In this short story, a freeborn cadet starts on his Trial of Position, with all the odds stacked against him.

This story appeared in Magistracy Monthly's April 2023 volume.  Go check out Magistracy Monthly, it's a really good BattleTech fan zine: https://www.patreon.com/magestrixriley/posts

BattleTech and Mechwarrior are not mine. I am a fan adding my little piece to this series' amazing history. Go support the actual owners, or anyone else who contributed to the series over the years. Any property used here is done under the Fair Use provisions of US copyright law.

Sound FX by https://freesound.org/

Text version is available on Scribble Hub, Space Battles, Fanfiction.net, and Archive of Our Own, all of which include art done by very talented artists in the BattleTech community.

Audio plus art and music is available on YouTube.

Episode logo is from Ghost on X: https://x.com/ABYSSWVLKER

Gallery of art for this story so far is on my Ko-Fi page: https://ko-fi.com/lucendacier. Donations are not required, but they are appreciated, and help me host the podcast and pay the artists for their work.

Follow me on Twitter/X, @lucendacier, for story updates and Battletech memes!