Dexter Parker

"The greater the power, the greater the responsibility."

- Dexter Parker

Dexter Parker, also known as Scotch, was a Spartan 1.1 and later a Orbital Drop Shock Trooper in the UNSC Defense Force.

Early Life
Dexter was born July 11th 2511 in New Perth City on Tantalus. His mother was Mary Parker, a highly ranked member of ONI Section Two’s propaganda section. His father was Dean Jackson, whom his mother had had a One-night stand with. Because Dean was a Spartan-I, ONI Section Three forcibly took Dexter a short while after he was born and injected him with several augmentation drugs, together with another group of children who were also offspring from Spartan-Is. The augmentations affected Dexter later on in life in many ways:
 * Higher-than-average intelligence
 * Increased speed
 * Enhanced vision
 * Immunity to most illnesses
 * Inability to become drunk (though able to be intoxicated by unspecified illegal recreational drugs and painkillers)
 * Decreased amount of time required for sleep
 * Enhanced hearing
 * Increased lung capacity
 * Superior muscle density
 * Heightened sense of balance
 * Accelerated cellular regeneration
 * Extremely fast reflexes
 * Increased strength

When his mother found out, she became enraged and started to look at section three more suspiciously. However, she continued to raise Dexter as if nothing had happened, and Dexter had a fine childhood. He became well liked by both teachers and fellow children in school, and he became well known in the little settlement for his friendly nature. He would always be helpful, helping his mother or the older people of the settlement alike.

One day, Doctor Catherine Halsey and Jacob Keyes entered the settlement, looking for Dexter, whom Halsey and section three had identified as 1 out of 150 candidates for the upcoming SPARTAN-II Program. She quickly realized his impressive intelligence, strength and speed. She realized that he would easily fit into the 75 candidates that would be kidnapped and replaced with flash clones to train in the SPARTAN-II Program.

However, Dexter’s mother overheard Halsey’s discussion with him, and having heard rumors of similar things happening on other colonies, realized that section three was involved. She confronted Halsey and told her to leave her son alone; otherwise she would reveal everything she knew to the general public. To maintain the program’s secrecy, Halsey was subsequently forced to remove Dexter from the candidate list.

As the years passed, Dexter continued to impress his surroundings. He graduated both high school and college with top grades. Showing a great interest in the military, and his natural willingness to help others, he joined the UNSC Marine Corps in 2529.

Battle of Eridanus II
Dexter’s unit, the 13th Marine Expeditionary Force, was deployed to Eridanus II in order to take out an Insurrectionist group that plotted to overthrow the civilian government. Dexter and his company were sent to an abandoned factory, where the Insurrectionists were suspected to have a hideout. The Marines entered the factory quickly and secured it. However, there was no sign of a hideout until Dexter found a hidden passage leading to the basement. Inside the basement, they found a large group of Insurrectionists, but were spotted and forced to take cover. The rest of the company managed to rescue the team by blowing their way in through the roof. The following battle only lasted for a few seconds.

After the fight at the Insurrectionist hideout, a Covenant fleet exited slipspace in the system. Dexter’s company was redeployed to Elysium City, where they and the rest of the 13th MEF were ordered to hold off the Covenant assaults long enough for all civilians to escape. Intense fighting occurred all around the city. After the Covenant breached a hole in the defense, Dexter went there alone and single-handedly held off the Covenant soldiers coming through until reinforcements arrived and took over its defense.

After a long battle, all civilians were finally evacuated, and the 13th MEF was ordered to go on the offensive. Reinforced by a company of ODSTs, Dexter and the others assaulted a Covenant base. Upon arrival, the UNSC forces encountered heavy resistance from Covenant wraith tanks. Dexter used a plasma grenade lying on the ground to blow up a boulder, which subsequently crashed onto two of the wraiths, crushing them. Using the opportunity, the other marines fired all their heavy weapons, destroying most of the remaining wraiths. With the wraiths gone, the ODSTs sneaked into the base and started to blow it up. After clearing out the remaining ground forces, the marines and ODSTs were extracted by Pelican dropships, while a squadron of Shortswords dropped carpet bombs to completely destroy what remained of the base.

They were then taken to the closest UNSC ship, which proceeded to flee from Eridanus II as it was glassed. After the battle, Dexter was promoted to Lance Corporal and awarded a Colonial Cross for his acts of bravery during the battle, most notably when he held a line of defense on his own for a short amount of time against superior numbers. He was also offered to join the Naval Special Warfare Division, an offer he accepted. After going through several weeks of training, he passed with top grades.

