Ray shook his head silently at Lodar who stood at the interphone. The captain glanced hastily at the visiscreen, turned back to his mouthpiece. "Got the range, Campora?" He leaned forward, hawklike. "Now!" he bellowed. The _Vulcan_ shook as the broadside was fired and the thrusting drive faltered while power surged to the weapons. It was a miss. Lodar swore. "Fire at will," he yelled, slamming down the phone. He hurried to the visiscreen. * * * * * The other ship had shifted course to follow them, though it was still abeam, still trying to drive them into a spiral. Ray swung the _Vulcan_ again, cutting dangerously close. The dot on the visiscreen swelled and centered on the beam again. Campora's crew were firing intermittently. A shot exploded on the Company ship's hull, a spray of melted steel that flashed and was gone. "We disabled them!" Lodar exulted. The other ship was losing way, still holding its course, but slowing. Then they flashed by it. Ray felt relief. The other wasn't badly hurt. He'd get back to port. And, in that moment, the Company ship blasted with all its guns. The _Vulcan_ rocked under the blow of solid energy. A vast eruption tore out a section of rear plating. The Benson Drive quit. Then they were out of range. Lodar was on the interphone. "Get on that damage!" he roared. "Campora, keep those guns ready. McVane! Hello, McVane!" He slammed down the instrument. "Some day I'll kill that McVane with my own hands!" "Maybe he's hurt," Ray snapped. Lodar grunted and picked up the phone again. "Hello, Williams, get a first aid crew out and look for casualties." He turned to pace the floor, aroused, thirsting now for action. Up and down, up and down, as if the pent up energy flamed within him. For the present the engagement was over. Both ships were damaged. They would drift thousands of miles apart before either could resume flight. At least the _Vulcan_ was fairly safe. And space was a vast hiding place. "They'll never take us now," Ray said, trying to divert Lodar's ceaseless activity. The man positively burned with energy. "Not alive, anyway!" The captain turned. "Not for their brand of justice! You know why I was cashiered from the Earth Fleet? I was an upstart. I didn't belong to the right clique. So when someone stole the club funds they refused to hold a trial. Sure, they just asked me quietly to resign so as to avoid a scandal." He ground his teeth. "I was no thief!" "That's when my wife left me," he added flatly. "Can you expect justice from scum like that?" He glared. "Take all you can, my boy, and die like a man when the time comes!" It was the same old story Ray had heard a dozen times, and he was sick of it. Also he was sick of Lodar's ceaseless pacing. The fight had left the man wound up like a spring! "I'll go look things over." Ray turned to the exit without waiting for the other's approval.