26/06/2157

Scafell was a young colony. Generally, British colonies go through multiple 'stages' of development, starting with a single pre-fabricated city, as the city grows planetary industry and agriculture is developed. Eventually, Asteroid mining infrastructure is set up, and the materials obtained from asteroid mining is used to feed the establishment of manufacturing facilities in the colony, and hence its continued expansion, as well as exports back to the inner colonies and Sol. Eventually this city grows large and well populated, and is capable of beginning to establish other cities on the planet, this signifies the maturing of the colony to Stage Two. Within Stage Two, the colony begins to experience its first major population booms from native births rather than immigration, and population begins to increase exponentially, alongside industry and economy. Orbital infrastructure begins to be seriously developed as well, as asteroid mining becomes more and more of a major industry, alongside the initial stages of exploiting the other planets of the system, such as the establishment of orbital stations around gas giants for streamlined FTL discharge services. Stage Three begins with the establishment of permanent settlements on other planets in the system, be it orbital habitats around gas giants, or dome 'cities' on non-atmospheric or toxic planets, and is also the point where major domestic ship production begins to facilitate local in-system traffic. Stage Four is defined as the point at which a colony becomes sufficiently self sufficient and established to which it can begin to consider its own colonisation efforts. While some Inner colonies have reached Stage Four, most exist within Stage Three. The majority of human colonies exist between Stage Two and Stage Three, as the Golden Age of Colonisation has begin to wind down and the number of new colonies being established has decreased substantially. Scafell is just reaching the last leg of Stage One, and is beginning to prepare to establish other cities on the surface. Which is exactly the worst time it could be invaded really, the point where it has the maximum population it could have before the British Government decided to increase its military garrison. General Williams had to somehow hold this city long enough for relief to arrive.

As far as he was concerned, invasion was almost certain. A constant in Human politics by this point, was the importance of habitable 'garden worlds', which have appeared with surprising regularity along the Relay network, resulting in the shift from thinking the Protheans preferred Martian environments, to Earth-like environments, seeing as they seemed so intent of building the Network around such planets. It was a known quality that any international war would be fought both at home on Earth, and in the stars, the economies and materials of the Colonies spread among the stars being critically important to most major nations' home economies at this point, much less their military industrial complexes. Not to mention that there was arguably far more benefit to occupying and taking an enemy colony than taking a smidgen of land form their earthly holdings, assuming that occupied colony could be convinced to be co-operative. As far as they, as far as he, knew, these aliens were equally reliant upon the relay network, they seemed to use them afterall, and as such could be fairly safely assumed to also have a patented interest in controlling colonies, either directly or indirectly. Thus, even though Hood's sacrifice destroyed the initial invasion, he was sure they would be back, and he had to make damned sure he made the most of the time Captain Holland had granted him to prepare.

Thus, here he stood, to the left and slightly behind the Colonial Governor as she delivered her speech. "Today is a dark day. Today, we have confirmed that there exists living intelligent alien life among the stars. Unfortunately, they have proved to be enemies of the Empire, of the Queen, and of her Subjects. We know them to not be the Protheans, they do not utilise the technology nor design philosophy we have come to know Prothean artefacts by. However, that is where the good news ends." A tall woman, as with all of the first Governors of new colonies, she was there since the very start. Skilled orator that she was, even despite her advancing age, she was able to very effectively drive all her points home. "HMS Hood, our proud guardian, has been destroyed by this enemy."

A shocked gasp is heard from the crowd, standing behind the rows of cameras and camera drones. The Hood was almost seen as the patron saint of Scafell, the ageing giant who protects them from what ever threat may lurk beyond the frontier. "She did not die in vein however, and neither did Captain Holland. They both granted us the time we need to prepare for invasion! They pushed the enemy out of our system with their lives, and we must to squander the opportunity they gave us! We must rally, we must prepare to fight them for our homes, our people! They may have been able to take down the Hood, but we cannot let them walk through our streets, triumphant, we must avenge the Hood, and we must protect what is ours."