First Battle of Arcadia
Dexter and his fellow team of NAVSPECWAR operators were stationed at the UNSC Belfast at Arcadia, when two Covenant vessels exited slipspace. Dexter and his team were sent down to the surface to attempt to slow the Covenant forces down. On the way to the surface, the team’s transport was shot down by Vampire fighters. Crashing in the jungles, two of Dexter’s teammates were knocked unconscious and one was died, together with the pilots. After holding off Covenant forces until the others woke up, the team moved towards Town Backpack, a small settlement outside of Perth City, Arcadia’s capital, where Covenant forces had bunkered down and started to use Locusts to dig through the ground.

Although Dexter and his team were clueless about what the Covenant was digging for, they were ordered to find a way to destroy the Locusts. Sneaking around the settlement, they found an anti-matter charge, guarded by several Elites who planned to use it to destroy the settlement after acquiring what they wanted. The team engaged and successfully killed the elites and recovered the Antimatter charge. On Dexter’s suggestion, the team decided to use the charge to destroy the settlement.

After activating it, the team started to flee, but they were noticed by Covenant patrols. One of Dexter’s teammates, Zangi Agahowa, agreed to stay behind and hold the covenant at bay while the others escaped the blast radius. The team managed to jump into the nearby river just in time before the settlement was destroyed by the antimatter charge, destroying the Locusts and all Covenant soldiers holding the settlement. The team linked up with several marines and helped them hold off Covenant forces attacking them.

After the crew of the Spirit of Fire managed to defeat all Covenant forces on Arcadia, Dexter’s team was called back to the UNSC Armstrong, which left Arcadia for Reach. A week after the battle, Dexter applied for ODST training. He passed the screening process and was accepted. After training for several weeks in the use of HEVs, he passed with near top grades.

Battle of Jericho VII
On February 9, 2535, a small Covenant fleet attacked Jericho VII, and Dexter’s new squad dropped to the surface in an attempt to slow down the Covenant offensive until the SPARTAN-IIs arrived. They hit the surface close to the initial Covenant landing zones, in a gathering of small clearings in the jungle. Upon arriving, the squad realized the Covenant was in the process of building anti-air guns. Using the cover of the terrain, the six ODSTs engaged the Covenant forces, quickly taking them out. They then decided to hide in the Covenant structures to await the next wave of Covenant troops, also planting charges in several locations.

After the next wave of grunt soldiers landed and hit the charges, the ODSTs ambushed the remaining, scattering grunts, killing them quickly. They repeated this procedure several times until the amount of Grunts became too overwhelming, and they were forced to fall back. However, enough time was bought to allow the SPARTAN-IIs to arrive and start their missions. Dexter and the others followed a river, leading to a small Covenant outpost, ignored by any Marine forces present and the Spartans.

The squad decided to take out the outpost to make sure the Covenant wouldn’t have any other foothold to drop their troops at. After quickly sweeping through the area, killing all Covenant in sight, they gathered all the outpost’s plasma batteries and used them to blow up all the structures. After removing all traces of the outpost, the troopers were brought back to the UNSC Resolute, where they had to help in fighting off a Covenant boarding party. After quickly killing the soldiers coming out of the boarding craft, Dexter went into the craft and killed all remaining occupants, including the pilots. However, a plasma bolt burned through his armor and damaged him in the shoulder.

After all boarders were repelled and the Spartans had returned to the Resolute, the ship left Jericho VII, leaving the Covenant to glass it. Dexter was awarded a Purple Heart after the battle and was promoted to Corporal, becoming second-in command of his squad.

Siege of the Atlas Moons
When the Covenant attacked the Atlas Moons, Dexter’s squad was ordered to drop to one of the moons, Cronus, in order to recover and escort several highly ranked military officers taking shelter in a bunker about to be overrun by Covenant forces, as well as protect the nearby mass driver just built in the area. After dropping to the moon’s surface, the squad was attacked by several files of grunts and elites. Although successfully defeating the attackers, the squad’s leader, Jake Holmes, succumbed to his wounds and died. After his death, Dexter took command of the squad and had them rush quickly towards the bunker.

