BattleTech Legends Series

RISE OF A WARRIOR...   In the 31st century, the BattleMech is the ultimate war machine. Thirty meters tall, and vaguely, menacingly man-shaped, it is an unstoppable engine of destruction.  In the 31st century, the Clans are the ultimate warriors. The result of generations of controlled breeding, Clan Warriors pilot their BattleMechs like no others.  In the 31st century, Aidan aspires to be a Warrior of Clan Jade Falcon. To win the right to join his Clan in battle, he must succeed in trials that will forge him into one of the best warriors in the galaxy, or break him completely.  In the 31st century, Aidan discovers that the toughest battle is not in the field, but in his head—where failure will cost him the ultimate price: his humanity.

THE FIRST NOVEL IN THE EPIC SAGA OF FUTURE WAR! THE BEGINNING OF A LEGEND... Thirty meters tall, seventy tons of quick-striding death and destruction, the armored war machines called BattleMechs are the front line forces of the crumbling star empire locked in the horror of the endless Succession Wars. Their pilots are MechWarriors, 31st-Century knights riding armored machines powerful enough to take a city apart. Grayson Death Carlyle had been training to be a MechWarrior since he was 10 years old, but his graduation came sooner than expected. With his friends and family dead and his father's regiment destroyed, young Grayson finds himself stranded on a world turned hostile. Now he must learn the hardest lesson of all: it takes more than a BattleMech to make a MechWarrior... But to claim that title, all Grayson has to do is go out and capture one of those giant killing machines...if it doesn't kill him first.

BLOOD, STEEL, AND HONOR... Aris Sung is a rising young star in House Hiritsu, noblest of the Warrior Houses that have sworn allegiance to the Capellan Confederation. The Sarna Supremacy, a newly formed power in the Chaos March, is giving the Confederation some trouble—and Aris and his Hiritsu comrades are chosen to give the Sarnans a harsh lesson in Capellan resolve.  But there is far more to the mission than meets the eye—and unless Aris beats the odds in a race against time and treachery, all the ferro-fibrous armor in the galaxy won't be enough to save House Hiritsu from the high-explosive cross fire of intrigue and shifting loyalties...

ASSASSINATION’S AFTERMATH… Melissa Steiner's assassination ignited the fires of civil war, and now secessionist factions clamor for rebellion against the Federated Commonwealth. The rebels' plans hinge on gaining control of the Skye March, thus controlling the crucial Terran Corridor. Throughout the March, civil and military leaders plot to take up arms against Prince Victor Steiner-Davion. The final piece of the plan requires the secessionist forces to gain access to the planet Glengarry and the mercenary group that calls it home: The Gray Death Legion. When Prince Davion summons Grayson Death Carlyle and his wife, Lori Kalmar-Carlyle, to the Federated Commonwealth capital, the rebel forces seize their chance to establish a garrison on Glengarry. But they didn't expect the legion's newest members to take matters into their own hands...

BACKS AGAINST THE WALL... Galatea: the Mercenary's Star. Even the most down on their luck units can find work here. Leading the newly-formed Gray Death Legion is proving to be a hard task for Grayson Death Carlyle, so when a job comes their way, he is only too happy to take it. The job: train the local resistance on the planet Verthandi to resist their Draconis Combine masters. But things do not go well almost from the moment the Legion arrives at Verthandi. Trapped on the planet and facing a numerically superior force and a fractured populace, the men and women of the Legion find themselves in a situation that makes the campaign on Trellwan look like a walk in the park. And Grayson may find that repeating his successes of the past may not be so easy this time…

ONE LAST CHANCE FOR HONOR... For years, Star Commander Joanna has had to live with the shame of the Jade Falcon defeat at Twycross, and the nightmares of the heroic Aidan Pryde flaunting his bloodname in her face.   Now, with the arrival of the new Star Colonel Ravill Pryde, who will lead them against the Wolf Clan, Joanna must once again fight for her chance to recapture the glory of her victory at Tukayyid. But will her advanced age bring her to defeat again, or will being a Jade Falcon be enough for her to take on the legendary Black Widow in a repeat battle at the Great Gash on Twycross?