"It is for this reason that I am declaring emergency authority. We need to be able to fight off this heinous foe, and in order to do so, we need soldiers, we need men and women to take up arms. I am declaring emergency authority, in order to enact conscription. Every able bodied man, woman, and otherwise, is to be trained and armed, ready to protect their families and their city. All factories that can be, will be converted to the mass production of materials needed for this war. Arms, munitions, everything that we need. All crops that can be harvested, are to be, and food is to be rationed to prepare for a siege. You may come to hate me, loathe me, for these decisions, but know that I make them in order to protect you, my people, and ensure that Scafell never falls to enemy hands. General Williams is to be granted full authority over the colony upon the confirmation of enemy invasion. We shall fight in orbit, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the tunnels, we shall never surrender, and if, which I do not for a moment believe, this colony were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the Royal Navy, would carry on the struggle."

The second her speech ended, a veritable storm of questions broke forth from the crowd. How many would be conscripted? How much food did they have? How long could they last? How long until the Royal Navy came to relieve them? The Governor answered all questions to the best of her ability, but unfortunately the situation was shockingly grim. We would only have enough food to last until late August, early September if they were lucky, or lost substantial population in the meantime. Assuming the Royal Navy sallied forth the second they got word? They would arrive perfectly on time. However, that was exceedingly unlikely, and by his estimates, assuming the normal to and fro between getting the news and actually acting upon it, it would be tight. Their forces were also going to be spread incredibly thin, Scafell City was home to almost half a million, protected by only about 5,000 Army personnel and 2000 RAF with 65 aircraft, with only one regiment of the Royal Armoured Corps, numbering only 70 Centaur III MBTs. Of course, a Colonial Militia exists, numbering another 5,000, but that is hardly enough to make a difference. Conscription was all but necessary to get enough personnel to even hope to defend themselves, but conscripts were all but useless without training, so he would have to dedicate a number of his already thin forces towards getting them up to speed. They also did not know when they were be invaded, so for all they know they could be preparing for an invasion that would occur next year, or next month. Hence, the agricultural farms would be maintained as long as possible incase the invasion occurs after the harvest of other crops can be achieved.

Eventually, it was over, and he could finally get to work. Leaving Founding Park, where the speech had been given, he quickly made his way past the statues of those first thirty colonists who had established Scafell, lined up along the main pathway used to enter the park, as well as the various fountains and immaculate grass fields that make up the rest of the place. Founding Park always seemed far too well maintained to him, what is the point of a park if it cannot actually display the chaos inherent to nature and organic growth. It was like a sterile mockery of the actual landscape outside of the city. Just outside of the Park sat the Lionheart II he used as his regular run about. An over-glorified tracked car, its small stature and thin armour made it perfect for its usage as an agile scout vehicle, not so much as an LAA or Mortar Carrier, but cost cuts be as they may he guessed. Deceptively short and low to the ground, it features a heavily angled front glacis, almost akin to a squished wedge shape, leading to an angular body ending in an gently sloped engine deck. The small hexagonal turret of the vehicle was as pitch black as the rest of it, and aggressively sloped in all directions, so flush with the hull that you could not see the seam between the two. He knew that two small hexagonal holes existed to the left of where the 60mm Mass Railgun was, for the Valiant Anti-Tank missiles, while to the other side was mounted the coaxial Mass Accelerator Machine Gun.

Entering the vehicle, he simply requested his driver take him to The Bunker through the small communications headset all armoured vehicle crew were equipped with. The ride was rather poor, but that was to be expected from a vehicle designed to be able to run around at high speed over rough terrain, and was a sight better that the Winchester medium vehicles. Of course, he could have just gotten a civilian vehicle as a run about, and he usually did, but with the present situation, he felt it best to give a martial impression, especially for the speech unveiling their terrible fate to the whole colony. That and traffic tended to be far less sever when he was travelling around in the Lion, he guessed the image of an aggressively black armoured vehicle in the rear view mirror tended to incentivise swift movement.

