Blood In the Water Read Online Free PDF Page A

really expected him to stay out of the war if another army joined him to reconquer India, and certainly nothing like an alliance had been contemplated, but left to his own devices it was believed he’d focus foremost on the survival of his army.
    The Republic had also morally, if not literally, joined the war against the evil “Holy Dominion,” a nation of twisted human zealots infesting much of Central and South America. Just as Matt had delivered yet another stunning if costly defeat on the Grik at Madagascar, Lord HighAdmiral Harvey Jenks of the Empire of the New Britain Isles had won a naval victory over the Dominion Fleet near the isle of Malpelo and General Tomatsu Shinya had smashed a Dom army north of Guayak. It seemed to Sandra that, despite the numberless Grik reserves on the African mainland, and the fact that Shinya still had a mountainous jungle continent to fight across before he could threaten the Dom capital of New Granada, the tide of war might have turned at last. But still, she worried.
    Matt’s forces on Madagascar were so few, and even with reinforcements on the way, he might be hard-pressed to hold what he’d gained, much less take the fight to the Grik. The Republic was planning an offensive against the Grik in the south, while Matt kept their attention on Grik City, on the northern tip of Madagascar, but the Republic offensive had been delayed by the intimidating presence of representatives of yet another power called the League of Tripoli that no one knew a great deal about. They knew the League was powerful, though, and in addition to having an old French battleship they could afford to park indefinitely in the harbor at Alex-aandra until it was finally bluffed away, they’d actually attacked Matt’s First Fleet (South) with a submarine. The sub was destroyed, but not before it did a great deal of damage and sank the only vessel that could perform serious repairs to
Walker
and the other ships in Matt’s little fleet. In spite of this, the League had still assured the Republic that it meant no harm, but it was clear that they had an agenda of their own and remained a veiled menace to the Alliance.
    In the East, Shinya was on the march, pushing the Doms, but his force was relatively weak as well. And in the aftermath of the Battle of Malpelo, an already difficult supply problem could soon become a crisis. If Shinya stalled and the Doms had time to gather enough troops to put in his way . . . Sandra shook her head again. She could worry about those things, and about her husband, Matt, but she couldn’t do anything about them. Her priority was to get the wounded aboard
Amerika
back to Baalkpan, where they could get the real rest they needed to properly heal. Arguably, the early Iron Age Lemurians they’d met on this world, industrialized, and taught to fight had better “medicine” than she, a mere Navy nurse, had brought with her. Their curative “polta paste” was but one example. But she’d brought
trauma
medicine,
military
medicine, of a kind the generally peaceful Lemurians had never much needed, along with the teaching and organizational skills requiredto treat the victims of an increasingly worldwide war. Matt had been right all along. They had plenty of medics, “corps-’Cats,” and even good surgeons in the field these days. It was time for her to quit following the fleet and get back to her real job at last.
    â€œGood afternoon, Lady Saandra . . . Reddy,” came Adar’s familiar voice beside her. Adar was the High Sky Priest and High Chief of Baalkpan, chairman of the Grand Alliance, and a very dear friend. “Forgive me,” he said, his eyes blinking amused confusion, “but I may never get used to this hu-maan changing of names when they mate!” Sandra knew better. Adar probably understood humans better than any Lemurian alive. She also knew he enjoyed throwing the