Excerpt: Sigrid stood in the center of what had once been the Academy grounds on Alcyone. Now, all that remained were the burned and collapsed remnants of the school and dormitories. Smoke still wisped up from the blackened piles of lumber and debris. The stench was raw and acrid, threatening to overwhelm her sensors."There's no way Independents did this," Christian said. "It looks like a whole battalion landed here."Frantic, Sigrid scanned the area again, searching desperately for signs of the girls, but nothing turned up in her sensory modes. She tried calling out with her comlink. If they were in range, they'd pick up the signal. But there was still nothing. Not even the orbital satellites showed any sign of the girls, or survivors for that matter. Whoever had done this had been brutal and thorough.Sigrid knew she would kill them.Synopsis: Sigrid and Suko are two girls from the impoverished and crime-infested streets of 24th century Earth. Sold into slavery to save their families from financial ruin, the girls are forced to live out their lives in service to the Kimura Corporation, a prestigious mercenary clan with a lineage stretching back long before the formation of the Federated Corporations. Known only to Kimura, the two girls share startling secret—a rare genetic structure not found in tens of millions of other girls.But when their secret becomes known, Sigrid and Suko quickly find themselves at the center of a struggle for power. Now, hunted by men who would seek to control them, Sigrid and Suko are forced to fight for their own survival, and for the freedom of the girls from Alcyone.