On the Trail of the Space Pirates Part 33

"You have your course for your trip out to t.i.tan, 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 c.o.xine 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 t.i.tan pay-roll s.h.i.+p 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 c.o.xine knows this, and with the thinly guised messages we've sent to t.i.tan, 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 s.h.i.+p through the asteroid belt too, but through a different area, closer to the part we think c.o.xine is operating in. Seven full squadrons have blasted off ahead of me and taken up positions in that area. When and if c.o.xine attacks, I'll alert the waiting s.h.i.+ps, who'll come in on hyperdrive. By the time c.o.xine spots them on his radar, they'll be on top of him."

"Then," ventured Tom, "you're staking your life on the s.h.i.+ps arriving before c.o.xine can attack."

"That's right, Tom," said Strong. "If our plan works, we catch c.o.xine.

If it doesn't, at least we know that the t.i.tan 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 s.h.i.+p 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 s.p.a.ceport 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 c.o.xine. "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 s.p.a.ceman 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, c.o.xine 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 c.o.xine. "There's a few things I want to say before we start on the plans of the next strike!"

The big s.p.a.ceman paused and glared at the men in front of him. "Ever since that s.p.a.ce-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," c.o.xine's voice dropped to a deadly whisper, "_just let him try!_"

Stony silence greeted the huge s.p.a.ceman, a silence inspired by fear.

"Now!" roared c.o.xine, his coa.r.s.e features changing from a scowl to a broad grin. "The strike!"

This was greeted with a roar of approval. The men demanded action after a week of idleness on the asteroid.

"Wallace!" yelled c.o.xine.

"Yes, sir," answered the s.p.a.ceman, stepping up to the table and facing c.o.xine.

"We'll take up a position in the asteroid belt, here!" He placed a finger on a map of the belt. "Simms!" roared the giant s.p.a.ceman.

"Yes, sir!" the wizened s.p.a.ce pirate stepped forward.

"You remember that rocket scout we blasted? The one that got our other s.h.i.+p?"

"I sure do, sir."

"It's drifting around in orbit near asteroid seventeen. Take a crew of men and a few jet boats and go get her. Bring her back here and fix her up. Strip every pound of excess weight off her. I want a s.h.i.+p that'll fly faster than anything in the system and I want it in twenty-four hours."

"Yes, sir," gulped Simms. "But then what'll I do with her?"

"After you've done what I've already told you to do," snapped c.o.xine, "I'll tell you more!"

Simms' face turned red, and he nodded curtly.

"Now as for the rest of you crawlers," said c.o.xine, facing the room full of men. "Repair crews have been a.s.signed for work on the rocket scout and the rest of you will work on the _Avenger_ and prepare her for a long flight. I want the three-inch blasters, every paralo-ray gun and rifle, the fuel tanks, food supplies, oxygen circulators, in fact everything checked, rechecked, and _double-checked_!"

Joe Brooks, who had become a favorite of c.o.xine's, rose and faced the pirate captain. "Where are we going to strike next, skipper?"

c.o.xine looked at the man with a half-smile playing on his lips. "This operation will have two parts, Joe. The first--well--" his smiled broadened--"the t.i.tan pay-roll s.h.i.+p just blasted off from s.p.a.ce Academy.

For the last ten years, the t.i.tan pay-roll s.h.i.+p has been blasting off from Atom City. Now why do you think it would suddenly leave from s.p.a.ce Academy, the home of the Solar Guard?"

The crowd of men murmured their bewilderment.

"I'll tell you why!" bawled c.o.xine. "Either they have that s.h.i.+p so packed with blasters it would take a fleet to stop it, or it's a trap!"

"But if you think it's a trap," exclaimed Wallace, "you're not going to hit it, are you?"

"I said it _might_ be a trap!" snapped c.o.xine. "But it might not and with twenty million credits to be had for the taking, I'm not going to let her breeze through. I'm going to make sure it's a trap before I try something else!"

"But how?" persisted Wallace.

c.o.xine looked at his lieutenant coldly. He had indulged the man too long. "I'll tell you when I get good and ready! Now all of you, get out of here and make sure everything, and I _mean everything_, is ready to raise s.h.i.+p at a moment's notice!"

The men got up and shuffled from the room. c.o.xine turned to his two lieutenants. "All right, Wallace, see that those crawlers do what I told them to do. And you, Simms, get after that rocket scout."

The two s.p.a.cemen saluted their captain and turned away. c.o.xine watched them leave the room, already planning his next move, a move calculated to be so surprising that the Solar Guard would be absolutely helpless.

Bull c.o.xine smiled and turned to study the charts of the asteroid belt.

Alone aboard the armored decoy s.h.i.+p, Captain Strong blasted steadily on his course through the asteroid belt. The young Solar Guard officer was aware that at any moment after reaching the celestial jungle of small planetoids he could be fired on without warning. And though the Solar Guard patrol s.h.i.+ps, well hidden in the belt, would blast c.o.xine out of existence, it would still be too late for him.