BattleTech: Strong as Steel (Eridani Light Horse Chronicles, Part Ten): BattleTech

By Michael J. Ciaravella

TRADITIONS RUN DEEP…
Other mercenary units fly flags at two flagpoles at their headquarters, one with their unit's flag, and other bearing the flag of their current employer. However, the Third Regimental Combat Team—a.k.a. the Eridani Light Horse—leaves one flagpole bare, as a reminder of the death of the Star League, and the other pole flies the Light Horse's unit and regimental flags at half-mast.
What triumphs and tragedies shaped the Eridani Light Horse and its traditions? What drove them to become a force to be reckoned with, an elite mercenary unit with one of the longest histories and the deepest traditions in the Inner Sphere? Witness the unit's origins in the Star League and follow their evolution all the way through the Succession Wars and the Clan Invasion to their downfall in the Dark Age and their resurrection in the uncertain future of the ilClan era.
Part Ten: Strong as Steel by Michael J. Ciaravella: In the uncertain future following the fall of the Republic of the Sphere, the Eridani Light Horse name has reemerged, but can this reborn unit live up to the weight of its own storied history?
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Catalyst Game Labs
• Release date: Dec 27, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201787769

Book preview

BattleTech: Strong as Steel

Also by Michael J. Ciaravella

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BattleTech: Paid in Blood (The Highlander Covenant, Book Two)

BattleTech: The Damocles Sanction

BattleTech: Strong as Steel (Eridani Light Horse Chronicles, Part Ten)

BattleTech Anthology

BattleTech: The Battle of Tukayyid

BattleTech: No Greater Honor (The Complete Eridani Light Horse Chronicles)

BattleTech Magazine

BattleTech: Shrapnel, Issue #1 (The Official BattleTech Magazine)

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Leviathans: Armored Skies

BattleTech: Perception of Victory (The Mercenary Tales, #3)

BATTLETECH: STRONG AS STEEL

ERIDANI LIGHT HORSE CHRONICLES, PART TEN

MICHAEL J. CIARAVELLA

Catalyst Game Labs

CONTENTS

Strong as Steel

Michael J. Ciaravella

Battletech Glossary

BattleTech Eras

The BattleTech Fiction Series

Subscribe to Shrapnel!

STRONG AS STEEL

MICHAEL J. CIARAVELLA

FORT PASUACK

MIRACH

FEDERATED SUNS

20 MARCH 3151

This is going to be even simpler than I imagined!

From where he lay, deep in the underbrush dotting the tree line, Jonathan Sparrow could easily observe the war games going on just below the ridge. While others might have been concerned to be so close to the hulking behemoths known as BattleMechs that dominated current warfare, Sparrow was confident in both his camouflage and that he was safely outside of the boundaries of the exercise. Not only that, but he’d been researching them since he had gotten this assignment, had been watching his quarry for weeks since arriving on the planet, and had heard stories of them since he had been a child on New Avalon.

The Eridani Light Horse.

Once one of the largest and most revered mercenary units under contract, the ELH could trace its grand history back to the original Star League, serving with honor and distinction on battlefields throughout the Inner Sphere. While elements of the ELH had been beaten down and shattered time and again, they rose back up each time, like the legendary phoenix, to be reborn and once again hold high the best ideals of a bygone era.

From where he watched, Sparrow wondered if he was watching the beginning of such a rebirth once again.

After nearly thirteen months on Mirach under an uneventful garrison contract for the planetary government, the ELH had been maintaining a nearly constant series of training exercises as they prepared for their contract to end. Despite technically being a part of the Federated Suns, Mirach had always prided itself on protecting itself, creating such units as the Mirach Home Guard to ensure their safety. Unfortunately, that also made them a target, and raiders regularly preyed on the planet, knowing the government would be slow to seek outside help. Raiders, suspected to be Republic deserters fleeing from the besieged, fragmenting nation, had swept down and struck the Home Guard hard, overwhelming them with numbers and advanced technology. The Home Guard eventually drove them off, but at a terrible cost. The Eridani Light Horse 11th Recon Battalion, the Alley Cats, had been hired to prevent other raiders from taking advantage of the planet’s momentary weakness, and from all indications, the plan had been successful.

However, from the news recently received around the capitol, the planetary militia had finally built itself back up to the point where they could once again take over the protection of Mirach, and save the government the cost of hiring such elite mercenaries. Having seen the writing on the wall as clearly as Sparrow did, the ELH commander, Colonel Amelia Donovan, had stepped up their training regimen to prepare for their next contract, conducting a series of exercises to ensure that the unit was still in top form.

When Sparrow had heard about the most recent set of night exercises, he knew this would be the ideal time to accomplish his mission. The attention of the mercenaries would be focused elsewhere for the duration of his intrusion, and when they did return, the victorious forces would be celebrating, while the losers would be eager to drown their sorrows at the nearby pub…assuming they weren’t assigned to a punishment detail immediately afterward. Either way, his insertion would go unnoticed, and he should be in and out quickly enough to deliver his message and get clear before he was noticed. His superiors trusted him enough to leave the operational specifics to him, so now it just required him to wait for the opportune moment.

Until then, he could afford to take a little time to watch and see how the once-legendary mercenaries fared.

From what he had gathered from his sources, the exercise had been billed as being between Captain Denise Bezos’ Striker Lance and Lieutenant Andrew Sacrow’s Support Lance. Both sides had been supplemented with forces to augment where the other was weakest: Bezos had a lance of JES Missile Carriers to provide long-range fire support, while the Support Lance had a mixed bag of Pegasus scout tanks and Fulcrum hovertanks to rival the Strikers’ speed.

From his position, Sparrow was able to see the Striker lance as it swept the area, each BattleMech carefully positioned to provide support to its lancemates. Captain Bezos led in her War Dog, while the remaining three units, a Marauder, a Thunderbolt, and a Warhammer, maintained a rough diamond formation as they advanced across the field.

Interestingly, the ELH seemed to be foregoing its recent focus on full mixed units, as infantry units had apparently not been included in the exercise, a fortunate circumstance for Sparrow. While he had no doubt the infantry would have gained valuable knowledge by engaging in the night exercises, having the two forces on the alert for possible camouflaged humans on the field would have complicated the situation far too much for his liking.

Unsettled by that particular thought, Sparrow glanced around, verifying he neither heard nor saw any telltale signs of BattleMechs in his vicinity. While he was confident that his sneak suit’s visual camouflage could conceal him from the base’s sensor suite, advanced BattleMech sensors were a far greater threat.

Any further thoughts on the subject were superseded as the battle seemed to begin in earnest. From the south side of