ORDERS ARE ORDERS... Angela Bekker is a rising star in the Ghost Bear Clan. Devoted to duty and honor, relentless in the pursuit of victory—a prime example of Clan excellence in mind and body. So when she receives order to form a new Trinary from scratch, she jumps at the chance to have her own command. Especially since they are to be stationed on the planet Toffen, at the leading edge of Ghost Bear space.  But what is an honor for some is an opportunity to strike for others. Led by the bloodthirsty Dirk Radick, forces of Clan Wolf launch an assault to take the valuable planet from the inexperienced troops. But the hunters soon become the hunted as the Stalking Bears live up to their name. Only when the smoke clears does Angela realize that great honor comes at a great price—one that she may not be willing to pay...

FIGHT OR FAIL... Dispossessed in the battle of Tukayyid, former Com Guard soldier Jeremiah Rose wants nothing more than to strike back at the Clans who destroyed his 'Mech and his career. Dreams of swift vengeance turn to nightmares when every effort he makes to rejoin the fight to protect the citizens of the Inner Sphere is rejected. Forced to win a new BattleMech by fighting on the game world of Solaris VII, Rose recruits other soldiers from the arenas to create a new mercenary unit and take his grudge back to the invaders. Unfortunately, Rose is long on battle experience and short on business skills. Turning a band of mismatched MechWarriors into an elite fighting unit becomes harder than he imagined when Rose is forced to fight his fellow MechWarriors in order to fight the Clans.

IN THE CLAWS OF A REBELLION... Theodore Kurita, samurai tyrant of the mighty Draconis Combine, is celebrating his sixty-first birthday. Topping the guest list is an unlikely bunch of high-tech troublemakers: Camacho’s Caballeros, the toughest team of mercenary MechWarriors the Inner Sphere has ever seen. But their invitation is more than merely social. Theodore’s powerful cousin has recruited their ace operative, Cassie Suthorn, for a dangerous mission. On a xenophobic planet where honor and duty are worshiped like deities, the freelancing Caballeros are considered barbarians. But Cassie’s covert investigation uncovers an insurrection, and Camacho's foreign “barbarians” could be the only unit with enough guns and grit to save the Draconis Combine from its own extremists. And when the armor-piercing rockets and laser fire finally subside, counted among the slain may be Cassie and her courageous comrades—as well as the fragile peace of the entire Inner Sphere...

LIFE, DEATH, HONOR, FEALTY...   Bushido is the warrior code that governs all these concepts. As a MechWarrior of the Draconis Combine, Minobu Tetsuhara is bound by it, a code that demands loyal service to the devious Warlord Grieg Samsonov.   When Minobu came upon a strange blue and gold Archer, the field littered with its vanquished opponents, and its weapons empty, bushido dictated that he not destroy an honorable but helpless warrior.   For that, he became Dispossessed, stripped of his BattleMech—and his honor.   Minobu is then assigned as liaison to one of the Combine's most elite mercenary units, who treat him with the respect due a fellow warrior, and give him a BattleMech to take the field of battle once more. The skill and power of these mercenaries is unparalleled, but when they refuse to renew their contract due to sabotage from within the Combine, Minobu is instructed to use all means to destroy them.   Now, bushido dictates that Minobu oppose his honorable foe, a man whom he has fought alongside in battle, and who deserves far better than betrayal... Jaime Wolf of Wolf's Dragoons.  

NOWHERE TO RUN.. The Gray Death Legion is in the employ of the Free Worlds League, and has even been given a landhold on the planet Helm. But dark forces conspire against them, and the Legion soon finds themselves declared renegade war criminals, fair game for anyone to attack. Now they are on the run on their home planet, trying desperately to reach safety before the might of House Marik falls upon them. They are about to discover the true motives of those who engineered their downfall. And what they discover will change the Inner Sphere forever...

THE PRICE OF VICTORY...  David McCarthy returns to Kathil a hero—one of the few surviving members of the First Kathil Uhlans, who fought so fiercely in the war to defeat the Clans. But David returns from Clan space with haunting memories of the cost of that victory…  With the Federated Commonwealth on the brink of civil war, David joins the planetary militia on Kathil—and steps into a powder keg. Opposing forces wrangle for control of the planet and its orbital shipyards, which berth a portion of FedCom’s mighty WarShip fleet. The Eighth Regimental Combat Team—loyal to Archon Katrina Steiner—refuses to turn over control of the planet to the militia. Caught in the power struggle between supporters of Katrina and those of her brother, Victor, McCarthy vows that he won’t fail the people of his homeward, even if that means leading his untested MechWarriors against the Eighth’s superior firepower—and dredging up a past he’d rather forget...

