“Found the alpha female. The fire is being lit. Stand by.”

At that announcement, Taureen sent his skid high into the sky. We could easily see the events down in the meadow clearly, but we were well and far above the reach of any creature that walked on the ground. Probably around the height of a human six story building.

Minutes later, crawlers and the occasional sicora exited as wisps of smoke drifted out of the entrance. The fighters were waiting for them. The crawlers were easily dispatched with an energy blast, and they relied on the shields to contain the sicora until a single bolt laced with my saliva took the creature down.

The guards with the bolt guns took turns firing at emerging sicora. I noticed that Keith didn’t join them. I bet he was waiting for the alpha female. There was no need to worry about the female’s mate because the female would kill and eat her mate, much like a praying mantis. He was old history.

A dozen sicora blasted out of the entrance, but my attention was claimed by what was behind them. I stared in disbelieving shock. I had wondered why the entrance was large enough to drive a small shuttle into it when an adult sicora could squeeze into most places that a human could crawl through. It was that large because it needed to be for the alpha female to squeeze out.

I still couldn’t comprehend how she managed to fit her massive bulk through that opening. My eyes widened in shock as she finally exited the tunnel and roared her fury.

“You didn’t tell me that we were fighting Godzilla!” I exclaimed.

Taureen gave me an odd look. “I have no idea what a godzilla is to even respond to that comment.”

I squeezed my eyes shut and fought the desire to facepalm. There was no way he could have possibly known about the human movies. “It’s an old human mythology of a huge reptile that climbed out of the sea and was capable of destroying entire cities within hours.”

Taureen glanced back down at the enraged creature. “Well, they weren’t far off.”

My eyes were drawn back to the female sicora, but I couldn’t figure out my emotions. Crawlers made me want to snarl, and sicora made me want to flame and bite. But she was a far cry from any sicora I had seen so far.

She was huge, and her heavyset bulk would have dwarfed elephants. I doubted that my claws and teeth could even pierce her dull black hide. Her long neck was thick with muscle, supporting a massive head that was likely capable of biting through tree trunks.

I wanted to flame her, but, for once, I felt caution around a sicora. I was wildly outclassed – and I knew it. Her hide had a rough appearance to it, and I wasn’t sure if she would even notice my flame if I did get close enough to land a strike. I was practically shaking in my desire to help with the attack, but I knew Taureen would never allow me near a sicora, let alone one this large.

The equipment techs now wielded huge turret weapons as dozens of energy blasts ripped through the air, striking the young matriarch. She screamed her rage but didn’t seem overly affected by the barrage. She charged forward and rammed into the shields, but they held against her assault. She reared to try and strike at the skids in the air around her.

“I always thought that the Kymari would have used more deadly weapons against the sicora. I know these aren’t the biggest guns you guys have.”

His words were quiet enough that our companions wouldn’t be able to hear them, and they would likely mistake his soft words as reassurances to me. “Most energy weapons don’t work well on sicora; their skin has an odd coating that dissipates the blast and minimizes the damage to almost nothing. We didn’t have time to bring larger physical projectiles. Such weapons are normally not nearly as effective in battle as energy weapons, and we had no need for such weapons on this planet.”

“The airspace between us is clear. Can I spit a fireball or two at her? Just sitting here and doing nothing is killing me.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Go for it.”

With a growl, I inhaled and gathered my fire. The distance was greater than any I had tried before, and I wasn’t sure if the fireball would burn itself out before it got to the sicora or not. I leaned forward and spat the fireball, using a stream of fire to add to its momentum.

It hit the back of her shoulder and burned for a second or two before fizzling out to leave a tiny sooty black spot on her black hide. It had made it, but barely. It seemed insignificant to me, but the sicora plainly did not think so. With a shriek of fury, she whirled around with impressive speed while searching for the source of the detested fire.

Her rekindled ferocity caused me to shift my weight nervously despite the distance between us. I had no clue how she had noticed it while dozens of energy blasts were striking her sides in a non-stop barrage.

