The Summit

First posted to alt.devilbunnies 28-29 September, 1999 in collaboration with
William Wade
MJ "Fuzzy Bunny" Howard
and Geoffrey "Snowshoe" Marsh.

&Copy;1999 by all above and Scott Bernier.
First HTML-ized 10 October, 1999

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The Summit 1

The bunmover whined to a halt in the new bunmover station below down pod at White Mountain Warren. Snowshoe and a contingency of guardbuns stood by as the door to the subway car-like vehicle opened. Out hopped three buns followed by two more. Recognizing them from the visual transmissions they've had back and forth, Snowshoe hopped forward with his honor guard.

"Welcome to White Mountain Warren, Commander CrimsonPaw."

Jerry bowed. (honoredfluff) "Thank you, Commander Snowshoe." He added in a lower tone while looking Snowshoe in the eyes, "Do me a favor, could we please," (bambieyes) "tone down the formalities a little?"

(fangygrin) "When we're in a private room, not before," Snowshoe replied. In a normal voice now, Snowshoe introduced his staff, each of whom bowed in turn.

Jerry bowed back. "This, as I'm sure you're aware, is my brother, Lt Gus CrimsonPaw..."

"It is an honor that we finally meet muzzle-to-muzzle, Lt." (salutefluff)

"...and Cookie Lightclaws, our famed warren chef. She has come along with a couple of her assistants to demonstrate some of her cuisine during our meeting."

Cookie (curtsyfluffed) and earsignalled to her assistants who started unloading crates from the bunmover. "Would one of your buns, Commander, be so kind as to show me to your kitchen/mess hall?"

Snowshoe signaled to one of his buns to do so. The rest of their party headed towards the main floor of the warren.

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Summit 2

After a quick tour of the warren, Jerry and Gus were led to the radio and situation room in WMW's Up Pod. As the elevator door shut behind them, Snowshoe signaled for them to take seats (well cushions) around the table.

"I'm honored to have you both here, but you've picked a bad time. I'm rather preoccupied with our neighbors to the south."

Jerry fluffed concernedly. "Oh really?" he asked, looking hard at the WMW Commander. "Is the AWF attacking?"

SnowShoe glanced around the room, making every attempt to avoid Jerry's gaze, but finally he had to meet the Maine buns eyes squarely.

"No," he replied. "The AWF is not attacking, though I feel that particular scenario is inevitable. However there are some current operations taking place at the moment that can not be discussed outside of certain very high circles."

SnowShoe sighed.

Jerry nodded politely, yet there was more than a hint of annoyance in his eyes. "I'm sorry to have wasted your time, Snowshoe..." he said with no little amount of sarcasm just dripping from every word.

"Look," SnowShoe said. "If you leave now, you will have wasted it. You're here now, tell me your plans..."

The annoyance that had been building in Jerry finally exploded. "Just who do you think you are, Commander? Doesn't loyalty to your allies mean anything to you? I helped you get your [PiG-13] bunmover station. My brother helped refurbish your warren when you were desperate. Now I come to you asking for your assistance, and all you can do is give me cryptic comments. Does that cold heart of yours have anything in it even remotely resembling loyalty?"

SnowShoe bowed his head.

"I am sorry," he said. "But I can not inform you fully of our plans at this time. Trust me when I say that, when they are fulfilled, they will bring great accolades upon the bunny community.

"However," he continued, anger flashing in his eyes. "Do not, under any circumstances even try to question my loyalty to you, the bunnies or the cause. Should you do so again, then I will, indeed, forcibly eject you from my warren!" With this, he gave a loud stomp that caused even the Maine buns to flinch.

There was a long, uncomfortable silence, after which SnowShoe continued.

"I do recognize the importance of the current operations in Maine which have been precipitating for quite a while. I have held one battalion in reserve just for this occasion [GlaresatJerry]. If you will inform me of your plans, I will be glad to place Thistleroot and his battalion at your disposal."

Jerry regarded SnowShoe warily for a moment, and then began.

"Before I can do that, we need to involve one more bun in this. I'd rather not have to explain it twice. Please have your commbun contact Lt. Fuzzy Bunny of Kingdomwarren. I suspect he may be expecting this call. When Fuzzy is on the line, have him patched in here."

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Summit 3

SnowShoe signaled to Commbun Ack, who began hailing the appropriate warrens.

Five minutes later, Fuzzy was on the terminal in the conference room. He didn't look too pleased at first at being disturbed, until he saw who had contacted him. After a few exchanges of introductions and pleasantries, Jerry laid out his plan on how to wipe out the Maine Fudds once and for all.

"....our scouts and a few outside sources show that this information I have on the Fudd base layout remains approximately 90% unchanged. There are a few more buildings now, then three years ago, but that was to be expected..."

"How did you learn all this?" Snowshoe asked.

(droopears) "I thought I told you this past winter, but maybe I forgot. I'm a convert..."

"That I remember," Snowshoe replied.

"Before I saw the light of Frith, I was a Lumberjack. I spent a lot of my time at the Maine Fudd Base."

Snowshoe sat back and nearly fell backwards in surprise. DEWComm's commander was a converted Fudd?! Now the plan made more sense. What better source of inside information...provided Jerry could really be trusted. A spark of suspicion built within Snowshoe's mind. There had been that incident with the lumberjacks back when they had been repopulating the warren. If Jerry had anything to do with Black Jacques, this deal was off.