AT THE EDGE OF THE GALAXY... Using fast and furious hit-and-run tactics, Marcus GioAvanti and his Avanti's Angels mercenaries have earned a tough reputation throughout the Inner Sphere. But the Inner Sphere isn't where their newest job is taking them—because their latest employer resides in that remote and mysterious region of space known as the Periphery...  The Magistracy of Canopus has been targeted for conquest by the Marian Hegemony, and it hopes to retaliate by hiring Marcus and his gutsy commandos. But the fact that the Canopians are armed with technology that is considered rare in the Periphery is the least of Marcus's problems.  Marcus and his "Angels" will have to face the real force behind the hostilities—the religious cult known as Word of Blake. This fanatical group has a scheme deadly enough to destroy even the amazing Avanti's Angels...

A SWORD FORGED IN SHADOWS… Theodore Kurita is the son of Takashi Kurita, and heir apparent to the Draconis Combine, one of the most powerful realms of the Inner Sphere. But the Draconis Combine has never been a place of smooth transitions. Historically, a Kurita proves himself a fit leader by a successful bid for power, political or...otherwise. Theodore's perilous journey to power is a twenty-year odyssey, beginning with his graduation from Sun Zhang Military Academy. At each level of ascendancy, Theodore finds that keeping power is far more difficult than getting it, and failure lies in wait at every turn. His tactical knowledge is put to the test all too many times. His successes in impossible situations are dismissed as smoke and mirror trickery by some, but lauded as genius by others. Upon reaching the level of Deputy of the Combine Military, Theodore's new power allows him to see the uncertain future of his people. He must plan carefully as he bargains for his future with ComStar, the mystic sect, and the yakuza, an interstellar network of organized crime. All the while maintaining an uneasy truce with the man he must one day depose...his own father, Coordinator of the Draconis Combine!  

TO RESURRECT AN EMPIRE... The ambitious First Lord of the resurrected Star League launches a campaign to rebuild the ancient Capellan Confederation. With his sights set on expanding his borders through the reclamation of the St. Ives Compact, he is brought into direct conflict with his own family. Supported by the ferocious Hustang Warriors, the threat poses a danger to all who would oppose the First Lord's rule. With military units divided in their loyalties, the question remains: Who is willing to pay the higher price in blood?

THE CLAN INVASION COMES TO A HEAD…   In 2786, the elite Star League Army fled the Inner Sphere, abandoning the senseless bloodshed ordered by the Successor Lords. Now, almost three hundred years later, the Clans, heirs of the Star League Army, turn their eyes back to their former home. Nothing will stop them from raising the Star League banner over Earth again.   For two years, the Clans' BattleMech war machines have overwhelmed the armies of the corrupt Great Houses of the Inner Sphere. Now, at the gates of Terra, the Clans must fight one final battle, a battle that will decide the fate of humanity for all time.   For Star Colonel Aidan Pryde of Clan Jade Falcon, the battle is more than a question of military conquest. It is an affirmation of the superiority of the Clan way, a way of life he has sworn to uphold, despite his fear that the noble crusade has fallen prey to the lust for power and ambition of its commanders.  

NOWHERE TO TURN... The enigmatic Draconis Combine industrialist "Uncle Chandy" Kurita owns property on planet Towne. Upon hearing news of the secret Black Dragon Society's plans to invade, Uncle Chandy dispatches Cassie Suthorn and Camacho's Caballeros to protect his holdings there and organize the local militia to defend against the anticipated attack.  To the Caballeros' surprise, Towne has become a faction-ridden shambles. The populace rejects all outside intervention, and the Caballeros find themselves fighting the very people they were sent to help. Cassie Suthorn must use her unique woman-to-'Mech combat style to unify Towne in the face of the Black Dragon threat—or be ultimately destroyed...

"Authorized to sacrifice your personal honor..." With these words, Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao dispatched Death Commando Loren Jaffray to the planet Northwind. His mission: to singlehandedly destroy the elite Northwind Highlanders, the mercenaries who abandoned the Capellans in their hour of need thirty years earlier. As the grandson of famous Highlander warriors, Jaffray is the perfect instrument to exact Sun-Tzu's revenge. He can win the mercenaries' trust, then divide them from within to ignite a war for control of their homeworld. But Prince Victor Davion is not about to give up this key planet without a struggle. And now, while Northwind and the rest of the Sarna March erupt in war, Loren must wage his own personal battle—one between honor and duty. A battle that can only be fought alone...

