Snow...it's one of nature's most divine blessings. There is no greater bliss than basking outside in the cool chill of winter, snuggled in your down jacket and mittens as you watch the snow sprinkle down from the heavens and settle at your feet; nothing more peaceful than catching flecks of snow on your tongue or feeling the flakes melt away against your cheeks and turn them a rosy red shade. There exists no greater pleasure than prancing through fields of white or burying your body in the pristine calmness of snow-covered grass, only to emerge with clumps of angelic white cotton still clinging to your body. There is yet nothing that can be compared to the joy that snow brings...unless it is being crammed into your face during a snowball fight.

It started as a tranquil day out in Snowbound with my trio surveying our territory, exploring into unchartered regions under the crisp rays of our sun. The ground was pale and cool, layered by untouched snow that dully reflected the sun like tarnished silver. We were decked in our traditional hostile environment outerwear: Red mittens and red hats capped with a ball of fluffy cotton. Munitions had provided us with thinsulate(tm) jackets, the latest in adverse weather technology. Thinsulate was light enough to afford mobility, yet simultaneously provided adequate insulation against hostile elements such as snow and rain. A sheet of interwoven fiber laced the outside of the jackets, rendering them effectively waterproof against all forms of precipitation. We were still awaiting the arrival of our thinsulate(tm) mittens upgrades because shipments were being delayed by higher-priority uranium depleted ammunition for our infantry, so in the meantime we had to settle for standard issue down-filled gloves. Those were adequate for most snow contingencies but provided only marginal manual dexterity and limited ability to manipulate intricate or small objects. For now, we did with what we had, because we were...men...

Mark the IV, legendary for his tactical skills in this sector of Snowbound, was the first to spot the ominous lump rising in the distance from the otherwise bare plain of snow. "Sir, errant structure sighted ahead," he alerted me.

I hurried my pace and caught up beside him, put my hand on his shoulder to force him to crouch in the ground. Behind us, Johnny saw us go down and automatically mirrored our move, stopping in his tracks and abruptly disappearing into the snow to his hands and knees. Only the telltale cotton ball on his head yet protruded from above the snow. Johnny Vegas: an indispensible unit in our trio, he was as brazen as he was loyal, never failing to set his life before mine, except during that one squabble we had over the Dire Straits in a nearby sector where I had to school him back to the UED, but we never argued again, never spoke of this dark history between us, because...I only get lucky once in a blue moon like that

"Mark, what do you see?" Mark turned to face me, and it was then that I realized just how identical we must have appeared to each other. Same clothes, same height, same weight, same oval faces with same black eyes and no mouths and ears...

"Shock?" said Mark slowly, waving his white mitton in front of my face. Drat, I snapped out of my musings and regained my composure. A momentary lapse like that in combat could get a man killed.

"Sorry, Mark. Recommend we rendezvous with unidentified structure and commence analysis."

"Yes sir." Mark stood up, motioned back to where Johnny was. Proceeding warily, we established a reverse V formation and descended upon the structure.

It ended up being a snow embankment, roughly shaped as a U. Facing it from several meters away was an identical one. Both might have passed as natural formations to the unaided eye, but we noted the compacted snow, far denser than the type we were walking on, polished smooth and tight. Obviously, these were the handiwork of some unknown species that had meticulously pounded the snow into super-hardened material and then sealed it together to form a near impenetrable fortress.

The technology was far beyond what we had experienced before, and an uncontrollable chill shot up my spine as I contemplated what might have erected the sight before me. My thoughts began to turn toward home. I could procure this technology and set up battlefronts between my depot and adjacent enemy territory, using our superior constructs to siege the pestilent children that prowled near our borders. We could safely overcome them without losses, we might even be able to dispose of the parental units that controlled the armored vehicles and light two-wheeled transport units and procure those to spread our dominian far beyond even where our eyes could see. This technology might hold the key to our eventual dominion of our neighborhood and allow us to finally spread our influence to the alien worlds beyond our sights. We could...

