"Cut away!” cried Lana Cain's voice from the audio. “It's a trap! Cut loose and break for the Zone!"
Thorn saw her silvery cruiser leap forward to engage the rushing League battleships, to try to hold them back while the pirates engaged in looting could cut away from the freighters.
Loyally, old Stilicho Keene's long black cruiser, and four or five others dashed forward with the pirate girl's silver ship. And Thorn's cruiser was one of those that followed her, for Thorn had yelled the order to Sual Av.
Blinding, dazzling flares of bursting atom-shells from the League cruisers seared space around Thorn's ship, Sual Av was following Lana's lead right into the forefront of the formidable League battle-squadron.
"Drive in to cover Lana's ship!” Thorn cried to the Venusian. “If they get her, everything's ruined for us!"
He yelled into the interphone. “Let go with all batteries to starboard, Gunner!"
The Cauphul shook to the roar of its straining rocket-tubes and the thudding thunder of its atom-guns going off as Sual Av flung the ship in beside Lana's silvery cruiser.
The very madness of the wild counter-attack of the little handful of pirate ships, as they dashed fiercely at the League cruisers, seemed momentarily to disconcert the latter. Precious moments were gained in which the main body of the pirate fleet was hastily cutting away from the freighters they had grappled.
Thorn was wild with anxiety for Lana Cain. If anything happened to the girl, if the mysterious secret of Erebus died with her—
The League cruisers had not concentrated any fire upon her silver ship yet. They were pouring shells upon the other pirate craft, including Thorn's, but Lana's had escaped fire even though she had her batteries streaming shells forth.