“Is there any chance of someone dropping a bucket of that accelerant on her and lighting it on fire?”

Taureen immediately used his wrist comm to contact one of the leaders present. The sicora ran towards the cliff and jumped on it as she started to climb the crumbling rock with her eyes locked on us. The look in her eyes clearly was that of revenge. I guess we are the only group in this section of air space, so she knows one of us was responsible for that fireball.

I pinned my ears back before blasting another fireball at her face. She let go of the rocks on the cliff as she dropped back down to avoid it. She landed and snarled at us, baring her teeth aggressively.

“Well, we certainly have her attention.”

Taureen’s hands were on the skid’s control, ready to move at a moment’s notice, even though there was no chance of her getting to us at this height. Our six guards were mostly between us and her, although they left an open area in case I decided to hurl more fireballs. Admittedly, that is a pretty logical and obvious move on their part.

I glanced at Keith, but he had already fired every bolt he had left, as had the other guards with the poisoned bolts. One bolt could drop an average sicora within a minute, but I had no idea how effective they would be on something this big, though. She had at least twenty bolts lodged in her hide somewhere.

Energy blasts and small projectiles from the turrets still hazed the air around her, but she was focused on our group. A skid came out of the forest and flew above her as thick, syrupy liquid dropped down. The greenish color told me that someone had found more accelerant.

Excellent. Now we just needed to light it. I bared my teeth in a silent snarl; it was my turn again. I inhaled deeply, once more gathering my fire. Fireballs were harder than just breathing a stream of flame. I wasn’t sure how many more I could manage.

It took me several moments to build a good, solid fireball before I spat it at the raging creature that tried to re-enter the tunnel, only to be turned back by the thick smoke pouring out of the entrance. She didn’t see my missile, but she somehow immediately noticed it amidst all of the other attacks that barely bothered her.

The fireball had hit a spot where the accelerant had smeared, and the fire didn’t go out this time. She was not a happy camper. I was very glad that I wasn’t on the ground or within her reach since she seemed to realize that I was the source of fire.

She shrieked what was plainly a challenge, rearing up and slashed the air with her front claws. Yeah, as if I am going down there to duke it out with you. She dropped back to all fours, clearly furious that I wasn’t playing fairly.

She dropped her glare and rolled on the ground in an unsuccessful attempt to extinguish the spreading flames. Some dirt coated the sticky accelerant, but that didn’t hinder the fire. Her skin twitched as the fire spread further, even as energy blasts continued to pummel into her sides and her back.

The desire to see this monstrous sicora dead was nearly overwhelming. I took a slow breath and gathered another fireball. Such an action was next to useless with the accelerant and flames, but I simply couldn’t do nothing. I took careful aim and sent it flying. She saw it coming and moved out of the way, causing it to miss.

I breathlessly snarled my frustration. The fireballs took a lot more energy than plain fire, and if I could manage another two fireballs, I would be surprised. My throat was getting pretty sore as well. I had never spat this many fireballs before – there had never been a need.

The big shuttle came back into view and dropped a thick cable in the shape of a noose. A skid flew forward to grab it and maneuver it. The spreading fire on her back was distracting the sicora, and she didn’t notice the skid or the cable as she rubbed her flanks along the rocky cliff to scrape off the burning gel.

The noose was slipped over the sicora’s neck without her realizing what we had just done. The fighter released the cable and quickly flew out of the vicinity. The big shuttle shot up vertically into the sky as a deafening crack echoed around the meadow.

The sicora hung limply in the cable with a broken neck. It was dead.

I sagged down to lie on Taureen’s shoulder, exhausted from the exertion and urgency of the battle. It’s over. It’s dead.

I mindlinked Drake, Serena, Tom, and a handful of other dragonets to show them an image of the massive creature that we had just defeated as well as the thrill of victory.

I got back a wordless sense of shock from all of them. I was too tired to try and start an actual discussion, though. That would have to wait until later.