Different Title for Each Category

I like to have my page titles customized to display differently than the actual database title. I don’t know a heck of a lot of PHP, but so far I’ve used the following, I’m sure it can be optimized for better performance:

<?php if (in_category(12)) { ?>ITsVISTA KB-Link: <?php } ?>
<?php if (in_category(18)) { ?>ITsVISTA Adobe KB-Link: <?php } ?>
<?php if (in_category(19)) { ?>ITsVISTA AutoDesk KB-Link: <?php } ?>
<?php if (in_category(21)) { ?>ITsVISTA Novell TID-Link: <?php } ?>
<?php if (in_category(22)) { ?>ITsVISTA ATI KB-Link: 737-<?php } ?>
<?php if (in_category(14) || in_category(15)) { ?>Vista's <?php } ?>
<?php the_title(); ?>
<?php if (in_category(14)) { ?> Command<?php } ?>
<?php if (in_category(15)) { ?> Service<?php } ?>


I tried different variations on the following with no luck:


<?php
$post = $wp_query->post;
if ( in_category('12') ) {
$title = "ITsVISTA KB-Link: " . the_title();
} elseif ( in_category('14') ) {
$title = "Vista's " . the_title() . " Command";
} elseif ( in_category('15') ) {
$title = "Vista's " . the_title() . " Service";
} elseif ( in_category('18') ) {
$title = "ITsVISTA Adobe KB-Link: " . the_title();
} elseif ( in_category('19') ) {
$title = "ITsVISTA AutoDesk KB-Link: " . the_title();
} elseif ( in_category('21') ) {
$title = "ITsVISTA Novell TID-Link: " . the_title();
} elseif ( in_category('22') ) {
$title = "ITsVISTA ATI KB-Link: 737-" . the_title();
} else {
$title = the_title();
}
echo $title;
?>


Anyone willing to give me some pointers on the most efficient way to accomplish my goal (full control over the displayed titles with as little hit on performance as possible)?