Turtle Defense

As soon as your feet hit the ground you began running to help the drop ship take off sooner so that the next one could land. Combat was set to begin in just five minutes. The UCA had landed 50 miles from your position an hour ago so you didn't have to worry about an early ****. Your soldiers were deploying to their positions and didn't need you just yet so you made your way towards the town hall in the center of town, it would be acting as your command station during the battle and you were supposed to meet the local civilian council there so that you could explain your plan for keeping their citizens out of enemy hands.

You set you HUD to cycle through Balia, Tess, and Amelia's armor cam's as you kept going at a jog. As it was her plan Tess was assigning the defensive areas around the town. Already there were soldiers digging trenches and setting up barriers to slow any possible enemy advance. If the enemy was going to come at the town they would have to deal with those obstacles. You would too if you had to retreat. Balia was working on getting a few listening posts set up out in the woods to give you warning of the enemy's approach. Those two person teams would be highly exposed and at risk if they didn't manage to conceal themselves but they would be your best bet for detecting the enemy before they were on you. Amelia was taking charge of the quick reaction **** in the center of town, running them through the map and town to make sure that they would be able to navigate quickly during a crisis. Sierra would be joining you at the town hall in a few minutes, she would be setting up the headquarters equipment while you spoke with the civilian leadership.

Almost every member of the town was outside watching as you came in, soon they would be asked to return to their homes so that they didn't get in the way of the fighting but for now they were allowed to enjoy the spectacle of 10,000 soldiers landing in and around their formerly quiet colony. You could see worry on a few faces but the majority were cheering as your troops went by, some throwing flowers and others trying to run alongside them to see if they could keep up. All in all it seemed that the civilian population had every faith that you would be able to defend their home. You hoped you wouldn't let them down.

The council was waiting for you in front of the hall, a colony of this size didn't warrant a full planetary administration yet so until then the five people in front of you were who made sure the lights stayed on and the work got done. The one in the middle, a woman with curly black hair and green eyes stepped forwards to shake your hand. "My name is Head administrator Ingrid, I spoke briefly with your second about the buildings power supply."

You shook the proffered hand. "General Catherine," you introduced yourself, "Its good to meet you. We'll try to get the UCA out of your hair as quick as we can. This battle shouldn't last more than one week tops." You said releasing her.

"Thank you General. Please, follow me. We'll talk details inside." She said turning and leading the way into the building. As you crossed the threshold you could see main room was just a large auditorium, obviously meant for addressing the colonists. You didn't spend much time there as Ingrid led you through a door to the side and down a short corridor to an office space with a large square table in the middle. She and the others took their seats on the far side, facing you. You looked down and saw with relief that they had provided a chair suitable for sitting in with armor, most people forgot to account for the added bulk and you were pretty sure Sierra was responsible for reminding them of it. Ingrid gave you a welcoming wave and you sat down, removing your helmet and placing it off to the side so that the meeting could be face to face. It was time to get to business.

You pulled out a portable holo disk and set it in the middle of the table. Turning it on, it showed a map of the town. While not as detailed or useful as a full table like on the ship it would more than serve your purpose. "First things first. We're not going to be able to protect everyone." You said, their faces grew concerned. "Don't get me wrong. We'll do our best but every time I've fought a battle with a civilian population of over 100 someone does something that gets them picked up by the enemy. Did everyone get a non combatant card?" You asked, when Ingrid nodded you continued. "Good make sure they keep those with them at all times. I know they've already been briefed on this but I can't stress enough that you make sure your people know to One. Keep those cards and Two. Do not help us. At all." You emphasized

"As long as they follow the rules written on those the worst that can happen to them is they get rained on a bit on the way to the holding area." You leaned forward making sure to speak slowly and deliberately. "BUT if they get caught trying to affect combat, even if its just calling out a warning, they can be treated as an undeclared combatant. That means all bets are off." Looking at their faces you could tell that you had gotten your point across, they obviously thought they understood, that would have to be enough for now.

"In any case." You transitioned "I've set designated safe zones for if residential areas get overrun, here, here, and here. If we tell your people to fall back-"