“Alright, everyone, stay focused.” A young centaur man said, scales covering the majority of his lower body. “We’ve locked onto the coordinates, so prepare to open a gate to world two-eight-seven-four. Security personnel, maintain your defensive positions behind the blast gate.”
The scaled centaur stood within a control room, overlooking a large platform from behind thick, reinforced glass. On either side of the platform were bulky metal doors, enchanted just as the glass itself was to prevent damage should their connections go awry. On the platform itself were numerous concentric circles laid out flat, each rotating to shift the alignment of various geometric and runic patterns.
“Coordinate one, set. Coordinate two, set.” The centaur called out every time the rings briefly stopped, symbols shining a brilliant blue with each set coordinate.
“Coordinate five… locked.” Once the fifth coordinate was locked, the energy within the rings surged upwards, creating a circular gate of crackling energy. The interior of the gate looked like a purple void, unable to see beyond the layer of energy. “Planar gate is established, running environmental scans.”
Along the room containing the gate, numerous sensors lit up, scanning for any shift in the air pressure, temperature, or composition. After a few moments, one of the other centaurs in the control room gave an affirmative nod. “No abnormalities detected. Atmospheric conditions are within an acceptable range.”
As he said that, a small figure emerged from the gate, its sharp legs clicking on the ground. Clearly, it was some form of insectoid being with a hard carapace, and two scythe-like arms. However, its size was enough that it could fit in the palm of one’s hand. “We have a breach.” Another centaur, this one a pegasus, called out. “Unknown lifeform.”
The draconic centaur looked at the pegasus, and then to the small creature crawling about before the gate. He furrowed his brow, wondering if it was worth closing the connection because of such a small insect. Just then, another appeared through the gate… and another. Seeing that more appeared to be coming through, he sighed and gave the order. “Cut all power to the gate room, and begin the sterilization process.” He ordered, the purple gate immediately closing just as a fourth little insect jumped through.
A thick, metal shield lowered to cover the window in preparation of the sterilization process, while the project leader shook his head in resignation. “Once the sterilization is over, have the creatures dissected. If they don’t appear to be hazardous, we can try to connect again when the results are back.”
Another centaur quickly noted down his words, using their terminal to send the order to the medical team. A roar of energy sounded from behind the blast shield, the telltale sign of the sterilization process, which occurred in three stages. First, a high-intensity blast of fire and light magic, then drain the ki from any living creature in the room, and finally a spiritual blast to wipe out whatever remained.
Only when they heard the woosh of the spiritual blast did they raise the blast shields. At the same time, the bulky metal doors rose up, the medical team entering together with the security personnel to retrieve the corpses. They circle the room, gathering three fallen bodies and placing them in individual glass cases.
The draconic centaur furrowed his brow as he counted the insects gathered, recalling that a fourth had emerged just before the gate was closed. “Do a thorough sweep.” He ordered, his voice projected into the platform room. “There should be another one in there. If those three didn’t burn up in sterilization, the last shouldn’t have, either.”
The medical team members nodded, redoubling their efforts. Given the size of the creatures, there was a high chance that the last could have simply tucked away in some small corner when it died. And, sure enough, they found something on their second investigation.
“Sir, I think we have a problem.” The medical team member who had found something said, slowly backing away from one of the ports feeding energy into the room.
“What is it?” The project leader asked, having no intention of wasting time by going down and seeing it for himself.
“We have a containment breach.” The moment he heard those words, the eyes of the project leader went wide in shock. A containment breach meant that something had escaped the platform, meaning it was able to break through one of the many reinforced barriers surrounding the area.
In front of the medical personnel, there was a small, fist-sized hole in the concrete. Its edges were rough, as if it had been dug through in a hurry. This was by no means a weak point in the room’s defenses, meaning that the creature could have dug through any point along the walls.
The project leader slammed down on a large button, sounding an emergency throughout the entire research installation. “We have a breach in containment!” He called out, his voice transmitted over the intercom to the rest of the base. “Everyone, please evacuate the facility. If you encounter a small insectoid creature, do not engage!”
While it may have seemed extreme to evacuate the entire facility over such a small breach, this was all standard procedure. As they were connecting to entirely different planes of existence, they had no idea what special powers the inhabitants of these worlds possessed. Thus, protocol dictated that they immediately evacuate, calling in the Saints Guard to eliminate the threat. In the worst case scenario, they may lose the entire base.
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“Hmm?” A unicorn centaur muttered as she felt something vibrate within one of her pockets. Reaching down, she retrieved her terminal, which was now flashing red with an urgent message. Channeling a bit of mana, she read the message before her eyes went wide. “A breach at site six?”
The centauress rose to her full height, trotting out of her room and shouting. “We’ve got a containment breach at site six!” She shouted, alerting the rest of the guard. “Team three, you’ll be with me to handle the problem!”
