I just finished reading through the second of Mike Stackpole's four novellas tied to the HBS BattleTech game.
As the plot advances, we get the first official mention of the Aurigan Coalition, and we have appearances of representatives from the Federated Suns and Capellan Confederation.
There was one jarring reference, however, to an infantryman having "power armor" experience. This is par for the course in 3067...but in 3000? The Nighthawk Power Armor (light) suit was only available to SLDF special forces during the civil war, and largely disappeared from the Inner Sphere following the Exodus. The only known exception is the Bounty Hunter, who rocked a custom suit of Power Armor (Light) even inside his cockpit. (Not counting the ComStar made P12 Tornado suits, which debuted in 2905).
So, 1) how does a merc in the periphery have Power Armor experience, and 2) how does Walter even know about such tech? Are there still a few hundred Nighthawk suits floating around, creating legends wherever they go? Have stories leaked out about mysterious raids on science labs using Tornadoes?