Before long he reached the city centre, where upon the driver took the Lion down a ramp, into a large elevator which then descended down many hundreds of meters below the surface. While protection against alien invasion was never a concern taken seriously, protection against invasion by other Human powers was, and the fact that the Berlin Treaty did not include extra-solar colonies meant that precision orbital bombardment was always on the table. To counter this, as colony garrisons expand with their population, bunker networks are set up to allow for the garrisons to continue to fight against invasion even should precision bombardment be used. Of course, should the enemy use full blown bombardment, such bunkers would be useless, but at that point the entire city would be all but levelled, something which it was assumed would try to be avoided by any invading force. Much like all colonies, the city also featured an expansive subway and subterranean tunnel system, every major skyscraper and building all directly connecting to the network. The intent being, of course, to ensure that traffic does not become an issue, but in a time of war it allows for civilians to be evacuated without having to risk them attempting to do so on the surface. Both of these things were paramount to his plans.

He finally reached the bunker itself, and the driver parked within the vehicles bay. An impressively large room, clearly carved from hard granite. The walls supported by steel and concrete structural buttresses, which proceeded to form a large structure of thick steel beams holding the ceiling steady. At the points where these horizontal beams met, impressively thick columns connected them to the ground once again. Lighting was a warm yellow provided by rather old fashioned florescent lighting suspended from the ceiling beaming, with conspicuously inactive red lights periodically present. The room was filled with vehicles, from a few civilian cars, no doubt the daily transports of a number of personnel, to a variety of Lionheart and Winchester armoured vehicles. Finally exiting the Lion, he remember another reason why he preferred civilian run abouts, they were not so short as to give him a crick in his neck. He was not even that tall. After working out the various aches he had collected from the trip, he made his way to the central command centre.

Proceeding through the cramped tunnels of the facility, crudely dug out and supported by regularly placed columns, he did not envy the claustrophobic. Finally reaching the main Command Centre, the circular room was already fully manned, with a central holographic table, and a number of manned desks both along the circumference of the lower level, and of the upper level. Once more clearly reinforced with buttresses, columns and pillars, it certainly gave a feeling of security, one which he hoped would not prove to be misguided when these aliens show up. Clustered around the central holotable were his main staff members and most important subordinates, gesturing over a display depicting the city and surrounding environment, including a clearly indicated circle around the city labelled as "Protected". There were clear signs of earthworks and trench networks surrounding the entire circumference of the miniature city, and icons representing air, army, and armoured units were distributed across the display. They were preparing the plans for how to hold Scafell, even in the face of overwhelming force.

"Publicity stunt over? How did they take it? The conscription I mean." Brigadier Theo Ward, his second in command. British military tradition dictates that the commanding officer of a Colony's military forces is always a four star general, such as himself, no matter how small the colony or its garrison. A decision often derided for misusing officers, even though generally it is done in order for said colony to grow to the size that eventually its Garrison is a size suitable for command by a four star General, who by that point would be well established within the Colony. Brigadier Ward was his only direct subordinate within the Army, seeing as the entire Garrison consisted of a single Brigade, with Group Captain Deacon Baxter commanding the Scafell Air Group, which consists of four squadrons, the Scafell No.3 Attack Helicopter Squadron consisting of 10 aircraft, the Scafell No.4 Transport Helicopter Squadron with 15, Scafell No.1 Atmospheric Squadron with 25, and the Scafell No.2 Aerospace Squadron with 15.

"Reasonably well, to be fair. The loss of the Hood had quite the effect."

"It would have, it means that they are unprotected now, and they know it. Just have to hope they put that feeling of vulnerability towards working to protect themselves, rather than panic." Baxter then proceeded to point at the holographic table, currently displaying their plan for the defence of the colony as it stands. "I have been discussing it with the Squadron Leaders, as long as they do not bring in a Carrier, we should be able to maintain air superiority for a fair while. As long as we operate our aircraft sparingly, and avoid AA emplacements." Any competent or remotely experienced armed force would utilise some form of anti-air defence system, at the very least to try and scare away enemy CAS, though they knew not the enemy they would face, it was a fair assumption they would not have reached the interstellar stage without learning the basics of ground combat. "Of course, it will be a bit touch and go at the start, trying to determine what exactly IS anti-air, seeing as their designs would no doubt be entirely unrecognisable to ourselves."

