nce I
want! Solar Guard or no Solar Guard!"

"No! You can't!" gasped Tom.

"Can't I?" snarled Coxine. "I'll show the Solar Guard something they
never saw before. Their own ships blasting them right out of space!"

Coxine turned to the intercom, ordered Astro and Roger brought up to the
control deck, and then contacted Wallace aboard the _Polaris_.

"Yeah?" answered the spaceman from the control deck of the rocket
cruiser.

"We're going in according to plan! Train all your guns on the Solar
Guard defense installations and stand by!"

"Ready any time you say the word," replied Wallace.

Jumping back to the intercom, Coxine gave orders to the power deck for
full thrust, then ordered the radar bridge to relay the scanner image of
Ganymede to the control deck.

As the rocket ship surged ahead under the added thrust, Tom strained
against his ropes to watch the scanner and saw the clear image of the
colony. He could make out the outline of the uranium plant, the
atmosphere booster stations and small buildings clustered around the
spaceport. As they drew closer to the tiny colony, Coxine grabbed the
intercom and the teleceiver microphones and barked crisp orders to both
the Avengers and the _Polaris_' power decks. "Full braking rockets!"
roared Coxine.

Tom braced himself against the sudden reverse pressure of the powerful
nose rockets, and then, in a moment, felt the _Avenger_ come to a dead
stop. Watching the scanner again, he saw that they were directly over
the Solar Guard garrison. Coxine switched the teleceiver to the colony
frequency and spoke sharply and confidently.

"Attention! All citizens of Ganymede colony! This is Bull Coxine. Your
entire settlement is under my guns. Any attempt to raise ship and oppose
me will be met with instant destruction! Every citizen is hereby ordered
to assemble at the municipal spaceport within five minutes. All Solar
Guard officers and men will do the same. You have five minutes to
comply, or I will open fire!"

The giant spaceman flipped off the teleceiver before anyone on Ganymede
could answer. Pressing with all his might, Tom managed to see more of
the scanner which suddenly showed the people of Ganymede scurrying out
to the spaceport in panic. Coxine watched the activity on the scanner
for a second and then grunted his satisfaction.

Suddenly the hatch was thrown open and Astro and Roger were pushed into
the room by two crewmen.

Coxine turned to them, smiling thinly