Book excerpt: WATCH YOUR SIX! Shrapnel: The Official BattleTech Magazine brings you more hard-hitting BattleMech action from the heavy-metal wars of the 31st century and beyond—but don’t let your guard down! A loyal Republic of the Sphere MechWarrior must make a life-or-death decision when catastrophic news from Terra throws everything into chaos. A sheriff on a Periphery backwater planet investigates mysterious murders terrorizing a community. A desperate survivor of the Clan Invasion seeks revenge against the Jade Falcons while he still has the chance… In this issue, you’ll travel to the Hanseatic League in the Deep Periphery, where the Scorpion Empire will stop at nothing to obtain a priceless Star League-era relic. Then witness the first Marauder built in the new millennium walk off the assembly line, face a so-called zombie ’Mech arisen from the grave, and discover how to effectively weaponize a BattleMech’s operating system. No matter the situation, you can stay out of harm’s way by reviewing a most-wanted list of criminals and assassins, a roster of the Marian Hegemony’s Legion of the Dead, technical readouts, unit and planet digests, playable scenarios, a campaign set in the resource-poor wilds of the Third Succession War, and more—all by battle-hardened BattleTech authors and some new boot-camp graduates: Bryan Young Chris Hussey Marc Follin Jaymie Wagner James Bixby J. D. Neal Jeremy A. Reynolds David Stier Geoff “Doc” Swift Étienne Charron-Willard James Kirtley Matt Larson Lorcan Nagle Eric Salzman Zac Schwartz Tom Stanley Stephen Toropov Chris Wheeler