Kate Lockwell

"As long as... the story... doesn't die...I'm...I'm a good reporter."

- Kate Lockwell

Kate Lockwell is a reporter for Universe News Network.

Biography
Lockwell was a reporter for UNN by 2496. She began working with cameraman Zach Oliver in this year.

War-Torn
In 2500 Lockwell reported on the disaster at Maltair IV. The zerg had attacked the planet, killing everyone but Senator Corbin Phash and his psychic son, Colin. The two disappeared after being rescued. Lockwell interviewed Greggor Altman, a Dominion representative, who claimed that former Senator Phash's behavior was child abuse and treason, and that the boy needed to be taken to the Ghost Academy in order to protect him from his psionic powers. When Lockwell claimed Phash had much support from the citizenry, Altman downplayed it. She also mentioned that Senator Phash's former aide, Andrew Ballenger, had gone missing.

Lockwell also reported on the Gohbus tragedy – the planet's crust was falling apart, causing the citizens to flee to the Gohbus Moon Refugee Camp. However, when Gohbus fell apart, they would all die anyway.

Wrangler Randall traveled to Gohbus Moon, believing Colin Phash to be there; he had tracked down Ballenger upon hearing Lockwell's report. Randall would be paid for turning Phash in to the Ghost Academy. He used zerglings which had been "lobotomized" to cut them off from the Zerg Swarm to locate Colin, also scaring the populace, which believed Colin's powers were luring them, into giving him up. Colin was eventually captured by the Dominion and taken to the Ghost Academy. Lockwell reported on the "happy ending". Meanwhile, Corbin Phash had taken refuge on Umoja, and planned on exposing the Academy. Minister Jorgensen suggested he could use Lockwell to pass the information to the public.

Dominion Patsy
Over the years, Lockwell's reporting established her as a supporter of the Terran Dominion, and she truly did believe that it was a benevolent government. In 2501, she was working with UNN News and fired Oliver for his "bullshit conspiracy theories" in this year.

Newsworthy
"You traitor! You said you believed in the Dominion! I did believe! I trusted you! I trusted you all! How could I have ever guessed...that you didn't have the best intentions? Because you're not a very good reporter, Lockwell."

- Lockwell's faith in the Dominion falls thanks to Tom Hawkins.

In 2502, Lockwell did a story on the application of the death penalty to a group of traitors that year. A month later, namely the month before the anniversary of Arcturus Mengsk's inauguration as emperor of the Terran Dominion, Kate Lockwell was selected for a cushy assignment; UNN's first embedded reporter since the trouble with Michael Liberty. The Dominion Marine Corps had resisted embedded reporters for years, fearing a repeat of the Liberty incident, but Major Tom Hawkins selected her to travel with his marines after UNN editor-in-chief Handy Anderson vouched for her, due to her loyalty to the Dominion and, secretly, because he believed she wasn't a good reporter and wouldn't discover the truth about himself and his unit's activities. He told her this assignment could make her career, a fact that she was well aware of.

Aboard Hawkin's Minotaur-class battlecruiser Victory, Lockwell was unpleasantly surprised to find Zach Oliver as her cameraman. He'd been assigned to her since the previous cameraman developed a cold. It was too late to replace him, however.

Lockwell gave a very pro-Dominion report before landing on Candore. However, there she was abandoned by the marines, who were conducting an urgent "classified" mission. From then on, the marines ceased treating her with politeness. She overhead a report of prisoners, but the marines refused to allow her any interviews.

Lockwell tricked one of the marines into confirming the presence of terran prisoners, after which Zach Oliver convinced her to sneak into the brig. There a prisoner told her he'd only been arrested for opposing the government, and that he wasn't a rebel. He directed the newshounds to a chamber full of terran corpses, which greatly disturbed them.

Lockwell told Oliver to make two copies of the footage. Neither Lockwell nor Oliver knew what had really happened at Candore Colony, so Oliver listened in on a transmission from renegade reporter Michael Liberty. He said the colony had simply vanished. The transmission alerted the marines, who arrested them.

