Rear Admiral William Locke

William Locke is a Martian Officer and the commanding officer of the *Vitae*, chosen personally by Admiral Roland Constantine. Serving all of his life within the Martian Navy as a Special Forces operative he is used to living the life of a spook.

However after the Three Day War he has spent most of his time on Mars caring for his daughter, Amara, after her mother died. He has spent the past ten years of his life living on the Ark getting to know it's systems and picking out the crew.

## History

### Childhood

William Locke was born to parents John and Margaret Locke in the Martian Capital city of Arcadia. His Father was an ex-Military engineer whose service had been cut short when he lost his left arm and was no longer able to perform his duties, refusing to take even a prosthetic he had no choice but to take a honorable discharge and retire to civilian life. His mother on the other hand was a successful detective, as while crime rates were low they did exist. As such William spent the majority of his infantile years with his father rather than his mother.

When he was young Martian Cities still existed within domes, as the air quality while it was breathable was considered poor. That was until he was ten years old, he still remembers the day when in mass celebration they finally began to dismantle the domes. It was seen as the change in the tide, with the air finally of pure quality the Martian dream of a planet full of life was coming closer. That said part of him secretly resented people from the Federation and Conglomerate for the ability to grow up on Earth, how they could waste so much green he could never understand.

This is what drove him to want to head off-world. There was so much else even in the Sol System that he could go out and see, so much more than this barren red world. Though he didn't want to do it just for the sake of leaving, he wanted to go out into the stars to help people on his homeworld as much as possible. The military was the way to do this, that way he'd help his people and see the stars. It was a win/win situation, all he had to do was get the grades to cut it. He didn't want left in some dead end position within the military, he was going to *fly* a ship one day. He just knew it.

### Early Military service

At age eighteen he enrolled in the Martian Navy. Due to the small population of Mars, and it's age in comparison, the Martian fleet typically relied on advanced tactics using stealth technology and long range weapons giving the Martian Navy the best SpecOps programs in the solar system. Every recruit was required to sit and aptitude test, as the Navy wanted everyone who could join this program to join it.

William proved that he had what it took time and time again. They trained him to be a thinker, to think of solutions that others may not. Pitting him against computer simulations programmed to understand even the most complicated battle tactics, he was trained in reading terrain, gathering information and even in espionage. Unlike regular military training this kept him busy right up until the age of 21, technically past the time required for minimal service, but he already knew that he was in the career track for the rest of his life. His instructors told him he had a knack for surveying the battlefield, and he was going to put it to use for the rest of his days to ensure that his people were safe.

He'd never be sidelined in some office.

### The Scourge

His first command was a ship called the *Arcadius,* a light corvette designed to look like a cargo vessel. The mission, take down *The Scourge* who was a man whose real name was Tiberius Wallace. Wallace had been an infamous pirate for years, William was raised on stories about Wallace and his exploits throughout the solar system. He had a nasty of habit of striking single unsuspecting targets and disappearing without a trace the moment any form of naval ship turned up to stop him. He attacked ships no matter what their origin or their destination and always somehow seemed to know current fleet movements of Armani, Federal, Conglomerate and Unity forces.

So William Locke took on the persona of a man on a mission to mine water out of the Asteroid belt near Ceres station, and in deep space water was a valuable resource. It was more valuable to the Armani than minerals. It was during this time that he grew close to a Martian Doctor who was working on Ceres station for a small company, her name was Amanda Holling. It made his job that much harder, as he didn't want to lie to her but couldn't tell her the truth. So he simply withheld information.

Nearly a year into the mission, while they had gathered some information on Wallace they were yet to have an actual encounter with the infamous pirate. Until one day on a return trip from Ceres station they were attacked by Wallaces ship, the first shot causing critical damage to the engines. While those around him began to panic William kept his cool and as XO, made the decision to disengage the fake cargo pods revealing the weapon systems. The battle was short lived however, Wallace not being used to a fight realizing he had disabled the engines on the Arcadius simply fled.

It took the Arcadius months to crawl back into Martian Orbit and by the time they got there they discovered that the unlikely had happened. Unity, Federal and Conglomerate ships had worked together in order to defeat *The Scourge* once and for all.

### Marriage

At the age of twenty three William proposed to his girlfriend of two years, Amanda Holling. With his mission over, and her returning to Mars after she had completed the task she had set out to do the two decided it was time to take the next step. Others chastised them on jumping into things too quickly when they had barely seen each other in the two years they had been together, but neither truly cared what other people had to say. It was like an old romantic movie, one of the ones Amanda used to force William to watch.

