Book Debut: Beverly Bronte Space Chick by James Hartley
Back Cover
Space pirates? Invisible asteroids?
Six-limbed aliens invading from the Lesser Magellanic Cloud? Bring 'em on,
Beverly Bronte is ready to handle them. As Ensign Bronte, a new graduate of the
Trans-Planetary Patrol Academy and the first woman assigned to serve on a
Patrol spaceship, Beverly shows her native intelligence and ingenuity in
solving problems ... and she also shows her ability to deck a space marine of
twice her weight. Promotions come fast, but the challenges come faster in this
action packed space saga.
Plus Bonus Story by Beverly Bronte.
Excerpt
Lieutenant Commander Bronte called a
meeting to brief the space marines on what was going to happen. The Captain was
there, as well as Major Haines and his two platoon leader captains.
She started out describing the plan.
"The only way we can see to do anything about that alien ship is to board
and storm. We have built a wooden and plastic shuttle craft, with gas bottles
made out of a super high-tensile-strength plastic to use as braking jets for a
soft landing. The same kind of plastic gas bottles will be used with the
party's spacesuits...also made of plastic. There will be no energy weapons, and
a minimum of metal...we have to keep it well under three hundred pounds."
Major Haines asked, "If we have
no energy weapons, how do we fight? For that matter, how do we get into their
ship?"
"Second question first, we will
use a special form of thermite. The metal content in it has been figured into
our three hundred pounds. Thermite contains its own oxygen so it will burn in
the vacuum of space, and it can melt its way right through their hull. We have
the thermite packaged in long tubes, and we can form a circle around that hatch
we saw. As far as fighting goes, each member of the team will have a sword, a
knife, and a wooden quarterstaff."
"A sword? You're kidding,
right?" said Major Haines.
"No, Major. I checked the
records and all of your men have had training with swords. For some it has been
a while, we may do a refresher course. And the amount of metal needed for one
sword and one knife per person is well below the limit that will trigger
defensive fire from the alien." She paused and picked up a sword from the
floor. "As you can see, the swords we are going to use are slightly
curved, like a Civil War Cavalry saber. They have a sharp edge for cutting and
a sharp point for thrusting. Plus they're sharp on the back edge for eight
inches or so. After a stab you can cut in either direction to enlarge the
wound...or if you find an opportunity you can do a backhand cut. About as
deadly as we could manage."
"Okay, okay, so you've ordered
twenty-one of these swords," said Major Haines.
"Twenty-two," said
Commander Bronte.
"Twenty-two? No, there are
twenty-one of us...myself and my twenty men."
"You, your twenty men, and me.
Twenty-two."
The Major's jaw dropped.
"You're going along, Commander? No, no, that's ridiculous. You'll just get
yourself killed. Or else we'll have to spend so much time protecting
you..."
"Major," interrupted
Captain Lastings, one of Haines' two platoon leaders, "I think I'd like to
see Commander Bronte go along. I mean, after that little incident in the gym,
and then she went over to do a 2-G workout..."
Haines glared at Lastings, then said
to Bronte, "If you do come along, can you use one of those swords?"
Without saying anything, she stood.
She threw an ordinary lead pencil into the air and swung the sword she was
holding. Two half pencils, sliced perfectly in two lengthwise, fell to the
table. She sat down, then asked,. "Any more questions?"
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