On the Trail of the Space Pirates_ A Tom Corbett Space Cadet Adventure - Carey Rockwell [210]
There was a burst of pure white fire on the scanner and then the young captain gulped as the attacking ship was blasted into a hulk of twisted metal.
Strong grabbed the audioceiver microphone and shouted orders to the fleet squadron leaders.
"… Squadron L! Put out immediate rescue jet boats and begin salvage operations. All remaining ships will return to Solar Guard base, Space Academy. End transmission!"
Strong hurried to the air lock, hastily put on a space suit, and in a few moments was blasting in a jet boat toward the remains of the attacking scout.
Immediately the communications of the departing fleet were filled with talk of their victory over the pirate band. Strong alone felt uneasy about their success. For Coxine to attack in a light rocket scout, which Strong felt sure had been stripped down to gain more speed, did not follow the pattern which the hardened pirate had established in previous raids.
When he arrived at the wreckage of the rocket scout, Strong found that his fears were justified.
A crew chief from one of the rescue squads approached Strong; his body weightless in space, the man grappled for a handhold on a jutting piece of the twisted wreck, and then spoke to Strong over the helmet spacephones.
"We found only one person aboard, sir," he reported. "And the ship appears to have been stripped of everything but engines and control panel."
Behind the protective glass of his helmet, Strong grimaced. He turned to Captain Randolph. "We've been tricked again, Randy," said Strong bitterly. "We used a decoy and so did Coxine!"
* * * * *
"They're closing in!" Roger's voice crackled through the intercom from the radar bridge. "Do we fight or do we let those space crawlers take over?"
"Fight!" bellowed Astro from the power deck.
"No! Wait!" cried Tom. "We haven't a chance! If we don't heave to, Coxine'll blast us into space junk!"
Rocketing through the asteroid belt with the Titan pay roll, the three space cadets, under strict orders to maintain communications silence, were unaware that Bull Coxine had outsmarted Captain Strong. Sending in the rocket scout, he had sprung the Solar Guard trap and had cagily scanned the belt for another ship. Finding the Polaris easily, the pirate captain was blasting in for the attack.
On the control deck of the Solar Guard cruiser, Tom Corbett desperately tried to think of a plan to outwit Coxine, while his unit-mates urged him to fight back.
"What's the matter, Junior?" Roger called over the intercom sarcastically. "Scared to fight?"
"You know I'm not," snapped Tom in reply.
"By the rings of Saturn," growled Astro, "I never thought you'd surrender to anybody, Tom!"
"Listen, both of you!" shouted Tom. "It's no use! We've got to play this smart!"
"Well, start making with the brains," sneered Roger. "Coxine's in range now."
"Attention—" A harsh unmistakable voice rumbled over the audioceiver. "This is Bull Coxine! Heave to or you'll be blasted!"
"All right, Junior," said Roger bitterly, "company's coming. What now?"
"Cut all power, Astro—fast!" ordered Tom.
"What's the matter?" growled Astro. "Afraid they'll shoot if you don't stop fast enough?"
"Keep your big trap shut and do as I tell you!" snapped Tom.
"Listen, Junior!" snarled Roger. "As far as I'm concerned—"
Tom interrupted him. "You listen, you idiot! Don't you see what's happened? Coxine must have found out about the decoy ship, and when we showed up on his scanner, he figured right away that we might have the Titan pay roll."
"So what?" demanded Roger. "That still doesn't let you off for not belting that crawler with our six-inchers!"
"Use your head!" snapped Tom. "With the Solar Guard squadrons on the other side of the belt and with no gun crews on our ship, how far do you think we'd have gotten?"
"You didn't have to surrender, Tom," said Astro. "I could have outrun Coxine in