four billion square miles of space flashed into daylight. The Albion quickly overtook the two remaining ships and gun-banks three, four and five riddled one of them. It slowed, spun and became a lifeless, drifting shell.

 A blinding blast, and four billion square miles of space flashed into daylight....

But the pilot of ship three was no fool. He suddenly swiveled his ship, boomed off at a tangent, and, as the Albion whipped by, his gunner caught her full in the tubes with a full charge from the stern guns. Now it was the Albion's turn to spin end for end. But as the Xantu craft spun into his sights for a fraction of a second, Irvington tripped the atomic cannon again. The bolt ricochetted off the Xantu's bow and the ship slowly split down the center like an over-ripe melon. From the bridge, Harrigan counted three life boats deserting the mother ship and he watched the gunners vainly try to pick them off. But they were too small a target, and they quickly merged into the sanctuary of darkness.

He buzzed O'Brien. "Let's get down to Drive, quick. They got that Xantu blast dead center."

The drive section was a shambles. Men in weird asbestos suits and masks staggered through the smoke and fumes with the broken bodies of the rocket crew that had been caught in the explosion. Harrigan brushed at angry tears as they carried Joe Merrick—the officer in charge—past them and laid the charred body beside the others. Merrick had been with him through both campaigns, and now the bitterness within Harrigan turned to grim resolution. At length, thirty-seven men were counted out of action permanently. The admiral turned solemnly away.

"Think we'd better set her down on III?" O'Brien asked quietly.

"Guess so, Mike. We can take her down on anti-grav and maneuver with the bow jets." And then, slowly, "This puts us out of the war, you realize that...."

"Yeah. And we can't even holler for help or they'll swarm in on us like a pack of harpies."

"I don't know about that, Mike. Those boats that got away will probably alert other elements of the League fleet as to our location. It's only a matter of time anyway. So we might as well break radio silence and try to get some Federation ships here first. It'll be a race, but it's the only chance we've got."

Radio room sent the S.O.S. and rang back the bridge almost immediately. "Message away, sir, 

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