CONTINUING THE FIGHT... Shrapnel: The Official BattleTech Magazine charges toward victory on the war-ravaged, BattleMech-dominated battlefields of 31st century! In these tales, a Republic of the Sphere operative undertakes a personal quest to track down a missing family member, a small, untested mercenary command faces off against vicious pirate raiders, an aging soldier strives to protect an idyllic village on a forgotten world, and Colonel Wayne Waco seeks to exact his revenge against the legendary commander of Wolf’s Dragoons. Configure your target-interlock circuits and hold the line with technical readouts, conspiracy theories, in-depth equipment and tactics articles, a planetary digest, and a glimpse into the future of the new ilClan era—all from BattleTech veterans and new authors: Michael A. Stackpole Tom Leveen Lance Scarinci Bryan Young Matt Alexander Craig A. Reed, Jr. Paul Sjardijn Aaron Cahall Michael J. Ciaravella Johannes Heidler Chris Hussey Daniel Isberner Mike Miller Eric Salzman Joel Steverson

JUMP BACK INTO THE COCKPIT! Picking up the battle standard for BattleTech fiction, Shrapnel: The Official BattleTech Magazine continues the tradition of hard-hitting stories set in the war-torn interstellar future of the 31st century and beyond. Fire up your ’Mech’s fusion reactor, secure your neurohelmet, and wade into battle with stories from the merciless front lines of the Clan Invasion and other eras, conspiracy theory articles, game scenarios, and more from veteran BattleTech authors, fan favorites, and some new recruits. Featuring: Michael A. Stackpole • Blaine Lee Pardoe Kevin Killiany • Craig A. Reed, Jr. • Chris Hussey Jason Hansa • Lance Scarinci • Michael J. Ciaravella Patrick Wynne • Aaron Cahall

THE WAR RAGES ON! Shrapnel: The Official BattleTech Magazine returns with more explosive BattleMech action from the 31st century! Experience tales of hard-won survival from the gaming world of Solaris VII, the wilds of the Deep Periphery, and the annals of Clan history. Dive deep into in-depth technology articles, technical readouts, conspiracy theories, war-game and role-playing adventures, and more—all from veteran BattleTech authors, fan favorites, and our latest enlistees: Michael A. Stackpole • Jason Schmetzer Michael J. Ciaravella • Travis Heermann Alan Brundage • James Simakas John-David Karnitz • Aaron Cahall Matthew Cross • Daniel Isberner Alex Kaempen • Tom Stanley • Chris Wheeler

A COST IS ALWAYS PAID… Nikolai Reed is a trader on a Lyran JumpShip plying the space lanes… Chloe Mason is a hot-shot tech with the Hsien Hotheads mercenaries… Leaving the Northwind Highlanders, MechWarrior Ryana Nikol fills a billet with the Eridani Light Horse… Disparate lives, but a unified dream that will bring them all together on a fateful course that will span decades, cover hundreds of light years, and involve love, friendship, and loss across a dozen worlds. Each will pay a price along the way, as a cost always comes due. The Mercenary Life anthology is a compilation of stories written by Randall N. Bills. Including tales from several different characters as they cross paths, and the dream to found a new mercenary command is born. Their unique lives showcase the struggles and trials of the men and women who take up the mercenary mantle from a variety of angles, all bound around that central vision. The first eight stories of this anthology were originally posted for free alongside the release of MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, acting as the origin stories for the mercenary command within that computer game. This is the first time they have been compiled into a single volume to allow for a Print on Demand physical copy. Additionally, an all-new ninth story has been added—The Sun Will Rise—along with postscripts for every story that gives the reader insight into how stories are crafted within a shared universe between tabletop, computer games, and fiction that spans more than thirty years and tens of millions of words.

FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE! Shrapnel: The Official BattleTech Magazine surges onward, waging wars that will decide the fate of the BattleMech-dominated future of the 31st century and beyond! Follow a quest for quick cash that yields unusual Star League relics. Commiserate with an aging MechWarrior convinced he is cursed with the devil’s luck—which is about to run out. Listen to the tale of how mercenary commander Ace Darwin obtained his iconic ’Mech—but how much of his story is true? Within these pages, you will visit Terra after the dawn of the ilClan era, venture into the postwar period of the Aurigan Coalition, and travel to the far-flung worlds of the Scorpion Empire in the Deep Periphery. Then you will dive into the intrigue and vice of Solaris VII in the beginning of a new, four-part serial novel. Choose your plan of attack with technical readouts, after-action reports, a deep dive into plasma technology, a treatise on covert-ops poisons, and a look at Free Worlds League politics, along with playable scenarios and more—all loaded into your autocannon by both BattleTech veterans and new voices from the Inner Sphere: Blaine Lee Pardoe Craig A. Reed, Jr. E. Clark Avery Jason Schmetzer James Bixby M. W. Hayden Mark Hill Daniel Isberner Alexander J. Roth Ken’ Horner James Kirtley Wunji Lau Eric Salzman Joel Steverson Stephen Toropov

