chapter 3

Alina was daughter of the king, so she was first princess of direct blood line.

She planned to become next queen after her father would pass away.

She was watching at this innovative technology very carefully, as it could define her coming reign.

The special force went in the portal, and eight hours they came back. They weren't at good shape, as two of the members were being dragged by Rayan through the portal and rest of the squad were just following him quietly.

Only member that seemed relatively fine was Rayan, but even he seemed pale.

Whole royal family was shocked and were thinking almost same thing.

"What could do them like this, even when they had newest technology with them?"

Only Alina said it loud.

At the same time Rayan was shitting on himself that they had survived.

"Seal the portal! I explain it later privately."

"Yes sir!"

Warp gate's portal was temporarily sealed, and Rayan headed towards control room of near building.

"What happened over there and how did you even get your suits to look like that?"

"Well first we headed through the portal and then...."

Rayan explained the situation and tried to stop them from going through the portal ever again.

"Ok, we understand where you are coming from and try to stop future expeditions there, but problem is the royal family."

"Why is that?"

"Well, they put great effort to this show and if they just back down after one failed expedition, they look bad at front of public. They probably try to get some heavier machinery through the gate to continue their publicity stunt."

"THEY DON'T KNOW WHO THEY ARE DEALING WITH!!!"

"I get it, I get it! now stop shouting. I try to explain the situation to them, but if they are still going to go with their plan, then I can't do really anything about it."

"Well, I hope they agree to not invade the other side again. Effect of my adrenaline is wearing off, so I go to sleep..."

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Three days were gone by from the expedition.

'United government', it was name of current global governing model, which tried to achieve unity of whole planet.

over 95% of countries were under its power.

It had achieved almost complete unity of the alfan, but of course complete unity was impossible. It worked rather like an organization where all the countries spoke with each other and voted.

If results were not given and bigger conflicts appeared, then chairman gave the last say or decision. Chairman changed every 5 years so that no one could be at charge forever.

Alina attended to the meeting with his father, the king.

conversation had already begun and was very heated.

"We shouldn't advance further to another planet when even the research institute, advised not to do so!"

"The research institute doesn't have any valid reasoning for this advice. AH, the country who created the technology has arrived. How about we ask them about this?"

The king started speaking with loud voice that everyone could hear.

"We have heard of things from other side who doesn't want us there. We have decided to change our plans and, so we go in with heavy machinery. This is going to take at least two to three years. We ask your understanding on this matter."

The king bowed and sat down again.

Many countries also wanted rights to this technology and other thought it should be handed to United government.

Loud and big conversations started to happen, and chairman Andrew looked them from the side and was thinking.

Should we seal it and abandon whole technology, or should we take the risk and push deeper to unknown?>

It was only his first year as a chairman and of course he had to make enormous decisions.

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Two and half years later world was readying for first major scale expedition.

Warp gate's scale was expanded and now it could fit through large war machinery.

This was chance for major nations to expand their influence and conquer new land, so of course they invested heavily at first expedition.

United government didn't step in to regulate it, and the royal family of country who developed the technology were happy with the added workforce.

Due the nature of this expedition, which was on dangerous waters, the commanding structure was especially strict.

"What is current situation with the troops?"

"Due limited supply of suits which can survive on the other side, we have 1 million ground troops and 500 000 personnel for operating heavy machinery."

"Ok, when can we start going through the portal?"

"We can start the operation approximately in next 12 hours!"

12 hours later operation was started, and it began moving towards its own doom...

First going through the portal were lightly armored resonance squad. They went through the portal and in the next moment they were at huge cave.

Whole cave was completely dark, and the squad members were thankful for their modern gear.

They continued deeper into the cave while marking their path. As they explored deeper, they felt uncomfortable, because they hadn't seen any monsters.

Information that they had been given was inaccurate and place was so quiet that they could only hear their breathing.

Squad leader was walking at front and trying to gather useful information for the commanders at other side of portal.

Cave didn't seem to be at very deep underground, which was relief as working with heavy machinery would be easier.

As squad leader was walking forward, he started to think.

It was weird as there was nothing else than stone besides it. The plant's color was almost black, but it had shade of dark blue.

After walking for about ten minutes the squad finally could see some light at end of the enormous cave. Light flickered for a second before continuing like nothing happened. Squad leader was only one who noticed it.

They continued to the cave entrance and went outside. There was surprise waiting for them outside the cave.