REDEMPTION. RESISTANCE. RESOLVE. A young Davion MechWarrior seeks to repay a debt incurred by the misfortunes of the Fourth Succession War. A tightly-knit farming community bands together to repel vicious pirates or risk losing their livelihoods…and their lives. A Kurita MechWarrior given a final chance to serve the Dragon stands alone against renegade mercenaries. And the survivors of a crash-landed Steiner command must hold the line against ravenous Word of Blake forces to protect the Allied Coalition’s quest to wrest Terra from the Blakists’ unyielding grip. Kill Zone: BattleCorps Anthology, Volume 7 collects the very best of the short stories published on the BattleCorps website from 2010. Charge into the war-torn future to experience nine stories filled with BattleMech combat, heroism, betrayal, honor, and duty. Veteran BattleTech authors Kevin Killiany, Blaine Lee Pardoe, and Jason Schmetzer, alongside fan favorites Craig A. Reed, Jr. and Jason Hansa are showcased in this anthology, which includes an all-new tale from Scribe Award-nominated author Travis Heermann.

MASTERS OF WAR! Three hundred years. An age of chivalry and brutality. Of vast star empires. Princes and generals. Soldiers and spies. An age where heroes rally to hold back the darkness. And even the most unlikeliest of hands may determine the fate of millions. An age of duty, loyalty, and terrible choices. An age...of endless war. BattleTech: First Strike collects some of the best BattleTech short stories from some of the game's favorite authors, including Randall N. Bills, Blaine Lee Pardoe, Jason Schmetzer, Jason Hardy, Jeff Kautz, Dan C. Duval, Loren L. Coleman, Kevin Killiany, Victor Milan, Phaedra Weldon, Steven Mohan, Jr., Dayle A. Dermatis, and Louisa Swann.

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 Nine: The Day When Heaven Was Falling by Jason Schmetzer: During the Dark Age, an invasion force from Clan Jade Falcon arrives at Hesperus II intent on conquest. The Eridani Light Horse must help the Lyran defenders hold the line…but at what cost?

TO STRIKE AT THE HEART OF A CLAN... An awesome mission has been assigned to Task Force Serpent: to destroy Huntress, homeworld of Clan Smoke Jaguar, the Inner Sphere's greatest menace. But the invasion has suffered a serious blow: Marshal Morgan Hasek-Davion has been struck down by an unknown assassin. With the fate of the entire Inner Sphere in jeopardy, only one other daredevil warrior is brave—and reckless—enough to bring the enemy to its knees... REQUIRES A WARRIOR WILLING TO RISK EVERYTHING FOR VICTORY... She is General Ariana Winston of the famed Eridani Light Horse mercenary brigade, and now commander of Task Force Serpent. The battle ahead is dangerous and uncertain, but Winston and her courageous comrades have the upper hand with hard-earned battle skills honed to fighting-edge perfection—and a secret weapon that could destroy Huntress for all time...

WIN OR FALL… For Douglas, Jade Falcon Elemental cadet, there is no choice—he must succeed in becoming a warrior or die trying. Unfortunately, he is perilously close to falling—right out of his sibko. Consistently at the bottom of his class, everyone around him—from his trainers to his fellow sibkin—believes he will not survive his Trial of Position, and should quit before he is killed. But Douglas knows he is destined to be a Jade Falcon warrior. And when he meets a man with a checkered past who promises to show him the true ways of the warrior, Douglas embarks on a dangerous path that might bring him the victory he craves…or utterly destroy him in a brutal trial where sudden death is everywhere…

IN THE 31ST CENTURY, LIFE IS CHEAP… A Draconis Combine warrior struggles with immoral orders in the First Succession War. A House Davion MechWarrior participates in a risky heist as part of Operation Guerrero. A history buff battles the Word of Blake during the Liberation of Terra. What do these MechWarriors have in common? Each one pilots the same BattleMech, a survivor that has been repaired and rebuilt countless times throughout its long and bloody 300-year lifespan. BATTLEMECHS ARE NOT. The seventy-ton GHR-5H Grasshopper can outmaneuver and outlast some of the most fearsome enemy ’Mechs, making it an invaluable asset to battlefield commanders. Even an incapacitated Grasshopper will be rebuilt to fight another day, with a new pilot at its controls, because MechWarriors can be replaced, but ’Mechs cannot. In BattleTech: Legacy, thirteen all-new stories chronicle the fortunes and tragedies of a single ’Mech across several tumultuous points in its wide-ranging combat history. Veteran BattleTech authors Kevin Killiany and Craig A. Reed, Jr. bookend this exciting collection, while other familiar names and new blood explore important moments in this ’Mech’s history of constant, unmitigated warfare that leaves no corner of the Inner Sphere untouched.

