, indicating the radar.
"Right on time." He glanced at the astral chronometer over his head.
"Two minutes after twelve."

"It doesn't look as if we'll need them, Tom," said Strong. "The
Nationalists got only two cruisers and four destroyers off the ground.
We've already knocked out one of their cruisers and two destroyers, and
Squadron B is taking on the second cruiser and its destroyer escorts
now!" He turned to the radar scanner and saw the white evenly spaced
blips that represented Squadron B enveloping the three enemy ships. The
bulky converted cruiser was maneuvering frantically to get away. But
there was no escape. In a perfectly co-ordinated action the Solar Guard
ships fired their space torpedoes simultaneously. The three Nationalist
ships exploded in a deadly flash of fire.

[Illustration]

"Don't tell me that's all they've got!" exclaimed Strong. "Why, we
still have the rest of the fleet coming in at 1205!"

Suddenly Tom froze in his seat. Before him on the radar scanner he saw a
new cluster of white blips, seemingly coming from nowhere. They were
enemy ships, hurtling spaceward to meet the Solar Guard fleet. "Captain
Strong! Look! More of them. From secret ramps in the jungle!"

"By the craters of Luna!" roared the Solar Guard captain. "Attention!
Attention! All ships--all ships!" he called into the fleet intercom.
"This is Strong aboard command ship. Bandit formation closing fast.
Regroup! Take tight defensive pattern!"

As the Solar Guard squadrons deployed to meet this new attack, Tom felt
a chill run down his spine. The mass of ships blasting to meet them
outnumbered them by almost three to one. And there were more ships
blasting off from the secret ramps in the jungle! He had led the Solar
Guard into a trap!

[Illustration]

CHAPTER 18

"Fire at will! Fire at will!"

Aboard the command ship, Captain Strong roared the order to the rest of
the fleet, and the individual ship commanders of the Solar Guard vessels
broke formation and rocketed into the mass of Nationalist ships, firing
salvo after salvo of space torpedoes. But it was a losing battle. Time
and again, Strong and Tom saw Solar Guard ships hemmed in by three and
four Nationalists' vessels, then blasted into oblivion.

Strong had ordered Tom to maneuver the command ship at will, seeking
targets, yet still keeping from being a target, and the young cadet had
guided the powerful ship through a series of maneuvers that had even