"... and you never picked up that static flash again, eh?" mused Strong,
looking at Roger. "Well, the only reason I can think of is that someone
aboard the _Avenger_ must have discovered what was happening."
"That's the way I figure it, sir," replied Roger.
The Solar Guard captain studied the scanner that was now working in
perfect order. "It's a tough break that we couldn't get that fix on
Coxine's position. I was counting on it. But at least we found Tom.
That's plenty to be thankful for."
"How is he, sir?" asked Roger.
"He'll be all right," replied the Solar Guard captain, his face showing
the strain of the past weeks. "We gave him pure oxygen and he came to
long enough to tell us what happened aboard the _Avenger_. Get me
teleceiver contact with Space Academy as soon as possible. I've got to
send a report to Commander Walters."
"Right, sir."
"You've done a good job, Manning. Your work here on the radar bridge did
as much toward saving Tom's life as anything."
"Thank you, sir. After what Tom did on the _Avenger_, though, I don't
feel like I've done very much. It took real courage to go aboard that
ship with Coxine."
Strong smiled wearily. "Well, the boy is safe now and we have a good
idea what part of the belt Coxine is operating in. With a little luck
and a thorough fleet patrol, we might be able to get him before he can
do any more harm."
Strong went below to the cadet's quarters where Astro was sitting
quietly, watching Tom. The cadet was sound asleep. When Strong entered,
Astro held a finger to his lips and met the captain at the door.
"How is he?" whispered Strong.
"He's been sleeping since he spoke to you, sir," said Astro. "He's
pretty weak, but I don't think there's anything seriously wrong with
him. After a good rest, he'll be as good as new."
"Thank the universe for that," breathed Strong. He glanced at the
sleeping cadet and then turned back to Astro. "Better take your station.
He'll be all right now. I want to get back to the Academy as soon as I
can."
"Yes, sir."
"Attention, Captain Strong," Roger's voice crackled over the intercom
loud-speaker. "I've made contact with Commander Walters at Space
Academy, sir. He's standing by for your report."
Strong returned to the control deck where he saw the sharp image of the
Space Academy commander waiting on the teleceiver screen.
He told the grim-faced senior officer of discovering the static Morse
code flashes sent out by Tom from the Avenger and the race to save Tom's
life. When he finished, the commander's face seemed to relax.
"When Corbett wakes up, give him my personal congratulations, Steve.
That goes for Astro, Roger, and yourself, as well."
"Thank you, sir," said Strong. "Since Coxine seems to be operating
exclusively out of the asteroid belt, I think it would be a good idea to
concentrate the entire fleet of patrol ships in that area."
"Good idea! I'll set it up. But get back here as soon as possible,
Steve. Coxine and that crew on the _Avenger_ aren't sitting still."
"What do you mean, sir?"
"In the last three days we've had reports from seven ships. Jet liners,
passenger freighters, and supply ships. All were attacked by the
_Avenger_ and stripped of everything those criminals could load on their
murderous backs. Blasters, paralo-ray guns, whole and synthetic
foodstuffs, clothes, money, jewels, equipment. Everything under the
stars that they could use. Any ship that even comes close to the
asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, unless escorted, is a dead space
bird. And if we did provide an escort, we wouldn't have enough ships
left to carry on the search."
Strong listened to the news with rising anger.
"I'll blast back to the Academy as soon as I can, sir," said Strong.
"Fine!" said the commander. "End transmission!"
"End transmission!"
Strong turned off the teleceiver and called Roger onto the radar bridge.
"Have you got a course back to the Academy, Roger?"
"Yes, sir."
"All right, give it to Astro and let's get moving. Every minute wasted
now is the difference between a ship looted and the future safety of the
space lanes. I have a feeling that Coxine is not just playing for the
hauls he makes on those helpless jet liners."
"I don't get you, sir."
"Look at it this way, Roger," replied Strong with a grim smile. "A man
smart enough to do what he did while he was confined to a prison
asteroid might have bigger ideas now that he's free. Ideas about himself
and the whole Solar Alliance!"
