"Stand back!" roared Connel. "The first one of you green monkeys that makes a move will have his teeth knocked out! Now line up over there against the wall--and I mean fast!"
The sudden attack from the rear startled the Nationalist guards, and they milled around in confusion. There was no confusion, however, when Connel fired a blast over their heads. Astro grabbed a paralo-ray gun and opened up on the guards. A second later the squad of Nationalists were frozen in their tracks.
Once the men were no further danger to them, Connel and Astro locked the front and rear doors and then raced up the stairs that led to the main radar and communications rooms on the second floor.
"You start at that end of the hall, I"ll start here!" shouted Connel.
"Smash everything you see!"
"Aye, aye, sir." Astro waved his hand and charged down the hall. He exploded into a room, firing rapidly, and an electronics engineer froze in a startled pose in front of his worktable. The big cadet gleefully swung a heavy chair across the table of delicate electronic instruments, and smashed shelves of vital parts, pausing only long enough to see if he had left anything unbroken. He rushed out into the hall again. At the other end he heard Connel in action in another room. Astro grinned. It sounded as if the major was having a good time. "Well," thought the big cadet, "I"m not having such a bad time myself!"
The next room he invaded contained the radar-control panel, and the big cadet howled with glee as he smashed the b.u.t.t of his paralo-ray gun into the delicate vacuum tubes, and ripped wires and circuits loose.
Suddenly he stopped, conscious of someone behind him. He spun around, finger starting to squeeze the trigger of his gun, and then caught himself just in time. Major Connel was leaning against the doorjamb, a wide grin on his face.
"How"re you doing?" he drawled.
"Not bad," said Astro casually. "Be a lot of work here, fixing these things, eh?" He grinned.
"What time is it?" asked Connel.
Astro looked at his watch. "Twenty to twelve."
"We"d better clear out of here and head for the jungle."
Astro hesitated. "You know, sir, I"ve been thinking."
"If you have an idea, spill it," said the major.
"How about releasing the prisoners, taking over a ship, and blasting off?"
"And have the Solar Guard fleet blast us out of the skies? No, sir! Come on, we"ve got to get moving!"
"We could still try to release Carson and the others," said Astro stoutly.
"We can try all right, but I don"t think we"ll be very successful."
The two s.p.a.cemen returned to the first floor of the building and headed for the rear door without so much as a look at the line of frozen guards along the wall. Once outside, they skirted the edge of the building, staying close to the hedge, and then struck out boldly across the canyon floor toward the prison building. They were surprised to see that their smashing attack had gone unnoticed, and Connel reasoned that the constant roar of activity in the canyon had covered the sounds of their raid.
"We"ll have to hurry, sir," said Astro as they turned into the lane leading to the prison. "Ten minutes to twelve."
"It"s no good, Astro," said Connel, suddenly pulling the cadet back and pointing to the building. "Look at all the guards--at least a dozen of them."
Astro waited a second before saying grimly, "We could try, sir."
"Don"t be a pigheaded idiot!" roared Connel. "Nothing will happen to those men now, and in five minutes there"ll be so much confusion around here that we"ll be able to walk over and open the door without firing a shot!"
Suddenly there was an explosive roar behind them and they spun around.
On the opposite side of the canyon three rocket ships were hurtling s.p.a.ceward.
"They must have spotted our fleet coming in," said Connel, a puzzled frown on his face.
"But how could they?" asked Astro. "We knocked out their radar!"
Connel slammed his fist into the palm of his hand. "By the stars, Astro, we forgot about their monitoring s.p.a.ceship above the tower! When we knocked out the main station here in the canyon, it took over and warned the base of the attack!"
From all sides the canyon reverberated with the roaring blasts of the Nationalist fleet blasting off. Around them, the green-clad rebels were running to their defense posts. Officers shouted frantic orders and workers dropped tools to pick up guns. The building that held Carson and the other planters was suddenly left alone as the guards hurried to ships and battle stations.
Connel counted the number of ships blasting off and smiled. "They don"t stand a chance! They"re sending up only two heavy cruisers, four destroyers, and about twenty scouts. The Solar Guard fleet will blast them into s.p.a.ce dust."
Astro jumped up and started to run.
"Hey, Astro! Where are you going?" shouted Connel.
"To find Roger!" Astro shouted in reply. "I"ll meet you back here!"
"Right!" shouted Connel, settling back into concealment. There was no need to release the planters in the guardhouse now. Connel was satisfied that in a few moments the rebellion against the Solar Alliance would be defeated. He smiled in prospect of seeing a good fight.
"Bandit at three o"clock--range twenty miles!" Aboard the command ship of the first group of attacking Solar Guard squadrons, Captain Strong stood in the middle of the control deck and watched the outline of an approaching Nationalist cruiser on the radar scanner. The voice of the range finder droned over the ship"s intercom.
"Change course three degrees starboard, one degree down on ecliptic plane," ordered Strong calmly.
"Aye, aye, sir," replied Tom at the controls.
"Main battery, stand by to fire." Strong watched the enemy ship closely.
"Aye, aye!" came the answer over the intercom.
"Approaching target!" called the range finder. "Closing to fifty thousand yards--forty thousand--"
"_Pleiades_ and _Regulus_," Strong called the other two ships of his squadron. "Cut in on port and starboard flanks. Squadron B, stand by!"
Abrupt acknowledgment came over the audioceiver as the cruisers deployed for the attack.
"Twenty-three thousand yards, holding course." The range-finder"s voice was a steady monotone.
"Stand by to fire!" snapped Strong.
"Two bandits at nine o"clock on level plane of ecliptic!" came the warning from the radar bridge.
Before Strong could issue an order countering the enemy move, the voice of the commander of the _Pleiades_ came in over the audioceiver, "Our meat, Strong, you take care of the big baby!"
On the scanner screen Strong saw the trails of two s.p.a.ce torpedoes erupt from the side of the _Pleiades_, followed immediately by two more from its flanking ship, the _Regulus_. The four missiles hurtled toward the two enemy destroyers, and a second later two brilliant flashes of light appeared on the scanner. Direct hits on the two destroyers!
"Range--ten thousand feet," came the calm voice over the intercom, reminding Strong of the enemy cruiser.
"Arm war heads!" snapped Strong over the intercom, and, on the gun deck, men twirled the delicate fuses on the noses of the s.p.a.ce torpedoes and stepped back.