A PACK DIVIDED… Anastasia Kerensky has declared the Steel Wolf Clan to be mercenaries, re-christening them the Wolf Hunters. The combination of autonomy and wealth will make them more than a match for any MechWarrior battalion suicidal enough to challenge them. But the real challenge comes from within the Clan itself. Star Colonel Varnoff believes Kerensky has betrayed them all—and with a loyal faction of Steel Wolves at his side vows to destroy all the Wolf Hunters. Meanwhile, others who do not agree with Anastasia’s decision strike out on their own. Some join other mercenary units, another finds his purpose on the gaming world of Solaris VII. But one thing is for certain: as the Republic of the Sphere continues to fall apart, new factions and rivalries arise as the leaders of each planet left on its own adapts to this dangerous new universe. And the surest way to protect a planet is by hiring mercs…because the best defense is a good offense…

ALIVE OR DEAD… Just a few months after their universe-shaking campaign on Helm, and the distribution of the Helm Memory Core, all Grayson Carlyle and his Gray Death Legion want is to settle into their new home on Glengarry. But they barely touch down on-planet when a Lyran Commonwealth general contacts the GDL, intent on hiring them to track down and capture Draconis Combine agents behind a daring raid on Lyons. Tracking the Kurita raiders to the Draconis border system of Valdis—better known as Wheel—Grayson and his people have their work cut out for them. The system’s main feature is literally a wheel-shaped deep-space station and recharge facility at the Valdis star’s zenith jump point. Its structure means a direct assault with BattleMechs will be extremely risky, both because of the tight quarters and the very real danger of an errant shot or missile depressurizing and destroying the entire station. Also, Grayson will be splitting his force, with Lori Kalmar providing a decoy operation on the nearby mining planet Valdis I, otherwise known as Rock, to draw the Combine’s attention away from Wheel. It’s a high-risk operation on both ends, but Grayson and the GDL have their orders, and they intend to capture the Draconis operatives one way or the other…even if they have to risk destroying the entire space station to do so…

THE FIRST TRILOGY IN THE EPIC SAGA OF FUTURE WAR... 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 destroy an entire city. AND THE BEGINNING OF A LEGEND… The Gray Death Legion Trilogy brings together three complete Battletech novels featuring one of the most popular mercenary units very created—the Gray Death Legion. DECISION AT THUNDER RIFT 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. MERCENARY’S STAR Galatea. The Mercenary's Star. Even the most down on their luck units can find work here. Leading the new Gray Death Legion has been challenging for Grayson Death Carlyle, so when a job comes their way, he’s only too happy to take it. The mission: train the local resistance on the planet Verthandi to resist their Draconis Combine masters. But things do not go well from the moment the Legion arrives. Trapped on Verthandi and facing a 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 quickly learns that repeating his past successes may not be so easy this time… THE PRICE OF GLORY 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…

SIGN ON THE DOTTED LINE… Shrapnel: The Official BattleTech Magazine puts your loyalty to the test amid unrelenting BattleMech combat that spans the war-torn battlefields of the 31st century and beyond! The head of a security team must seek unusual allies to keep the First Prince of the Federated Suns safe from assassination. An aging Elemental warrior imparts lasting lessons to a young cadet when pirates threaten everything he holds dear. A young IndustrialMech pilot must use the only weapon he knows in the face of rampaging occupiers. In this issue, you’ll visit the Unwearied Second’s 1,000th birthday celebration, a gala attended by the upper crust of Lyran society. Then roll up your sleeves and dive into testing a dangerous but poweful experimental weapon system. Stand firm with the Nova Cats, who try to hold back the inevitable tide of destiny, and travel to the Mercenary’s Star to navigate through scams and con artists in order to find the right outfit to call home. Sign your contract and seek victory, with the help of mercenary-advice articles, technical readouts, unit digests, an in-depth look at the true nature of the “Death to Mercenaries” edict, and more—all by BattleTech veterans and new recruits: Tom Leveen Geoff “Doc” Swift Charles Gideon Robert Schubert James Bixby Alan Brundage Kelvin Casing Jason DeSouza James Kirtley Craig A. Reed, Jr. Alayna M. Weathers Alex Fauth Jason Hansa Ken’ Horner Chris Hussey Daniel Isberner Ben Klinefelter Matt Larson Wunji Lau Lorcan Nagle Eric Salzman Stephen Toropov