Having both accumulated time off with their recent jobs, after the two were married they took their honeymoon all the way to Earth. They were both stunned by the planet, they had seen pictures and holograms obviously but neither had seen a world so blue and so green. Avoiding the urban centers they found a relatively untouched part of Africa to spend their time away from the barren world. It was then that they decided that one day they would retire in Africa once they had both done their jobs to the best of their abilities. Though it also solidified Williams resentment towards people of the Conglomerate and the Federation, how they could pave such a beautiful world was beyond him. They squandered their gifts, they truly did.

### Continued Service

William gained his first full command the same year, a stealth combat vessel called the *Nightfury*. It was one of the latest designs built by the Unity, capable of going undetected while also packing a punch. He was immediately deployed in order to gain a full diagnostic by testing the ships systems in an active environment. For the next two months he played hide and seek games with the Second Martian Fleet, trying to get close enough to let loose a devastating missile at the command ship without being detected. The whole time a team of scientists remained on board adjusting the stealth systems, while it couldn't actively cloak it had retro-reflective paneling which was designed to disrupt both visual detection and detection from sensor systems.

One of the benefits of such a command however was that due to long term deployment the ship had advanced communication systems on it allowing for him to talk with Amanda back on Mars with relative ease. It wasn't an ideal situation but it was the one they were in, and like most Martian families it was just something they learned to accept and live with. He spent the next two years playing war games both within the Martian Fleet and testing the capabilities of the Federation and Conglomerate fleets, that was until his next big surprise.

### Fatherhood

On an extended period of shore leave after a particularly long operation far out in the solar system Amanda announced that she was pregnant. William was understandably the regular mix of excited and panicked, there was celebration and there was a lot of joy going around. With the *Nightfury*'s relief crew performing an equally long maneuver, this gave him time to spend with his pregnant wife while also planning ahead for the future of what his life was about to become.

He only had one month after Amara was born, and he already knew that everything he did from now on wasn't just for his people, but more specifically for her. She would be the reason he got up in the morning and made sure that the solar system was a safer place so that by the time she was old enough that she got to serve her planet she would be put in no danger, at least not if he could help it. So one month after she was born, he said goodbye to return to active duty. Communications back home became even more frequent so he could keep in touch with her, so that every time he got home she would know who he was.

### Devastation

2196 was the year that burnt itself into his memory, burnt itself into the memory of every human being no matter where they were from. On April 1st William as on his way back home in order to spend some much needed shore leave with his (quickly growing) daughter. He had even managed through trading to pick up a small cacti that he was planning on giving to her for her birthday that he had regretfully missed due to being deployed, that's when the call came in to report to the nearest Martian Fleet with all due haste, meaning that he was meant to use his Jump Drive. A system that was rarely used by ships unless in an emergency situation or crossing vast distances. That made him know how important the situation was.

On arrival footage of the *Outreach* massacre was relayed to his ship and he watched it in pure horror as the vessels simply cut through the space station and it's defenses. They continued to advance through space, as the Martian Fleets retreated to Mars Orbit. He disagreed with the call, they shouldn't be on the defensive as that let the enemy dictate the terms while if they were offensive the *Devastators* as the media quickly dubbed them would be forced to fight on their terms. He watched as a small Martian detachment was sent to Ceres station, only one ship returned and it barely made it back on front of the Devastator fleet. There was mass panic, the fear could be smelt on the bridge of the *Nightfury* as the fleet pulled into orbit and the two fleets began exchanging weapons fire, despite having the numerical advantage the Devastators continued to press onwards.

Breaking off from the main engagement William took a handful of ships, utilizing the chaos of the battle and their stealth technology he snuck them right behind the Devastator vessels letting loose weapons fire into their undefended flank. This wasn't enough, and just as people began to lose hope another massive fleet jumped into orbit... the fleet of the Federation and Conglomerate. The battle was tough, and intense William remembers most of it as a blur. What he does remember however is seeing an energy bolt come straight for his vessel, he felt it collide... before blacking out.

He woke a day later, missing an eye. Commendations came due to his quick thinking and heroism, as did the promotion to Rear Admiral. He was due to deploy again back in the *Nightfury* as part of the united fleet when he received the call, that Amanda had fallen deathly ill, and rapidly. Using what pull he had he switched out his deployment so he could hurry home. The next couple of weeks were tough for a reason, as the rest of his life came crashing down with the death of his wife. He had fought so long, and so hard to keep her safe and in the end it was something he couldn't fight against that took her. He felt so helpless, he would likely have descended into alcoholism if not for the fact that he was now his daughters sole carer. He took a desk job at the Institute for Martian Military Intelligence in order to give himself stable hours as he settled in for the long haul.

