Ironclad would be their new families. With nowhere else to go, and nobody else to turn to. Rez, Riza, Tameen and the many other now orphaned young ones relied on the people of Ironclad.

Coco tended to them all as best she could, through the thick and thin she became their new mother.

Days became weeks, weeks became months, months became years. And eventually the years became a decade. Ten years had passed since the Ironclad forces stormed the laboratories that had since been discovered to be owned by Proto Industrial, the same people behind the design and manufacturing of the Officers which were now being used to enforce Theodore's totalitarian rule on the solar system.

Earth, Venus, Mars and Mercury were quickly subdued by the Officers and their weaponry. With different models constantly being shipped off to fight anyone who resisted the Head of System. Humans were simply outmatched by the unrelenting metal, loyal to Theodore and him alone. He had the perfect army, one that could not think or act for itself. He didn't have to worry about his government either, as all he had to do was treat them like royalty with shiny gifts and lots of wealth for them to agree and follow his idea of a machine kingdom. The inner planets became giant factories and research facilities for new machines of war. And rumour was that Theodore even wanted the ability to spread his machines across the stars.

An unfortunate truth was that the Hybrid children would have to be part of this war. There would come a day when they had to leave their new home and fight back. Some of them knew this, some of them tried to ignore it, but they still had time to be innocent. Mostly.

The early morning alarm went off to signal the start of the working day, echoing through the halls of their flagship, an old Dreadnaught called the Forge that fought in the early days of the UPA-Independence War. At two and a half thousand meters long, it was by no means the largest warship in the System, but it was big enough to stage an effective guerrilla war from.

On the upper decks of the ship were the crew quarters, all varying sizes and quality. But in one of the more well kept rooms was a certain tired wolf boy, groaning as the alarm reached his two sensitive canine ears. He held his head and grunted as he shoved himself up off of the mattress and swung his legs around onto the floor. His bare body glistened with sweat, as he struggled with night terrors.

His body was bigger and more muscled, as he had spent the last ten years training and working to be able to fight back against Theodore. He was now eighteen.

Standing up off of the bed, his feet slapped against the smooth tiles on the floor. His skin sticking to it ever so slightly with each step as he walked over to the window and looked on out at Ironclad and Jupiter.

Jupiter sat in the distance, it was an immense distance away yet due to its sheer size it seemed rather close due to how much of the window it took up. But between him and the planet was a few dozen ships. A single battleship, a handful of cruisers, lots of frigates and many, many gunships and fighters.

This was Ironclad. A far cry from its original glory in the war, but they had to take what they could get.

Rez scratched his back with his sharper nails and yawned, his big, black bushy tail swung side to side gently before he turned and walked over to the bathroom. Stepping into the shower, he closed his eyes as he reached over to the dial and turned it to the right. It took a second for the water to pump in, but it sprayed down onto his head and chest with force. The water hit his skin and ran down his body, pooling at his feet before running down the drain to be recycled and cleaned.

Washing himself off in five minutes, he grabbed a towel and began drying himself off as he walked back into the main room, his hair dripped down as he did so.

Before he had a chance to do anything else however, the door slid open with a metal thunk, and a familiar tanned form walked in.

Tameen didn't grow much bigger than she was before, her head would only reach the chest of a grown person. Her bunny ears got larger, and bone began to form on her knuckles, between her fingers in a similar shape to the digging claws of a rabbit. Her legs, thighs and hips got muscled and larger, prompting her to start work as a fast response medical officer. But other than that she didn't change much at all, much to her dismay.

She walked in wearing an Ironclad cadets uniform, a tight fitting and smart looking jumpsuit. It was white with black trims, and the Ironclad logo across the right breast. It was nothing flashy, but it was much more comfortable than a normal fabric uniform.

She held in her hand a datapad, scrolling through the things that she had to do for the day

"I've got such a busy day today. First I've got to attend the medical class, which is fine. But then I've got to take part in a medical drill, which is like... If engineers were hurt in a sudden explosion during maintenance. Ten minutes after the medical class, on the other end of the ship? Even the tram system won't get there that quickly. And what's more is that.. You, still haven't gotten dressed?" She asked, with a tilted head as Rez simply stared back at her and rolled his eyes.

"You could knock you know. The morning alarm only went off a few minutes ago" he said, tossing the towel onto his bed and walking over to the dressers where his clothes were.

As the child Hybrids grew and entered puberty, a vast majority of them began to develop increased body temperatures. New clothing had to be designed for them and almost all of them slept nude to avoid irritation and annoyance.

But they also found themselves acting more animalistic due to the traits and instincts that had been picked up during the gene splicing. The Hybrids all lacked the embarrassment of being seen without clothing, and many Hybrids often spent extended periods of time together without wearing anything simply because of the way their altered minds worked.

Tameen smirked slightly as she walked over and sat on the bedside as she stretched her legs out, her green eyes glancing at him "You can't expect much to happen if you only get up at the bell and not before"

"I did that. And I got told a soldier needs as much sleep as they can get. So I stopped" he stated, as he began to put boxers and socks on.

