"While we were watching for the larva to hide, I reached out for thoughts of creatures within my own telepathic range. And what I found there were dozens of thought-sounds like those of this larva. Dozens of metal-eaters, and that's just within a kilometer!"
I couldn't tell where they were all coming from, of course. I suspected they were too deep underground to be found by someone without 'Telepathy X'. But its range was too large for convenient triangulation, anyway.
Destroyer's eyes widened in alarm.
"The intruders have infected the Empire so deeply already? After all the effort of my sisters fighting in the borders?"
"Despicable," another bodyguard spoke up in disgust. Similar sentiment was written plainly on the faces of the entire squad.
I nodded. This was really alarming and offending. It felt like opening a bag of wool for knitting that you inherited from your beloved grandma, only to find that it was infested with worms of clothes moths!