Upon arrival, they found that the Covenant had already broken through the bunker’s outer line of defense and was quickly moving through the base. While Dexter ordered his squad to remain behind and keep additional Covenant forces from entering the bunker, he went in alone to secure the high brass. Joining up with the bunker’s interior’s remaining marine defenders, he broke through the Covenant lines, but turned out to be too late; the brass had already been killed. Avenging their fellow humans, Dexter and the Marines swept through the bunker and killed the remaining Covenant forces. He and some of the marines then linked up with his squad and together attacked the Covenant formation. Thanks to the timely arrival of Pelicans carrying Marine reinforcements, the UNSC forces slaughtered the Covenant attackers, covering the battlefield in dead grunts, jackals and elites, with minor human casualties.

In their continued objective to defeat all Covenant forces on Cronus, Dexter’s squad and the marines were reinforced by several Scorpions and Hornets. Together, the UNSC forces struck against a Covenant base. Though guarded by several Wraiths and Ghosts, the UNSC quickly tore down the base’s outer defenses and proceeded into the center of the outpost, where Dexter’s squad and several marines entered the underground structures the Covenant had built, clearing out all Covenant soldiers inside.

//To be finished//

Battle of Chi Rho
In 2540, the Covenant attacked the world Chi Rho, where the UNSC had long prepared a stand against the Covenant. Now Staff Sergeant Dexter, also permanent leader of his squad, was assigned to help in holding the Covenant away from the entrance into the underground bunkers (that had been constructed to protect against a glassing attack). During the drop, Covenant firing caused the squad members to drop in different locations. Dexter and Private First Class Nathan “Green” Grass, the squad’s newest member, hit the surface close to the entrance, while the rest of the squad dropped in spread-out positions close to Covenant artillery emplacements to take them out. The duo linked up with Marines behind a trench line and awaited the Covenant attack.

The Covenant’s first wave included dozens of Grunt files. The Grunts were quickly dealt with, but it turned out that they had only served as distraction until the Covenant could deploy jackal lances, covered by Grunt-piloted ghosts and Drone swarms. Several Marines died in this wave, but the ODST duo continued to fend off the hostiles. After throwing several grenades, the two could blow a hole in the Jackal formation and proceed to kill the remaining ones.

However, shortly thereafter, a third wave consisting of Elites, Wraith Mortar tanks and Hunter pairs arrived. Quickly, most of the remaining Marines fell, including Nathan, who died from a wraith mortar. Dexter and the remaining marines were ordered to fall back into the surrounding forests and regroup with other survivors to clear a landing zone. To cover their retreat, Shortsword fighters dropped bombs on the pursuing Covenant forces. Dexter and the marines linked up with several other surviving marines, ODSTs and colonial militia soldiers, although none of Dexter’s squadmates were among them.

Upon arrival to the designated LZ, the UNSC force realized that it was more than a Covenant encampment; the Covenant had used the area to build a mine, where Locusts were busy digging through to reach the underground bunkers. Dexter and three other ODSTs agreed to infiltrate the area and find a way to stop the entire Covenant operation. Sneaking through the base and killing the patrols, the team found four anti-gravity generators that held up a massive mining laser that aided the Locusts to dig through the crust. The team agreed to split up and each take out one generator. Dexter moved for the farthest generator, initially encountering light resistance from Grunts and Jackal overseers. However, at the generator itself, several elites stood watch. However, through throwing a grenade to the floor, he was able to force the Elites to scatter, allowing him to take each one out individually with his trademark Shotgun. He then used a set of C-12 to destroy the generator at the same time as the other ODSTs, causing the mining laser to collapse into the crater and crush the locusts.

After the successful mission, the team proceeded to sweep out the remaining Covenant troops from the structures with help from the rest of the UNSC force. With the area cleared, the force was extracted by several Pelicans and returned to the remaining ships in orbit, which then proceeded to escape into slipspace, leaving the planet to be glassed.

Battle of Miridem
When the Covenant attacked the human colony Miridem in 2544, Dexter and his new squad was sent to defend the local ONI base together with Marines, tanks and part of the army. The Covenant struck hard with Wraith tanks, Ghosts, Locusts, Banshees, Spirits and lots of infantry, but the UNSC forces held the position, though with heavy casualties. After successfully fending off the assault waves, Dexter and the others were surprised to see a Scarab move for their position. Its beam quickly tore through most of the UNSC defenses, leaving Dexter, his squad and a few Marines. They decided to attempt to lure the Scarab towards a bridge and then destroy it with demolition charges, hopefully destroying the walker in the process.

