Barney Calhoun

Barney Calhoun, an undecided major after two years at Martinson College,[3] is employed as a mid-level security officer at the Black Mesa Research Facility, with Level 3 security clearance and is accommodated in the Area 8 Topside Dormitories. He is friends with Gordon Freeman and Isaac Kleiner, who are also employees of Black Mesa.

As a Black Mesa security guard, he is tasked with duties including guarding assigned sections, performing general maintenance, and assisting the science team when required. His "Disaster Response Priority" is to protect the Black Mesa facility and its equipment in the event of an emergency, with secondary priority to safeguard members of the science team whilst his own personal safety is of relatively low importance.

On May 9, 200-, Barney receives a letter from L.M. about his May 15 reassignment to Blue Shift.

Before May 12, 200-, Barney is performing a retinal scan and has his salary increased. His two-day Security Guard Training is scheduled.[1]

On May 12 and May 13, at 08:00, Barney undergoes a two-day Security Guard Training under the Miller-based holographic instructor (May 12 is the Blue Shift Hazard Course).

On May 15, Barney is assigned to a 09:00 - 22:00 Blue Shift assignment and reports to Area 3 Medium Security Facilities in Sector C, at 09:00. His shift is to last until August 15.

The Blue Shift instruction manual features the sentence "Buy flowers for Lauren", suggesting that Calhoun had a wife or girlfriend.

t 8:42, Barney starts his tram ride from the Area 8 Topside Dormitories at Black Mesa, to start his second Blue Shift day at Area 3 Medium Security Facilities in Sector C.[1] He arrives there sometime before 9:00. After getting his equipment, he is tasked to assist scientists in Sector G who are unable to get an elevator working. He discovers the tram is out, and has to make his way through the maintenance tunnels before briefly seeing the The G-Man for the first and last time. Eventually, he makes his way to the elevator and fixes it while dealing with a particularly snobbish scientist's snide comments. Half-way through the ride, the elevator briefly stops and the light flickers, as power failures are reported on the intercom in multiple areas. The elevator briefly starts working again, but eventually stops completely as the elevator's control panel explodes, killing one of the scientists. Chaos ensues, before the elevator's cable snaps and it crashes.

After the Resonance Cascade occurs (at around 9:00), Barney survives the elevator crash, witnessing a Houndeye feasting on a fellow Security Guard and the other scientist dead. Barney becomes determined to escape from the Black Mesa facility, and under advice from a hiding scientist makes his way through the canals. He locates and frees Dr. Rosenberg, who had been captured by the HECU soldiers. Rosenberg reveals to Barney his plan of escaping by using an old teleport model. Calhoun helps Rosenberg to prepare everything for successful teleportation. He first travels to the border world Xen, where he activates a device needed for the teleport to work correctly. Barney then locates, charges and delivers a spare power battery to Doctor Rosenberg. At the end of the game Barney, along with Rosenberg and his two colleagues, Simmons and Walter, manage to escape from the Black Mesa Research Facility, and he is described as being "out of range" by the textual summary, as compared to Gordon Freeman, listed as "hired," and Adrian Shephard, listed as "detained".

Barney's personality is not explored in Blue Shift, however in Half Life 2 Barney is presented as a sarcastic, witty, although very capable and adaptable leader. Barney is an upbeat, friendly, charismatic and able man. He works undercover for Civil Protection, although his real loyalty lies with the The Resistance. Throughout all of the games he is in, Barney is consistently helpful with his peers and friends, constantly seeking ways to help them, also being amusingly honest with his thoughts. He checks on Dr. Isaac Kleiner and his lab when he has the opportunity, and though he is friends with the scientist, he occasionally seems skeptical about his experiments, particularly about one incident regarding a cat that traumatized him enough to give him nightmares. Upon encountering his old friend and colleague, Gordon Freeman, he greeets him reminding him of a beer he still owes him, and comments that Gordon's M.I.T. education "really pays for itself" when he flips the lever on the Resurrected Teleport. He is shown to quickly be appointed to being the de-facto field commander of The Resistance by rallying and leading the rebellion in City 17 through to the eventual evacuation to White Forest after the destruction of Nova Prospekt.

Barney once was a Black Mesa security guard, and as such has expertise on fire weapons, later becoming leader of the human rebellion. Barney is also particularly skilled with weapons, as he attended a two day Security Guard training while employed at Black Mesa, although during his employment in Black Mesa he used Glock 17, he had enough knowledge to use a much more extensive amount of weapons to defend himself with, and he presumably was given training for his duty as a metro-cop in City 17, which may have expanded his capabilities further.

