Charteris nodded. "Your squadron is being fitted for action now. I suggest we return to New York at once to confer with Admiral Laney and decide strategy." * * * * * The next few hours were hectic ones. Orders, preparations, requisitions, arguments. And Kirk found himself up against a totally unexpected stumbling-block--the stiff-necked, stubborn pride of Earth. "We recognize perfectly," Admiral Laney said frostily, "our position as a fifth-rate naval power, but we have never yet run from battle and we don't intend to start doing it now." "But against Orion Sector's two crack squadrons--" "We're grateful for the presence of the Fifth Lyra," said Laney, "but our own ships will bear the brunt of the attack." "Sir," said Kirk, and he meant it, "I would be proud to fight under you. But facts are facts. I think you understand that the Fifth Lyra has a certain pride too. But we're not going to bear the brunt of any attack where we know in advance we're outnumbered two to one. In short, if you meet Solleremos head on, you meet him alone." "Now here," he went on, turning to the huge depth-chart of the Solar System, "was my thought. We know from the vera-ray examination of the captain of that Orion scout, that the scout's take-off was literally to be the signal for the attack. They didn't dare risk a radio message, even in code, that might be intercepted. So the course of take-off, on the exact coordinates of the hidden fleet, was to serve as a message. They could spot this by ultra-wave scanner, using relays at previously-arranged points in deep space. So, we have the coordinates--" He wrote them down on the chart. "Carried to point of convergence, that would put the Orion fleet about there--far off this chart, of course, but roughly south-east of the star Saiph. They will presumably attack along this line--" He drew one, bold and red, a dagger pointed at Earth's heart. "Roughly nadir-point zero six, from our viewpoint," said Laney. "Well?" "Here," said Kirk, "you seem to have a natural sort of chevaux-de-frise, to borrow an ancient term." He pointed to a blurred and speckled area lying between Mars and Jupiter. "The Asteroid Belt," said Laney. "Yes. We know our way around in it, but anyone else would find it hard going." His eyes brightened. "Plenty of places for ambush. Yes, I see what you're driving at. If we could entangle their superior forces in the drift--" "Exactly. Bait them in there, harry them all you can. Now, then. They'll be expecting to catch the Fifth Lyra on the ground. As far as they know, Tauncer succeeded and all is well. So perhaps they won't be too watchful. We'll be up here hiding above the Sun, screened by it from their radar. When you have them hooked--" He made a downward slashing motion with his hand.