"All right," said Coxine. "From this day on, you are my chief lieutenants. You will command the ships of my fleet, and when we destroy the power of the Solar Guard and take over the Alliance, you will help me rule our new order."
The seven men looked at each other, raised a mild cheer, and waited as Coxine shook hands with each of them.
"All right," said Coxine abruptly as he reached the end of the line. "Get to your ships and prepare for full acceleration. We go into action immediately!"
The men filed from the room silently, each with a worried look on his face. Coxine failed to notice their lack of enthusiasm and turned to the three cadets.
"Some day, boys," he said, "you'll go down in history as being the first witnesses to the establishment of the new order."
Astro glared up at the giant spaceman. "We'll be the witnesses to the biggest bust in the universe when the Solar Guard catches up with you!"
"Yeah," drawled Roger in his most casual manner. "You're the one that'll go down in history, Coxine, as the biggest space-gassing idiot that ever blasted off!"
Tom suddenly guffawed. Though close to death, he couldn't help laughing at Roger's remark. The big spaceman flushed angrily and with the flat of his hand slapped the cadet across the face. Then, he turned to the teleceiver and opened the circuit to all the ships that were standing by in space around the Avenger, the ships of the Ganymede garrison.
"Stand by for acceleration," he called. "We're going to show the Solar Alliance who's boss, beginning right now! I'll give you the target in a few minutes but head in the direction of Earth!"
He faced the three cadets and sneered. "By the time I'm finished with Luna City, the only thing active will be radioactive!"