Gordon Freeman

Barney and Gordon have been good friends ever since they started working at Black Mesa, sharing the same interests in literature. Before the Resonance Cascade Barney and Gordon would race in the ventilation shafts of Black Mesa to find Dr. Kleiner's keys to his office. Barney would save Gordon from a miserable fate at Nova Prospekt, and send him on his way to Kleiner's Lab. The two would later fight side by side in City 17, while escorting people out of the city. Barney also comments on Gordon's relationship with Alyx, calling Gordon a "lucky dog". Isaac Kleiner

Barney was friends with Dr. Kleiner ever since they worked at Black Mesa. In Half-Life 2, Barney occasionally checks up on Dr. Kleiner in his lab, whenever he has free time to do so. Barney and Gordon also raced inside the ventilation shafts throughout Black Mesa to find Kleiner's keys whenever he lost them.

After the Portal Storms, the Seven Hour War, and the subsequent Combine takeover, Barney was presumably relocated to City 17 where he signed up for Civil Protection. This would have been valuable to gain inside information and distribute warnings about upcoming raids or provide misleading intelligence to the Combine, added onto his previous employment as a security guard it would be a cakewalk. Though it was likely quite risky to his own safety. At some point before or after his relocation, he also came back into contact with Isaac Kleiner and Eli Vance who had also apparently been relocated to City 17 prior to Half-Life 2 and participated in their Resistance movement.

On one memorable occasion, Barney was assisting with Kleiner's teleport experiments where Kleiner attempted to transport a cat as a test experiment and something traumatizing happened to it. Barney claims to have persistent nightmares about the cat and even mistakes a distant Strider roar as a meow late in Half-Life 2.

By a twist of fate, probably orchestrated by the G-Man, Gordon Freeman is released from stasis into the City 17 Trainstation where Barney happens to be having his shift of Civil Protection duty. A security camera rejects Gordon's identity and Barney is able to 'take him away for questioning', saving him from boarding the train to Nova Prospekt and meeting a horrible fate in the depths of the complex. He then contacts Isaac Kleiner, having a brief chat about how Gordon could get to his lab safely, then Barney lets Gordon escape through a back door. Sometime later, Barney and Gordon meet up at Kleiner's Lab. After another teleporter mishap that teleports Gordon to several different locations, Barney meets Gordon outside the lab and provides him with a crowbar, and directions to escape on foot to Eli's lab, via the Underground Railroad. Barney then goes back inside Kleiner's Lab, having to look after Kleiner. Later on, when Gordon and Alyx arrive at Kleiner's Lab from Nova Prospekt, they receive a video transmission from Barney, who needs help fighting the Combine in the streets of City 17. During the uprising, Barney comes to be the impromptu "field commander" of the Resistance forces and leads the push towards the Citadel in order to rescue Eli Vance. At some point, he is pinned down by Overwatch Snipers that Gordon, finally reaching him, takes down. Together they lead a team of Rebels into the Overwatch Nexus to disable the Suppression Device. Barney uses his Civil Protection status to unlock several barriers Gordon would normally not be able to pass. After Gordon sets off towards the Citadel again, Barney continues to oversee the later stages of the assault on the Overwatch Nexus, until encountering Dog and following him to Gordon's location. Barney is last seen at the foot of the Citadel, telling Gordon "And if you see Dr. Breen, tell him I said, F**K YOU!". The swear can be heard completely in the audio file but is covered in-game by sound effects.

Barney is encountered late in the game, where he is seen organizing a Resistance push on a train station to escape City 17 before the Citadel self-destructs. His actions have taken its toll on him as he seems very tired, appears to not have shaved, and his face is also quite dirty.

He, again, provides Gordon with a crowbar before setting off to round up Citizens in that sector of the city. He then waits for Gordon and Alyx in the parking lot between the train station and the hospital. When the duo arrives, Gordon and Alyx help Barney escort several groups of Citizens through significant Combine resistance into the escape trains. He is last seen leaving on a train saying, "See ya when I see ya!", as Gordon and Alyx decide to take the next one to give him and the Citizens time to escape.

Barney does not appear, nor is even referred to, during the course of Episode Two. Given his place as a returning character of note in the series, and that he escaped City 17 ahead of Freeman, he is presumed to still be alive, but his location is unknown.

However, when coming back into White Forest after the Strider battle, he can be heard saying "Good job, Gordon", but is not among the Rebels cheering in the garage. The subtitle appears with Barney's midnight green subtitle color, and uses the Episode One subtitle file, as it cannot be found in the Episode Two file. Marc Laidlaw stated that it was an accident.