[hider=Character Sheet] [b]Name:[/b] Marcus Becker [b]Nickname/Callsign:[/b] Shrike [b]Age:[/b] 41 [b]Gender:[/b] Male [b]Crew Position:[/b] Captain [b]Nationality:[/b] Lyran Commonwealth [b]Appearance:[/b] [hider=Personnel Files Reference Photo] [img]https://i.pinimg.com/564x/30/14/c9/3014c980f2758d15db603d800c796cc1.jpg[/img] [/hider] [hider=Archive Portrait Photo] [img]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a0/83/17/a08317bdc74b89d864e04e13fa0d1b82.jpg[/img] [/hider] [b]Biographical History:[/b] Marcus was the result of a pairing between his mother, a successful MechWarrior of several generations, and his father, an independent dropship captain. Bought up with a strong sense of his families' history and legacy as successful MechWarriors and space-faring, independent, rugged adventurers, he had an eager desire to follow in his families' footsteps, and was especially enamoured with his mother, Selina and her rare [i]Phoenix Hawk[/i] Land-Air 'mech. With both his mother and father often away from home for months - and occasionally years - at a time with only infrequent communication via HPG messages or letters, he was raised by his relatives, and often entertained with stories of their exploits, and gifts - from his guilt-ridden parents - from far-off places. As such, his mental pictures of their lives were much bigger and brighter than the realities, which he only came to encounter as he grew older. He lost some of this shine after enlisting as a trainee in the Commonwealth's military academy, training as a MechWarrior. He showed more-than competent skill and expertise as a 'mech pilot and was on track to be assigned to a unit, eventually ending up with the Celedon Rangers, a middle-of-the-road unit with little notable history. He served his time competently, engaging in a few small skirmishes, mostly in counter-piracy or peacekeeping operations along the boundaries of Lyran space well into his twenties. It was around his twenty-fifth birthday that his world fell apart. His mother was reported as killed in action. Her 'mech was returned to the family, as was the tradition. Controversy followed, however, as the surviving members of her unit, devastated in battle, gave scathing accounts of the battle they were involved in, citing the whole engagement as the result of glory-seeking and adventurism of one of the upper class lords of the Commonwealth military, leading to the characteristic tactical incompetence of the Lyran Armed Forces rearing its' head. Allegations flew from both sides, of dereliction of duty thrown at Selian Becker for refusing to follow orders, and of those orders being both unsound or unjust, and of the deliberate wasting of lives and equipment, of classism, and other such allegations. The bureaucracy of the Commonwealth did no favours to attempting to unravel the situation, nor to try and make any form of progress in resolution of the issues or the facts, and turned the issue into one that took years. The issue became infamous and a hot topic around the Becker family, leading to Marcus' own career stagnating, dogged by the allegations and reputation around the issue, leading to him being reassigned repeatedly to 'less visible' positions, and ones with little chance of progression in his career. At the same time, his father's career began to suffer from the same issues. Contracts became less and less lucrative, and this only aided his slide deeper into an already depressive slump from the loss of his wife. He turned to alcohol and narcotics to cope with the loss, ultimately leading to accidents on the job, and losses of cargoes and crew members, further hurting his reputation. His depression turned to bitterness and anger against the bureaucracy and nobility of the Commonwealth, something he became more and more open about, and eventually leading him to become ostracised from his peers, and falling into less reputable company. Marcus too began to feel this resentment, especially coupled with the ongoing bureaucratic mire his family and his career had been stuck in. After repeated attempts to transfer to other units or receive additional training were refused, he decided to cashier his commission with the armed forces, disgusted by the endless bureaucracy and classist structure of the Commonwealth as a whole, and his experiences with the nobility and ruling classes and their stranglehold on the military. His families' resources had lead to the [i]Phoenix Hawk[/i] receiving repairs, and it had been sitting idle in the meantime, in storage. Using the payout from his resignation, he trained in the operation of a Land-Air 'Mech, and showed a natural aptitude for the class of machine, effectively harnessing the multi-mode nature of the machine in combat and operations