During the weeks following, the activity of Bull Coxine and his pirate
crew justified Captain Strong's fears. Repeatedly, ships were attacked
on the fringe of the asteroid belt and stripped of armor, food supplies,
and valuables. With the secret of the light-key, the vaults of the ships
were opened as easily as though there had been no lock at all. The
totals had reached staggering amounts and the daring of the _Avenger_
was more pronounced, as Coxine struck repeatedly, farther and farther
away from the protection of the asteroid belt. It seemed as though he
were taunting the Solar Guard with his exploits.
All defense measures seemed to be futile. When the space freighters and
jet liners were armed and tried to resist attack, Coxine blasted them
into helpless space junk at a frightful cost of life. When the ships
were escorted by powerful rocket cruisers, the pirate refused to attack,
but the search squadrons were correspondingly depleted. The combinations
of the energy locks were changed every day, but with the adjustable
light-key, Coxine met every change easily. The entire Solar Alliance was
in an uproar, and the citizens of the planets were clamoring for action.
[Illustration: _All Solar Guard defense measures seemed to be futile_]
Finally, the commanding officers of the Solar Guard noticed a change in
Coxine's operations. Instead of merely attacking spaceships and
hijacking their cargoes, he now took over the vessel completely, sending
the passengers and crews drifting helplessly in space in jet boats.
Three large, fast space freighters of the same class as the _Avenger_
were now in the pirates' hands.
Then, one morning, in his headquarters at Space Academy, Captain Strong
received an electrifying report. Coxine had attacked a freighter
escorted by a Solar Guard rocket scout. Outgunned, the scout had been
destroyed, but it had inflicted damage on the _Avenger_. The last report
from a dying communications officer on the scout was that the pirate
ship was drifting helplessly in space!
Strong, his face showing hope for the first time in weeks, burned the
teleceivers, flashing orders to the various elements of the search fleet
to converge on the disabled _Avenger_.
"Attention! All ships in quadrants C through M and Q through B-l!
Proceed full thrust to quadrant A-2, section fifty-nine. On approaching
target you will signal standard surrender message, and if not obeyed,
you will open fire!"
Behind him, the three cadets of the _Polaris_ unit listened to the
decisive words of their commander and then let out an earsplitting yell.
"No time for celebrating," barked Strong. "We haven't caught him yet.
He's the slickest thing to hit this system since the reptiles climbed
out of the Venusian mud! It's going to be a case of our getting him
before he can disappear into the asteroid belt, so let's hit the high,
wide, and deep!"
Five minutes later, Strong and the boys were aboard their ship.
"Ready to blast off, sir," reported Tom. The curly-haired cadet's face
was still pale and drawn, showing the effects of his ordeal in space.
"Get me direct teleceiver contact with Captain Randolph on the rocket
cruiser _Sirius_," ordered Strong.
"Yes, sir," replied Tom. He turned to flip on the teleceiver, and a
moment later the captain's face appeared on the screen.
"Randolph here. What's up, Steve?"
"I've got Squadron Nineteen of the Martian reserve fleet heading for the
last reported position of the _Avenger_ now, Randy. I'll take the point
position of your squadron and direct operations. I'll relay course to
you as soon as we're in space."
"O.K., Steve," replied Randolph. "I'm ready to raise ship."
"I'll go up first. Form up around me at about five thousand miles. End
transmission!"
"End transmission!"
"All right, Tom," ordered Strong, "let's get out of here!"
The young cadet strapped himself into his acceleration chair, then
picked up the control panel intercom and began calling out orders
crisply.
"Stand by to raise ship! All stations check in!"
"Power deck standing by!" replied Astro from below.
"Radar bridge standing by!" acknowledged Roger over the intercom.
"Energize the cooling pumps!"
The whine of the mighty pumps began to fill the ship almost as quickly
as Astro acknowledged the order.
"Feed reactant!" snapped Strong, strapping himself in beside Tom.
A low-muted hiss joined the sound of the whining pumps as Tom opened the
valves. "Reactant feeding at D-9 rate, sir," he reported.