Major Hawkins didn't believe there wasn't a copy of the report, and in order to pressure Lockwell into giving up the copy, he had Oliver spaced. He claimed she wasn't a good reporter, and he would have another "patsy" reporter report her being a rebel spy, but before he could kill her, something attacked the ship. During the confusion, Lockwell ran for safety and retrieved the two hard copies that Oliver had made of the brig footage.

Hawkins caught her running along a corridor and shot her in the shoulder. He cornered the wounded reporter, but before he could finish her off, was in turn shot down through the back of the head by Michael Liberty and the Knights of Freedom, who had invaded the vessel. Lockwell refused to be rescued, however. She gave Liberty one copy of the footage, and allowed the marines to find her with the other copy.

Lockwell survived the encounter with the marines, and her report aired on Universe News Network, but it was a pro-Dominion propaganda piece. Liberty speculated that she had possibly undergone neural resocialization, or simply had a short guilt trip. However, he believed it was more likely that she was playing along to protect the original footage and its keepers. Either way, both Lockwell's interview with Mengsk went ahead, as did the airing of the Candore footage.

Shadows and Lies
In 2503, Lockwell reported on the actions of UED terrorist cells striking at Dominion targets, such as a refinery on Atticus Minor. In reality however, whether she knew it or not, this was false information, the UED angle designed to cover-up the existence of the real perpetrators. Later in the year, Lockwell reported on a Raynor's Raiders "attack" on a school on Halcyon.

Uprising
In 2504, Lockwell reported on the Terran Dominion's annexation of Mar Sara, many of whose colonists had returned to terraform the mining planet after its destruction. She stated that local citizens worried about an increase in Dominion military presence damaging the economy, which could even spark an uprising.

Wings of Liberty
"What is wrong with that woman? Tell her not to interrupt my interviews!"

- Lockwell's integrity translates to Vermillion's loss

Lockwell interviewed Emperor Mengsk over the subject of why he was diverting resources from preparing against the eventual return of the zerg, to hunting down Jim Raynor. Mengsk answered that he perceived Raynor to be a terrorist who must be brought to justice.

Back on Mar Sara, Lockwell reported on Raynor's explosive return in stirring up rebellion on the planet. Whenever she approached the subject of Raynor's Raiders not being the bloodthirsty terrorists Mengsk wanted to portray them as, anchor Donny Vermillion would cut her off. It was a status quo that lasted throughout the Second Great War, in which Lockwell found herself in as the zerg returned in force after four years of relative silence.

Lockwell's reporting took her to many places within the Koprulu Sector, including Agria, Meinhoff, Nephor II and New Folsom. During her travels, she was able to partake in various interviews, including discussing the Queen of Blades with Vermillion, discussing the counter-insurgency to Project Shadow Blade and even scoring an interview with Valerian Mengsk. The heir apparent revealed that he had a crush on Lockwell for a number of years, causing her to become flustered.

When Raynor and his men broadcast proof that Arcturus Mengsk had used psi emitters to bring down Tarsonis, Lockwell was on the scene at a news conference with the Emperor, and questioned if he was truly benevolent towards his subjects. Mengsk tried to claim that he was not a power monger, only for Lockwell to challenge his statement with a recording of his rant from the Fall of Tarsonis about his callousness towards the well-being of others in pursuit of power. Mengsk then abruptly stormed out of the interview.

While riots across the Dominion were running rampant, Vermillion was stunned by the news, due to having lost a brother there. When Lockwell reported the chaos created by riots across the streets of Korhal, she asked him to report the situation into his location, Vermillion muttering to himself on the air that his brother lived on Tarsonis, and being unable to present it. Lockwell was in turn cut off by a lockdown on Korhal's satellites.

Vermillion was eventually committed to a mental institution. Lockwell was promoted to lead anchor in his place. She gave herself a personal cheer as she signed off.