While Dexter’s squad planted the charges, the Marines used their remaining tanks to lure the Scarab towards their position. The ODSTs moved away from the bridge and laid in wait for the mechanical monster to walk onto it. After it had destroyed the Marines and their vehicles, it moved onto the bridge to destroy the base. When it was in the center, Dexter activated the explosives, destroying the bridge and sinking the Scarab into the river below. However, it wasn’t enough to destroy it, and it climbed back up to land and proceeded to destroy the base. With the base destroyed, Dexter’s squad was ordered to fall back.

At this time, the Covenant secured the city center and placed a bomb. Dexter’s squad and two other ODST squads were ordered to get to the bomb and disable it before it destroyed the city. The two other squads did a frontal assault while Dexter’s squad sneaked through the alleys and backyards towards the city center. At the center they found the bomb guarded by Hunters and Elites. Dexter had the squad first focus on taking down the Elites, throwing grenades from their hiding place. As the Elites fell, the Hunters found them and fired back. Jeremy, the newest member of Dexter’s squad, was hit and died almost instantly. Luckily, the remaining members of the other two squads arrived and helped them defeat the Hunters. After having cleared out all the hostiles, they disabled the bomb, with 20 seconds remaining.

As the battle in space was lost, all UNSC forces were to evacuate, however Covenant air forces kept Pelicans from doing pickups. Instead, all forces were directed to the capital’s Orbital Space Elevator, hoping to use it to escape. Dexter’s squad took point, clearing out the light resistance on the ground in front of the elevator. They continued to fend off Covenant forces until everyone was onboard the elevator. The Covenant sent several Boarding craft to board the tram, but the UNSC forces easily held them off. When the tram stopped at the space station it was connected to, Dexter and his squad joined the others in getting onto Pelicans and fleeing to the remaining ships. The ships then fled, leaving Miridem to be glassed as well.

Siege of Paris IV
The Covenant attacked the colony Paris IV in 2549, resulting in a short siege. Dexter and his squad were ordered to assist with evacuation efforts by protecting one of the evacuation complexes from Covenant troops. Despite waves of Grunts and Jackals attacking their position, the squad held the line. When all civilians at their complex had retreated, the ground was littered with the creatures’ dead bodies.

After the successful evacuation attempt, the ODSTs were evacuated back to the UNSC vessels in orbit and fled the system. Dexter was afterwards promoted to Gunnery Sergeant and awarded an additional purple heart.

Personality
Dexter was always helpful and kind, willing to help anyone with anything, it didn’t matter what; he would help old ladies or men walk over the street or risk his life to protect a civilian in the middle of a battle. He was also very social, becoming friends with every teammate he ever worked with (which, seeing as he lost his squad several times, was an impressive feat). He would also get very sad when someone close to him died, often blaming himself even if he nothing to do with it. Even though his skills and abilities far surpassed most of those around him, he was never arrogant and proud over them. He would his entire life stick to the saying; “The greater the power, the greater the responsibility.”

Appearance
Dexter had brown eyes and dark brown hair, mostly inherited from his mother. His ears, nose and eyes are said to look exactly like those of his mother’s. As he became an adult, many noted that he appeared handsome, and together with his charming and social personality, he became known as his school’s womanizer as a teenager, which was, unknowingly, something he seems to have inherited from his father. He was of average length, though slightly more muscular than others of his age, partly because of the augmentations he received during his childhood.

Weapons

 * MA5B ICWS Assault Rifle
 * M90 CAWS Shotgun
 * M7S SMG
 * M6D PDWS Sidearm
 * M19 SSM Rocket Launcher
 * M9 HE-DP Fragmentation Grenade

Equipment

 * TR/9 Antipersonnel Mine
 * VISR

Vehicles

 * SOEIV Drop Pod
 * M12 LRV Warthog
 * M274 ULATV Mongoose
 * M808B MBT Scorpion

Trivia

 * Dexter was taken from Dexter Grif, a character in Red vs. Blue.
 * Parker was taken from Peter Parker, Spider-Man. The character’s favorite quote is also inspired from Spider-Man.
 * The article was originally intended to surpass or at least reach up to the same length as the SPARTAN-144 article (no offense to the author of that article, it’s just friendly competition), but it failed miserably – so far at least.