Derek Wilkes

Master Sergeant Derek Wilkes was a relatively young but highly experienced US Army SOF operator who served during the 2025 Crisis as a Delta Force team leader. A South Dakota native, after dropping out of UC Davis at the age of 19 following a traumatic breakup with his high school sweetheart and then-fiancée, Wilkes joined the US Army National Guard under an 18X contract, after befriending a former Army Ranger. After passing both the two week selection and nearly two years of qualification and training, Wilkes, just 22 years old, joined the 19th Special Forces Group in 2017 at the rank of Sergeant.

From there, Wilkes would serve two combat deployments overseas, before transferring to active duty with the 5th Special Forces Group in late 2018. In 2022 he would try out for and ultimately be accepted into Delta Force at the age of only 28, at the rank of Sergeant First Class. Later in 2023 he would attain the rank of Master Sergeant, and in 2024 he would earn the position of team leader within Delta Force's B Squadron.

Early life
Derek was born to Larry and Brenda Wilkes in Brandon, South Dakota on October 3rd of 1994. A middle child, Derek had an older sister, Gretchen, born in 1992, and a younger brother, Ethan, born in 1996. He was an intelligent child for his age, but performed averagely in school, being more preoccupied with playing Pokémon on his Game Boy or Yu-Gi-Oh! with his friends. He also enjoyed playing pretend with his brother and the neighbor children, organizing large make believe battles that would be acted out in large Nerf wars or with sticks and wooden swords. Throughout his childhood, Derek fantasized about being a hero; a protector of the innocent and a defender of justice.

As a teenager, Derek became more introverted, preferring to exist outside of the established social cliques of his peers. He still performed merely slightly above average in his schoolwork, with a fair amount of his time still largely dedicated to things like watching anime or playing games like Halo and Call of Duty over Xbox Live with the few friends he did actively maintain.

In 2011, when he was 16, Derek's parents separated. Despite his parents attempting to maintain a relatively cordial relationship with one another, the atmosphere in Derek's home life became tense, and the negative change in household dynamic sent Derek down a destructive cycle of guilt and depression which saw him turn to fairly heavy marijuana usage as a coping mechanism, which negatively impacted his grades.

Later, in 2012, Derek was assigned to complete a group project for his 11th grade English class, and was partnered up with a girl named Rebecca Hoggins. Rebecca, or "Becca" as she preferred to go by, was an ambitious young woman with dreams of becoming a doctor, and their personalities initially clashed, with Becca seeing Derek as a druggie slacker and Derek viewing her as bossy and stuck-up. However, they soon discovered their mutual enjoyment of the then-airing popular anime series Fate/Zero, and quickly bonded over this, with neither of the two having friends who shared their interest in anime and manga. Over the following summer, Derek and Becca would meet up regularly to watch and discuss new episodes of the Fate/Zero anime, as well as to share other anime and manga that they enjoyed. By the end of the summer, the two were officially a couple, with Becca working to help Derek overcome his marijuana addiction. During this time Derek also developed a bond with Becca's father, Bartholomew 'Bart' Hoggins, a former Marine NCO who fought in Operation Desert Storm in the early 90s. Bart introduced Derek to the world of firearms, taking him shooting every weekend, and Derek became fascinated by guns, primarily their mechanical and technical aspects. Derek's much more liberal family was less than thrilled about this newfound interest, but allowed him to continue with it nevertheless.

The couple's relationship continued to flourish during their senior year at Brandon Valley High School, with the two attending the 2012 Homecoming dance and 2013 Prom together. The two graduated together in June 2013, Becca doing so with magna cum laude honors. That summer, both applied for a number of universities. Becca received a letter of acceptance from one of the schools she had most desired to attend, University of California, Berkeley, but ultimately chose to pass up the opportunity in order to be able to attend the same school as Derek. Eventually, both were accepted to and settled on attending UC Davis, still in California and part of the University of California system.

Having been fascinated by war stories from Becca's father, Derek briefly considered enrolling in UC Davis's Army ROTC program, but ultimately decided against it at Becca's insistence. That August, Bart drove took the couple on a roadtrip, stopping in Yellowstone park, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles before ultimately heading to Davis, California to move the couple into their dorms. As a parting gift, Bart gave Derek a Ruger SR9c, a compact semi-automatic 9mm handgun, which he had concealed in a specially-made hidden compartment in a nightstand.