FOREWORD

by Loren L. Coleman

The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.

~Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoi

Forgive me. I can’t help quoting from dead Russians these days.

Occupational hazard.

Before you begin to think that writing (or editing) somehow requires a degree in foreign literature, I should try to explain.

You see, the anthology you hold in your hands right now is just the latest link in a long chain of events that stretches back over four years. Longer, really, if you start at the point where my writing career and the BattleTech fictional universe collided. Not quite the Big Bang, but at least a medium-sized one.

We met. We fell in love. We enjoyed a lot of fights together.

Well, wars, actually. Planets were invaded,. Military forces hammered at each other. Empires rose and fell. It was a lot like high school dating.

At that time (four years ago) I was presiding over what felt like the end days of BattleTech fiction. FASA Corporation had closed its doors, and my final hurrah was to wrap up twenty-plus years of fiction novels with a final trilogy. The year was 3067 (by the BattleTech timeline). I barely managed to bring to a close the Steiner-Davion civil war, tying up as many loose ends as possible. I typed “THE END” and sent off the file.

But we weren’t finished.

The creative people in charge of BattleTech—and I was privileged enough to be considered one of them—had set up so much more. There was the Word of Blake Jihad about to kick off, which would have included nuclear holocaust, ravaged star systems, assassinations, and the dissolution of the Free Worlds League just to name a few highlights.

Happy times.

Alas, it seemed not to be. WizKids had already put into place their time jump to the Dark Ages era. The publisher (Roc Books) voiced no interest in continuing a “Classic” line. Everyone seemed content to burn out the Civil War, and let wounded princes lie.

It was frustrating, and I complained (albeit softly) to those who would (and were forced to) listen. There just didn’t seem to be an answer. So I let it rest. Though I did keep thinking about it, certain that there had to be something more. I stewed. I planned. I waited.

Patience.

And time.

Because then something strange happened on the way back from New Avalon. I came up with an idea. The idea, as it turned out. And, with some friends, I started up a small internet venture known as BattleCorps.com.

BattleCorps.com became the home for the “Classic” fiction universe. A way to get out those final (important!) stories, and to keep playing in the world where I had spent a great part of my career. It took over a year to fully launch the site, going live in the fall of the year 2003 (by the real world timeline).

Those first months were full of battles won and lost. Fortunately, I did find other writers who were just as devoted to the new campaign.

Our early stories roamed the entire timeline, the breadth of the Inner Sphere, and even managed a quick detour to the Clan Homeworlds. We explored the boundaries of loyalty and treachery. Of personal honor and cowardice. Of military excellence and political subterfuge. Enlisting soldiers, civilians, politicians, pirates.

Warriors, all.

These are the stories you will read in this anthology.

A collection from our starting months. Beginning with a handful of abandoned warriors, embroiled in the desperation which surrounded the forming Chaos March. Ending with a new, never-before-published story in the ongoing tale of one of the Inner Sphere’s most beloved characters, Aleksandr Kerensky.

The warrior who taught me to love (and quote) dead Russians.

Like I said. An occupational hazard. And as such, let me leave you with one final thought:

Upon the brink of the wild stream

He stood, and dreamt a mighty dream…

~Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin