"Attention all ships! This is Captain Strong. Spaceship approaching me,
starboard quarter, one-one-five degrees. Estimated speed--" Strong
paused and watched the moving blip. "Speed unknown. All ships close in
immediately!"

On the scanner, Strong could see the flashes of blips as the squadrons
roared out of concealment and closed in on the approaching rocket scout.
Over the audioceiver he could hear the squadron commanders snapping
orders to their ships as the small ship still headed, unheedingly, for
his decoy vessel.

Suddenly the attacking ship slowed and Strong could see the blip turn in
a wide-sweeping curve. But it was too late. The Solar Guard ships had it
surrounded from every possible angle. The little scout made a desperate
dash straight for Strong's ship. In a flash, he saw the plan of the
ship's pilot. He was heading for Strong, hoping to use him as a shield
from the mighty six-inch blasters trained on him.

Strong grabbed for the control and fired full thrust on his starboard
jets, sending the decoy vessel into a screaming dive. The attacking ship
tried to follow, but seeing it couldn't make it, turned and tried to
escape from the surrounding ships. Instinctively Strong shouted a
warning to the pilot to surrender, but even as he spoke, he saw the
firing flashes sparkle on the hulls of a dozen fleet vessels as they
sent their deadly atomic missiles converging like lightning arrows on
the speedy rocket scout.

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