"The issue is, if they are even halfway competent they will recognise that, and will seek to make sure that as many of their pushes are covered by AA as possible. Air superiority is pointless if we cannot risk actually attacking their ground forces. We will lose aircraft, yes, but we have to keep them from advancing to the city as long as possible." Ward was right, they would have to risk their aircraft to keep their heads down and support our armoured forces in the initial stages of the defence. It was a point of contention between him and Baxter, Ward wanting the RAF to focus upon ground support, while Baxter wanting to maintain air superiority as long as possible. It really did not affect the grand plan however. They could not hope to defend indefinitely, at the very least because the city's underground and aboveground hydroponics would not be enough to feed them for any substantial period of time after the stockpiles ran out, not to mention the fact that they would run out of guns, ammunition, and men, incredibly quickly. They were but a small city in the big scheme of things. Their only hope of survival was holding until British forces could relieve them from the inner systems.

Overall the plan was multi-staged. They could not hope to stop their advance full scale, if they brought an invasion force even approaching a suitable size, and while they had no idea of their capabilities, equipment, or tactics, they could at least paint the broad strokes of their defensive plans. It was assumed they would not be so fool hardy as to attempt to land WITHIN the city, the AA and AAA batteries would make such an attempt incredibly costly, rather they would most likely land their invasion force just far enough from the City to be out of range of any defensive batteries or artillery, while as close as possible as they can manage. This would be hard to achieve without knowledge of the range of such weapons, so they expected they to attempt multiple air assaults on the city prior to landing any ground forces to scope out the defences. Hence, a radius was calculated that would be the most probably distance from the city they would decide to land from the data they would obtain from such assaults. Their planning this operated based on this assumption.

Scafell city was roughly circular, having multiple circular 'ring' roads all throughout it at increasing radii, with roads connecting between these 'ring' roads at numerous points, seemingly at random, all calculated to optimally handle traffic. The city was surrounded by agricultural fields, as was necessary for efficient food production and transport, which would provide a perfect battlefield for mobile warfare. The first stage consisted of the aforementioned open-field combined arms mobile warfare. The Armoured and Mechanised forces would engage the enemy forces as they attempt to advance towards the city, utilising the main Armoured forces as anvils, keeping the enemy formations pinned and pressed, while the lighter forces would act as harassing forces, and hammers to the anvils of the main Armoured forces. Should enemy armour or anti-armour capabilities prove to be too great for the Centaur III MBTs to properly challenge as equals, all forces would be utilised for harassing along side hit and run attacks, designed to delay the enemy as long as possible, and impart as many casualties as possible. This would all be undertaken with as much air support as can be granted, the exact amount of which is exactly what Baxter and Ward were debating. Civilians would all be instructed to live crammed into the lowest levels of their buildings, with the outermost building evacuated the instant the invasion starts.

The second stage of defences were to be a vast network of earthworks and trenches, dug by the all agricultural equipment that could be spared, and as many civilians as could be managed without compromising the industry or economy of Scafell, both of which were paramount to the production of arms with which to equip the Conscripts who would be manning the earthworks. Said Conscripts shall be trained for as long as possible by as many Army personnel as can be spared, ideally between 25,000 and 50,000 men could be equipped and trained, who could then be assigned to defend the trenches alongside most of the 5,000 actual Army troops. It was a tall order to produce that many firearms and flak uniforms, but the Governor assured him it would be done at a rate equal to, or greater than, the rate that he could train them. No doubt most of them would die, they cannot be trained or equipped nearly to the degree that the Army troops were, but they would be integral to the war effort. Either when air superiority is lost, the Armoured and Mobile forces were weakened too much to be effective, or the enemy reaches the lines regardless of the actions of said forces, we will end up relying on these men in their trenches to hold as long as possible. Ideally, what was left of the armoured forces would then return to the city for the next stage, while the mobile forces continue to harry the enemy forces from their rear. The next outermost buildings would be evacuated through the subway and subterranean tunnel networks back to more central buildings. Should the enemy start bombarding or bombing the surface buildings, a general evacuation of the buildings to the tunnels would be announced and started, but they all hoped this would not be necessary, for they did not have nearly enough room in either the tunnels or The Bunker for that many civilians.

