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 'Mech warriors the Inner Sphere has ever seen. But their invitation is more than merely social. Theodore's powerful cousin, "Uncle Chandy," has recruited their ace operative, Cassie Suthorn, for a dangerous mission. On a xenophobic planet where honor and duty are worshipped 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.