"As I was saying, with the Lumberjacks distracted and with us having a nearly complete layout of the base, it wouldn't take long to defeat the Fudds, if we place a sufficient size bun force in the field..."

Yes, it could work. Snowshoe could see it now. Yet he had one concern, which needed to be handled gingerly. "There's one problem with this plan, Commander," he replied to Jerry. "Will the Fouriers present us a problem?"

(fangygrin) "That's where Lt. Fuzzy comes into play." Jerry turned to Fuzzy on the terminal and explained what he needed from Kingdomwarren.

Fuzzy's floppy ear drooped slightly. "Another propaganda coup for the monkeys? I don't recall hearing Inle's summons this morning. Why not have me deliver it personally? The net effect will be the same."

(gigglefluff) "There won't be any problem if you rig the message to self-destruct. Downyfluff, herself, has analyzed Wade's banter and reactions to our posts. If challenged, he won't back down or pass-up on it. It will get his force out of the way long enough for us to concentrate on the Fudds."

"Let me send a few troops to protect our investments" Fuzzy pushed at some papers on his desk. "Say ... Three regiments?" His ear perked slightly.

(hesitantfluff) "You know how anti-non-local buns the local population is up here after that fiasco in Portland four years ago."

"I'd have thought that having us repair your bunmover system would have generated more good will. [earflick] The Board of Directors is holding me personally responsible for the success of the Maine project. My tail is hanging out on this."

(verywellfluff) "Warn them, not to boast about where they're from."

Fuzzy nodded, "I'll personally skin any bun who survives offending the locals. In addition, I want Pomerleau captured alive..."

"I want as many of the Fudds captured alive as possible. Those Frith chooses not to save will provide for some very entertaining evenings." (deviousfluff) "Cookie has some rather inventive dishes that call for live Fudds that I'm anxious to try. Pomerleau, his brother, the traitorbun and said bun's family are to be captured alive at any cost. The rest of the Fudds are to be captured alive if possible. Satisfactory to you, Lt?"

(agreedfluff)

(Scratch, scratch, scratch) Jerry turned to the door. "Gentlebuns, I believe it's time for a snack break..." his nose twitched as he smelled Cookie's cooking as she hopped off the elevator with a tray of toe'dervs. "Fuzzy, I'll be sure to have some of Cookie's delights shipped to you. We will break for a meal and then we'll discuss the battleplan details."

Fuzzy nodded, "I'll call back in an hour." The terminal went blank as Gus, Snowshoe, and Jerry dug into the treats.

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Summit 4

After an hour of relaxing, nibbling, and small talk, Fuzzy reconnected to WMW's situation room. It didn't take long for the four buns to settle into discussing the details of the battle.

Jerry and Gus did most of the talking. Gus, for he had the most experience in the room when dealing with the Maine Fudds in battle, and Jerry for he had the inside knowledge of Fudd battle tactics. Fuzzy placed a careful, well thought comment here and there.

Snowshoe was impressed as he listened. The two buns in front of him complimented each other as if they had been born as twin siblings. At the same time he was rather surprised at how well Jerry had embraced the Fluffy Side (tm).

"...Alas," (sighfluff) "as I've said many times already, my knowledge of their tactics is three years out-of-date. Who knows what kind of new moves they've come-up with," Jerry concluded.

*Three years?* Snowshoe thought to himself. *That's about...*

"We must be prepared for surprises," Gus added pulling Snowshoe out of his thoughts and back to the battle. "But, if the battle Browny and I engaged in a few years back is any indication, it is doubtful they'll have many new tricks. They used many of the same tactics in our last encounter as they used in Portland." (STOMP!)

(droopears) "And they were just as successful..." Jerry added.

Fuzzy nodded on screen, "I'll send the orders to move my forces up your way. They will be in place on time. Do you have anything to add, Commander Snowshoe?"

One thing kept nagging Snowshoe and he had absolutely had to know. There was no tactful way to ask it, but if he was to cooperate with Jerry, he needed to make sure he wasn't one of Black Jacque's men.

"Your knowledge of the Fudd base is impressive, Commander CrimsonPaw..."

"Away from those under your command, Jerry is fine."

Snowshoe took the interruption in stride. "Very well, Jerry. As a Fudd, where was your assignment?"

Jerry didn't bat an ear of surprise. "I was a professor of forestry at Unity College about 12 miles from the Maine Fudd Base. I was in charge of the Fudd ROTC program at that small college, disguised as a 'Woodsman Competition Team'. Several Ivy League schools were our arch rivals in competition. During the summer months, I patrolled a section of the North Woods up near Daaquam on the Quebec border while 'performing research'." (howeverfluff) "I don't think a human Ph.D. in forestry management will be worth anything in the upcoming battle."

Snowshoe nodded. "I meant no insult..."

(pawwaveoff) "None taken. I understand your feelings about my background. I had nothing to do with the attack on your warren a few years back." Jerry leaned forward just a bit. "That's what you're concerned about, isn't it?" Jerry paused a moment. "Black Jacques' failure here was well studied by the other Lumberjacks on what NOT to do when dealing with an unknown size warren population. Don't ask what I would have done as a misguided Fudd, for the point is moot." (anxiousfluff) "I look forward to the upcoming battle to prove my worth."

Snowshoe nodded. "Then let's go spam some Fudd monkeys."

[To be continued in Maine Battle '99]

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