Nicolai Malthus of The Clan conquers Summerset, whose forces are led by Commander Andrew Steiner. Nicolai clearly states his goal in the opening scnes: ""Soon all the planets of the Inner Sphere will belong to The Clan.""

Meanwhile at the training camp at Kiely fails her test needed to pilot a Battle Mech; Major Adam Steiner the instructor. Adam's philosophies on war tactics are different than his assistant Cero, who believes in tradion and honor in battle. Adam learns that his brother was defeated at Summerset. He uses the fact that he is a distant cousin to the throne of the Inner Sphere lead a small expiditionary force to liberate Summerset and gather information about the unknown invaders. There is a catch though...with a fullscale invation by these mysterious invaders, he will need to find his own ship.

Franklin Sakamoto is a smuggler from the Draconis Combine who is tricked into a raid by Captain Miles Hawkins. The ship is comandeered and it looks as though Sakamoto and his cre