The Heart of Locke

BY WILL OR BY FORCE

002 acknowledges what he had to do, he takes the spair Finite Energy Core (FEC) required to power his amour and himself and sets of on the long journey that awaited him. He activates the DSV's cloaking system and leaves on the Terrain Maneuvering vehicle (TMV), unaware of what was to come , but certain of what was to be done. As 002 sped of he left a trail of dust in his wake, reminiscent of the barren battlefields of Cassen, for truly Locke was a wasteland, with temperatures reaching almost unbearable levels and radiation, enough to cause mutations in a short amount of time prior to exposure. The locken went around covered all over in cloaks and masks, although they had grown resistant to the planet's ambiance over the past centuries. After hundreds of kilometres of riding, 002 finally came along a group of locken outcast, they looked like wounded dogs slowly treading across the barren land, seemingly aimless in their journey, noticing it was getting darker, 002 inquired on the duration of their journey to the heart of locke, the SAI answered "the duration can't be calculated due to insufficient data", I suggest you asks the natives", 002 understood that even the Transendental Emperor wasn't omnipotent, he drew closer to the locken who were visibly shaken, the locken had strong vitality but were of short stature and small builds, their tallest representative reaching a height of 150cm in adulthood and their skin was green from clorofilla they had evolved for partial photosyntesis ,being approached by a stranger clad in a full set of armor and standing at a height of nearly 3 meters made them weary. As 002 closed the distance he raised his hands as a gesture of meaning no harm, he kneels down on one knee just a meter away from them, and asks them if they had a map they could lend for a moment knowing the SAI will automatically translate. They stood in silence for a while, then the most seasoned looking one amongst them stepped forward, and bravely inquired "what is in it for us"? 002 expecting such a response drew his pistol and said in a cold tone"your life". For 002 it was either by will or by force, he was prepared to take it by force if required, his hellish days in the Shark Womb Operation(SOW) taught him to never hesitate to strike first.

The Story Of Locke

The locken shutter and shrink at the sight of the weapon, the earlier locken quickly speaks up to descalate the situation, "oh! no need for that" he said "we only want you to listen to our story in exchange for the map" , we locken believe that the more souls we tell our story the longer we will be able to wait".002 was intrigued and inquired "wait... for what? The loken quickly answers with a hopeful tone" to wait for the champion who would rid Locke of it's heart".002 unimpressed still decides to pull the trigger, but the SAI interrupts him with a question "is it necessary they die?", 002 taken back by the question, he revalutes the situation and understands that an altercation wasn't necessary, he wasn't planning on moving through the night, and as the say goes, "knowledge is power". 002 withdraws his gun and stands up, casting a shadow over the Locken,and in a stoic and commanding tone, he says, "I will hear your story".

The Locken eagerly begins to narrate the story of Locke, the story goes like this he says, "long ago, when Locke was still lush and filled with life, all Locken lived in harmony. But our harmony was broken when an alien ship crash landed on our planet, we thought it a gift from the heavens but it was our misfortune, for behind it was it's enemy in pursuit, they turned our home into a battlefield disregarding our lives and home, their battle ultimately left our planet a barren wasteland, yet the Victor continues to reside on our planet as the Heart of Locke, unrelenting in it's pursuit of our demise". The story 002 just heard left him with so many questions, but what he needed was the map, "I have heard your story, hand over the map now" he said. The Locken handed him the map and warned, "beware the beasts that lurk beneath at night".