Within the wide hall, a dozen doors all opened, other centaurs stepping out to see what was going on. When they heard the order, their expressions turned serious, and they moved to follow their leader. As they moved, they began to pick up speed, their casual trot turning into a gallop by the time they had left the hall.
Each of them kicked at the ground with incredible force once they were outside, propelling themselves far beyond their natural speed. Even the pegasi among the group did not bother to take flight, as it was faster to run in this matter. At their speed, it only took them fifteen minutes to reach site six, a large research facility far outside of any inhabited settlements.
By this time, the evacuation had already been completed, a large population of centaurs standing a considerable distance away. When the Saints Guard arrived, the unicorn leader among them quickly found the draconic centaur that issued the alert. “Explain.” She said in a firm voice, the draconic centaur hastily nodding his head.
“After connecting the gate to a new world, four insectoid creatures emerged. Their sizes were almost insignificant, but I still ordered the sterilization process per protocol. However, one of the four escaped by burrowing through the reinforced concrete lining the walls of the gate room.” Saying that, he gestured towards the nearby medical team, who still had the bodies of the remaining three insects.
Seeing this, the leader of the guard extended one hand towards the glass cases, clenching her fist. Orange flames briefly flickered within the case. When they stopped, the body of the creature was nowhere to be seen. The medical staff member holding the case gulped thickly, a cold sweat on his back as he realized just how close he was to the destructive power of the Saints Guard.
“Good, they aren’t resistant.” She nodded her head, glancing back towards the others. “Everyone, conduct the search with the Saint’s Armor. There is a chance that the creature would have tunneled outside of the complex already, so move in teams of three. I’ll remain posted outside to monitor communications and watch the exterior.”
The dozen guards nodded their heads firmly, not questioning her order. While it seemed like she was throwing them all into danger while she remained safe outside, they knew that she had taken the far more difficult job. After all, she had to watch the entire exterior of the base herself to monitor for such a small creature, while at the same time handling communications with the rest of the squad.
As she watched them dividing into four teams and entering the base, the leader took a deep breath. Her eyes began shining a brilliant blue, a circle of mana spreading out beneath her feet. “I am the right hand of the king. Mine is the voice of power. Let the wind become my eyes, and the earth become my hands.”
The circle continued rapidly expanding with her words, until it reached such a size that it had encompassed the entire research installation. Afterwards, geometric patterns began appearing within the circle one after another, some rising up to form arcane spheres glowing silver or orange.
Once the circle was complete, her senses were projected over the entire area, able to watch the facility from any angle she pleased. Naturally, this expanded the range of the minimap that she had access to. It was only normal for a member of the Saints Guard to have unlocked their minimaps, allowing them to easily detect the enemies that they were searching for. Now, if she saw the slightest bit of movement from anything other than her own people, she would be able to immediately respond.
Inside the facility, a group consisting of a pegasus, unicorn, and a normal centaur were all moving together. The addition of the normal breed was rather new to the Saints Guard, and only made possible due to their recent evolution. For the centaurs, this had resulted in them and their pegasus brethren unlocking their ability to control mana. While still not as proficient as their unicorn variants, this made it so that they were able to participate in advanced jobs like this.
“This your first outing, Hasting?” The unicorn asked the normal centaur with a small smile, orange flames wrapping around the bodies of all three. If they were attacked from their blind spot, the enemy would most likely destroy itself upon contact with their defensive barrier.
“That’s right, sir.” The centaur, Hastings, responded with a nod. His eyes were firmly watching every small corner of the hallway, as if worried that an attack could come from anywhere.
“Don’t worry, they’re not all like this.” The pegasus smiled, keeping her wings folded in. As she was walking along, her brow furrowed. “I’ve got a hole over here.” She gestured towards the bottom of the nearby wall, where a palm-sized hole could be seen.
“Right, I’ll check it out.” The unicorn centaur said, walking over. His horn began glowing blue, a pulse of energy radiating out from him. “It’s deep.” He muttered, tracking the information from both the pulse and his minimap. “And… there’s something moving inside. It looks like it might be eggs.”
When she heard that, the pegasus’s eyes went wide, and she backed up from the hole. “If it’s laying eggs, we’re in the worst case scenario.” She muttered, having been through situations like this before. “Solara, did you hear that?”
“I heard.” A voice spoke through the air itself, before speaking to all four groups within the facility. “Everyone, be alert. The target has begun reproducing. Gestation period is unknown. Make your way out of the facility with caution, and we will immediately purge this site.”
Outside, the project leader looked pained when he heard that. Most of their data was kept on site to prevent theft from outside sources. If the site was purged, they would lose all of it. However, he could not bring himself to protest, as allowing this creature to escape could result in the loss of countless lives.