AGAINST ALL FOES... The Succession Wars.  The Marik Civil War.  The War of '39.  The Clan Invasion.  Wolf's Dragoons were victorious in them all.  For fifty years, the five mercenary regiments of Wolf's Dragoons have been the toughest MechWarriors in the Inner Sphere. Whatever the job, whatever the odds, Jaime Wolf's Dragoons always won.  Now an aging Colonel Wolf is facing the biggest challenge of his career. And the enemy is not an Inner Sphere Lord or a Clan Khan, but a rebellion among his own men!

A DANGEROUS DECEPTION...   Truebirth: Born in the laboratory, these genetically engineered soldiers train to be the ultimate warriors. They are the elite pilots of the Clan's fearsome BattleMech war machines.  Freebirth: Born of the natural union of parents, these too are soldiers, but pale imitations of their Truebirth superiors. Despised for their imperfections, they fight where and when their Clan commands.  Aidan has failed his Trial of Position, the ranking test all Truebirth warriors of the Clan Jade Falcon must pass. He is cast out. Disgraced. His rightful Bloodname denied him.  But with a Bloodname, all past failures are forgiven. With a Bloodname comes respect. With a Bloodname comes honor.  Aidan will do anything to gain that name. Even masquerade as the thing he has been taught to despise.  A freebirth.

CLAWS THAT CATCH… Major Loren Jaffray is a soldier’s soldier, a hardened professional who made his reputation with the Capellan Confederation's legendary Death Commandos. Now serving as an officer in the Northwind Highlanders, Loren longs to prove his loyalty to his new comrades. And he’s about to get his chance—the Draconis Combine is hiring his regiment to take on a mission unlike any before it. The ruthless Clan Smoke Jaguar emulate the savagery of their feline namesake with lethal accuracy. Nobody knows this better than the samurai of the Draconis Combine, who fought to the death to save their homeworld. Now Loren’s crack Highlanders will be the instrument of the Combine's vengeance, striking into the Deep Periphery to crush one of the Jaguars' supply centers on a distant world called Wayside V. But the young, confident major is in for a very nasty surprise—and unless he makes a brilliant change in plans, Wayside V will be soaked with Scots blood...

DEAD RIGHT THERE Jeremiah Rose and the Black Thorns, flush with their success against the Jade Falcons on Borghese, head to Harlech to draw a new assignment. Their only requirement: Their new job must let them face off against the Clans. They find more than they bargained for—a lot more. Their assignment: Garrison duty on Wolcott—a Kurita planet deep in the heart of the Clan Smoke Jaguar occupation zone. Wolcott is besieged, but protected from further Clan aggression by the Clan code of honor. Wolcott makes a useful staging area for Kurita raids on Smoke Jaguar-occupied territory. But too much aggression could bring the Clans down hard on the mercenary unit. The pay is good. The advance is unbelievable. They just have to live long enough to spend it...

THE THRILLING CONCLUSION OF THE FEDCOM CIVIL WAR! It is the darkest hour of the ongoing civil war between Prince Victor Steiner-Davion and his sister, Katrina. With Victor brought low by the assassination of his love, Omi Kurita, the allied forces are rudderless. As Victor recovers in hiding, Katrina's military rallies. Victor's last chance lies before him, and he will need to draw on his strongest supporters. Kell. Allard-Liao. Sandoval. Marik. Sortek. All have their parts to play as the allied forces attempt to sweep Katrina's loyalists before them. It is their final bid to claim victory, bring a tyrant to justice, and return the thrones of two interstellar nations to benevolent rule.

INTO THE STORM... All his life, Sturm Kintaro wanted to be a MechWarrior. Now he is one—untested in combat, but eager to show his prowess and be transferred away from the backwater planet Kore. But he is about to get a bigger opportunity than he ever wanted when a band of interstellar pirates launches a surprise attack and takes control of the planet. After the rout, Sturm finds himself stranded in the frozen wastes of Kore with no 'Mech, no help, and no hope... Until he stumbles upon a long-hidden secret, one that will help him prove himself a worthy MechWarrior. Now Sturm must wage a one-man war against the invading force—and resurrect a ghostly legend of Kore—if he is going to save his people from annihilation.