### The *Vitae*

As Amara left for her standard military service, making him incredibly proud as she chose a career in the military as a medic. She was always the best of both him and Amanda, he had always said as much and now she was proving it. This was when he was called to a classified briefing with *High* Admiral Roland Constantine about something named the Genesis Project. He could hardly believe it at first, nor all the various conditions and stipulations, however realizing that if the second war with the Devastators were to possibly wipe out all of humanity that he'd rather have this chance to safeguard what remained, especially with the fact that this would definitely give Amara a chance to live if all else failed.

So for the past ten years he has been living on the *Vitae*, getting to know her systems in and out giving him a knowledge of the Ark that few others have as he helped select the crew that would call this ship home (the more important members of the crew that is, he didn't interview everyone). All the while he kept track of his daughters career out of personal interest as all he wanted, the main reason he took this job was to keep her safe. During this time he did once again become close to someone, Admiral Rita Haworth of the *Rejuvenation.* Though he never told Amara, knowing that the relationship was doomed to end the moment the Devastators appeared in orbit.

As the *Vitae* left after enacting of Genesis and then Exodus protocols William Locke has struggled with the idea of not fighting, and fleeing instead. His trials for the past five years have been balancing life as a father, while also becoming an official responsible for not only military but as a civillian ruler as well. As tension grows he's had to find ways to balance the military protocols in him with what people want. That said, he has to push on through the struggles. AS there can be no turning back.

## Personality

William is the type of commander never to ask someone to do something that he himself would not do, he's got a strong sense of respect for those underneath him so long as they offer the same amount of respect to him at the very least. He's quick thinking, and when not in a serious situation likes to use his wit to entertain and make light of a situation. However when the situation is serious he means business and won't be dissuaded.

He speaks his mind, despite being charismatic, sometimes getting him called brutally honest (a strange quality for someone in SpecOps). In the end he's a military man and a father through and through, these are what drives him forward and keep him going.

## Skills & Weaknesses

### Skills

* **Special Ops Training:** Mars always prided itself on it's special ops division, prior to being assigned to the Vitae. Locke spent his entire career on stealth ships running surveillance and counter surveillance ops. In the three day war he lead a fleet of ships in a flanking maneuver against the Devastators. His training gives him a unique way of thinking over more traditional officers.
* **Charismatic:**So long playing the spy game, he's good at working with people and simply working people.
* **Intelligent:** He may not be a scientist of any caliber, but he's well educated. He's a tactician in his own right.
* **Respected:** He's known to never expect anything of his crew that he himself wouldn't do, which makes his crew trust and respect him. He doesn't just throw his weight around.

### Weaknesses

* **Career Military:** He may be Spec Ops and used to not going on much, but he's still used to following orders. It'll be hard to adapt to the last order of 'See to it that humanity survives'. Not to mention it goes against "leave no man behind".
* **Prejudice:** He'll say it won't affect him, but most Martians grew to resent people from Earth first for their treatment, second Mars had a desert and tried to turn it into a garden. Earth started with a garden and paved it. It's something he never understood and thought them to be fools for. He also harbors a strong resentment to those who would willingly alter themselves with cybernetic enhancements. Not to mention he's no doubt going to have to deal with the different political needs of the different factions, even though he knows that the Martian way works best...
* **Missing eye:** He lost his eye when a bulkhead exploded during the defense of Mars in the Three Day War, while he himself refused a replacement he still sometimes gains pain from the injury and it limits his peripheral vision.
* **Depression:** He'll wear a strong face, but he can't deny loosing his home, family and even his planet has had a psychological effect on him.

## Trivia

* William Locke originally didn't have a wife, or a daughter. These were recent additions as a player expressed interest in playing his daughter. Something I've never roleplayed before so jumped at the opportunity to do.
* I tend to base characters off aspects people comment on in myself, I've given him what people say about my leadership style and what I myself know about it (without being egotistical).
* I made William before I had fully designed the Martian Unity, he is the reason I designed them to have a distaste for the use of robotic prosthesis or enhancements.
* Amanda gained her name from me receiving a Facebook message while I was trying to think of a name for her.