"There is No Defense" by Theodore Sturgeon was published in 'Astounding Science Fiction' in 1948. It starts with a meeting of the Joint Solar Military Council to deal with an invading spaceship from an unknown source. What is known is that it ignores any attempt to communicate with it and, so far, it's been pretty destructive to any human outpost or colony in our solar system that it has encountered. After a scene involving the council members watching gruesome footage of one military outpost and discussing what happened elsewhere, our protagonist, Belter, brings up 'The Death,' a weapon so deadly that it lead to the current pacifist attitude.

The Joint Solar Military Council has representatives from Earth, Mars, Phoebe-Titan Colonials, the Asteroid Belt, etc.; the non-human Jovians (who lost their war with humans), and the biggest name from Amalgamated Peace. The council is arguing about whether or not to use 'The Death' against the invaders. Hereford of Amalgamated Peace is against it. Belter, who heads the council, is a military man, and he believes that 'The Death' is warranted in this situation. Belter has to convince Hereford that the belief that there is never any excuse for resorting to violence is wrong.

This story is copyrighted 1948, only three years after World War II ended. If you think that Mr. Sturgeon was all gung ho about violence, no. A good clue to this is that the Martian colonists, who are the 'nuke them 'til they glow and shoot them in the dark' type, get no names. It's just 'the' or 'a' 'Martian'.

The invading ship is genuinely frightening, the attempts to save our solar system interesting, and the solution wasn't one I expected. I do appreciate the difference between Belter's and the Martians' attitudes. ( )