Star Commander Richard Bekker of Clan Ghost Bear is smart, tough, and ruthless—the perfect Clan warrior. Victory is all he has ever known. That’s about to change.

A ruthless predator is stalking Star Colonel Richard Bekker of Clan Ghost Bear—time. Once he was a rising star, the hero of the Damian disaster. But all that ended on the world of Tukayyid where Bekker’s bright future—and the entire Clan invasion of the Inner Sphere—were stopped cold. Two decades later, Bekker is a warrior with an undistinguished history that hides a shameful secret. Even worse, in a culture that prizes youth, he is old, old enough to be relieved of duty. And when Clan warriors are relieved they don’t retire—they’re turned into cannon fodder. Then Bekker is challenged to a Trial of Possession by the head of a new bandit kingdom, a man who seems little better than the terrorists Bekker is tasked to hunt. A man named Devlin Stone. And maybe, just maybe, the Trial will offer him a chance to win the greatest prize imaginable—a new place in the universe.

When the armies of the Draconis Combine killed his parents, Galen Cox swore vengeance. Now an elite MechWarrior with the Armed Forces of the Federated Commonwealth, Galen will have a chance to exact his justice when the Combine raids the planet Ryde with a BattleMech battalion. As two armies clash on this snow-and-ash covered world, two men will be forced to examine exactly why they're fighting even as they both strive for victory and absolution. Jason Schmetzer is the author of more than 40 published short stories and novellas, as well as four BattleTech sourcebooks and a novel. His work crosses genre and game boundaries, working with both print and electronic publications. He holds an MFA in fiction writing and works during the day as an advertising copywriter. He is also editor of the BattleCorps fiction website.