apons were so wholly different, the _Star-Streak_
was set apart.

"I can do what I like," Molo told me. "With my own judgement I can
act; you shall see."

"You've had plenty of experience, Molo."

"Have I not! The terror of the starways, your world called me." He
chuckled vaingloriously. "I must justify it now."

"Act, do not talk," Meka commented sourly. "Children with toys make
speeches like that, and then the toys get broken."

"Fear not, sister. Never again will the _Star-Streak_ come to grief."

And now I gazed through the 'scope at the waiting allied ships. They
were lying some eight million miles off Mars. I gazed and saw the
poised little group. There were perhaps fifty of them. The majority
were Martian, long, low and very sharp-ended, and dull red in color.
The wider Earth and Venus ships were silvery and drab. I could
distinguish the several different types of craft in this hastily
assembled fleet: many converted commercials like my ill-starred
_Cometara_; a few rakish police ships; and about a dozen of the long,
narrow supermodern warships. It was their first voyage into battle.
They had only been built these past few years, by peaceful governments
that protested there never again would be another war!

The little fleet was lying waiting for us. It was being augmented by
occasional other ships from Mars. They saw us coming now. The radiance
of a Benson curve-light enveloped them, with a shaft toward us. The
image of them shifted over a million miles to one side.

Molo laughed when he saw it. "Protecting themselves already! But we
are not going to attack them there."

The first tactics of the Wandl commanders surprised me. We swung away
from the course to Mars and headed diagonally toward Earth and Venus.
Earth was the nearer to us, with Venus some forty million miles beyond
her. For hours we turned in that sweeping curve. Then with our Wandl
convoy following, we headed for Earth. I could not help admiring the
way the _Star-Streak_ was handled. She turned more sharply than the
Wandl craft; and before our next meal, we were leading them all.

Would the allied ships follow us? It was immediately apparent they
were coming; but from their poised position, hours of attaining
velocity would be needed. The other allied vessels approaching from
Venus and Earth checked their flight and turned after us. We passed
within five or six hundred thousand miles of several of them.

I found now that some twenty ot