The Sword of Sophia — John Bowers

Three years after the last shot was fired and Oliver Lincoln III left Vega 3 to return home, the Sword of Sophia emerges. Vega 3 has been invaded and overwhelmed by the Sirian Confederacy, its women raped, its society enslaved. The Vegans have put up a vicious fight worthy of their Viking ancestors, charging the Sirians a gallon of blood for every yard of the planet, but now the fight is over, the battle lost. Vega 3 has been conquered. But deep in the Scroll of Sophia, that mystical goddess the Vegans hold dear, is a nearly forgotten prophecy of a time when the invader's boot will stand on Vega 3. The prophecy says Sophia will send a sword-a sword of justice-and the invader will be torn asunder. Is the prophecy real, or just a false hope? And if the prophecy is real, is it really possible to throw the Sirians off of Vega 3? And what…or who…is the "sword of Sophia"?Erika Sebring: a popular holonews reporter. Erika was captured by the Sirians during the first week of the invasion. She has been raped and humiliated for over a year, and now her slave ship arrives at the orbit of Sirius 1 … but her adventure is only beginning-Capt. Brandon Marlow: Oliver Lincoln's old college buddy. Brandon is an officer in the dreaded Sirian Elite Guards (SE), the organization responsible for the capture and transport of female slaves to Sirius. Even as he is promoted to Major, Brandon must face some hard choices, and decide whether loyalty to his old friend is more important than his duty to the Sirian Confederacy-Erik Norgaard: prisoner of war. After three long years of captivity, Erik, a former Vegan Guardsman, returns home to find the world he fought to save in the grip of a despotic conqueror. Erik has lost faith in Sophia, but his blood boils as he witnesses the atrocities done to his people, and he can't hold back his rage-Hans Norgaard: Erik's younger brother. Too young to fight the Sirians, Hans came of age under the occupation; rather than cry over what Vega has lost, Hans