Parafaith

Some bad ideas go back a long way and this one goes all the way back to the original home planet: Someone's god told them they had a right to more territory-so they figure they can take what they want by divine right. In the far future among the colonized worlds of the galaxy there's a war going on between the majority of civilized worlds and a colonial theocracy. Trystin Desoll grows up fighting against religious fanatics and becomes a hero, a first-class pilot, then, amazingly, a spy. What do you do if you're a relatively humane soldier fighting millions of suicidal volunteers on the other side who know that they are utterly right and you are utterly wrong, with no middle ground? Trystin Desoll has an idea.

A military science fiction adventure from, L. E. Modesitt, author of the bestselling Saga of Recluce series, set in the universe of The Parafaith War. The Ethos Effect combines hard science fiction adventure with an insightful examination of the relationship between the sacred and the secular. Set two centuries later, after the events of The Parafaith War, Commander Van C. Albert, the resourceful officer who once defeated a larger enemy ship, indirectly caused the loss of a civilian liner. Cleared by the board of inquiry, but an embarrassment to the high command, he finds himself in dead-end assignments. Seriously wounded foiling an assassination, Van awakes from a coma to find that he's been decorated, promoted, and summarily retired. Looking for new employment, Van will find that a simple piloting job turns him into a point man in a conflict that will shake the worlds.