Of course, eventually it was expected for these defences to fall, upon which all troops would fall back into the city. The next outermost populated buildings would fall back through the tunnels much like before. The fight in the city would be dictated by four major efforts. First, numerous levels of defensive barricades and blockades will have been established from rubble, vehicles, etcetera, and manned by the men who first fell back from the trenches. Secondly, the tunnels would be held by the most experienced Army personnel, and most capable forces they can scrounge together, for they were integral to the controlled and safe evacuation of civilians, as well as quick and safe transport of troops between positions of importance, failing defensive positions, and finally the transport of materials necessary for the aforementioned troops to continue fighting. Thirdly, the Armoured vehicles which have returned to the city shall be used to support and shore up defences, as well as be directed to directly oppose any enemy armoured pushes, or what ever they use as their own version of armoured forces. Finally, Sniper teams and Royal Engineers shall work together to use the evacuated buildings to their best advantage, as vantage points to attack the enemy as they push into the city, all the while the Engineers shall rig these buildings to collapse onto the streets. As soon as enemy fire gets too heavy for the Sniper team to be effective, they and the Engineers shall fall back through the tunnels, and then detonate the charges, collapsing the building, hopefully crushing some of the attacking forces underneath its mass, at the very least blocking the street.

Artillery would be fielded within the city at all times, ideally counter-battery fire would be rendered less effective both due to the fact that said artillery would be protected by the evacuated outer buildings, and because it would be moved as soon as their location had been zeroed. Lionheart II Mortar Carriers shall be used to reinforce infantry forces during both the trench defence stage, and city defence proper, effectively acting as mobile infantry support, especially seeing as its 100mm Mortar is substantially larger than the 80mm Mortar used by infantry. All the proper mines we posses will be used in between the trenches as city proper, only armed after full retreat back to the city is achieved, in order to give said retreat and the redistribution of troops more time to be undertaken. IEDs shall be used alongside inner-city defences in order to maximise the effectiveness of said defences and how long they can hold. The RAF will use what ever aircraft it has at this point to provide CAS within the city as best it can.

While this plan was very basic, and had to incorporate various gaps in knowledge regarding the enemy they are to be defending against, it should allow them to hold long enough for relief to arrive, hopefully. As long as they did not starve beforehand, of course. Work had already begun on preparing the physical defences, and the Armoured forces were already conducting exercises to prepare. Once Conscription comes into full effect, the Army's personnel would begin the training of the most viable for direct combat service. It was as damned close to being prepared as they could get in as short a time as possible, and the plan was perfect for expansion should more time than expected be available.

05/07/2157

After news of the situation to the Galactic South-East reached the Hierarchy, a plan of action was quickly decided upon in secret. A suppression fleet was to be formed, a show of force, with enough of an accompanying ground complement to quickly invade and take that colony they had found. It was to be done quickly and efficiently, both the formation of the fleet, and the taking of the colony, and the terms of surrender were to be quickly forced into the hands of the primitives they had found. They would become a new client race of the Turian Hierarchy, hopefully sooner rather than later, directly under the noses of a Council which had a dim view of Turian Imperialism and would seek to directly derail the effort if they had found out. Of course, Turian forces were being dedicated elsewhere nearby as well, but that was kept need to know to a high extent. Most simply assumed that to be a covert anti-piracy operation against the Batarians.

The preparations for the Suppression Fleet were finally complete a little over a week after the plan was authorised. Large enough to deal with any potential resistance, yet small enough to hopefully go unnoticed by the other races, it consisted of a standard Turian Battle Fleet augmented with extra support vessels, and a large fleet of troop transports. 10 Dreadnoughts, 20 cruisers, and 100 frigates, followed by a number of massive Troop mass-transports, alongside alot of much smaller examples. He couldn't deny that it was a sight to behold. Given the population that had been estimated to be on that colony, they had elected to take 40 Legions, taken directly from Palaven and her Moons, almost 60,000 fully trained and equipped Turian soldiers. A force that should be more than enough to sweep aside any resistance, and quickly establish an occupation which would force them to the negotiation table. Fleet General Tarquin Palanurus had been assigned as commanding officer of the whole operation, high enough ranked to be trusted to get it right, but not so high as to raise eyebrows at his absence. To serve in such an important operation, to partake in such a historic event, it obviously excited Saren, despite his numerous attempts to explain to his brother the realities of just how dire the situation was.

