If you think you know somebody who resembles any of the characters here, congratulations, but you're wrong - any similarity between the characters in this story and any real person is purely coincidental, since all of these characters are figments of my imagination.

This is my story, not yours. Don't sell it or put it on a pay site. You can keep it and/or give it away with all of this information intact, but if you make money off of it without my permission, you're breaking the law and pissing me off.

http://storiesonline.net/library/author.php?name=Shakes_Peer2B
/files/Authors/Shakes_Peer2B/

President Caprio, along with the assembled heads of most of the nations on earth, watched the wall of monitors as the last squadron of armed shuttles lifted from their base in Australia. The launches were timed with the orbit of the alien ships such that each group of ten launched from the side of the Earth opposite the position of the alien fleet. One hundred forty nine out of the planned hundred fifty shuttles had launched successfully. Of the group scheduled for launch from the Israel-Syria base, one had malfunctioned and aborted. An incredible feat of engineering, no doubt.

The Himalayan launch, completed only a few minutes before, was just maneuvering into its orbital track, which would eventually join the other thirteen squadrons already in orbit, trailing the alien fleet around the globe. A couple of hours from now, the Australian squadron would join them, then the attack would begin.

The plan was relatively simple. Half the fleet would accelerate to overtake the aliens, approaching from a higher orbit, thanks to their greater velocity. The remainder of the fleet would decelerate, slowing to allow the enemy ships to overtake them. Because of their slower speed, by the time the enemy was engaged, the second Earth fleet would be in a lower orbit. With the extra fuel they carried, this plan should allow the two halves of the Earth fleet to englobe the enemy with some judicious maneuvering.

The assembled leaders watched tensely as, hour after hour, the ships completed their maneuvers. Finally, almost thirty-six hours after the first mid-Pacific launch, the lead elements of both halves of the UEDL fleet spotted the enemy ships within seconds of each other, the on-board video cameras relaying the images in real-time to the command center high in the Austrian Alps.

"Yuee Bravo flight, this is Alpha leader. Commence englobement maneuver on my mark, in three, two, one, mark!"

The commanders of both flights touched a button on their keypads and the guidance computers for every shuttle in the fleet began a series of preprogrammed maneuvering burns. Surprisingly, the software, even with last-minute adjustments for the missing spacecraft, did its job flawlessly. The alien commander seemed unaware or unconcerned about the fact that his fleet was about to be surrounded.

Three hours later the maneuver completed.

"Yuee Bravo flight this is Alpha leader, All ships, open weapon bay doors and commence roll maneuver."

One hundred forty nine pairs of doors swung open as steering jets fired on every ship in the UE fleet, rolling the shuttles so that the open bay doors faced the enemy fleet. One hundred forty-nine tubes unfolded from within those bays, each consisting of a set of aluminum alloy guide rails surrounded at regular intervals by a series of toroids. Hinged midway down their length, each tube was straightened by pneumatics until the the entire hundred foot length was locked into a single huge shotgun pointed straight at the enemy fleet.

One by one, confirmation came of successful deployment of mass drivers until one hundred forty-seven reported green lights across the board.

"Ah, Alpha Leader, this is Alpha Three Niner. We have a mechanical malfunction. Tube is not locked. I say again, tube is not locked. Will attempt manual repair, but don't want to hold up the party, mate, so why don't you go on without us?"

"Roger Alpha Three Niner. Report success only."

"Roger Alpha Leader. Will report when tube is locked and loaded. Good hunting, mate!"

"Bravo Two Seven, what's your status?"

"Alpha leader, this is Bravo Two Seven. Tube is locked and loaded but fire control has blown a fuse. We tried replacing it but the new one blew too. It would seem that we will have to sit this one out, Alpha Leader."

"Roger Bravo Two Seven. No point getting caught in the crossfire. Back off until time for boarding. Yuee fleet, this is Alpha leader, all ships, saturation fire, mixed loads, on my mark. Three, two, one, mark!"