to its' best extent. Disenchanted with life and service with the Lyran Commonwealth military, he signed on as a Mercenary. His extended family supported the idea - with reservations - and financed his initial venture with a loan, his father likewise cashing in his shares in his ship - under pressure from his crew after his string of failures and embarssing incidents - to do so. Marcus' initial career as a mercenary was one that was very contrasted. His posession of a functional and effective Land-Air 'mech gave him a unique and uncommon quality, albeit one that was not exactly in demand, as being 'neither fish nor fowl'. Nonetheless, the qualities of an LAM gave their own advantages, and he served with three small mercenary companies over the next decade, gaining a modest reputation as a capable and effective reconnaissance, interdiction and counter-reconnaissance strike pilot, moving swiftly on the battlefield as effective support for his allies. Marcus earned the nickname 'Shrike' for his vicious strikes from the air, often in Air-'Mech mode, against lances of light and lower-end medium 'mechs, often 'impaling' them with hits from his laser weapons. The image was only reinforced by the red-brown, white and grey colour scheme of his 'mech. After the last mercenary company he was part of dissolved as their members went separate ways, Marcus was looking for a new company to join, and has signed up with Marley's Misfits. [b]Personality:[/b] Marcus sometimes leans into the classic traits of a fighter pilot; sometimes being cocky, confident and brash, but this is often tempered with a cool and level-headed aspect, based on his experience and his personal and familial history. He is quite well-spoken and generally knowledgeable, and is an affable sort of fellow, at least to those who are open to socialising and friendship. If greeted with hostility, and - especially - arrogance and detachment, he will often resort to light mockery and good-natured teasing if allies, and sarcastic mockery and cutting remarks for those who are unfriendly rivals or antagonists. He has little patience for the aristocracy, especially those who distance themselves from the people they claim to lead or rule, and openly admits that he is biased in this regard due to his history, and is well aware that this might be a failing of his. Fortunately, he is old enough to realise that painting everyone with a broad brush isn't ideal, and has been caught out by this in the past... but he is also - for better or worse - old enough to find it hard to change his ways. Other than his use of humour in interacting with others, he has an otherwise good and ever-present sense of humour, often using it to cope with any situation. He is not above his vices, having a weakness for cigars, good whiskey, good food and women, having a small string of turbluent, though passionate relationships over the years which he has fond memories of. [/hider] [hider=Asset Sheet] [b]Asset Name:[/b] [url=https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Phoenix_Hawk_LAM]PXH-HK2 Phoenix Hawk LAM[/url] [b]Asset Nickname:[/b] Butcher Bird [b]Asset Type:[/b] Land-Air 'Mech [b]Asset Tonnage:[/b] 50 Tons [b]Asset Crew/Staff:[/b] Marcus 'Shrike' Becker Technician: Holly Page. Holly has been Marcus' technician for the better part of a decade, after his previous technician retired with no Astech. Holly put herself forward for the position. Initially refused by Marcus based on her youth and lack of experience, the 'tech he selected instead turned out to be lazy, sloppy, and eager to claim he was neither and an expert to boot. After his 'work' and 'expertise' almost resulted in [i]Butcher Bird[/i] losing an engine due to improperly secured parts, and Marcus spraining his shoulder getting the LAM out of a terminal dive, he added a broken finger to his injuries after punching the tech out of service. Holly came back to work for Marcus after the LAM pilot did no small amount of pleading, and turned out to be an eager and more-than capable technician, knowing her way well around the ins and outs of a Land-Air 'mech and its' complex systems, as well as having more than a few additional skills of her own, such as knowing a thing or two about fighting and 'unorthodox procurements' among others. The pair had a brief, passionate, fling, but settled down into simply being the best of friends, and working as an excellent team. [hider=Personnel File Photo] [img]https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/2016/44586194/images/1452062716471.jpg[/img] [/hider] [b]Asset Weaponry:[/b] 1 x Amsterdam 120 Large Laser 2 x Maxum 50 Medium Laser 2 x Sperry/Browning Machine Gun [b]Asset Equipment:[/b] Allied AVRTech Jump-jets Land-Air 'Mech conversion equipment [/hider]