Planet Master

166- Accelerated Growth Serum

On Rodentia, there were so many of the refugees from the Rodents’ colony planets retreating to this planet.Furthermore, the refugees were conscripted into the forces and had to reproduce. Their children would then be subjected to the Accelerated Growth Serum, forcing them to mature at a faster rate than their normal growth circle.

Although the Rodents had a short growth circle, their government decided that they needed more numbers in their ranks for the upcoming battle that would decide their fate.

On Rodentia, those nobles had received the news from Zenollium that the planet had fallen into the hands of the Undead.

That was why they implemented the policy of letting the next generation raised quickly, to fend off the enemy as much as possible.

On one of the megacities in Rodentia, there was a large crowd stretching from downtown to the outer edge of the city.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for not being able to protect you from this.” A mother Rodent could not help but let out tears as she had to send her children to participate in the conscription.

All citizens were forced to be conscripted, even the elderly, women, and children.

For children, the government prepared for them the Accelerated Growth Serum. This became the controversial point which people of Rodentia protested but the government also did not have much choice.

To win the Star Battle, one had to resort to something more drastic just to grasp a chance at victory.

Both the refugees and the citizens of Rodentia were now part of the military forces.

“This is coming from Rodentia. Decrypting the message…’all of the available resources are to be changed into able-bodied soldiers. This becomes effective starting today.’

“That is the message. What do you think?”

Far in the distance, there was a spaceship whose task was to intercept the communication to and from Rodentia.

This was the first spaceship that used a stealth compound layer to make the spaceship invisible. They were currently on the very outer range of the Rodentia, intercepting any news and communication attempt.

They were sent there to spy on the Rodentia as a whole.

The captain heard what the communication officer had intercepted and tried to make sense of the message.

“Well, either they changed the resources available into a soldier or the resource itself includes people. Citizens. If that is the case, then things will be ugly real fast. Did they do military and civilian fusion?” The captain of the stealth spaceship furrowed his brow as he sat on his command seat.

“Captain, what should we send to the HQ?” the communication officer asked nervously.

Every intelligence had to be translated first according to the available sources that the Federation had found previously. Then they also need to know the right decryption method before processing what was being communicated.

That and then interpreting the intelligence which they could not do lightly.

“Just send this, ‘The Rodents are going to pump their civilians and fuse it into their military to bolster their number.’” The captain decisively said after some time thinking.

“Alright. Sending the message back to the HQ!”

The captain knew one other intelligence. That was the Accelerated Growth Serum. With this information added to the already intercepted communication, it was easy to see where things were going.

While the stealth spaceship was gathering intel, the higher-ups of the Rodents were discussing things in the capital of Rodentia.

Although they could hear dissent almost in every city and even on the internet, they thoroughly suppressed them by censorship and even letting the police with anti-riot equipment go to the streets.

The chaos indeed subsided but the people felt that they were forced to be conscripted, turning them into unwilling soldiers.

“Although we are suppressing the news about our defeat, the fall of Solont as well as the annihilation of the military base Zenollium, some of the citizens can infer that through the intelligence leak.”

The black-furred rat with a monocle was speaking with a frown and a resigned expression.

“Just how many races have the primary enemy race conquered into their ranks? There’s Gling and then the Undead…some reports also stated that they sighted some Elves and Birdmen. What in the world is uniting them?”

“I don’t care about that. What we need to do is to make sure that we can be victorious against such a thing!”

“We can only do a last stand. Use everything we have to defend against them!”

Sounds of suggestion reverberated in the big hall where the influential people in the politics of the Rodentia sat and discussed things related to the government.

Now that even their existence was threatened, they became more extreme and daring to use every method they could employ just to reach victory.

“How’s the production of the Accelerated Growth Serum?” the black-furred rat asked an important question.

“It is on schedule and can accommodate up to a hundred million of our race members alone.”

“That is not enough. I need it to be a billion. Increase the production so that it can reach that number at the very least.” The black-furred rat said while shaking his head.

-

There was one facility where the Accelerated Growth Serum was used. In the medical pods in rows inside the facility, thousands if not tens of thousands, of children were forced to undergo accelerated growth to become an able-bodied soldier.

Although the life cycle of Rodents was already short, the use of the Accelerated Growth Serum could make a child into an adult in just three days, shortening many months of development.

The population on the bottom was filled with children and the Rodents knew that only by raising them to be able to wield weapons could they resist the enemy.