THE FINAL ASSAULT... The Clans. Warriors bred for battle and mated to fantastic war machines, Clansmen live for victory and pray for death before defeat. Invaders from beyond the Periphery, the Clans have beaten the forces of the Inner Sphere repeatedly. Now the Clans are driving toward their ultimate objective—Terra, cradle of humankind, and hub of the ComStar communications network. Nothing the Inner Sphere has can stop them. The heir to the throne of the Draconis Combine is missing. Whole regiments of BattleMechs lie smashed like abandoned toys. Rasalhague is overrun. The Clans are sweeping toward the center of the known universe in a relentless tide. Humanity's only hope is the Inner Sphere's most powerful traitor. ComStar betrayed the Inner Sphere by aiding the Clans in their conquests. Now the mystic sect that controls all interstellar communication must face the Clan hordes—alone. And a mysterious, elderly warrior—along with the untested warriors of ComStar—is the Inner Sphere's last defense against total defeat.

IN THE HEART OF A DANGEROUS CITY… Resourceful, ruthless, beautiful, apparently without fear, Scout Lieutenant Cassie Suthorn of Camacho's Caballeros is as consummately lethal as the giant BattleMechs she lives to hunt. Only one other person in the freewheeling mercenary regiment has a hint of the demons that drive her. When the Caballeros sign on to guard Coordinator Theodore Kurita's corporate-mogul cousin in the heart of the Draconis Combine, they think they’ve found the perfect gig: low risk and high pay. Only Cassie suspects that danger waits among the looming bronze towers of Hachiman—and when the yakuza and the dread ISF form a devil’s alliance to bring down Chandrasekhar Kurita, only Cassie’s unique skills can save her regiment. All she has to do is confront her darkest nightmares…

TWO SIDES TO EVERY BATTLE... For MechWarrior Zane, allegiance to the Nova Cat Clan comes above all else. So when he sees his clan disgraced, cast out, and suddenly allied with the hated Inner Sphere, Zane's only desire is to see the Nova Cats returned to their former greatness. For Palmer Yoshio, the Draconis Combine is the only honorable thing in a chaotic galaxy. But when he is forced to train alongside the outcast Nova Cats, he finds that his own notion of honor is a far cry from his leader's. Now, for Zane and Yoshio, the line between friend and foe will be drawn in the blood of the fallen comrades—and neither warrior will be able to look at their universe in the same way again...

BETWEEN TWO MASTERS… Colonel Felix Blucher’s orders from the Archon were simple enough: quash the Davion Loyalist uprising on Thorin. But Blucher never planned on facing the fearless Archer Christifori, local militia leader and decorated MechWarrior in the Clan Wars. As tension rise between Blucher’s Lyran Alliance and the Davion Loyalist population, Archer is torn between obedience to the Archon or allegiance to his people. But when Blucher’s forces go too far, Archer takes up the Loyalist cause and becomes commander of the rebel army. The final confrontation looms and the rebels face long odds—but it takes more than ’Mechs to win Thorin’s freedom. It takes a hero...

ON THE BRINK OF ALL-OUT WAR... The Clan War has ended in an uneasy peace. Sporadic Clan incursions into Inner Sphere territory supply mercenaries like the Kell Hounds with more work than they can handle, while border raids divide the Federated Commonwealth's political factions, bringing further instability to the realm standing between Clan's goals and anarchy. And while secret ambitions drive plans to rip the Commonwealth apart, Khan Phelan Ward and Prince Victor Davion—cousins, rulers, and enemies—must decide if keeping the peace justifies the actions they will have to take to preserve it.

IN THE FALCON'S CLAWS…   Skye struggles to rise from the ashes of the last Jade Falcon assault. Tara Campbell's Highlanders are limping back from battles fought all across the Prefecture. And Anastasia Kerensky's Steel Wolves have disappeared again. It's a matter of when—not if—the Falcons will renew their brutal assault, and Skye is unprepared.   On the world of Nusakan, Landgrave Jasek Kelswa-Steiner appears to be Skye's only chance for salvation. Gathering his Stormhammers, he prepares to throw his force into the teeth of the Falcon advance. But will the cure be worse than the disease? Jasek passionately advocates a return to House Steiner, a political movement his father just as passionately opposes.   Unfortunately for the Republic, desperate times call for desperate alliances—and the Jade Falcon force is still spoiling for battle. Clan Jade Falcon will not rest until Skye is conquered...or reduced to a charred cinder.