The Fate Of The Three Stars

The People Of The Wind, VIII.

Vodan decelerates to evade a torpedo from the Terran Meteor;

the torp tracks but one of Vodan's gunners destroys it;

the Meteor releases radar window;

however, already knowing where to aim, Vodan uses his superior beam weapons to puncture and disable the Meteor;

having surrendered, Rochefort and Helu prepare to jump into space to be caught by Vodan's tractor beam;

just then, Avalonian surface defenses counterattack;

the Meteor's engine is dead but a tracker torpedo bound for the Imperial fleet detects and destroys Vodan's ship;

the tracker lacked recognition circuits because the Avalonians had sacrificed quality for quantity and had not expected any of their own ships to be so close to the planet.

Thus, Vodan wins but dies whereas Rochefort loses but survives.