BattleTech Novella

BATTLING FOR HIS LIFE…Solaris VII, known as the Game World. Walter de Mesnil, last survivor of the mercenary company Angleton's Angels, has brought the heir of the planet Maldive here to rebuild his fortune and amass a force powerful enough to return to his planet and take it from the ruling Collective. And how does a mercenary MechWarrior make money on Solaris? By strapping into a 'Mech and doing whatever it takes to pay the bills…IN FRONT OF CHEERING CROWDS…Solaris, however, is an entirely different scene than Maldive, with its own dangers ranging from unscrupulous managers to fixed fights. And as Walter's charges are still in hiding, they have to step carefully to not risk exposing themselves to the heir's enemies. But when a person from their past reappears on Solaris, Walter is thrust into a four-way battle he must not win…but which might be even deadlier if he loses…

Life in the sparsely populated periphery is rustic-and dangerous. Small settlements means small defense forces. No wonder the outer worlds often fall prey to piracy. So when Mark Castor shows up on the World of Randis with relief aid in tow and an assault 'Mech to protect it, the locals are overjoyed to see him. But Castor isn't at all what he appears to be-and before he's done he's going to turn the entire concept of privacy on its head. Follow the twists and turns of Castor and bombshell Tracy Malfont in "Red Khopesh" and "The Bitter Taste of Hope."

At The Edge Of A Precipice... Violent expansion of the Capellan Confederation and the Draconis Combine has cost recently crowned First Prince Julian Davion more than just countless strategic Federated Suns worlds. The war's toll claimed a mentor and close friend, and righteous vengeance burns bright. To rally his people and preserve the future of the Great House, Julian funnels the fires of justice into an ambitious yet risky campaign to retake a vital system: New Syrtis, the lost capital of the Capellan March. Success would dislodge an ancient enemy from their strategic foothold in Suns space, but failure may cost Julian the nation he inherited. However, the Capellan people have fought dearly for their prize, and will do anything in their power to hold onto it. Will Julian's gamble save the very soul of the Federated Suns, or is the invasion of New Syrtis doomed before it even begins?

BROTHERS IN ARMS… At long last, the Clans' campaign for the Inner Sphere is coming to a head. Khan Alaric Wolf is preparing for his biggest moves yet…and is willing to enlist just about anyone who can help him achieve his ultimate goal-the conquest of Terra. To that end, he sends one of his own on a special assignment. Marotta Kerensky is a Clan Wolf warrior unlike any other-the perfect candidate for a mission unlike any other: convince the legendary Wolf's Dragoons to rejoin the Clan they originally came from. But when Marotta reaches the mercenary unit, he finds them unit quite different from the storied force of a century ago. The times have vastly changed since then, and the Dragoons have as well…or have they? Driven to accomplish his mission at any cost, Marotta allies with a Dragoons officer on a risky gambit that may help him deliver what his Khan wants…or tear Wolf's Dragoons apart forever.

OUTNUMBERED AND ON THE RUN! As the Marian Hegemony works to expand its holdings and seize planets from the Free Worlds League, the Ghost Dogs-led by the redoubtable veteran Colonel Hank Mallory-have been hired to defend the world of Hammer.Outnumbered three to one against the superior forces of Legatus Quintus Liberalis, the Ghost Dogs will have to pull not one but four aces out of their sleeves to defend the capital and fulfill their contract without losing their lives…

It is the year 3027, and the Inner Sphere is at war. Thousand of worlds, controlled by the feuding lords of the Successor States. Centuries of near-constant warfare have left the feudal realms exhausted and near collapse, but none will surrender. National armies clash on hundreds of worlds, and proxies bought for coin-mercenaries-fight on countless more. Mighty MechWarriors lead their BattleMechs like the ancient knights of old, but they are not the only soldiers. Fusion-powered tanks, heavily armored and nearly as powerful as 'Mechs, roam the battlefields, and few are as deadly as Halsten's Brigade, in the service of House Steiner's Lyran Commonwealth. Even fewer are as deadly as gunner Sniper Jones, the man even MechWarriors fear.