Pondering for a moment, Tameen sat back "Really? That's strange. I get told to be prepared to operate at any time. Surely that would be the same for fighters" she asked.

"Well. The chance of someone getting hurt while working on board is a lot higher than an attack. You would be needed at all times here. While I would only be needed a certain times" he answered as best he could.

She thought about his logic, then shrugged "Yeah I guess that makes sense" she stood up and stretched, wiggling her small bunny tail around as she walked over to the door "I'll see you around, tough guy" she teased and waved, walking out.

Rez sighed and rolled his eyes again, putting on his uniform and looking at his reflection in the window. The scars had faded, but he wouldn't ever forget.

Turning to leave his room, he took his datapad off of the bedside table and stuck it to his hip. The uniforms came with magnetic belts for equipment and gadgets.

He had time to burn before he had to go and start training for the day, so he decided to go and see about breakfast at a bar he enjoyed.

The ship had a large civilian district where food, recreation and shops were available. A large population of innocents who fled from Theodore's planets ended up seeking refuge at Ironclad, so the Forge became half flagship, half city.

The bar in question was a fancy location called the Cosmic Dragon. It was a small family run place, and Rez had become good friends with them.

As he walked through the busy streets, weaving through people as he spotted the neon sign above the place. It was the outline of a dragon, with the name going through its body.

The walls were painted a dark red, with subtle and calm mood lighting. Various tables and booths all had comfortable leather chairs, and the place was quite quiet for the amount of people outside in the streets.

Rez walked over to the bar and sat on one of the stools, smiling as a person walked over.

A cat Hybrid with white hair and orange eyes. Her face was cute and elegant, with a sharp and almost dangerous look to her. Yet she lacked the scars and rough skin of a normal Hybrid, as she wasn't the same sort as Rez.

When Ironclad learned of Theodore's plans to create enhanced soldiers with Hybrids, they retaliated by doing the same thing. Except instead of brutalising children and torturing them with a slow and painful transformation, the gene splicing took place inside the womb. The outcome was the same, but the Hybrids weren't damaged and unstable. But Theodore probably saw that as an advantage of his Hybrids, a blood thirsty killer full of hatred.

Although one side affect of the Ironclad Hybrids was that the mothers were accidentally affected as well. It was never found out what was responsible for the splice to move to the mother, but it unfortunately caused a similarly slow and painful change, rather than one that happened passively while the fetus developed. Not many mothers survived the ordeal, but both sets of Hybrids were able to self sustain their kind, as their DNA was radically different from a normal human.

The cat Hybrid in front of Rez was one of those Ironclad Hybrids, and her name was Yui Vai. She was a beautiful girl, with a slender frame and bountiful figure.

She smiled at Rez as she used a cloth to clean a large mug "Hey there, Rez. What can I get you?" she asked politely.

Rez looked to her and propped himself up on the counter, his tail flicked gently and brushed against the footrest that went around the stool "What've you got for breakfast today?" he asked, his stomach grumbling, but only enough for him to hear it.

Yui pondered as she looked down and thought for a moment, then back up "We've got sausage, eggs and toast. Pancakes, syrup and scrambled egg. And then we've got omellete and ham with a side of bacon. Sorry it's not much"

He shook his head "Oh it's fine. I don't need anything fancy Yui. I shouldn't fill myself up anyway, since I've got training after this. Don't want to be doing pushups when I'm about to vomit, y'know?" he chuckled as he thought about the options

"I'll go with sausages, eggs and toast please" he said, sitting upright and glancing at the rest of the locale, which only had two other diners. He turned back to Yui who was putting the order through to the kitchen

"Kinda quiet this morning" he said, concerned for the business.

With a sigh, Yui turned back and rested her arms on the counter "Well, ever since that new place across the street opened it's been a lot quieter here. Starry Vixen or something. Like, it's blatantly copying us. Cosmic Dragon, Starry Vixen, duh?" she sighed and ran her hand down her face, groaning.

Rez smiled slightly "Well, if it's worth anything, I'll always come here for my food"

Yui smiled back at him, and went to say something back, but before she could Rez had been dragged from his stool.

With a yelp, the wolf had been lifted up in a tremendous bear hug by a large broad man with dirty blonde hair. His eyes were snake like, and his skin had a very faint and subtle scale pattern on it.

He spoke with a thick Irish accent "There he is, chatting up a bird"

Rez grumbled as he struggled to break free of the vice like grip that he had "Krowe, piss off!"

A bellowing laugh came from him as he dropped the smaller Hybrid and sat on a stool beside Rez, looking to Yui "Good morning Yui. Have you got any pancakes today?"

Yui smiled and nodded "Sure do. I'll go get them ready for you" she said as she walked into the kitchen, the smell of cooking coming through for a moment.

Climbing up back to the counter, Rez mumbled and looked to Krowe and stuck his tongue out "Dick"

Krowe smirked "What? I was saying hello"

Rez rolled his eyes and looked forward "Sure..."

The two would have their breakfasts uninterrupted, and would make their way to the training hall together. Where they would continue to prepare for their upcoming duties in the war against Theodore.