Locklear

"Last time I checked, I take my orders from the Corps, not from some swabbie...sir"

— Corporal Locklear

"You'd better get it together, Marine, or the Chief will reach down your cornhole and pull you inside out...which will be a sweet, sweet mercy compared to what I'm gonna do to you"

— Sergeant Major Avery J. Johnson

"Man, I hate this shit. Pilots blasting each other to spacedust, fire so thick you could walk on it to the LZ, and me not able to do a single thing about it but hang on and wonder when I'm gonna get blown up."

— Corporal Locklear

"Amen. Now shut up and let the lady drive."

— Sergeant Major Avery J. Johnson

Corporal Locklear was a UNSC Marine and ODST stationed on the UNSC Pillar of Autumn in 2552 as one of Major Antonio Silva's company. His first name was never mentioned.

Summary

He was rarely mentioned during The Battle of Installation 04 but was in Second Squad which was the squad which survived the Flood on the swamp. He was also among the handful of survivors who fled in a Pelican when the Halo was destroyed. He, Lieutenant Elias Haverson, Staff Sergeant Avery Johnson, and Petty Officer Second Class Sheila Polaski hid in the debris field until they met with SPARTAN-117 and Cortana in their Longsword fighter. The Master Chief recognized that Locklear was in a state of shock from the destruction of the Halo, describing him as "an assault rifle with its safety permanently clicked off." Locklear was hesitant to accept the Master Chief's command at first, but was eventually subdued by the Chief's greater authority. He and the Master Chief then developed a closer working relationship over the course of OPERATION: FIRST STRIKE.

Locklear helped in the capture of the Covenant flagship Ascendant Justice, and was aboard when they returned to Reach. He then accompanied the Master Chief to the surface of Reach, where they rescued the Spartans who had survived the fall of Reach. At some point, he developed a crush on Polaski. He was greatly saddened when she died in the Slipspace bubble caused by the Forerunner Crystal artifact.

He helped the Eridanus Rebels repair the vessel when they traveled to Eridanus Secundus While there, Dr. Catherine Halsey gave him the artifact, as she felt she could not trust ONI. She knew that Locklear would destroy it and told him that it needed to be done.

As the battle at Eridanus Secundus began, Locklear was ordered to collect supplies from the UNSC Gettysburg. He walked into the armory of the ship, found the Ethyl Alcohol, and eventually covered the artifact with C-7 Foaming Explosive. He was very upset with the whole universe and mostly with Polaski's death as he seemed to be in love with her. He detonated the explosive, which caused an explosion of radiation, killing him.

Locklear's Death

It is unclear if Corporal Locklear committed suicide, as it would at first seem. He was obviously very upset at the death of Polaski, but he also said just before the accident that he "wasn't going to die." It is possible that he was drunk, although the book does not specify whether he drank any of the alcohol or not. But it also said that he did plant foam C4 around the crystal, and blew it up due to Polaski's death. In addition, he had no way of knowing that the Forerunner crystal would explode in such a fashion.