This contribution is fan-made and not canon.
Overview and history[]
The introduction of the Martiobarbulus as a standard single seat heavy fighter in the TOG inventory was one taken with mixed feelings. While armament proved to be sound with a pair of 7.5/2 lasers and caliber 10 MDCs each along with a standard hard point, protection of the new craft could not veil its light fighter origins. Shielding and armor protection hardly met even the unofficial standard for a medium fighter. These deficiencies were at first not perceived as too grave as they were overcome by TOG's overwhelming numerical superiority. Moreover the legendary near-annihilation of a Commonwealth raiding force aimed to destroy its prototype flight firmly established the Martiobarbulus' reputation. At least for the time being.
Reality though inevitably caught up and exhibited the deficiencies of this machine, especially against new advanced Commonwealth fighter types like the Punisher or Slingshot. Those were able to vaporize a Martiobarbulus' armor and often the entire craft with one well-placed salvo. The benefit of being a politically favored committee design gradually eroded and more flight officers dared to criticize it.
Some committee members feared for their reputation and ordered a re-evaluation (colloquially known as Mart-2 project) of the design with a possible rectification of its shortcomings. The engineers in charge re-assessed the Martiobarbulus' configuration and sought out possibilities to improve upon. It showed that the craft's straightforward design allowed to attach additional armor plates without too much modification. Also would the housing of the MDCs accept heavy lasers up to a size of 7.5/6. Such an altering would still keep its situational flexibility with a thrust of 6Gs. Staying power would be much enhanced with armor value rising to 90/80/80/80 and shielding to 70/60/60/60.
The expected combat capability of the Martiobarbulus II would have made it the formidable foe it should have been right from the start, even for the aforementioned fighters. Finally endowed with adequate armor and shields befitting a heavy fighter it has enough staying power to bring its fearsome arsenal of four 7.5/6 lasers to bear without having to withdraw too early.
But unfortunately for the initiators their actions came too late. TOGSOG already had determined the new Ictus heavy fighter to be the Martiobarbulus' replacement. That one was an all-around neat design that didn't have any of its predecessor's deficiencies while running at the same power. It featured maximum armor and high shield flicker rates while only having marginally less firepower than the Martiobarbulus II. Although at some point the Mart-2 design was even considered to be kept as a back-up, for the case that the Ictus program should run into trouble, that did not turn out to be as the Ictus proved to be a reliable machine that met all operational requirements.
Despite this setback, one Overlord, who is resident in Pembroke County and a major shareholder in the Martiobarbulus venture, managed to secure production of the Martiobarbulus II at the manufacturing plant he holds ownership of. This allowed the factory to utilize existing stock parts without needing to retool for Ictus production. A conjuncture that contained financial as well as reputational loss for said Overlord and that ensured that the Martiobarbulus II would see combat, even if only on a smaller regional scale.