“Looks like we’re finally going to do as our job demands, En. Marching orders from Heritage Basestation: we’re to beef up the camp defences as much as possible.” Sergeant Nelson placed a miniature snow sculpture on the ground, before spending another three seconds to change its pose, so that it was saluting an invisible officer now. “Looks like the brass are somewhat nervous now.” 

           “Nervous?”

           “Yeah.” The rabbit-type beastfolk picked up another snowball and started rolling it. “They’re worried, since everything is proceeding too smoothly.”

           Sergeant En — who was actually a very content Gemini now — raised an eyebrow. “Trust the government to be all scared and anxious when everything’s going peachy, eh? Well, better that than being caught off guard or something when the enemy marches here.”

           “It does mean that we can’t build anymore snowmen for now, though.”

           “True,” replied Gemini, “but we aren’t getting paid to make snowmen in the first place. As I recall it, our job here is to quell any disturbances and support the Congress by helping to execute their will.”

           “I don’t think we’ve been successful at all with the former, though,” said Nelson. Counting with his fingers, he said, “Three people scared everyone else away from the canteen, and we did nothing. A little boy instigated a battle royale outside his tent, and we did nothing. A whole bunch of Paragons came, and we did nothing. Someone tested their new weapon out in the camp, and we still did nothing.”

           The sergeant cleared his throat, and with a tone of formality, he concluded, “The Basestation Guard should just strike the thing about quelling disturbances from our job description, and replace it with making snowmen.”

           Gemini kept his face straight. “Yes, it would make us feel a lot less useless. Besides, snowmen are a bit more useful than sentries in Heritage Basestation. They add joy to the place, beautify our surroundings and also serve as a deterrence when figures aren’t distinct at night. Most importantly, these snowmen don’t need to get paid, and don’t need to rest either.”

           “Alright, now that we’ve got this settled, let’s make two snowmen to take our place here,” said Sergeant Nelson. 

           “I hear you.”

           After a few minutes of rolling snowballs, the pair glanced at each other, satisfied, and then headed towards the small parade square that the Guard rarely used. The guards themselves had a small camp of their own that was walled off, as well as a small array of buildings that were strategically located around the cluster of tents that the guards slept in. It was apparently for convenience’s sake, but Gemini was never able to see what made the confusing maze convenient.

           After making a few wrong turns and barging into buildings whose occupants were hard at work, the parade square finally came into view. Metal poles with lines carved into them, as well as wooden pillars with even more lines carved into them were the main ingredients of the mess that was the parade square. Other guards, that Gemini recognised by sight, were hauling what looked like debris from a demolished house to places unknown.

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           “Ah, Sergeants!” A man, whose epaulette was far simpler than theirs, waved the duo over. “We’ve been tasked to move these objects and set them up in certain locations all around Heritage Basestation as a precautionary measure. Supposedly, it’s meant to create one of those city-guarding formations that we used in the war.”

           Narrowing his eyes, Gemini tried to recall the city defence formations he’d encountered during the Second Extermination. Most of them were hard to take down, even when two or more Constellations were sieging these cities. He could not remember a single instance where they’d managed to overpower these formations by brute force alone.

           What swung such sieges in their favour were the use of sappers. These formations had to be constantly powered by Knights and Lords, which limited their mobility. They managed to sneak in their own supporters, or burrowed their way through the ground, before striking at infrastructure that formed part of the formation. It was a dirty trick, but Gemini knew that the Second Extermination would not have gone anywhere if these tricks had not been employed. The beastfolk defenders had made extensive use of these barriers, striking at vulnerable points and retreating within in the next.

           The former Constellation was quite sure that the only way that any hostile force could take out Heritage Basestation was to bring every Paragon an enemy had to batter down on the sturdy defences.

           The second lieutenant, unaware of Gemini’s thoughts, passed out some papers, which detailed the placement of the poles and pillars around the area. “It’s nothing much, just an hour or so’s worth of work. I expect to see even more snowmen after you guys finish up with the moving and set up.”

           “Our boss sure is a slavedriver, eh?” Nelson asked with a laugh.

           “Carry those things and then make some snowmen? Truly a slavedriver of rabbits and mice alike.” Gemini played along, picking up three poles. 

           “Hey, you guys have it lucky, you know. The Harvesters are far busier than you lot — last I heard, they were moving enough material to create an entire fortress over to the place where they usually do their jobs,” the lieutenant retorted. “They’ve been hard at work since last night…I heard it was a punishment or something too, for failing to complete a mission.”

           “From last night?”

           “Without any rest?”

           The two sergeants spoke in tandem, and the officer rolled his eyes. “Oh, come on, you make it sound like it’s the end of the world. You lot went through even harsher things to get your rank, so why are you complaining about a mere overnight shift?”

           Gemini thought back to his experience, which in hindsight had consisted of him beating up some kids to enter a special squad, and promptly fainting after his first mission. He couldn’t really relate to the ‘harsher things’ that the officer was talking about, but clearly, it was a rather unique experience.

           “Yeah, you’re right,” said Nelson. “Overnight work really is nothing, now that I think about it.”

Crap, I forgot! Gemini flinched slightly, as did the officer, who was clearly aware of what Nelson had went through. Both of them exchanged glances, with the former hero gesticulating at the officer to do an officer’s job. It took a few minutes before Nelson calmed down, in which time Gemini fired off murderous gazes from his eyes alone at the panicky officer.

           After casting one last glare that reeked of murder and death, Gemini brought Nelson out of the parade square, a few poles on his back. He’d given the officer a few choice words about being sensitive, before he left.

           It was satisfying, oddly enough, to stand up for a friend.

Friend, eh? Gemini shook his head, and headed to his first destination.