"Roger," called Strong into the intercom, "do we have a clear
trajectory?"
"Clear as space, skipper!" was Roger's breezy answer.
"All right, Tom," said Strong, "cut in take-off gyros."
The cadet closed the master switch on the control panel and the noise
from the power deck below began to build to an unbearable crescendo!
Watching the sweeping second hand of the chronometer, Tom called out,
"Blast off minus five--four--three--two--one--_zero_!"
With a mighty roar, all main rockets of the spaceship exploded into
life. Shuddering under the sudden surge of power, the ship rose from the
ground, accelerated at the rate of seven miles per second, and arrowed
into the sky, space-borne!
On the Academy spaceport, ships of Squadron L began to blast off one by
one behind the _Polaris_ at ten-second intervals. Three rocket cruisers,
six destroyers, and twelve rocket scouts. The explosive blast of one
hardly rolling away across the surrounding hills before another
deafening blast lifted the next space vessel away from Earth.
Aboard the _Polaris_, Roger was busy over the chart table plotting the
course when Strong appeared at his side.
"Have that course for you in a minute, sir," said Roger. He turned to
the astrogation prism and made careful observations of Regulus, the
fixed star always used in astrogation. He jotted several numbers down on
a piece of paper, rechecked them against a table of relative values and
handed the papers to Strong.
The captain immediately opened the teleceiver and relayed the
information to other ships of the squadron. After the _Polaris_ had made
the course change, the ships followed, taking positions all around the
lead vessel.
Like fingers of a giant hand, the Solar Guard squadrons converged on the
reported position of the disabled _Avenger_. From every ship, radar
scanners probed the space ahead with invisible electronic fingers for
contact with the target. On the _Polaris_, Strong, his nimble brain
figuring Coxine's possibilities of escape, hunched over the chart table
and worked at plotting alternate courses on which he could send pursuit
squadrons on a moment's notice. One thing worried Strong, and that was
if Coxine should repair his ship and make the security of the asteroid
belt before they could reach him, it would be almost impossible to track
him through that tortuous maze of space junk.
Squadron Ten was the first to sight the enemy spaceship, though it was
too far away to attack. The commander reported his finding to Strong
immediately.
"We still have quite a way to go before we reach him, Strong. But if our
luck holds out, we might be able to pin him down in a wide circle."
Strong studied the chart and marked the position of the _Avenger_ just
reported. He compared the position to that of the other fleet ships and
decided that they were still too far away to tighten a ring of armor
around the pirate. Strong was well aware that if the Solar Guard could
spot Coxine, he in turn could spot them. Luck, mused Strong to himself,
was what they needed now. A little luck to keep the pirate from
repairing his ship and disappearing into the asteroid belt. He grabbed
the intercom and bawled orders.
"Power deck, emergency space speed. Control deck, relay that order to
every ship converging on the _Avenger's_ position!"
"What's up, sir?" asked Tom from below.
"One of the ships has spotted Coxine. He's apparently still out of
commission, but we're too far away to hail him."
Strong began to pace the deck of the radar bridge, and with each turn,
he glanced at the radar scanner where Roger was waiting anxiously for
the telltale blip of the _Avenger_ to appear.
Suddenly the blond-haired cadet stiffened. He peered at the scanner
screen, then cried, "There he is, sir!" His finger pointed to a white
outline on the scanner.
Strong took a quick look at the pirate's position and compared it to the
positions of the converging fleet. He turned to the teleceiver and
signaled for the immediate attention of all ships.
"This is Strong aboard the flagship _Polaris_! All ships will proceed
according to attack plan seventeen--code nine. Use full power! Emergency
thrust!"
As the minutes passed and the Solar Guard fleet plunged forward, the
ships forged a solid wall of guns around the drifting pirate vessel.
From above, below, and almost every compass point on the plan of the
ecliptic, they closed in, deadly blasters aimed, gunners ready to fire.
"We've got him, sir!" breathed Roger. "He can't escape now! Not in a
million light years!"
Captain Strong didn't reply. Eyes were glued to the scanner, watching
the target and the Solar Guard squadrons, searching for every possible
loophole in the trap. Suddenly he spoke into the teleceiver.