Furthermore, they had also developed the latest anti-undead and anti-gling measures from their previous encounters.

This was because the Rodents realized that they faced not the standard Undead or Gling but an enhanced version.

The effectiveness of the measures was still in question since they did not have time to deploy them on the battlefield. But the last stand would prove whether this method could work or not.

-

“Argh!” The moment he took a breath from the medical pod, he felt pain all over his body.

Then the pod opened and there was a doctor along with two nurses, frowning and the doctor injected a painkiller into the newly minted Rodent. This Rodent was one who had undergone accelerated growth.

The Rodent then felt the pain subsided but there was still a remnant of pain on the peripheral nerves, which caused him to tremble occasionally.

“Send him to the sterile ward along with the rest of the developed Rodent.” The doctor said to the nurses before he went to another one who needed his attention.

The Rodent felt like he was lying on the moving bed, the nurses pushing and pulling the bed to the sterile ward which was actually the place where the newly minted adult Rodents were going to be trained from their thoughts to their action.

Basically, the government wanted the children to be able to become soldiers in the fastest way possible.

The rodent then felt that he was placed in the sterile room with a disinfectant smell wafting. Although his consciousness was blurry due to the pain he had suffered, he could turn his neck around to see that there were many beds on his left and right.

‘Mom, Dad, I am scared. Where is this?’ the Rodent thought with a sorrow.

He had been told that he was going to become a hero by his parents. But the process was so painful that he fainted and when he was released from the medical pod, even he had to be given something that could eliminate the pain.

The nurses, however, were busy adjusting something which the child did not know the function of. He realized that all the beds had one at their side.

“We need to implant them with memories of an experienced soldier. The process will take a full twenty-four hours. Prepare the helmet. This place is now full and the process of memory implant will be done.”

“Make sure that there is nothing wrong with the cables and the connection. We don’t want an accident to occur at this point. Believe me, the consequences of mistreatment are severe.”

The child could only hear this before something was placed on his head. Then he felt something was pricking him and something flowed inside his body.

He then felt sleepy as his eyes slowly closed.

Then he suddenly found himself remembering something. He remembered holding a rifle, a grenade and a tactical knife.

Then he also remembered that he could handle various mission, from the simplest ones to the most complicated ones. At least, that was what he remembered.

The child did not know that those memories were implanted. He felt that with these memories, he could become the very hero that his parents told him. Excitement was appearing inside his heart as he became a special operations member, at least that was what he remembered.

‘With these memories, I can become a hero and eventually help my parents. But who is the enemy?’ The child Rodent thought about it and could not find an answer.

But to him, the enemy would at least be formidable if the government needed his help. That was certain. Remembering those memories felt like a distant dream as the child and the others were implanted with the memories of a soldier and then slightly modified to suit the identity of each child.

The nurses had already left the large room and handled a new child who had undergone accelerated growth.

-

“All the preparations are completed. The children have already been implanted by the memories and are now ready to serve our purpose.” The chief doctor told the black-furred rat about the progress of the newly minted soldiers.

“Good. Give them all our conventional weapons. This time, we will defend Rodentia to death!”

The chief doctor could only nod at that. He could not resist or defy the government. It was because they were the ones who contributed the most in the previous Star Battle.

‘I hope that this is the right move. We have sacrificed the next generation to be able to bolster our numbers to the point of being overwhelming.’ The chief doctor thought about it in a sad tone.

Then the new soldiers were gathered at the garrisons. There was a garrison in each city across the entire Rodentia.

On one of the garrisons, the same child was standing along with his companions. They were on high alert as one of the generals stood on the podium, giving a lively speech about their Rodentia, the history built on the sacrifices of the predecessor in the previous Star Battle, and how the Rodents now had to make a similar decision.

The child felt that his heart beating faster, and excitement could be seen on his face as his eyes gleamed. This was the chance to become a hero. But he also realized that he saw himself from a higher point of view. This time, he knew his body had changed drastically.

After the memory implant was successfully done, the soldiers were immediately sent to the garrison so that they could be armed to the teeth.

“We will be victorious! The setback we suffered will be returned tens and hundreds of times more to our enemy. Do not falter, do not fear for we will get the last triumph!” The general raised his hand and clenched it as he fervently said this.

“Waah!” the new soldiers, including the child Rodent, also shouted out loudly as they felt their spirits burn with fire, which was doused with some words.

Then they were going to be divided into different places and divisions. The child was placed on the space marine which would be at the forefront.

