building—you can tell by the echoes."

"The repair docks," Jon said. "The walls are thick enough."

"That's where the battleships are," the Engineer said dully, his excitement draining into apprehension. "Who's got them, and who's attacking? If the plotters have taken the docks and the fleet—"

"The fleet's useless," snapped the Captain, "in this blackness. The plotters can't man it anyway—they'll want to immobilize it, and keep it intact until they've won.

"It's the old arsenal I'm thinking about. We need that for—"

"Hist, man!" warned McTavish, suddenly. "There's someone near us."

"Who goes there?" challenged a voice sharply. "You're surrounded, and you'll get cold steel if you don't surrender."

Jon laughed. "Did you surround the Avenger, too, Marshal?" he asked ironically. "We're standing directly beside it."

He heard a sudden feminine sob of relief, and soft words that sent the blood throbbing to his temples: "Oh, Jon—Jon darling."

Another voice cut in brusquely: "This is no time for melodramatics, daughter.

"Jon, I was sure it was you. Who else would try to fly a ship in this? But we couldn't take chances. We had to find out and warn you before you blundered into the enemy!"

"We were on the lookout, Sir," the Captain assured him. He could imagine Marshal Denton; sturdy, tall, handsome. The Marshal's gray eyes would be flashing there in the blackness, and the snow-white hair piled on his massive head would make him look more than ever like a noble old lion.

"What have you to report, Captain?" Denton asked tautly.

Jon told him briefly of their position and actions since he'd first found communications with Terra cut. As he spoke, a soft hand found his. Jon slipped his arm about Almira's slim waist, and drew her close. Her head sank to his shoulder.

He felt her stir with amazement, and her little hands gripped his arms, as he told the Marshal his suspicions of an alliance between outlaws and some of the Specialists.

"It might be," murmured Denton. "There's a small bloc that has consistently opposed requests for credits to 

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