Dark Warrior and her escorts were several hours out into space on the way to the asteroid before Blade could get back to the boarding party and tell them the news.

The Targans couldn't dance, sing, or cheer. There wasn't room to dance and singing or cheering might be overheard. In any case the expressions on their faces told Blade clearly enough what the new situation meant to them.

Having Loyun Chard himself aboard Dark Warrior opened the dazzling possibility of not just destroying the man's prize ship but of killing him outright. Like most tyrants he'd carefully avoided picking an heir, for fear the man might become ambitious to take over too soon. In fact he'd used the traditional tactics of playing off his various key supporters against one another. If Chard died aboard Dark Warrior, his supporters would immediately split into several suspicious and hostile factions. Each would control part of the armed forces, but none would have a decisive edge.

That of course would mean civil war on Targa, but for once the underground people didn't seem to care. Blade's major problem was persuading them not to storm the VIP quarters and try to kill Chard at once. That took another hour of desperate low-voiced argument. If Riyannah hadn't supported him, Blade might not have been able to win the argument.

«Blade and I want Chard's head as badly as you do,» she said irritably. «Stop accusing us of being weak! It's just that we want to make sure we get it, not throw away our best chance by acting too soon.

«Consider. Right now we're only a few hours from Targa and there isn't a friendly warship within twenty million miles. The Security black-boys will have all their attention on guarding the leader and they outnumber us three to one.

«If we attack now, Chard can climb into one of the lifeboats and be safe aboard an escort ship long before we reach him. We'd lose our chance of getting him and maybe even our chance of crippling Dark Warrior. Then she certainly would be used for wiping out the underground's bases!

«If we stick to the original plan, we'll have a much better chance of getting both Chard and the ship. The Security men will be distracted by the fighting against the patrols. You've said yourself that they're more policemen and executioners than real soldiers or spacemen. We know Chard will be moving around, showing himself to his men as he always does. We may be able to ambush him. Even if he does get off Dark Warrior, there will be Kananite and Menel ships all around us. They may pick him off if we can't.»

The argument wavered back and forth for a while longer, but eventually the Targans agreed that Blade and Riyannah were right. Plan Blade would go forward on schedule.

Outside in the corridor, Blade whispered to Riyannah, «Actually I think the engineers, the pilots, and I are the people with the best hopes of getting the bastard. We've got the freedom to move around and the chance to learn his movements. We'll also have the best chance to strike by surprise.»

«Five of you against Chard and all his guards?»

«Three, actually. The pilots ought to stay out of the fighting as much as possible and be ready to take us off.»

«Three people.» Riyannah sighed. «Do you think you have any chance?»

«Of killing Chard, yes. Of getting out afterward-«He shrugged. «I don't know. And I don't like it any better than you do. But we've got to get Chard.»

«You think I don't know that?» said Riyannah almost angrily. «I just wish- Oh, I wish a lot of things that aren't possible.» She kissed him. «Good luck and don't get killed if you don't have to.»

Blade returned to his quarters and sat down with Wishun and Draibo to lay plans. Dark Warrior moved steadily out into space.

Sixty hours out from Targa, the announcement came.

«All hands-general call to Battle Stations in five hours.»

Blade caught a quick meal in the nearest NCO's mess. The two pilots slipped away to join the boarding party. The two engineers stayed in their cabin, too tense to eat. They weren't veterans at this sort of thing, and Blade himself found he had to get the food down a mouthful at a time. He'd never before faced a battle where he had so great a chance of doing something important or so small a chance of coming out in one piece.

He still went through his preparations with his usual grim professional care. He'd modified a uniform jacket with hidden pouches. Now he dropped four of the small blue grenades into one pouch. Into another he dropped a canister of Targan riot-control gas. It produced violent sneezing, severe nausea, and temporary blindness.

In the last pouch he put a small hurd-ray pistol with an oversized power cell. He planned to use it on the maximum overload setting. This would use up even a Kananite power cell in a couple of minutes, but it would also produce a lethal beam. Loyun Chard and anyone else who got in its way would be not only dead but disintegrated into smoking chunks.

Then Blade hung his well-armed jacket on the foot of his bed, lay down, and went to sleep.

Someone was shaking him. Blade woke up and swung his feet to the floor before he recognized who it was. Wishun was standing by the bed.

«They've just called Battle Stations,» he said. «Time we were moving.» His face was very pale, but his hands were steady as he pulled on his own jacket.

«Any reports of attacking ships?» Blade asked.

«None so far. Do you think-the enemy-have changed their plans?» They called the defenders of the asteroid base «the enemy» to confuse any possible eavesdroppers.

«They had no way of getting word to us, but I doubt it,» said Blade. «They haven't got many choices.» He stood up. «Let's go.»

The plan was simple enough, and even gave them a small chance of getting clear afterward. Its timing, though, was at the mercy of Chard's movements. They had to strike while he was in or near the Battle Command Center, watching the opening stages of the attack on the asteroid. That meant they might not be able to synchronize their attack with the boarding party's. It was a risk, but one Blade was willing to run for a chance to kill Chard.

The corridor to the elevator they were using was nearly empty. Even with nearly four hundred men aboard and most of them on the move, Dark Warrior seemed half-deserted. Blade mentally crossed his fingers, hoping the boarding party could hide for another hour. If they could, there was no way Loyun Chard could escape a stinging defeat.

Damn it, he didn't just want Chard defeated now! He wanted the man dead! Blade pulled his face into an impassive mask and followed the two engineers into the elevator.

The elevator let them out on the Command Deck. There was a guard post at the entrance to the circular corridor around the Battle Command Center. Blade and the engineers were offering their ID's to the Security man on duty when a gong began sounding urgently.

«Attention, all hands. Two squadrons of enemy ships are approaching. The escorts are preparing to engage, but they will be within range of us before long. Vengeance for our comrades of Station Four! Glory to our Leader Chard!»

All Blade's senses we're now as alert as a hunting animal's. The approach of ships from the asteroid base would certainly get the boarding party moving if it was still in hiding. The alarm might be up within minutes and then Loyun Chard would be on the move also, perhaps moving out of their reach. He and the engineers might have to take the first opportunity they had to strike.

Blade took his ID back from the guard and followed the engineers into the corridor beyond the guard post. It formed a circle a hundred and fifty feet in diameter. Opening off the inner side were six large rooms holding computers and other supporting equipment. In the very center of the circle was the Battle Command Center, fifty feet across and two decks high. Wishun's battle station was in Computer Room One, which also had the main entrance to the BCC. If Chard had to leave in a hurry, he would most likely be coming right past Wishun and Blade.