"Sir!" cried Mark in consternation, shattering into my dreams of grandeur, "Incoming hostiles. Please advise!"

I looked up from my dreaming and noted three hideous alien figures approaching our position. They were covered with scintillating green fur, their fat hands were adorned with puffy white scales. Wicked, distorted alien faces were only marred by a pair of hideously grotesque black eyes, as no sign of mouth or nose covered their putrid visages. Their hair was hidden by wretched green cone-shaped hats capped with puke-white rancid cottonballs. Truly a disgusting sight to behold, I had to quell an instinctive reaction to turn and run screaming from the nightmarish apparitions before me.

"Sir, they look just like us, except they're green!" exclaimed Johnny. He took a step towards them, extending his arms in a motion of peace. "Hey yo, how's the weather over there?"

"No, Johnny!" screamed Mark.

But Johnny was already rapidly closing distance toward the alien monstrocities, leaving behind the sanctuary of our fortress. Johnny: always too headstrong and daring for his own good. In many ways, he reminded me of Deon, an often lauded Terran construction engineer who would often leave from base and explore unarmed into the unknown without escort, encounter and penetrate into all sorts of alien infestations, and invaribly get himself decapitated by warp blades or impaled on sunken colony tendrils or vaporized by disruptor bolts from automated photon defenses or pelted by enemy snowballs or...

"Aaahh!! I'm hit!" Johnny screamed.

Johnny stumbled backward, clutching at his coat. A massive blotch of white marred his jacket, and the fibers were folded and creased by the impact of some high velocity projectile. Telltale wetness started creeping out from the site of the impact. I knew immediately that his armor had been compromised; the armor was designed to protect against incidental precipitation or even explosive manifestations of wetting agents from the diabolical snowblowers, but not the concentrated penetrating force of a focused projectile.

Johnny hastily swiped at the remaining fragments of the projectile on his jacket. The green aliens were stooping down into the snow, gathering it into their furry white paws. I watched in astonishment as they compressed the fluffy snow into hardened spheres. So this is the technology that was used to create the super-compacted material for the fortresses. If only I had seen earlier...

"Here Shock, snowball!" Mark called from behind me.

Turning around, I barely reacted fast enough to fumble the ball of death that he lobbed toward me. I turned it slowly in my mittened hands, admiring how the sun reflected off its perfect spherical surface. So Mark had discovered the secret behind the alien technology.

With an evil grin, I faced towards the nearest alien. Rearing the ball of death, I gathered my ki and allowed the power to flow through me as I tightened every muscle in my body. I was no longer Shockwave the Nerd With Too Much Time On His Hands... I was now Shockwave The Tense Nerd With Too Much Time On His Hands.

Elegance.... There is something wonderful about watching a perfectly thrown ball of icy death streaming through the air, catching and reflecting the rays off the sun in a marvelous brilliance as it speeds inerrantly toward its target. And there is something inexplicably fulfilling with watching the projectile meet its target, explode into a hundred thousand shards as it impacts against the soft flesh of a vulnerable face... There is something terrifyingly satisfying with hearing the crunch of snow, the soft thud, the scream of agony, the reaction of the violated skin as it bluches and puffs and purples to absorb the impact and the resulting frostbite of coldness.

"Nice shot, Mark!" yelled Johnny from a distance as the first green monstrocity staggered backward, frantically swatting to dislodge the particles from his reddening face. My snowball lay buried scant a few inches from the enemy's feet, a perfectly timed shot that distracted him enough to allow Mark's aim to hit true. I silently commended myself on my legendary skills; we were a team, but Mark and Johnny always knew who they could depend on...

"Shock, look out!"

The hissing of wind, followed by a crunching feeling and an acute pain in my stomach, interrupted my thoughts. The force verily knocked the wind out of me and I lurched back, staring down at my chest in astonishment as the shards from a snowball impacted from my jacket. Another thud, and my temples screamed as my head whipped violently to one side from another scored hit. My vision broke briefly and giant spots danced before my eyes. Disoriented, I fell trembling to the floor. Snow and wetness streamed down my forehead and stung my face like a thousand icy pins.