Of course, as always, it went in one side of his head and out the other. Generally a sentiment that is supposed to have been knocked out of a young Turian during mandatory service, Saren had somehow managed to retain it. Discipline was never his strong suit. No matter, when the situation got serious he is sure his brother will buck up his ideas. You could say alot of things about Saren, but he was not stupid. As much as he often seems to like to act as though he were.

"From what I have heard their Dreadnought exploded from a single shot. How much are you willing to bet on how many more ships that we will bag like that? If a cruiser could do that, imagine what a PROPER Dreadnought could do. 500 credits towards them popping ten capitals or more?"

"I am not going to take the bet, We will probably force them to surrender before they can even muster a fleet to send to the colony to attempt to free it." That and he also wondered about the validity of that rumour, but he knew that trying to convince his brother of the unlikelihood of it would simply reinforce it within his head. He had made his mind up that it was true, and he was not going to deviate on that. Stubbornness ran in the family after all, their father was not exactly known for humility, something which was even more apparent in the face of common galactic views of Turian society.

"You really think that little of them? They have to be able to put up at least some fight, they certainly seemed aggressive from what I have heard, which is not exactly a trait that fits a group which would surrender after the loss of a single colony. Who knows, we may even get to invade their homeworld." He does have a point, he had access to more intel than him due to his higher rank, so he could attest that that was a concern held by the higher ups as well. Though, they ranked it far less of a concern than Saren clearly thought it was, if he could even consider Saren's views as 'concern'. These aliens possessed incredibly weak kinetic barriers, and dedicated a dreadnought to the colony. They were clearly young if such a small colony was that important to them, which means that even should they be willing to fight, which they deem unlikely, it wouldn't be a particularly strong fight. Of course, Saren could simply be wishing for a longer war, a sentiment which he should hopefully be rid off when he gets actual on the ground combat experience.

"Unless that colony is one of the few they have. Command thinks that they are new to the Mass Effect and that their homeworld may be very nearby. The loss of this colony could very well push them to surrender if it displays our capabilities and ability to push to their capital should we want to." Strictly more information than Desolas was allowed to share, but he had it on good authority that it will be released to the rest of the troops rather soon. May as well start the process early he guessed. "We want this to be a quick war, not just to reduce casualties, but also because any lengthy war is bound to be noticed by the council before it ends. The second they find out…"

"All hope of making them a client is burred behind red tape and politics. Yeah, I know, you told me before." Saren pauses for a second. "Though, the one thing I always wondered is why they think the Council will not just try and force the issue even after we have secured their surrender."

"Because the Council would not want to risk open internal strife over something already arranged. If the arrangement has not already been made, all they have to do is diplomatically offer the species a place in the Galactic Community as an alternative to clienthood. The Turian government could not exactly push the issue without sever political fallout from the other races, and the Council would not even have to directly challenge Turian political interests to achieve their goal of stopping us clienting them." That and they could also downplay the severity of the war prior to the arrangement of clienthood. Dismiss it as an 'incident', and claim that they quickly agreed to join us upon being shown the technological and societal benefits we could offer. It would be far harder to do so should the other races have direct evidence contrary to this, or direct contact with the race who could claim otherwise. This would be an incredibly risky political move, but from what he has heard the higher ups think it would be worth it to increase Turian influence over Council politics.

