Locke Setzer

"If you can't fight it then you don't deserve to fly it!"

Colonel Locke Setzer is currently a flight member in Firebird Squadron, onboard the ISD-II Challenge. He is best known as a three-time former Commodore of the Challenge and a two-time former commander of Tempest Squadron.

Locke has also served as a former Commodore of the ISD-II Immortal, a former Wing Commander of Wing X of the Challenge, a former Wing Commander of Wing VIII of the ISD-II Colossus, a former Flight Leader of Inferno Squadron, and a former member of Inferno Squadron, Tempest Squadron, and Omicron Squadron. Locke is also a former Tactical Officer Command Attache, serving under FA Master.

Locke has held multiple part-time positions during his career with the Emperor's Hammer, including multiple positions with the Tactical Office (as a Surveyor, Tactician, and Coordinator), as well as being a former IWATS professor, having previously taught Eggdrop and X-Wing Mission Design.

Locke is the original co-author of the X-Wing Mission Design course.

It is rumored that Locke may have previously served in Dagger Squadron onboard the SSSD Sovereign and/or with the Infiltrator Wing under an alias, but this has not been confirmed.

Background

Born on Coruscant (presumably), Locke was adopted at birth by a pair of Imperial officers, who raised him with the intention of seeing him become career military. Most of his childhood was spent attending junior military academies. Locke entered the Imperial Academy, promptly, on the day of his eighteenth birthday, and commissioned into the Imperial Navy roughly a year before the Battle of Yavin.

Locke's expertise as a pilot attracted attention, and he was fortunate enough to find himself a transferred to the experimental weapons division, serving as a test pilot. There, he had opportunities to pilot the latest designs, including the TIE Advanced. While testing the TIE Advanced in live combat, Locke was dismayed when his test squadron lost multiple ships, due to many of his fellow test pilots confusing the superiority of their new craft for invincibility. It was here that Locke developed his core training principle: in order to fly a ship, you must be able to beat it.

Upon conclusion of their deployment, Locke recommended that no test pilot be cleared for active duty with a test ship until they had successfully won several simulator battles against the new craft using a far inferior ship. His recommendation was ultimately approved by the admiral overseeing the program: Grand Admiral Zaarin.

Locke was on assignment with the SSD Executor at the time of the Battle of Hoth. It was here that he witnessed Darth Vader's blatant disregard for the lives of his men, in favor of his petty pursuit of Rebels that had personally offended him. With rumors among the ship that it was the Emperor himself that was pushing for this chase, Locke began to see the current Imperial leadership as more hinderance than help to what the Empire could be.

This was an attitude encouraged and cultivated by Zaarin and his officers, whose plans for an Imperial co-op were already well underway. When Zaarin defected, Locke followed the chain of command and continued serving under the officers he knew and trusted. Originally assured of a quick co-op, moral among Zaarin's forces took a quick hit when their initial plans did not come to fruition. Over time, many in Zaarin's fleet began to see themselves as less and less as the "True Empire" and more and more as warlord forces and, worse, traitors. Locke could not abide this. Ashamed, he successfully plotted his own escape, sneaking off with a transport ship he intended to use as a trading vessel once he was sure he was out of Zaarin's reach.

Following his escape, Locke worked as a trader, using his connections and inside knowledge of Imperial protocols to maximize his revenue.

Joining the TIE Corps and Inferno Squadron

Locke was recruited into the TIE Corps by his old friend and comrade Darklord, the Wing Commander of Wing X onboard the ISD-II Challenge. Placed in Inferno Squadron under the command of Colonel [Manitsas], Locke served as his commander's wingman for a brief period, but was soon assigned as Flight Leader of Inferno Flight III. Members of this flight included Sephiroth and Triji Boliv, officers and allies who Locke would serve with for many years to come.

As Flight Leader of Inferno Flight III, Locke eventually reached the rank of Commander, serving in the position for seven months. But Locke grew eager for a command of his own, and hoped to find it somewhere on his new home, the Challenge.

