Inheritors of martial traditions lost to most people for centuries, the Eridani Light Horse are perhaps the oldest active mercenary force active today. Their proud heritage has seen the glorious days of mankind’s Golden Age, survived the crucible of the Amaris Civil War, nearly ended with a mutiny and self-imposed exile, yet rebounded through four Succession Wars to see the Star League rise and fall again. They are the Eridani Light Horse, and through all of humanity’s wars since the collapse of the Star League, they have endured, their name legendary among even other great mercenary commands like the Kell Hounds and Wolf’s Dragoons. Even today, the epic struggles of their past and the traditions they continue to revere seem deeper than the casual observer would care to go, but they tell a story of hope that cannot be lost against the news of today.

Captain Hector Mitchum looks like a grizzled veteran, but the laugh lines around his eyes and the easy smile he gave me spoke of a man who knows when to lighten up. On Spica, he became my guide through the traveling museum maintained by his unit’s dependents, offering a rare glimpse of these mercenaries who still fly the Cameron Star below their ancient battle standard. In brief, he told the tale of the ELH from its foundation as the Third Regimental Combat Team of the Star League Defense Force, back in 2702.

“We were then just a garrison force with a number and a posting in Rasalhague space,” he said, “peacekeepers to watch over both the Rim Worlds and to make sure the Dracs didn’t kill off their conquered Rasalhaguian populations. They were difficult times even then, politics always being the bane of any soldier’s existence…”

Indeed, internal politics between House Kurita and its often-rebellious Rasalhague Military District eventually resulted in the naming of the Light Horse. In 2749, Rasalhagian terrorists, in an effort to discredit the SLDF troopers, assassinated the commander of the Third RCT. In response, the Third began garrisoning ten Rasalhaguian worlds, their ’Mech patrols becoming a common sight. When Combine forces loyal to the Rasalhaguian Prince then attacked the city of Eridani, the Third easily routed them. A local journalist likened the victory to that of “spirited Eridani stallions chasing after fat, clumsy Luthien cows,” and the Light Horse got its name.

The Light Horse participated in the Amaris Civil War with several raids on Rim Worlds territory and did what they could to support General Kerensky throughout the campaign to liberate Terra. Afterward, they returned to their original bases to await further orders, only to refuse to leave the Inner Sphere with the rest of his Exodus fleet.

“We were home,” says Mitchum. “And our home was in turmoil. It didn’t seem right to leave, knowing what was coming, and we vowed to stay behind, and to respect the legacy of the League.”

The struggle to maintain Star League traditions after the League’s fall, in fact, led to a mutiny and a period of self-imposed Periphery exile when, in 2866, then-commander Colonel William Bronson renegotiated the unit’s contract with the Free Worlds League. The deal offered the mercenaries a lot more money, titles, and greater access to the League’s supply stores, all designed to win them over as a bona fide House troop. Fearing that the commander was “selling out”, a vast majority of the Light Horse mutinied and ran off into the Periphery, leaving Bronson behind with barely enough troops to scrape together a company. Bronson would go on to form his own mercenary command, Bronson’s Horde, and the two mercenary forces would continue a feud to this day.

“For a time, we tried to be frontiersmen,” Mitchum laughs as he shows me the mementos in the Light Horse’s traveling museum, pointing out a weathered AgroMech among the museum’s many unexpected centerpieces, “but pirate raiders sacked our world and we had to come back. One can’t support one’s ideals on an empty stomach, after all.”

In the years that followed, the Light Horse would indeed persevere, fighting mostly for Houses Davion and Steiner up through the Clan Invasion, when the Star League would finally be reborn. The League’s rebirth was the sign the Light Horse warriors had been trained for since their inception, and Mitchum told me it was validation for their centuries of hardships.

“We signed on immediately,” he says proudly. “Nobody had to really convince us when we saw the plans.”

As a core part of the new SLDF, the ELH became a regular army force once again, no longer fighting for money, but for the honor of the League they had sworn to defend three hundred years before. Once more, after centuries of waiting, the banner of the Cameron Star flew again over the ELH battle standard, even on the eve of the Word of Blake Jihad, after the second Star League fell. The star became their symbol of hope, until they met Devlin Stone.

“We were lost, mind you,” Mitchum admits. “After the second fall of the League, it seemed to some like we had wasted our time, fighting the Blakists with more reflex than heart, but then came Stone, a man with a vision people could believe in. I guess to some he was like a new Cameron, and though we vowed to wait again for a true new Star League, in him there was something we could fight for while we waited.”

The ELH did indeed fight beside the coalition to overthrow the Word of Blake’s reign of terror, as they have rallied to The Republic’s side ever since. A legendary force, even today they maintain the Star League traditions while standing watch for the employers who they feel most closely resemble their ideals. Perhaps one day, as Mitchum says, the Star League will return. Until then, the Light Horse will continue on as its own entity, a mercenary entity, bringing honor to the memory of mankind’s Golden Age.

I’m Ravi Juro, INN special correspondent, Spica.