Then there was
sudden silence and the lights went out. Men began to moan, and
someone's voice quavered: "The atmosphere recycler has stopped!"
"Everything has stopped," said Gene from the darkness.
Twelve Firewasps came upon the eighteen pirate ships with a suddenness
that took the pirates completely by surprise. The small spacecraft
moved so quickly that the pirates could get off only wild shots that
never came close to any of the SE craft. The Firewasps used narrow but
highly dense laser weaponlight with remarkable effectiveness. Skilled
pilots and marksmen quickly disabled the pirate ships by piercing their
power supply, effectively casting them adrift in space. The pirates'
sheathing systems went down, rendering the ships visible.
The battle was over in less than two minutes. Captain Mary Marks-Owens
and Richard Starlight received the news within minutes of each other,
that the eighteen pirate ships were derelicts and their crews would no
doubt be eager to be picked up by the nearest Space Command ships.
Without power, their air would not last more than twenty-four hours.
Richard and Commander Lewis made the next order jointly. With a few
exceptions, all Starlight Enterprise and Space Command spacecraft were
to journey to the pirates' asteroid at once and prepare for battle.
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