The Carthaginian Crisis

Antigonus One-eye has murdered Susan Godlewski. He did it on camera as a political statement of dominance. The Ship People, the people from the twenty-first century who had arrived in this time on the Cruise ship Queen of the Sea, had to respond. Or they would be the meat for any bandit chief from the tag end of the fourth century BCE.Captain Lars Floden declared Antigonus One-eye dead, but despite the magical beliefs of this time, just saying it didn't make it so. Making it so would demand courage, and commitment, misdirection, and impossible technology from the twenty-first century. As well as time and more than a little luck.In the meantime, Ptolemy has decided that he wants more than Egypt. He wants Sicily and its highly productive farms. If Carthage wants to argue the point, well he'll take Carthage too.Carthage is in a panic. It can't abandon its allies on Sicily. To do so would be to destroy its trading empire. They have a strong and capable navy. Better now that they have been able to buy steam engines from the ship people. However their army is mostly mercenaries. Mercenaries who wont stand up to Ptolemy.Ptolemy doesn't need control of the Mediterranean to conquer Carthage. He can march an army along the north coast of Africa. Carthage needs allies, and fear of what Ptolemy might do to them is forcing them to consider the brand new Pax Romana.This is the fourth book in the Queen of the Sea series. "The Alexander Inheritance" and "The Macedonian Hazard" were published by Baen, "The Sicilian Coil" which discussed what was happening in Western Europe, while "The Macedonian Hazard" was dealing with Eastern Europe, was published by Ring of Fire Press. Then after Ring of Fire Press folded self-published by Paula and I on Amazon. This book "The Carthaginian Crisis" continues the universe almost from the moment of the end of "The Sicilian Coil" and combines the two narratives while adding other threads.This is the next book in the Queen of the Sea series but not the last. Like the 1632 series The Queen of the Sea is an open ended series with lots of room to grow.