In recent centuries, the Turian Hierarchy had been losing the political sway it had been enjoying since the days of the Krogan Rebellions. The extended period of peace eroding the importance placed on military strength over economic, the concerns of the civilian population and technological sector proving more pressing then that of military size and preparedness. Even the concerns of Batarian slave raids, always a sure fire way to justify Turian political importance due to their patrol fleets and peacekeeping, had grown less and less influential as the Batarian Hegemony grows closer to becoming an actual full time part of the Galactic Community. This was a situation the Turian Hierarchy saw as completely unacceptable. The securing of another client race would surely provide the boost to economic and political capital necessary to reverse this trend, even if over the short term it would breed negativity against them. Especially as this race was rather close to Batarian claimed space, which would provide the Turians an excuse to extend a military presence and patrol much closer to the areas where Batarian slavers operated. If this could be pulled off, it should be greatly beneficial.

The fleet wide alert to prepare for departure was sounded, signifying that the Suppression Fleet was finally setting off. "See you on the other side," he said as he and his brother separated to rejoin their respective groups. Being the younger brother, Saren was of a lower rank, but his natural skill at combat had placed him highly among that lower rank, a new soldier in one of the Armiger Legions. That was certainly a cause for celebration when it was announced, a rare honour for those just leaving mandatory service, and one of the few times their father had been boasting about something other than himself to his colleagues. Himself though? He was merely a minor staff officer, higher ranked that Saren simply through his greater age and experience, and no where near the same level of combatant. Some claimed he was a particularly competent strategist, he has not exactly convinced.

They were to serve in the ground forces of the invasion, Saren in one of the Armiger Legions that was to serve in the assault itself, himself as a staff officer in the HQ once it is deployed. The plan was simple, utilise the fighters carried by the Dreadnoughts and Cruisers to clear the skies, push into the city with the Armoured Companies, and set up an occupational force. They didn't want to cause unnecessary civilian casualties, that would simply sour relations with what should hopefully be a new client race, so some of their options were limited to avoid collateral damage. Of course, some may think the plan was overly basic, but he was sure the niceties were simply above his clearance. That and it is generally hard to plan around a singular unknown, let alone the multitude presented by a whole new species, of which they had not even seen an individual member.

05/07/2157

By this point most of the trenches had been dug around Scafell city, they were hardly the type you would see in history Vids about either world war that Britain won. While sandbags were still in use, proper ceramic and steel armoured plating was being produced in droves alongside the arms and munitions needed to equip the growing forces of the colony. Dug in emplacements, machine gun nests, fields of primitive mines, little more than mass produced IEDs by modern standards, were placed in-front of the trenches themselves, sniper nests were set up in all the outermost buildings even as they were still used in their normal purposes. Conscripts who were particularly good shots were given marksmen training, while most simply received basic training programs to make them actually useful. Of course, should time be granted, they would receive more expansive training, but at present the bare minimum was given just to ensure that they at least had a sizeable force should the invasion start before then. Barricades were being prepared for the roads and streets of the city proper, of course, not in said roads and streets, they were still in use, but they were being set up ready to be quickly deployed once necessary.

All this preparation, of course, was blatantly obvious to the civilian population, but much like the fabled blitz spirit of old, rather than panicking, they continued their daily lives as if there were nothing wrong. Infact, many started to use their free time to assist in the efforts to prepare for what was quickly beginning to seem like the inevitable, while others volunteered to participate in the military exercises being undertaken in the fields beyond the defences being dug in around the city. Even rationing went down better than had been expected, though multiple black markets had already established themselves, generally ignored for positive morale effect they could have. The people of Scafell were determined. When the day comes, they would be ready.

In Orbit, the asteroid mining equipment was turned to a new purpose, the preparation to do as much damage to their ships as possible. The orbital station was rigged to blow upon a signal being sent from The Bunker, so that when the aliens inevitably boarded it, they would be in for a nasty surprise. The Asteroid Mining vessels stood ready, with asteroids from the system's Oort cloud, to send the rocks hurtling towards the invading fleet the second it exited FTL in orbit of the planet. If they even took down one ship, it would be a great boon. Of course, both plans were only prepared out of desperation, a colony's asteroid mining industry was its main force of development and progress. Losing it would hurt far more than the invasion itself, by most predictions. However, they knew if they survived until the Royal Navy arrived, they would receive far superior replacements in the form of military grade infrastructure taken with the fleet to facilitate its operations in the sector.