"Attention all ships! Maintain present range, reduce speed, and take
englobement formation!"
In reply, the elements of the fleet smoothly reformed until they formed
a giant wheel in space with the pirate ship as the hub. Around and
around they flew, all inboard guns trained on the enemy.
As the command ship, the _Polaris_ flew high over the formation. Strong
checked the formation carefully on the scanner and nodded his
satisfaction.
"I think we've done it now, Manning," he sighed. "Coxine doesn't have a
chance of breaking through."
Roger looked unhappy. "Ah, it was too easy, sir," he grumbled. "I was
counting on having some fun."
"After all these weeks of heartache, I'll skip the fun if you don't
mind," said Strong wryly and turned to the intercom. "Tom, check in!"
"Aye, aye, sir!"
"Head for the _Avenger_. Close in!"
"You mean we're going to lead the attack, sir?" Tom shouted in a sudden
burst of enthusiasm.
"From the looks of things, I don't believe an attack will be necessary,"
replied Strong. "We're going alongside to accept Coxine's surrender.
Start blasting!"
"Aye, aye, _sir_!"
As Tom's voice was heard over the intercom speaker, issuing orders to
Astro for change of course, Strong turned back to Roger.
"Open up the audioceiver to all-wave transmission!"
"You going to talk to Coxine, sir?"
"Yes. And I hope he'll listen. If he doesn't, I'll do my talking with
six-inch blasters!"
Roger quickly adjusted the settings on the audioceiver and then turned
to his skipper.
"She's all yours, sir. Give it to him good!"
Strong smiled thinly and picked up the microphone.
"Attention, Bull Coxine! Attention, Bull Coxine!" Strong's voice was
cold and hard. "This is Captain Strong of the Solar Guard! You're
surrounded. You haven't a chance of escape. I demand your unconditional
surrender! Acknowledge immediately!"
Strong flipped the key to open the receiver and waited for the reply.
Roger moved closer, his eyes glued to the image of the pirate ship
looming larger and larger on the scanner.
Fifteen seconds passed. Thirty. There was no sound over the receiver.
Sweat began to bead Strong's forehead and he opened the transmitter key
again.
"Listen, Coxine! I know you can hear me! I'll only talk to you once
more! Surrender or you'll be blasted into protons! I'll give you exactly
thirty seconds to make up your mind!"
Again Strong opened the receiver key and waited, but as the seconds
ticked by, there was no answer.
"Sir, do you think he's sucking us into a trap?" Roger whispered.
"Maybe," replied Strong grimly. "But he knows what would happen to him
if he opened fire."
"Captain Strong! Captain Strong!" Tom's voice suddenly blared over the
ship's intercom.
"Don't bother me now, Corbett," replied Strong irritably.
"But, sir," Tom persisted, "that isn't the _Avenger_!"
"What!" Strong was thunderstruck.
"No, sir," continued the young cadet. "I'm looking at her right now on
my control-deck scanner. It's the same model ship as the _Avenger_, but
it isn't Coxine's!"
"Are you sure?"
"Positive, sir. I was on her long enough to know."
"Blast it! Then what--?"
Roger suddenly interrupted Strong. "Sir, look at her over the
magnascope! She's been abandoned!"
The Solar Guard captain quickly turned to the magnascope screen. There
he saw a close-up view of the target. It was a helpless derelict. All
emergency ports were open and the jet-boat locks were empty.
Strong's face grew pale and he slumped back in his chair.
"What--what do you suppose happened, sir?" asked Roger hesitantly.
"It's easy enough to figure," Strong replied, his voice dull and
lifeless. "Coxine is using more than one ship now. And when this one was
damaged, he simply transferred to another one. He's outfoxed us again!"
Slowly, with wooden legs, he walked over to the teleceiver.
"Attention all ships! Resume former search stations. All we've caught
here is a red herring!"
And as the powerful engines of the _Polaris_ picked up speed, Strong
imagined he could hear Gargantuan laughter echoing in space around him.