o 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