Marcus Barton

Marcus Barton
Personal
Affiliation	McCarron's Armored Cavalry
Profile
Rank	Colonel
Profession	MechWarrior
Family
Parents	Thomas Barton (father)

Marcus Barton was a legendary commander of the mercenary unit Second McCarron's Armored Cavalry.

Physical Description

Described as a large, loud fellow, Barton wore a Confederate hat with a red bandana tied around it and a black leather vest with a full-color MAC emblem on the back.

History

Marcus had an unhappy childhood. The son of Federated Suns military officer Thomas Barton, his mother was killed during a raid on Emerson in 2988, and Marcus lived at a private school while his father was away on duty.

In 2991, his father resigned from the military after losing his post thanks to the machinations of a rival, Lester J. Otto. Seeing his career forever destroyed, many years passed before his father even spoke of it; Marcus knew only that something terrible had happened to disrupt their lives.

Marcus's military career began on Solaris as a top arena MechWarrior. As his reputation grew, mercenary and House commanders asked him to join them. He refused only Federated Suns units or mercenary companies working in Federation space.

In 3007, Archibald McCarron, commanding officer of the mercenary unit McCarron's Armored Cavalry, came looking for Marcus. He found him sitting in a dive on the sleazy side of town. Marcus told him how he felt about mercenary commanders, including McCarron. Archie decked him. The resulting brawl left both pretty chewed, but Marcus was so impressed by Archie's unit's loose command that he joined the MAC.

By 3010, Barton was already a lance commander, and his unit become an assault lance. In 3015, Archie promoted Marcus to regiment commander, putting him in command of the Second regiment of the MAC: The unit was renamed "Barton's Regiment". Archie's orders to Marcus were "to create the meanest assault regiment the Inner Sphere had ever seen", and he did exactly that.

After becoming regimental commander, Barton put together one of the MAC's sharpest groups of tactical officers. Marcus proved his cunning, as he changed tactics as fast as needed to adapt to new situations, and routinely delegated command decisions to his officers, treating his staff as equals.

Barton's Regiment's first assignment was on the world of Elnath. Forces from the Free Worlds League had been launching raids against ammunition and vehicle manufacturing plants on Elnath, disrupting production, and Barton's Regiment received the task of defending it.

Knowing that Gorndack was the attackers' base of operations, Barton decided to take the problem out at the source, striking hard and fast, but found the system on full alert. Barton never run away from a fight, so he ordered his unit to charge. His frontal attack succeeded in taking the fort, but his unit was in shambles; barely two battalions remained operative.

Barton become a legend after this battle, being called "Barton the Fort Buster". His regiment was brought up to full force in 3016.

In 3022, Barton's regiment was part of "McCarron's Long March", the mercenary unit's campaign in Federated Suns space. Archibald planned to demoralize the Davion units, attacking Fort Bourgogne on Marlette. That fortress hadn't been attacked in over a hundred years, and was one of five fortresses along the Davion-Liao border used as primary resupply bases for the Capellan March Militia.

Barton's Regiment suffered heavy losses in the first attack. The unit command staff began considering retreat, but the majority voted to attack. After a vicious attack, they succeed in taking the fort, reducing it to a smoking ruin.

In 3027, Barton was selected by Archie McCarron to lead a raid against one of the most secure and fortified facilities in the Inner Sphere, the Defiance Industries complex on Hesperus. Initially, even Barton was hesitant to conduct such a raid that had been met with failure by units even larger and heavier than his own, but ultimately agreed to the plan that McCarron and Liao High Command laid out for him. Barton would enter the Hesperus system via pirate points in system and his dropships made full burn approaches on the planet. It was ultimately detected, and the planet defenders all immediately went to ground in the fortifications that were built into the mountain ranges that housed Defiance Industries. But instead of assaulting these fortifications, Barton instead took the second into the shipping and receiving areas of Defiance Industries, seizing countless tons of expensive and important equipment that was scheduled to be shipped off planet to the Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces thru out Steiner space. Realizing what he was doing, one of the defending units, the 26th Lyran Guards, broke their orders and launched a counter-attack against Barton's dropships. The 26th arrived and began their attack just Barton and his forces were returning to the dropships loaded with the loot they had seized. Taking considerable fire, Barton committed his aerospace forces into the attack, conducting devastating strafing and bombing runs against the 26th Lyran Guards. This forced the Guards commander to move his forces into a more defensible position in order to gain cover from these aerospace attacks. This allowed Barton the time he needed to finish loading his dropships with their loot and then escaped, giving Barton the added legend of having led a successful strike against Hesperus.

