Haru-vel and her boss General Renfor met with the council.

“The Vanuthic are coming and will not be deterred. Are there any options for extracting personnel from the surface?” Haru asked.

The prefect ran her hand through her hair. “They aren’t coming. They are here. They are just staging and waiting for the rest of their invasion fleet. We can’t leave. We have to defend, and we don’t have a surface-to-air defence set up.”

The general ran his hand through his hair. “What about calling the warband?”

The prefect looked to Haru-vel. “No. That isn’t a good idea at this stage. I am sure that our scientists have something to help. Doctor Jenok?”

Haru-vel looked at her mother, and she cleared her throat. “We have gone through the archives and found a substance of unknown origin that has the potential to create some of the defence warriors that we need. We have twenty doses of transformative serum and very specific criteria.”

The prefect frowned. “What will the result of the injection be?”

“We don’t know. There are forty-two candidates for the injection registered, so we just need to take on the volunteers from those in the best physical condition and conscript the rest.”

Haru-vel raised her hand. “I volunteer.”

Her mother looked sad. “I knew you would. Fine. We have nineteen doses. We need to mix genders because the results aren’t predictable.”

The general stared at Haru-vel. “You are volunteering for a civilian project?”

“I am volunteering for a planetary project. We don’t have time to mess around. We have maybe a few weeks, likely a few days. Dr. Jenok, where do I report?”

“My lab, right after this meeting. The sooner you start, the sooner we can rule out side-effects for those who follow.”

Peacekeeper Commander Haru-vel looked at her mother as they waited. Her mother looked nervous, and they both understood what was about to happen. Anyone with the same genetic stamp was going to be asked to volunteer. Where half of her genes came from her mother wouldn’t say, but since the others were all the same age, it had to trace back to the last time the warband had been summoned. Her mom was intelligent, graceful, and stoic. No matter how many times she was asked, she never divulged the name of Haru-vel’s father.

The prefect tapped the table. “Doctor, are you sure you don’t know the origin of that material?”

“It wasn’t labelled, but it does have binding agents and enough energy in it to boost those with the correct genetic signature.”

“Like your daughter.”

She inclined her head. “Just so.”

“Right. There are forty-two of them?”

“There are.”

“Gather them and choose your best twe—nineteen.” The prefect rapped her gavel. “Council concluded. We will meet again in the morning. Jenok, we want daily updates.”

“Of course, Prefect.”

Haru-vel got to her feet, and the general grabbed her arm. “Don’t you fucking dare. It’s suicide.”

“She wouldn’t have raised me as an experiment. She’s not like that.”

“Really? She’s the coldest bitch on the continent. What is she like?”

Haru clapped him on the arm. “She’s a helluva dancer.”

She went to follow her mom to the lab, and her long legs caught up with her. “So, we are going to use it?”

“Yeah, this is the time. The warband is weeks away, and if we don’t want them coming to rescue an empty world, we need to do this.”

“I know. I will help you, and I will guide the others through this.”

Her mother grinned. “You think you will be able?”

“Of course. A little adrenaline and a few more inches won’t knock me down. I might scream and curse, but I am going to go through with this.” She sighed. “Start the recruiting the moment I get the injection. Do the girls first.”

“Thank you, Haru-vel. I will.”

Ten minutes after they reached the lab, she had been scanned, recorded, and then injection administered.

The first two hours were fine, and then, she felt the pain of growing six inches overnight. She told her mother, and supplements were added as her growth continued. The second day, muscles increased, and she stopped looking so terrifying. The third day, her curves returned over the increased muscle and bone. A bodysuit was designed for her, and the other nineteen were under way. Girls first.

The ladies had immediately improved cognition, physical strength, and stamina. Yer-ai was busy making weapons that suited each of the ladies.

The guys were getting mad. Unfocused and raging, they needed to be controlled, but the only ones close to their size were the ladies, and they were still too small to manage brute force against brutes. The men also started sniffing them. Frequently. They did better when the ladies weren’t around.

When she was with finished her change, she went to Yer-ai and leaned on the workbench. “Having fun?”

“This is a fucking blast. My fingers are clumsy, but my brain is going crazy with ideas and designs. I can’t keep up.”

“What kind of designs?”

“Everybody needs something else. For the guys, it is easy. They want hammers and big guns. The armed forces are taking care of the guns, and the hammers are on their way. The guys are going to try and bring the ships down; the ladies are going to need to go in and wipe them out. I have watched your workouts, so I am covering you with energy blades. Brax-el will get scatter guns; Yah-dith will get a broadsword and dagger. I am going to be restocking with drop drones and using them as my weapons with a control halo.”

“What about Yel-nata and the others?”

Yer-ai grinned. “Grenade launcher.”

Haru-vel snorted. “Did your mother ever tell you who your father was?”