In "The Mothballed Spaceship", a hostile armada is heading towards Earth, and its government contracts Jason and the Pyrrans to reactivate an ancient mothballed battleship. It is cheaper to use the battleship, a relic from the First Galactic War, than it is to build a fleet from scratch. Unfortunately, when the ship was deactivated for storage, or "mothballed", it was programmed to destroy any approaching object so it could not be stolen by Earth's enemies. The only way it can be used is if it receives the correct codeword.

The armada is just weeks away, so Jason and Kerk must race against time to enter the ship. Jason approaches the problem with intelligence and guile, and is able to board it with plenty of time to spare. Kerk's Pyrran combat skills then make short work of the ship's on-board defenses. But when they reach the control center, the computer starts a self-destruct sequence—a final option to keep the ship from being "stolen".

Just in time, Jason's Pyrran lover, Meta, discovers the correct codeword, canceling the self-destruct. It turns out to have been a simple five-letter word in Esperanto—"Haltu" or, "Stop".

This was a short story featured in ASTOUNDING: The John W. Campbell Anthology which was published after the death of the famed, influential editor.