Barton continued to lead the MAC's Second Regiment during the War of 3039. Though the Confederation was not directly involved in the fighting between Federated Commonwealth and Draconis Combine, McCarron's Armored Cavalry were given permission in May 3039 to take advantage of the assumed AFFS preoccupation to launch a series of hit-and-run raids as they advanced toward their intended target, the important factory world of Kathil. Barton's Regiment the first to land; though outnumbered, he was unconcerned, striking at the seemingly sluggish Eighth Syrtis Fusiliers while awaiting the arrival of the other MAC, unaware that Duke Morgan Hasek-Davion had prepared a trap for the mercenaries. Holding back until after the First and Third MAC landed, the Davion forces sprung their trap, revealing the Alcyone CMM and First Kittery Borderers were also on-world. Now heavily outnumbered, the shocked MAC held out for a few more days before conceding that they were overmatched. As the fighting on Kathil bogged down, Archie McCarron learned of the FedCom strike against their homeworld of Menke and immediately recalled the bulk of his troops, but gave an unsatisfied Colonel Barton authorization to continue to operate behind enemy lines as he saw fit.

Barton ultimately opted for a totally unexpected and highly questionable attack against Addicks, the command center of the entire Addicks PDZ. With Addicks a major staging point for units taking part in the invasion of the Combine, Barton easily concealed his two 'Mech battalions among the multiple RCTs and regiments on-world. Painting his forces to resemble some of the Davion units stationed on Addicks, Barton's forces launched their attack on November 14, 3039, rampaging through the spaceport for three and half hours before making a break for their DropShips, escaping but suffering extremely heavy losses in the process, most notably a Union-class DropShip with all hands and a JumpShip whose KF drive burned out after a desperate quick-charge.

After their eventual return, Barton and McCarron's Armored Cavalry were hailed as heroes by the Capellan media, boosting the morale of the Capellan military at the price of the AFFS's Case JULIET counterinvasion.

In 3044, Barton learned that Davion forces were upgrading their Capellan border defenses, including on Marlette. Fort Bourgogne had been rebuilt and heavily fortified; most importantly, Marlette's commander was General Lester J. Otto, the old enemy of Barton's father. His presence was an invitation, and Barton couldn't refuse it. Archie McCarron send two regiments to strike Fort Bourgogne, including Barton's.

The battle was brutal, but even the better defenses could not stop "Fort Buster" Barton and his unit. Despite the losses, within hours of landing they crossed Stannic Bridge, breached the so-called "Ring of Death" and invaded the fort. At a crucial point in the battle, Otto ordered his regimental command lance into the fray against Barton and his command lance. Otto could have joined, but instead used the moment to attempt to escape the battlefield, before being stopped. Otto was forced to accept the challenge of Barton, and despite his powerful 'Mech, a Devastator, was defeated by Barton. When Otto attempted to kill him, Barton was forced to shoot the general, finally avenging his father.

Tactics

As his history proves, Marcus, and his regiment's specialty, appears to be frontal assault on fortified positions.

Personality

Barton's aggressive, no-nonsense style spread though his regiment, and Marcus was proud of the reputation his unit has earned because of it.

Despite their rough start, Archibald McCarron approved of Barton's leadership, even though the repair bills made him shudder.

Before the Fort Bourgogne assault, a restless Barton was always looking for targets. His style and aggressiveness made him impatient with small raids, forcing him to look for bigger targets. His Liao masters didn't like to have to answer for huge, unauthorized raids on other Houses, but Barton cared nothing for politics. His loyalty to Liao was only as an employer, nothing more.

Marcus's hate for House Davion, and specifically for General Otto, was legendary, but it must be noted his revenge didn't dominate him; he managed to avoid (totally) destroying his unit in his brutal assaults, and after he finally defeated Otto, initially left him alive. He only killed the general after the man attempted to shoot him in the back.

BattleMechs

In his attack on Ohrensen, Barton piloted a Warhammer, but during the assault on Fort Bourgogne, he piloted an Awesome-8Q. Following that battle he began piloted the Devastator he captured from General Otto.

Bibliography

• Historical: War of 3039
• McCarron's Armored Cavalry