Not quite," Teral said, "After all, they're blacked out. If they couldn't
fix it in the first few hours I doubt we'll have any luck. [chitter] But it's
a whole new power grid in Toledo... untapped potential, so to speak."

Teral grinned. "We haven't done any conversions in Toledo itself, because of
the warren, but after we wipe them out we'll have thousands more squirrels
to hold it. By the time the bunnies figure out why the bunnymovers from
Detroit to Chicago are disappearing en route, we'll be dug in too deeply to
be displaced."