Genji

the Genji are the most widespread ferals in the system, and the worst enemy of anyone in the import-export business. Roving, marauding clans of Genji have almost become commonplace among shipping routes and off-world colonies. Bred for war, the Genji were conceived as part of a genetic engineering program that called for soldiers who were fast to develop, battle-ready out of the tank, athletic, intelligent, loyal, and utterly fearless, made to be ordered, grown, and mustered in a time of war. Measures were made to avoid integrating them into society; not only are they sterile, but their lifespans are made artificially short, dying of old age after a span of 2 years. Unfortunately, the project was too successful. Genji (a corruption of gengie, a portmanteau of genetically engineered) make fantastic soldiers, but despite their short lifespan, they were shown to not handle periods of rest or, god forbid, peace very well. Their field test was initially a resounding success, but then turned into a disaster once they took over the facility and killed all the staff, and then survived the ensuing purge attempts and killed the cleanup squad that came afterwords. Despite their short attention spans and single-mindedness, they are remarkably intelligent and clever, able to intuitively operate and reverse engineer any level of technology they are presented with. Although earth's government would never admit it, several of the advances in military technology over the last decade were actually adapted from Genji designs, which were in turn reverse engineered from existing tech and improved upon. Before the first Genji left their station, they figured out the cloning process from which they were originally made and began reproducing in massive numbers, spreading out all over the system within a year. Genji are all cloned from the same original batch of genetic templates for the sole purpose of being expendable soldiers. One might expect them to be grim, fatalistic, or introspective about their lot in life. On the contrary, they almost seem to revel in their expendable nature, seeking out action and stimulation and slaking their bloodlust with joyful enthusiasm. They feel a sense of kinship with their fellow clones and they are highly coordinated when fighting together, almost as if they share a single mind. Physically, there are male and female in a handful of mammalian species, all stocky and muscular, and with a distinctly shark-like appearance about them, with a pointed muzzle and a mouthful of large, sharp teeth. They heal at an accelerated rate with a robust immune system, and are born from their development tubes fully-grown with all the military know-how they need already in their heads, so no child rearing is necessary. They typically wear scant scrap metal body armor, fighting mostly without clothing, and are armed with a gamut of advanced technology and improvised, primitive weaponry. They are currently named as the biggest threat and enemy to civilized space, and many efforts have been made in the last several years to stamp them out, but it's beginning to look as though such a task might not be possible.