BattleTech: The Price of Duty

by Jason Schmetzer

A STRUGGLE TO SURVIVE...Former hauptmann Ronan Carlyle is a man without a nation. After his former commanding officer declared herself governor-general of a reborn Tamar Pact, Ronan, a loyal Steiner officer, led a group of soldiers and techs including his sister, Isobel, back to Garrison for reassignment.But on Garrison, his troubles multiply. The senior Lyran officer brands the 26th Arcturan loyalists traitors and cashiers them, stranding nearly 200 former LCAF soldiers, technicians, and crewmen on a Lyran world with no way off-planet.Forced to scrounge up a way to survive, Ronan and Isobel hatch a plan to get the former LCAF members back to their homeworlds by salvaging 'Mechs. But when a Lyran scout battalion goes AWOL over an off-world mission squashed by their commanding officer, the LCAF is shocked to discover the Arcturan loyalists have built up the largest contingent of combat equipment outside the militia. Ronan's people need cash. They have skills. And there's history in his name...Thus, the Gray Death Legion is reborn. First as a way to get funds for his people to leave. But they fight the Lyran unit—winning by use of unorthodox tactics—and discover they don't want to disband...instead, the reborn mercenary unit wants to find its next employer...

Genres: Science Fiction

116 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 24, 2021

Reviews

[Faith McClosky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid rebirth for the GDL

Overall a solid read. Schmetzer definitely captures the feel of the old GDL in this newly reborn ilClan era version of the famed unit. The character interactions are handled quite well. Perhaps it's the short format of the novella, but while solid, none of the characters really grabbed me and left me wanting for more from them. Perhaps with future stories, they will grow a bit more on me. Regardless, this is definitely a solid first step in the story of the reborn GDL.

[Kevin K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Light on the battles, but still an interesting story. Some of the characterized are a night suspect.....planetary commanders shouldn't \ wouldn't be that inept, but I guess you bend rules for a narrative.

[Ben Shouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read.

Great read. Cannot wait to see what happens next to the resurrected GDL. Great start.. Gonna be a wild ride.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good start. Needs a bit more editing but that's par for Battletech books. Looking forward to another ilClan era GDL book.

[David Atencio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rebirth of the legion

This is a awesome book and I hope it’s the beginning of a new Grey Death Legion series for the future

[Walter Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great short story

Great short story on how the Grey Death legion comes back into existence, Have to wait and see what adventures they can get into.

[Lorcan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gotta say, given there are two more novellas planned for the reborn Grey Death Legion, I usually wait for the novella anthologies like Kell Hounds Ascendant. But I'm quite excited about this post-ilClan era and this was the first fiction set in the era and I jumped at it, and wound up getting the epub (but you just know I'm gonna get the print compilation as well)

So this story begins kinda in medias res, after the 26th Arcturan Guards have gone rogue and retaken their homeworld, and the story's protagonists - Ronan and Isobel 'Bel' Carlyle - the great-grandchildren of Grayson Death Carlyle of the original BattleTech novels are in the process of being kicked out of the Regiment and sent back to the Lyran Commonwealth. When they get there they find a very chilly welcome and find themselves drummed out of the LCAF as well. After this they and the other former Arcturans band together first to try and get the cash to get back to their homes, but then decide to form a mercenary unit and... well.. the Legion's a family tradition...

This is a solid, if straightforward piece of BattleTech short fiction. There's really 4 or 5 core moments in the story and they're executed well but its status as a short story, and a BattleTech one at that means there needs to be some action, and it's backloaded and it's up to Schmetzer's high standard for 'mech action prose, but at the same time it might have been better served with more drama? If this was a novel I suspect the scene wouldn't be there in favour of a different first mission later in the book. Definitely worth a read, especially as one of the first glimpses into the Tamar Rising setting as a setting for fiction. But maybe wait for that compilation.