Coxine met them near the air lock, two paralo-ray guns clutched in his gloved hands. Behind him, his crew swarmed in and fanned out all over the ship.
But the space pirate stood on the control deck, glaring at Tom. "Whaddya know! The Space Kid himself!"
"That's right, Coxine," said Tom quietly, "only the real name is Corbett."
Suddenly there was a triumphant shout from one of the pirates. "Skipper! The credits! All twenty million! We found 'em!"
Over their spacephones the three cadets could hear the pirates yelling and cheering. Coxine bellowed for silence and the cheering quickly subsided.
Paying no further attention to the three cadets, the pirate captain ordered his men to repair the hole in the air lock and prepare for immediate acceleration. There was a triumphant gleam in his eyes as he announced their destination.
"With the Solar Guard on the other side of the belt, we're going to hit the richest prize in the universe! The colony on Ganymede!"
He then turned and smiled at his three prisoners, adding menacingly, "And we've got three passes to get us through the defenses!"