On the Trail of the Space Pirates, page 149 by Carey Rockwell
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e 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!"
Suddenly Gus Wallace could be heard screaming over the teleceiver, his face a mask of fear and panic.
"Bull! Bull!" he shouted. "The Solar Guard! We just spotted them! Squadrons! Heading straight for us! We've got to get out of here!"
"What?" roared Coxine, turning to his radar scanner. The blips on the screen verified the alarm. He shouted into the teleceiver, "Man your guns! We'll wipe them out right now!"
"But, Bull--" whined Wallace. "They'll blast us out of space!"
Coxine roared into the mike. "The first one of you yellow crawlers that tries to run for it will be blasted by me! Man your guns, I said! This is our big chance! Wipe out the Solar Guard now and the Solar Alliance is ours for the asking! Fight, men! Fight!"
Tom, Roger, and Astro looked at each other, mouths open, not knowing whether they should laugh or not at the drama