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Serenity’s heart was racing. She sensed her three ukkur mates surrounding her, supporting her, giving her strength.
The echoes of the marching nith were now almost deafening inside the cavernous tunnel. Serenity and the ukkur lay down on their bellies. As Hruk had told her, the nith were able to detect body heat, but hidden high atop this cliff, Serenity and the others would be out of sight of their enemies.
At last, the nith came into view, emerging from the murky dimness at the far end of the tunnel. They were dressed in black uniforms, marching in straight rows, a hundred abreast or more. The pale blue light glinted off their dark scales and rifles.
God, there were a lot of the bastards.
The nith moved down the massive tunnel like a slow tidal wave of death. They parted around the big columns like water, marching steadily onward, totally unaware of the explosives planted around them.
Serenity looked toward Ravnar.
The bald ukkur’s eyes peered over the cliff’s edge, laser-focused on the approaching nith. His face betrayed no emotion. None at all.
He waited until the first wave of nith had reached the third column, then he signaled to Serenity.
She flipped back the small panel on the remote device.
The detonator button glowed red.
She pressed it.
The cavern strobed with a series of flashes that lit the subterranean tunnel as bright as day, followed by a deafening pulse of sound and vibration that rattled Serenity’s bones. The stone walls shook around her and dust sifted from overhead.
She sat up and stared over the edge of the cliff.
Below, the nith were in chaos. Around the three big columns, their ranks had been flattened and ripped to shreds by the explosion. But only a few hundred of the nith were dead. There were still many thousands left alive.
The columns were still standing. The ceiling had not collapsed.
Serenity’s heart lurched into her throat.
The plan hadn’t worked.
Then she heard a deep grinding sound. Actually, it was not so much a sound as it was a felt vibration that increased in intensity until it felt like an earthquake was shaking the tunnel. Deep cracks branched over the stone pillars and the high stone ceiling.
The first pillar gave out, followed in quick succession by the second and the third. The ceiling sagged like the underbelly of some colossal beast, then it split open and collapsed, raining massive boulders down atop the nith. The shrieking, panicked creatures disappeared amid a dense cloud of dust.
Serenity’s heart swelled with vengeful glee.
It went against her upbringing. She had been raised to turn the other cheek. She’d been taught that two wrongs don’t make a right.
But the nith had tried to eat her. Then they had tried to breed her so they could eat her babies. And today, they were coming to destroy and enslave her and her friends.
Serenity felt no pity for the nith.
The sound of the screaming aliens was music to her ears.
A roar of victory erupted from the ukkur warriors. As the dust began to settle, the savage brutes leapt down into the rubble-filled tunnel to slaughter the few surviving nith who had not been crushed to death in the collapse.
“You did it, little human,” a voice purred at her ear.
It was Hruk. The big, dark ukkur slipped his muscular arm around her shoulders and gave her an affectionate squeeze.
“Wedid it,” Serenity said, using the ukkur language.
Beside her, Grodd was staring over the edge of the cliff and whining. His entire massive body was trembling with nervous energy. He reminded Serenity of a dog who desperately wanted to chase a squirrel.
He was holding back because he wanted to protect Serenity.