Royal Naval operation required alot of infrastructure, infrastructure which only existed in the inner systems and Sol herself, so any Royal Navy relief force would be forced to carry the orbital infrastructure it needs with it, and once established in orbit of Scafell, it would have to stay there, at best due to the cost of moving it after it was constructed and established, at worst due to the strategic necessity of having a logistical hub in the border system with these unknown alien threats. This military infrastructure would be leagues better than current Scafell orbital equivalents, and Asteroid Mining vessels could be easily replaced. If they survived, this war could very well accelerate Scafell's development immensely. Or at least, that is what they kept telling themselves.

Within The Bunker's command centre, however, things were far more tense.

"You need to dedicate forces to protect the air base! You cannot have your air support otherwise! You cannot even consider falling back from its defence, even after the outer trenches fall, much less detonating the fuel and ammunition depots!" Once more Ward and Baxter were arguing about priorities during the defence. The colony's RAF base was located to the North of the city, built into the city's Space Port, both were within the city's outer circumference. However, it was far far harder to defend such a base and port than the enclosed streets and roads of the rest of the city, so plans current held that both would be abandoned should the trenches fall. Ward had proposed rigging the entire base to detonate once the aliens took it, which Baxter took personally.

"You can still launch your aircraft from the main roads under our control within the city! The strategic concern of allowing the enemy to take a base that would allow for them to easily land their forces within city limits, as well as base their own aircraft on the surface easily, is far more pressing than ease of operation for your chair forces." This argument had been going for quite a while, and Williams was getting tired of the to and fro. Ward was as well, but that just made him much more aggressive. "I will not waste forces defending that nigh indefensible base."

"It is not just ease of operation! That base is where all our munitions and fuel is stored! We lose it, and how the hell are we supposed to refuel and rearm! Aircraft cannot run on hydrogen like your tanks!" Not strictly true, the Supermarine Saex for one example, did, but it utilised high energy density metallic hydrogen, rather than the medium energy density liquid hydrogen that ground vehicles tended to use. "What are we supposed to arm our Longbow Attack Helicopters with, knives and forks!?"

"You relocate the munitions and fuel somewhere else then! As I have told you before! I don't give two shits if you cant find a place that is 'safe' enough for them, just stuff em in the lower levels of the buildings near the makeshift airstrips for all I care. This is war. Peacetime regulations go out of the window!"

"You WANT me to turn the buildings into literal fucking bombs!? How well is your defence going to work when an alien can just look at one of them funny and instantly eviscerate a quarter of the city!" The overstatement of the century. This was getting them nowhere.

"Will you two just shut up. The low grade munitions can be stored in the lower levels of the buildings, if they blow, so what, the buildings are designed to take it. High grade munitions can be stored in the tunnels, yes that risks blowing up the tunnels, but we have more than enough for our needs, and they interconnect, we can just shut off the ones needed for RAF operations. Fuel can be stored in the same way." Baxter looked like he was about to enter another rant. "I know it will take time to do this, and I know it will make RAF operations fucking hard, but suck it up, that base will be hell to defend and we don't have the manpower or equipment to do it. The second the enemy begin to hit the trenches, begin the process of moving operations to the designated main roads, and their surrounding buildings and tunnels. The RAF would no doubt be rather spent by this point anyway. The base will NOT be blown up though." Sure enough, it was Ward's turn to look frustrated. "We cannot risk damaging our own equipment, or compromising the integrity of nearby buildings. Instead we will rig low grade explosives along the run ways and starport, and just render the landing strips inoperable. That way the enemy cannot use them. Am I clear?"

"Yes sir." Both voices were tight, but they did not continue. Good.

The stress of the whole situation was getting to all of them. Everyone in The Bunker had been working non-stop to prepare, ever since the Hood lit up the night sky. But god damn it if Ward and Baxter started another pointless argument he was going to tear his hair out, and then their hair as well for good measure, well, what little Ward had left that is. Luckily though, they were on schedule. Give them a few weeks and they would be finally ready to face this invasion, as long as it was not absurdly more numerous than they had planned around, then they had no chance. He just hoped they would have enough time to finish their preparations...