The choice of first pilot for the first BattleMech was a difficult one, and fierce; perhaps too fierce? BattleMechs have been kings of the battlefield for centuries. But it wasn’t always so. In this first installment of a grand new series, the "Proliferation Cycle" looks at the rise of BattleMech technology and a story of the first people to be tapped as the first MechWarriors. Story by Ilsa J. Bick.

THE STRUGGLE FOR BATTLEMECH SUPREMACY CONTINUES... Fifteen years after the Terran Hegemony first fielded the Mackie, the very first BattleMech, the Great House has been running rampant over the other Houses in the Inner Sphere. Any who try to fight the Terrans and their death machines are utterly defeated. but there are other ways to level the battlefield... And the Lyran Commonwealth is about to employ one of the oldest strategies in the book: if you can't beat 'em, steal from 'em. A crack commando unit is assigned their most perilous mission yet: infiltrate a heavily-defended Terran world and steal the plans for the Terran BattleMechs. Besides the odds being stacked against the, the leader of this team has his own demon to deal with—one that stands twelve meters tall, and shakes the ground when it walks...

THERE'S MORE THAN ONE WAY TO ACQUIRE A BATTLEMECH... In the year 2456, the Great House of the Federated Suns is between the rock of the Terran Hegemony and its fielded BattleMechs, and the hard place of the Lyran Commonwealth, which has just acquired the plans to build its own walking war machines. Beset by enemies on all sides, what is Prince Simon Davion to do? Why, employ his most cunning weapon—a diplomatic envoy sent to Tharkad with the express purpose of gaining access to the stolen Battlemech plans. But when diplomatic niceties are unable to accomplish this goal, subterfuge and deception will have to win the day...

THE QUEST FOR BATTLEMECHS TAKES ITS TOLL ON ALL WHO SEEK THEM... The BattleMech. King of the battlefield. Prized. Feared. Coveted. Fearing being left behind in the arms race among the other Great Houses, the Draconis Combine will do anything—anything—to possess this fearsome technology. Even grind its most loyal subject into useless husks in a decades-long attempt to gain the information the Dragon so desperately needs. Two brothers. One an intelligence analyst and deep-cover operative, the other a leader in the Combine's commando unit. Both with the same goal—recover the BattleMech plans—but with very different ideas on how to accomplish it. But only one will survive and emerge triumphant... or will the Dragon's machinations destroy them both?

SOMETIMES THE BEST PRIZES AREN'T FOUND ON THE BATTLEFIELD... In the 25th century, the Free Worlds League is fighting for its life against the encroaching Lyran Commonwealth and its new weapon, the BattleMech. With a new, untested leader on the FWL throne, a precarious plan is hatched to gain the Great House the edge it needs to fight off the invaders. Using guile and seduction, a small team of infiltrators plans to take the information the Free Worlds League desperately needs, and the men who possess it, into their arms in one fell swoop...but how can they create a scenario where these technicians will come over of their own free will?

THEIR MISSION: ACQUIRE BATTLEMECH PLANS, NO MATTER THE COST... There are three ways to accomplish a difficult objective: Be first. Be smarter. Or cheat. The Intelligence Directorate of the Capellan Confederation, otherwise known as the Maskirovka, is well-versed in all three. But when the first two methods do not achieve the desired results, they have no problem resorting to the last one. And when the covert team gains the plans they are willing to die for, that resolve will be tested to the limit as they try to escape the Free Worlds League planet they have infiltrated, matching wits with one of the most feared intelligence officers the FWL has to offer...