There was a sound of birds...and peace. Birds, chirping their melodous sonnets as they awoke to the dawn of spring and sought their bretherin... birds, breaking out in chorus as they chased each other in endless circles around my heads. Birds, like the awe-inspiring mutalisk or the leathery kakaru... birds... flittering about with no care in the world except when they are blown into a billion bloody clumps of feathers and guts because some paranoid wraith pilot thought the kakaru might have been parasited ...

...then people. Little boys dressed in red and green, moving slow motion through through the expanse of time as they gathered tiny snowballs and hurled them from their soft mittens. Little boys playing king of the hill, oblivious to the monstrous balance of life and death that teetered around them in the neverending war to secure the Allied front... the monstrous conflict, that has claimed the lives of thousands of troops, that must be ended...must blow the bridge...must...

"Shock, get down! What are you doing?!"

Crawl toward detonation switch. Must... destroy... fortress...

"Shock, get back there! Don't make me have to come save your-"

Must... stop... Axis...

More pain. No matter, I was now used to pain. The impact of my chest was familiar, almost welcome, as the ammunition exploded against my jacket like a shotgun blast. I flew back... no, soared back... landed next to our fort and slumped into a heap there. It was nothing, I was just another casualty in this war, another name to be buried among other names. But I would take the enemy with me, I would take them to Hell so I could meet them and know in satisfaction as we burned that I was the reason they were there. And it would be hot and soothing there, unlike the numbness that crept up my legs as I lay submerged in the snow, my head resting against the icy cold walls of our fortress.

One of my enemy was shambling toward me with death in his eyes, his claws clutching an oversized ball that would spell my doom. I picked up a clump of snow and flung it, then another... then another. Around me, Johnny and Mark were sprawled like rag dolls among the snow, taken down with such tremendous force that their mittens, boots, and hats all lay scattered a distance around them.

The green alien took another step toward me. I again pitifully chucked a lump of snow toward him, but it merely bounced off his tough armor and fell back to the earth from which it came. Another step. He advanced methodically, unceasingly, like a tank descending upon a hapless squadron commander who had been already fatally wounded by some bald German soldier with a shotgun whom that commander had foolishly released only days earlier because he was swayed by the words of his peace-loving translator who ultimately spelled the doom for the entire squadron because he couldn't do a thing to help them but fortunately he at least shot the bald German guy in the end.

Suddenly, the monstrocity flew back several feet as the sound of gauss fire shattered the silence. Blood spurted out of his chest as his broken body careened into the snow and skidded to a halt, leaving behind a deep trench marred with blood in the snow. He died without a sound; as a fountain of crimson issued from his lips, I knew that salvation had come to us.

"Git yer paws off ma kids!" a deep menacing voice bellowed. I looked up. Reinforcements had arrived... one of our own marines...

Our other opponents dropped their pitiful ammunition and ran screaming into the expanse. I lay staring up at his rugged physique with my eyes barely open, a stupidified expression of contentment on my face. It was too late for me...but I knew that our team would claim this fortress as our own and that my squad's heroic legend would be sung forevermore among future generations of my kind.

"Darn it, didn't know other Terrans were on this god-forsaken planet already," the marine muttered through teeth that clenched a smouldering cigarette.

The thunderous sound of vehicles approaching met my ears as I gradually faded out of consciousness. A horrified scream, then the sound of guns being readied.

"What have you done to my son?!"

"Yer son was violating our territory. This is our resource node, you go an' git yer own!"

"You... I will pump so much ammo into your little body that your wife won't be able to recognize your face. Then I'll pummel you and the rest of you dirty UED scum back to Earth where you came from!"

Gunshots. More screaming. But I knew my marine would win. I knew the UED would win. I knew we wouldn't sleep or eat until we had eradicated those green-colored Terrans from our new homeland.

And thus began the TvT conflict on Snowbound...