He along with his division got up to the spaceships as they were going to the geostationary orbit to patrol and secure the entire Rodentia.

But in the depths of his heart, he already missed his parents. To the current him, his parents became the people he needed to protect. He realized that a few days had passed without him meeting his parents.

‘Will I be able to see them one last time?’ his wishful thinking started to overwhelm his mind but he already knew the answer.

With the memory of an experienced soldier, he knew that he would become one of the marines who would assault the enemy spaceships that would be invading Rodentia.

=

“All marines, gather at the lobby!”

The child heard this loud voice the moment he had decided on his place to stay and moved in. It was as if the voice intentionally timed it right after they familiarized themselves with the interior of the spaceship.

Then, in front of the rows of the marines, stood a possum in a military uniform.

The child then stood on the rows, assimilating with the others.

“I am one of the generals named Sal. You all are here to become the backbone of the military since our losses at Zenollium are massive.” Sal said out loud, his eyes cold.

The child and the other marines were shocked to hear that. It also meant that the so-called rumor about the annihilation of Zenollium turned out to be true.

“I know that you heard something in your previous place. Not only was Zenollium annihilated, but Solont has become the territory of the enemy.”

Sal explained slowly regarding the current situation. Of course, he omitted the casualties and the losses, just stated that it was big enough for the military to conscript them all.

But Sal was not done since the purpose of gathering the marines there had not been revealed yet.

“Therefore, we planned to do a counterattack. We will use everything we have at this shot. Your task is to enter the enemy’s spaceship and ideally take it over. Gather all the useful info regarding our enemy and then return to your spaceship. Rinse and repeat. Do you all understand?” Sal raised his voice at the last sentence.

“Understood, sir!” all of the marines answered at the same time.

The other crew of the spaceship saw this and commented that the marines this time were conscripted from refugees, as well as the children who had undergone accelerated growth.

“You have time to rest and gather your thoughts until the order to deploy. Dismissed.” Sal then turned around and went on his own way while the marines returned to their quarters.

The child walked absentmindedly along the corridor, unconsciously returned to his bed and lay on it. There were so many questions lingering in his mind, but he could not find the answer to that.

‘Is this the reality of being a hero? Being ordered around and then…being sacrificed?’ The child thought about this ever since he was implanted with the memory of the experienced soldier.

His worldview was challenged, but he could not do anything else but move forward. His tail became lifeless as his eyes lost their luster; he was entering a daze.

Then a voice deep within himself started to whisper something to his mind.

‘Your parents abandoned you.’

‘You need to make a great contribution to return to your parents.’

‘Become a hero then your parents might return to your side.’

As chaotic whispers appeared one after another, the child became more confused. He was lost in his thoughts until his stomach rumbled. He placed his hand on his tummy, realizing that he had not eaten anything for quite some time.

The child then stood up from his bed and went to the cafeteria to grab some food. After walking a long corridor and turning right, he finally arrived at the cafeteria where the smell of delicious food wafted around.

Then he ordered some food he liked and then found a seat for himself. He sat there eating while thinking about what his thoughts were during his daze. That was a rare moment when he communicated with himself.

Perhaps those whispers were actually his inner heart crying at him to do something. But he was still mentally a child and no matter what kind of memories were implanted in his mind, he was at the core still a child.

He felt afraid, he felt lonely and he felt that he was in this situation because his parents had abandoned him.

Of course, he did not know that it was mandatory to be conscripted; even the children were not spared.

What he did know was that he needed to be the one who properly became a hero so that his parents could come back to him while also being noticed by the military and the government.

‘So the only way out of this situation is to become a hero…’ he thought as he took another spoonful of his food. The taste was so good but since his mind wandered, he could not properly taste it.

“All marines, prepare for docking! I repeat, all marines prepare for docking!” just as the child finished his food and was drinking some water, the announcement came like a bolt.

The child then quickly went to the place where the docking had happened. He ran so fast that he panted. Then the fellow marines were gearing up, arming themselves to the teeth.

He also followed soon. Starting from body armor, then the communicator, before the ammunition and the assault rifle were given.

“Go! Enter the enemy ships.” One marine ordered.

He followed soon and then was quickly realized that the enemy spaceship was biological in nature.

“It’s the Gling! They are attacking Rodentia’s geostationary orbit!” the one on the child’s left said while aiming at the moving Gling before pulling the trigger and shooting it to death.

The child saw another Gling approaching and then shot it immediately on sight before the Gling was not moving anymore.