Chapter 17

“Spaceman’s luck, sir,” said Tom, shaking Captain Strong’s hand.

Silently the other two cadets in turn gripped their skipper’s hand tightly.

“Thanks, boys,” said Strong. “If we’re going to get that space crawler, we have to trap him. And the best bait I know is a twenty-million-credit pay roll.”

“But won’t you take at least one man with you, sir?” pleaded Tom. “Sitting up there in space in a decoy ship waiting for Coxine is like--” Tom paused. “Well, you won’t have much of a chance, sir, if Coxine opens fire before asking questions.”

“That’s the risk I’ve got to take, Tom,” said Strong. “It took a lot of talking to get Commander Walters’ permission to try this. But we’ve got to force Coxine to come out far enough from the asteroid belt to catch him before he can run back in and lose himself again.” The young captain smiled wanly and added, “Don’t think that your job is unimportant!”

Tom, Roger, and Astro nodded. On their return from the unsuccessful attempt to capture Coxine, they had been suddenly faced with the routine duty of transporting a twenty-million-credit pay roll from Atom City to the satellite of Titan for the crystal miners.

Thinking one sure way to catch any rat was to use a lure, Tom suggested that the Titan armored freighter be used as a decoy to capture the pirate, and the cadets could carry the pay roll in the Polaris.

Commander Walters had considered the plan, and then realizing that Coxine might fire on the freighter before seizing it, disapproved of placing a full crew aboard the lightly armed ship. Instead, he would send only one man. Strong had volunteered for the assignment and had persuaded the commander to allow him to man the decoy ship.

Now, the two ships, the Polaris and the armed freighter stood side by side at the Academy spaceport, and the three cadets and their commanding officer waited for the signal to blast off.

“You have your course for your trip out to Titan, Tom?” asked Strong.

“Yes, sir,” replied Tom. “We’re to blast off later to-night and take a course through the asteroid belt, traveling on the plane of the ecliptic. As soon as we get through, we are to proceed under full emergency thrust to our destination.”

Strong nodded his head, satisfied.

“Do you think Coxine will come out after you, sir?” asked Roger.

“We’ve tried to make sure that he will, Roger,” replied Strong. “It’s pretty common knowledge that the Titan pay-roll ship leaves every month, and that it travels a different route each time. Sometimes it goes through the asteroid belt on the plane of the ecliptic and sometimes it goes over. We believe Coxine knows this, and with the thinly guised messages we’ve sent to Titan, we’re hoping he’ll try for it.”

“But how will you get him, sir?” asked Astro, puzzled. “I mean, with no armor on the freighter to speak of, and no crew aboard, how can you nail him before he gets you?”

“Hyperdrive,” replied the captain laconically.

“Hyperdrive?” echoed Tom quizzically.

“I’m going to take the decoy ship through the asteroid belt too, but through a different area, closer to the part we think Coxine is operating in. Seven full squadrons have blasted off ahead of me and taken up positions in that area. When and if Coxine attacks, I’ll alert the waiting ships, who’ll come in on hyperdrive. By the time Coxine spots them on his radar, they’ll be on top of him.”

“Then,” ventured Tom, “you’re staking your life on the ships arriving before Coxine can attack.”

“That’s right, Tom,” said Strong. “If our plan works, we catch Coxine. If it doesn’t, at least we know that the Titan pay roll is safe. That’s why your job is as important as mine.”

They were interrupted by the ground-crew chief who reported the decoy ship ready to blast off.

Strong nodded and the three cadets gripped their captain’s hand again. Turning, he climbed into the freighter and five minutes later the Solar Guard officer blasted off from the Academy spaceport while Tom, Roger, and Astro watched from the traffic-control tower.

“Come on,” said Tom. “It’ll be two hours before we can blast off. We might as well get some sleep. We’ll need it.”

Reluctantly, Roger and Astro followed their unit-mate from the traffic tower, their eyes full of concern for their skipper. Each was grimly aware that they might never see their skipper alive again.

“Now shut your traps!” roared Bull Coxine. “The next crawler that opens his mouth gets taken apart!” He stood on top of a table and faced his crew of pirates who were sitting about swilling large cups of rocket juice.

The room in which the giant pirate spaceman had gathered his men was one of many in a building constructed since their arrival from the prison asteroid. Hidden from even the closest inspection by the smaller bodies circling around the main asteroid, Coxine had expanded the small hut used by Wallace and Simms into a huge rambling building containing armories, machine shops, and storage rooms packed with everything he and his murderous crew might need.

Now with a string of successful raids behind them and their personal pocketbooks bulging with stolen credits and valuables, the crew of pirates waited attentively while their cruel but brilliant leader outlined the most daring plan of all.

“Now listen,” roared Coxine. “There’s a few things I want to say before we start on the plans of the next strike!”

The big spaceman paused and glared at the men in front of him. “Ever since that space-crawling cadet pulled a fast one on me there’s been talk about voting for another leader!” He spat the word as if it had left a foul taste in his mouth. “Well, get this. There’ll be no voting! I’m the boss of this outfit! Any man who thinks he can take over my job,” Coxine’s voice dropped to a deadly whisper, “just let him try!“