Frustrated, Locke decided to take a leave of absence from his position in order to clear his head and determine his next steps. But in a matter of days, fate would intervene to place him exactly in the position he was looking for...

Commander of Tempest Squadron

Locke was granted command of Tempest Squadron, finally giving him a chance at a command of his own in the TIE Corps. He was soon aided by the transfer of Sephiroth from Inferno, who would serve as his unofficial squadron XO and take over Flight II.

Locke took this as an opportunity to reach out to other former comrades, bolstering the ranks of Tempest Squadron with other pilots whom he had served with in the past, who were now in need of a new organization where they could again serve, grow, and thrive. Mostly notably, this included the addition of Master, whom in time would become the Flight Leader of Flight III.

But it was not merely old friends that made up this squadron. Kaneda Pellail and Rover, old Tempest veterans that remained behind, provided a solid link to the history of the squadron. And new recruits fresh off the Daedalus soon joined as well, including Chris McCollum and Dirk Logan, soon became long-time Tempest stalwarts.

Tempest Squadron quickly earned a reputation for excellence, regularly producing 100% participation in drills and competitions and scoring victories in training exercises throughout the fleet, with an almost perfect record (their first competition with Locke's old squadron, Inferno, being the sole black mark).

Locke held the position of Tempest Commander for one year to the day, earning him multiple promotions, eventually reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. This was a a period of intense competition among the squadrons of the Challenge, who believed themselves to be the best in the fleet without equal. The pressure to perform was intense, and Locke was not aided by his own ambitions for greater responsibility.

Passed over for the Wing Commander position in Wing X in favor of Tornado Squadron Commander Mairin Astoris, Locke decided to resign his position as squadron commander, but remain in Tempest Squadron as a Flight Member. In honor of his service, BGCOM Mell Kerrigan promoted him to the rank of Colonel. But this "retirement" of sorts was not to be...

Commodore of the Challenge

The command staff of the Challenge had undergone upheaval in recent times. A surprise resignation of Darklord from his Wing Commander position had led to long-time Inferno Squadron commander COL Manitsas taking up the position. Soon after, Challenge Commodore Corran Force resigned, leaving a power vacuum in its place. Manitsas took up the position of Commodore, then convinced Darklord to return to his original post of Wing Commander.

This was not to be a long-term solution. There was tension between the two, who had long served together, but now found themselves in opposite positions in the chain of command. That, combined with the pressure of leading the the perceived greatest ship in the fleet, proved to be too much. Manitsas soon resigned the position and his commission in the TIE Corps. Darklord was elevated to Commodore.

As Squadron Commanders, Locke and Mairin Astoris had held a friendly rivalry. For Locke, that turned bitter upon her appointment to Wing Commander over himself, with his own ambition poisoning his heart.

But the recent chaos of the Challenge command staff was not yet complete. Without warning, Darklord soon submitted his own resignation, not long after finally being appointed to the Commodore position he had long since earned. It was a tragedy for the Challenge, but an opportunity for Locke. He was offered the position, bypassing the traditional route of first serving as a Wing Commander, and in turn quickly leapfrogging his rival. There was a time when Locke would have seen the pitfalls of such an appointment, and politely turned it down. But pride and ambition had taken over sense, and Locke accepted the position of Commodore of the Challenge, elevating him to the rank of Rear Admiral.

History repeated itself. Mairin, much like Darklord before her, found herself with a subordinate, however brief, now her commanding officer. And Locke still resented the circumstances that had brought them to this point in the first place. The command staff of the Challenge, once the most stable in the fleet, had now descended into a theater of political intrigue.

In spite of the tension (or perhaps because of it), the ship thrived, coming out of a lull that had settled in during the previous administration. But it was not to be a long-term success.

Multiple incidents required the involvement of BGCOM Mell Kerrigan and his successor, Drake to sort out. This included an incident where Mairin submitted a resignation that was rescinded the next day, only for Locke to attempt to enforce the original resignation, which Executive Officer Sector Admiral Astatine refused to allow.

