Free The Round Table (Space Lore Book 3) by Chris Dietzel

chance, but the Basilisk had two reasons for not wanting to kill the monster of the Cauldrons. First, the monster didn’t know it yet but it was going to help them escape. And second, Traskk had a soft spot for the creature.
    He knew what it was like to be amongst people that were afraid of him just because of how he looked, because he had claws and fangs instead of fingernails and teeth. He mainly sympathized with Balor, though, because Traskk’s mother had once read him a bedtime story about the monster of the Cauldrons.
    No one knew how old Balor was or if there were other members of his species somewhere else in the galaxy. As far as anyone else knew, he was all alone. And for as long as he had lived, everything and everyone he had looked at had died.
    “Imagine how lonely that life must be,” his mother had told him ages ago. “He can never make friends. Everything he likes dies when he looks at it. That type of cursed life could make a monster out of anyone.”
    Traskk grew up thinking of the monster of the Cauldrons not as a rampaging beast but as a prisoner just like all the other inmates at the facility. But Balor would be a prisoner anywhere he went. All the giant wanted was to be left alone so his lethal eye didn’t kill people. Instead, he was forced to roam the prison yard, indiscriminately taking lives as he went.
    As gently as he could, Traskk guided the monster away from Morgan and toward the perimeter wall where the guards were firing down from high above. The Basilisk, still clinging to the back of Balor’s neck, patted it to let it know it was doing a good job.
    He guided the monster back to the same entrance where he and Morgan had entered the prison yard. A group of security forces was there, setting up a cannon. Two Vonnegan troopers were anchoring the weapon into a heavy base so that when the weapon was fired it wouldn’t be propelled backward. Two other soldiers were loading ion cells into the weapon so it could begin firing. Even with their armor on, all it took was one look from Balor and all four guards were dead seconds later.
    Traskk patted the giant on the head and relaxed his grip on its ears. Balor raised his hand again, but this time Traskk didn’t dig his claws to keep the one-eyed giant from moving. He could tell, from the way the giant moved, that it didn’t have bad intentions. Traskk let Balor’s hand, which was almost as large as Traskk himself, stroke his new friend’s scaly skin. No one, not even Traskk’s mother, would have believed the contented sound that Balor made then. Instead of roaring or groaning, the only two noises the monster had made since arriving at the Cauldrons, the giant offered a low purr.
    Traskk climbed down from the giant’s back, then gently pushed it forward into the tunnel. The opening was barely large enough to accommodate the beast, and Balor didn’t like being in an enclosed space, but he did so because his new friend urged him ahead. Traskk watched the giant lumber away, down the hallway. If any more Vonnegan ground forces were dispatched, they would be killed by their own monster.
    The ion cannon was there, ready to be used. Traskk had just taken up a position at the Vonnegan heavy weapon when a laser blast shot straight through the thickest part of his tail. With a roar, he grabbed the handle of the cannon and dragged it out of the doorway and into the prison yard. Aiming it almost straight up in the air, he pressed the trigger. Nothing. A second time he pressed the trigger and still nothing happened.
    Hissing, he looked at the fuel cell and then at the cables. With a click, he locked the tube leading from the ion cell to the cannon into place. The entire platform that the cannon rested on began to rumble and hum with the force of the energy building up inside the weapon. Lining up his shot, he pressed the trigger again. A great ripping stream of energy blew out from the cannon and streaked up the length of the wall. As strong as Traskk was,