Magnetic fields pulsed down the length of every mass driver in the fleet, sending its 'bucket' of steel balls hurtling down the length of the guide rails, never quite touching them. Each driver imparted a very slow spin to it's bucket as it flew down the tube, only to slam to a halt at the very end, releasing several hundred pounds of metal in the direction of the enemy fleet, traveling at well over the speed of sound, a comparison that made little sense in space where sound could not carry, but military will be military.

Even at those great speeds, it took several minutes for the loads to reach the enemy vessels, during which time, the ships reloaded and fired another salvo. The slight spin imparted by the mass drivers ensured that the mass of steel pellets that left the tube with a diameter of just over a foot, covered an area several hundred feet across by the time it hit the alien vessels. Here and there, a tiny puff of vapor showed where a pellet had managed to penetrate the hull of one of the craft, but the vast majority simply stopped a few inches from the hulls of the alien vessels.

The third salvo was well on its way by the time the first stray pellets, having passed through the alien fleet, found their way to the Earth ships opposite the point from which they were fired. Only a very tiny fraction of pellets made it through, but that was enough to destroy or seriously damage about ten percent of the Earth ships.

Suddenly, alien craft swarmed from the larger ships, some apparently intercepting and somehow absorbing the projectiles still in flight, others attacking the Earth fleet with some sort of beam weapon.

"Evasive maneuvers! Evasive maneuvers! All ships break off and rendevous at designated orbit!" Alpha Leader's voice was tense but still controlled.

Pilots of each of the shuttles started the slow process of stowing the mass drivers and maneuvering their ships, within the constraints of their automatic collision avoidance programs, to try to escape the swarming enemy fighters. Stray pellets from the second salvo ripped through their ranks, rupturing fuel and oxygen tanks, damaging doors or mass drivers too badly to allow them to be re-stowed, and, in some cases, causing explosions that destroyed the shuttle and endangered others nearby.

As the UE fighters blasted away from the alien vessels, crew members cheered as one of the huge enemy ships erupted in an enormous globular explosion.

"What's the count?" President Caprio asked, five hours later as the last responding shuttle rendevoused with the remainder of the Earth fleet on the opposite sid of the globe from the debris of the battle.

"Sixteen shuttles confirmed lost, Twenty two unaccounted for." The Canadian officer designated as head of the UE Space Expeditionary Force replied. "Forty-three craft damaged too badly to attempt re-entry, but there should be enough room aboard the others for their personnel. Partly, um, because, uh, well, it seems that some of the fleet personnel are missing. They simply vanished in the midst of the battle, sir."

"Vanished?" The United Earth President's brows rose sharply. "What do you mean, 'vanished?'"

"We are not sure how it happened, sir, but the cabin videos show that one moment they were going about their duties, and the next they were just, well, gone."

The President shook his head. Like the others, he was familiar with the story of the joint US-Euro operation that had resulted in the crew being transported back to Earth, with the exception of two members of the force.

"What about damage to the alien craft?"

"We at least had some success there, sir." The UESEF Commander replied. "We managed to destroy one of the craft, and analysis of battle footage shows probable damage to the others."

"I don't suppose you got anybody aboard any of them?" The President asked.

"No sir. Not this time, sir."

"How are we doing on the new design?" President Caprio asked the assembled politicians, military types, scientists, and engineers.

"The designs are essentially complete." The Project Manager for the Phase II Alien Defense project said. "Prototype testing is underway and so far looks promising. Where we are running into problems, Sir, is in the ramping up of the manufacturing facilities."

"What kind of problems?"

"Social problems, sir." The Project Manager replied. "Many of the countries tasked with supplying parts and people simply do not have the infrastructure or educational systems in place to fulfill their quotas."

"I understand," The President sighed. "Unfortunately, I'm given carte blanche for defense of this mudball, but I have no power to improve socio-economic factors to make that possible."

"Maybe it's time you did, sir." The Project Manager bowed his head in resignation as he said this.

"You are right, sir!" The President almost shouted. "You are correct! I shall put it before the UE Congress this very month!"