r
closed before the boat could drift out again.

Hoddan turned to his companions--followers--victims, once the spaceboat
was still.

"This," he said in a manner which could only be described as one of
smiling ferocity, "is a pirate ship, belonging to the pirate fleet we
passed through on the way here. It's manned by characters so murderous
that their leaders don't dare land anywhere away from their home
star-cluster, or all the galaxy would combine against them, to
exterminate them or be exterminated. You've joined that fleet. You're
going to get out of this boat and march over that ship yonder. Then
you're going to be space pirates under me."

They quivered, but did not protest.

"I'll try you for one voyage," he told them. "There will be plunder.
There will be pirate revels. If you serve faithfully and fight well,
I'll return you to Don Loris' stronghold with your loot after the one
voyage. If you don't--" He grinned mirthlessly at them--"out the air
lock with you, to float forever between the stars. Understand?"

The last was pure savagery. They cringed. The outside-pressure meter
went up to normal. Hoddan turned off the visionscreens, so ending any
view of the interior of the hold. He opened the port and went out.
Sitting in something like continued paralysis in their seats, the seven
spearmen of Darth heard his voice in conversation outside the boat. They
could catch no words, but Hoddan's tone was strictly businesslike. He
came back.

"All right," he said shortly. "Thal, march 'em over."

Thal gulped. He loosened his seat belt. The enlistment of the seven in
the pirate fleet was tacitly acknowledged. They were unarmed save for
the conventional large knives at their belts.

"Frrrd, _harch!_" rasped Thal with a lump in his throat. "Two, three,
four. _Hup_ two, three, four. _Hup_--"

Seven men marched dismally out of the spaceboat and down to the floor of
the huge hold. Eyes front, chests out, throats dry, they marched to the
larger but still small vessel that shared this hold compartment. They
marched into that ship. Thal barked, "_Halt!_" and they stopped. They
waited.

Hoddan came in very matter-of-factly only moments later. He closed the
entrance port, so sealing the ship. He nodded approvingly.

"You can break ranks now," he said. "There's food and such stuff around.
The ship's yours. But don't turn knobs or push buttons until you've
asked me what for!"

He went forward, and a door closed behind