W.D.W.

The Beginning

Location: Somewhere over the Mid-Atlantic

Name: Sgt. Matthias "Leo" O'Rourke, 22nd SAS

Date: September 13th, 2074

Today is the day. Today is the day of my final mission as a member of the SAS. After 13 years in the military, all of which were spent with the lads in Hereford, I'm going to start that normal life I've always wanted and finally settle down and start a family. It was probably the only thing missing in my life since I was orphaned near the end of the First Omnic Crisis. The lads that had been a part of my squad for the better part of the last 5 years had essentially been the only family I had, my adopted sister Emily being the exception. I told myself that I was long overdue a visit to my sister and that I would make said visit once we got back to England when the mission is over. 

"Oi, Sarge." came from LCpl. Oliver "Wiz" Watson as he snapped me from my daydream. "Whatcha gonna do after we get home from this mission? Since you're retiring and whatnot, how are you gonna spend your days?"

"He's gonna pub crawl the entire bloody kingdom!" came from Pvt. Liam "Attila" McDonnell. I swear, I drink one newbie under the table once and everyone says I'm a bloody drunk.

"No I'm not." I replied, rolling my eyes at the naïve private.

"He's probably gonna bed half the lasses in Edinburgh!" boasted Pvt. Rory "Lil Soap" McTavish, to which everyone on the shuttle, with the exception of myself and Lex, cheered and whooped since it was known that I had gained the eye of a few lasses back at base.

"Nah, he's gonna go find the love of his life...after he pub crawls the kingdom and shags a few lasses along the way!" came from my best friend and second in command Cpl. Alexandra "Lex" Davies, to which everyone restarted cheering and a few had a laugh, myself included.

"You're all wrong." I informed them. "Well, Lex is mostly wrong, I do wish to settle down and start a family one day."

"Why's that Sarge?" asked Cpl. Archie "Buzz" O'Murphy, our tech guy.

"Well, as you lads already well know, I've spent the last 13 years serving around the globe and killing in the name of the crown. I think it's high time I started looking for a peaceful way of life." I told them, hoping I had imparted some kind of wisdom on them.

The squad happened to be both surprised and yet not surprised at what I had said. It was of little surprise to me that Lex had pretty much hit the nail on the head. Hell, we've known each other our entire service careers since we both joined up with the SAS at the same time. She was practically a sister to me. "Oi, pilot, how long till we make it to the islands?" I asked.

"I'd say maybe 2 1/2 maybe 3 hours, depending on the weather of course, sir." the pilot answered.

"How long a wait should we expect when we're topping up on fuel once we get there?" I asked.

"30 minutes to an hour at most, sir." our pilot replied.

"Good." I thought to myself. That should give us a decent amount of time to get some proper gear and get a proper meeting in as well. "Listen up lads, we've got about 3 hours till we get to the Falklands and then we've probably got about an hour wait for the shuttle to top up on fuel once we get there. You all should have enough time to grab some proper gear for the mission while we're fueling up. Get some rest now and I'll come get you all once we get close to the islands."

"Aye sir." the squad replied.

2 hours and 45 minutes later

"Alright you sods, naptime's over." I told the group when the pilot told me we were getting close. "Get up and stretch your legs. We land in 15."