The two Imperial generals, of course, had no idea that just as the refugees' ship landed on the planet, a large insect cocoon had already been hidden in a remote canyon. The cocoon clung to the canyon wall, sprouting countless tentacles that looked as though they were made of fleshy tumors. They burrowed deep into the cracks in the rock, like cancer cells sucking the nutrients from the planet.
Inside the cocoon, a certain "girl" held the last crystal she had and made one final call to her close ally before the operation began.
"I did as you instructed and had those escaped slaves eat the things. Can we activate them according to plan?"
"That wasn't possible before, but now it is." As she spoke, she ran a hand over the area below her chest, across her lower abdomen. Her Leviathan nest had taken root there, and its glow was spreading little by little.
After saying that, the "girl" thought for a moment, then added, "But I can't guarantee our little trick won't be detected by the Imperial Army's biological surveillance department."
"Didn't you say its properties were completely beyond the limits of current scientific understanding, and that it couldn't possibly be detected?"
It really couldn't be detected! the "girl" thought. Over the past two years, she had traveled far and wide, covering half the galaxy. She had dealt with the security agencies of various nations and undergone several rounds of strict biological screening. If the parasites could really be detected, there was no way she could have kept the several hundred million cell-sized protozoa living in her belly a secret all this time.
"But if a psion at the Saint level takes part in the inspection, we might be exposed," she said.
Once a psion reached the "Saint" rank,