ng down a crew of men. They have certain orders. Any interference
from you and I'll open fire with everything I've got--right in the
middle of the spaceport."

Tom gasped. The spaceport was now crowded with the citizens of the tiny
colony.

The major nodded gravely. "I understand," he said. "You may rest assured
no one will interfere with your men!"

"Huh!" sneered Coxine. "You don't sound so high and mighty now that
you're staring into the barrels of a dozen atomic blasters!" He snapped
off the teleceiver and roared with laughter.

Tom felt a shiver run down his spine. He could imagine the frustration
of the Ganymede garrison, a crack crew of fighting men, forced to
surrender without firing a shot. And he had been the cause by giving
Coxine the code recognition signal!

Coxine snapped an order into the intercom and a moment later Tom saw the
jet boats on the scanner, rocketing down to the surface of the small
satellite.

As, one by one, the small ships landed on the spaceport, the three
cadets could see the crowds of colonists fan out, allowing the jet boats
to come in without interference.

Coxine strode up and down the control deck restlessly, but keeping his
eyes on the activity below. Suddenly he rushed to the scanner, stared
hard, and then let out a roar of triumph.

The three cadets saw the reason immediately. On the scanner were the
unmistakable outlines of two Solar Guard heavy cruisers, four
destroyers, and six scouts, hurtling spaceward at tremendous speed.
Coxine spun around, balled his fists into tight knots, and shook them at
the three cadets.

"I've won! I've won!" He roared with insane laughter and there was a
crazed gleam in his eyes. "I've got the ships, the guns, the men, and
the secret of the adjustable light-key. By the time I'm finished with
the Solar Guard there won't be anything left of those crawlers but what
you can hear on a story spool, and the Solar Alliance will be run by one
man!" He paused, his face grew hard and he tapped his chest menacingly.
"Me!"

CHAPTER 20

"I don't care if the blasted ship blows up!" roared Captain Strong to
the power-deck officer of the Solar Guard rocket cruiser _Arcturus_. "I
want every ounce of thrust you can get out of this space heap!"

The young Solar Guard captain turned back to the loud-speaker of the
audioceiver, turned the volume dial a fraction, and listened. The steady
pronounced ping of Roger's signal beacon filled his ears.