Having lost his perspective, unable to cope with the continued tension of the situation and pressure of the position, Locke took out a ship during a training exercise one morning and failed to return. Whispers and rumors about what may have happened to the Commodore circulated throughout the ship. To address the crisis and return the ship to normalcy, Mell Kerrigan, who had recently left his position as BGCOM, took direct command of the ship, becoming the new Commodore.

Locke was officially MIA, and likely would have remained so, had it not been for the tireless work of Captain Chris McCollum to locate the missing Commodore and safely deliver him to the Phoenix for recuperation.

Omicron Squadron

Upon his recovery, Locke was offered a spot in Omicron Squadron, onboard the [Colossus]ISD-III Colossus], by its Commander, Wysseri Arestar, a former Challenge veteran. Locke accepted the opportunity and took a position as a Flight Member in Omicron Squadron, accepting the mandatory demotion back down to Colonel.

While Locke appreciated the chance to get back to the fundamentals of being a pilot, he was unhappy on the Colossus. His only confidant during that time was Captain Chris McCollum, who had transferred to Iota Squadron. Over drinks in the cantina, they could sometimes being overheard commiserating about the Colossus, with some officers overhearing them refer to the ship as a "ship of sadness", comments that would come back to haunt Locke. Chris soon left the Colossus to return to the Challenge as the new squadron commander of Tempest Squadron. Locke longed to return to the Challenge, his true home in the Emperor's Hammer, but his foolish pride would not let him. Locke languished in Omicron, his lowest point since joining the Emperor's Hammer, with no one to blame but himself.

Return to the Challenge and Command of Tempest Squadron

With Locke's old ally Sephiroth now Commodore of the Challenge, efforts were immediately made to recruit Locke back to his home ship. When Captain Chris McCollum personally requested that Locke take over command of Tempest Squadron, he could no longer resist the calling of his heart. Locke returned to the Challenge and took command of Tempest Squadron, on the condition that it would be a temporary assignment until Captain Chris McCollum felt prepared to take over the squadron again.

The squadron immediately excelled, sweeping the ship awards of Squadron of the Month, Pilot of the Month (for Colonel Master), and Commander of the Month in Locke's first month back, followed by an award of | BGCOM's Commander of the Month for Locke.

Locke benefited by having many of his old pilots back with the squadron, but was also happy to include new additions, such as Lieutenant Commander Daniel Bonini and Lieutenant Commander Prost Varsis, both of whom would become a long-time member of Tempest Squadron and the Challenge.

Fully healed and serving the Emperor's Hammer in the capacity he knew best, Locke and Tempest Squadron thrived. But it would not be long until Locke's ambition began to rear its ugly head yet again, and the decorated squadron commander began to look out for his next opportunity... even if it meant leaving the ship he loved most...

Position Links

Preceded by Zulaan

Tempest Commander Feb 2001-Feb 2002

Succeeded by Kaneda Pellail

Preceded by Darklord

Challenge Commodore Feb 2002-Jun 2002

Succeeded by Mell

Preceded by Christopher McCollum

Tempest Commander May 2003-Sep 2003

Succeeded by Christopher McCollum

Preceded by RogueWing

Immortal Commodore Sep 2003-Nov 2003

Succeeded by RogueWing

Preceded by Wysseri Arestar

Wing Commander of Wing VIII Feb 2004-May 2004

Succeeded by Angel

Preceded by Phantom

Challenge Commodore May 2004-Sep 2004

Succeeded by Stuart

Preceded by Stuart

Challenge Commodore Feb 2005-Jun 2005

Succeeded by Prost Varsis

Preceded by Coranel Both

Wing Commander of Wing X Dec 2005-Jan 2006

Succeeded by Coranel Both

Preceded by Master

CA:TAC Apr 2006-Jul 2006

Succeeded by TBA