STRENGTH VS. HONOR For more than a decade, the Republic of the Sphere’s army hid in silence behind the mysterious, impregnable Wall of Fortress Republic. But now the Wall has come down, and Paladin Max Ergen, commander of Operation Eruptio, has his sights set on an invaluable prize. His target: Dieron, a Draconis Combine military district capital, a former Republic world harboring secrets from past wars. His troops have spent years training in isolation behind the Wall, and they are hungry for battle, ready to remind the Inner Sphere that the wounded Republic is still a force to be reckoned with. But Dieron is also the fortress of Warlord Kambei Okamoto, one of the Combine’s top military officials, and he and his Dieron Regulars are committed to holding the line and defending their home against Republic aggression, no matter the cost. Although the Republic may have surprise and numbers on their side, the Combine troops boast the strength of an impregnable redoubt—and the keen edge of their own unimpeachable honor. And when these two forces clash, the battle for Dieron will be a titanic one indeed…

WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH… Former hauptmann Ronan Carlyle and his sister Isobel are soldiers without a nation. After their commanding officer left the Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces entirely, the pair returned to Lyran space for reassignment. But their senior officer branded the remaining troops traitors and cashiered them, stranding hundreds of former LCAF soldiers and technicians. With nothing but a local salvage yard to their name, the Carlyle kids hit upon a way to at least get their people off-planet and back home. So, out of desperation, the Gray Death Legion is reborn. But soon, what was supposed to be a temporary mercenary unit turns into something entirely different…a real mercenary unit. THE TOUGH GO MERCENARY. Gray Death Rising chronicles the new Gray Death Legion’s early missions. From their very first job—working for the same unit that kicked them out of the LCAF—to their next job off-planet, to their biggest mission yet, facing political intrigue and taking on the mantle of their famous great-grandfather’s legacy on the planet of Pandora in a brand-new story. In the cutthroat mercenary world of the Inner Sphere, it takes more than a famous name to survive. Fortunately, Ronan and Bel have the training, intelligence, and most importantly, experience to carry their family’s legacy into a new era. And collected here for the first time, read where it all begins…again.

NEVER BET AGAINST THE KELL BROTHERS… Since their first appearance in the Warrior Trilogy, the Kell Hounds have become one of the most storied mercenary units in BattleTech. Now, New York Times-bestselling author and Kell Hounds creator Michael A. Stackpole goes back to the Hounds’ beginnings, when Morgan and Patrick Kell were just two smart, ambitious brothers—with a plan to revolutionize the world of mercenaries forever… A RACE AGAINST TIME… If Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot…: Fresh off saving Prince Ian Davion of the Federated Suns, Morgan Kell returns home to find his paramour, Veronica Matova, has vanished without a trace. Desperate to find her, Morgan tasks the Hounds to track her down—and uncovers a conspiracy to destroy the Kell Hounds’ reputation using Veronica as a hostage. While Morgan races against time to locate her, Patrick engages in a dangerous game cat-and-mouse with their unknown adversaries, pulling every trick in the book to stay one step ahead of whoever wants to take the Kell Hounds down. But these shadowy enemies don’t realize who they’re dealing with…and no force in the Inner Sphere will help them once Morgan Kell finds them…

A NEW BEGINNING… Hank Mallory runs the Wolfhounds, an elite, self-sufficient company of the fabled Kell Hounds mercenary unit. But when Callandre Kell gives the order for the Hounds to scatter in the wake of vicious attacks from the Jade Falcons, Mallory and his unit must transform overnight into a brand-new unit or risk being hunted down themselves. Naturally, they head to the Mercenary’s Star, Galatea, to eradicate their previous identity and do whatever it takes to transform into something new…no matter what unusual missions that transformation may require… (NOTE: This is the same novella that was distributed to the BattleTech Mercenaries Kickstarter campaign. If you received this story through the campaign, you do not need to buy it here.)