CONTRACTS MAKE STRANGE ALLIES…For new mercenary groups just starting out, one of the primary rules is "Follow the money." Even when it's being paid by the same people who forced you to become a mercenary unit in the first place.Ronan and Isobel Carlyle are experiencing this right now, having accepted a contract from the newly-formed Tamar Pact, the cluster of planets that recently seceded from the Lyran Commonwealth-and got the once loyal-Carlyle siblings cashiered as turncoats.Now the Pact wants the Legion's help with one of their newer planets, Crimond. But murky mission parameters and an unhelpful liaison officer leaves Ronan and Bel wondering who's a friend and who's a foe. And when the Legion splits up to handle two different missions, Bel finds herself an entire continent away, on a mission to scout an abandoned Star League base. But she soon discovers the base-and the nearby community-is anything but abandoned…and if she doesn't act fast, she and her GDL commandos will receive a welcome they won't walk away from…

Solaris VII is the Game World, a planet of spectacle and intrigue entirely devoted to ferocious gladiatorial combat. Except on Solaris, the gladiators aren't people-they're BattleMechs, thirty-foot high, walking engines of war. David Singh is a down-on-his-luck 'Mech pilot with just enough skill and raw guts to attract all the wrong kind of attention. Singh's dream is to become a championship fighter in the games. He's an underdog, but his flamboyant fighting style gives him a solid chance of making the jump. But he'll have to watch his step. Because on Solaris the most dangerous contests take place outside the coliseum.

It is 3071, and holy Jihad rages in the Inner Sphere. Safe on worlds claimed two decades earlier, Clan Jade Falcon watches its enemies tear themselves apart. But, a new threat is bearing down on the Falcons. Clan Ice Hellion, another of Kerensky's Clans, has traveled the winding Exodus Road to attack its warrior brethren- for while the Clans hunger to conquer the Inner Sphere, they are warriors, and they have little qualm warring amongst themselves for advantage. Khan Connor Rood of the Ice Hellions knows his Clan is taking a desperate risk. Victory over the Jade Falcons will give the Hellions a place in the Inner Sphere, new worlds to conquer and exploit. It will place them among those rarified Clans, who are not trapped in the distant Clan homeworlds. It is a bold plan. It could easily fail. For the Jade Falcons have been warned of the Ice Hellions' approach, and powerful and veteran Jade Falcon BattleMechs are turning to meet them. Can Rood and his Hellions defeat the forewarned Falcons? With Jihad raging in front of them and genocidal wars of reaving consuming the Clan homeworlds behind them, can the Hellions survive?

A STRUGGLE TO SURVIVE… Former hauptmann Ronan Carlyle is a man without a nation. After his former commanding officer declared herself governor-general of a reborn Tamar Pact, Ronan, a loyal Steiner officer, led a group of soldiers and techs including his sister, Isobel, back for Garrison for reassignment. But on Garrison, his troubles multiply. The senior Lyran officer brands the 26th Arcturan loyalists traitors and cashiers them, stranding nearly 200 former LCAF soldiers, technicians, and crewmen on a Lyran world with no way off-planet. Forced to scrounge up a way to survive, Ronan and Isobel hatch a plan to get the former LCAF members back to their homeworlds by salvaging 'Mechs. But when a Lyran scout battalion goes AWOL over an off-world mission squashed by their commanding officer, the LCAF is shocked to discover the Arcturan loyalists have built up the largest contingent of combat equipment outside the militia. Ronan's people need cash. They have skills. And there's history in his name… Thus, the Gray Death Legion is reborn. First as a way to get funds for his people to leave. But they fight the Lyran unit-winning by use of unorthodox tactics-and discover they don't want to disband…instead, the reconstituted mercenary unit wants to find its next employer…