There are quite a few people claiming that, according to the Geneva Convention, the Humans in this story are committing a war crime using the alien POWs the way they are. https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/jjjin9/sorry_but_were_better_at_this_than_you/
Here is the relevant passage, along with some context.
(The Humans have just captured 5 alien soldiers as the necessary first step for the raid about to commence):
"Bring these guys back with us to the vehicles! And Masgon, tell the artillery to hit this sector in 20 minutes. Fire for effect!"
Xentus was not happy with being left on guard duty. He always got the shitty jobs. Plus, his partner was an idiot.
"Where is everyone?"
Xentus sighed. "Did you not hear? There were reports of human contact along the western side. They took 5 prisoners!"
Corbuc scratched his head. "Oh. So why is everyone gone?"
Xentus sighed, but louder. "Just take your seat and watch the trees. Nothing's going to happen, anyways." As if on cue, 5 human APCs suddenly burst through the forest. Xentus scrambled to sit up in his turret, tossing his cup of brey across the room. Shit, I'm gonna have to clean that up later. "CORBUC, YOU BETTER BE AWAKE" He screamed as he hit the alarm.
"Why are you so excited?" Corbuc drawled, "They'll never make it past the mines, and if they do, the autoturrets will take care of them. They're all bio-coded to allow only Queztalia." Xentus sat back, realizing he was right.
"Hey, did you just say something smart?" Xentus asked.
"I'm always smart"
"Yeah right," Xentus quipped. He sat back in his chair, but kept an eye on the approaching forces as something didn't feel right. Early reports of battle with the humans had been that they were cunning and hardy, and charging into certain death didn't feel like something they would do for no reason. Any moment now they'll hit the mines. The humans kept coming. Any moment now. The humans kept coming. They really should have tripped the mines by now. The humans kept coming.
"They definitely should have blow up by now," Corbuc said. Xentus pushed down his surprise at Corbuc saying 2 smart things within 5 minutes and focused on the incoming APCs. They were within 50 meters of the ship now, definitely within the minefield and the engagement distance of the autocannons. "Fuck it," he growled, turning his turret onto the APCs and pulling the trigger. But nothing happened. "What the--" He pulled the trigger again, to no avail. A little notification popped up, reading 'Friendly forces detected'. This doesn't make sense!
Suddenly, the cannons on all 5 vehicles unleashed a barrage onto the ship, blowing a hole in the side. The human war machines thundered into the ship, leaving an odd sense of calm on the landscape. Xentus keyed the radio. "Humans have breached the hull! Repeat, humans have breached the hull."
"How many of them are there?!"
"About 5 vehicles so.. a platoon? Company?"
"What are they gonna do to us? We've got 100 times the amount of soldiers as them."
As if on cue, the vehicles suddenly burst back out of the hole they had created. Charging across the landscape, they disappeared as quickly as they had come.
"Oh, uh, they left" said Xentus.
"Guess they realized their insanity," came the reply. "Where did they breach us, anyways?"
Xentus surveyed the now-quiet landscape. "Not sure... on the aft side, near the thrusters. Right next to the--Oh no"
Doll (now called Dolly) watched the trees fly by the window of the APC. She was tied to the seat, but at least it was a comfortable one. Across from her sat the Lieutenant, Adams.
According to the detractors, the Humans are using the POWs as Human Shields (or Meat Shields), claiming this is no different from placing POWs around a SAM battery emplacement (and that even forcing a captured enemy combatant to open a bio-metric lock is a war crime).
Everything I can find talking about Human Shields only talk about civilians and use examples of placing said civilians next to military assets to stop the enemy from attacking the assets.