Veronica Dare

"Orders are orders."

- Captain Dare

Captain Dare is a Company Grade Officer in the UNSC Marine Corps and an operative in the Office of Naval Intelligence. She is the commander of a Shock Trooper squad, and served aboard the heavy cruiser, before deploying.

Commanding a squad of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, Dare led them through the insertion into New Mombasa, seemingly in order to capture or destroy the Prophet of Regret's Assault Carrier. She ordered the ODST's to change course at the last moment so that they could perform a different mission, just as the ship entered slipspace, devastating the city and releasing a large EMP wave.

Speculation
It is noted that an Admiral aboard the referred to her as an "S1 type".
 * Originally, S1 was thought to possibly refer to SPARTAN-I, a program that predated the Human-Covenant War, but was confirmed by Joseph Staten not to be a Spartan.
 * A probable theory is that "S-1" actually refers to ONI, as Section One is the main intelligence gathering section of ONI, given the fact she is an ONI officer.
 * In the modern United States Military, the S1 Officer plays the role of a personnel and administrations officer.

Special Forces Squads, which "Dare" is supposedly commanding, is comprised of around 14 men commanded by a Captain. Though this could change within the 500 years between the modern day US Marine Special Operations units, and their future UNSC counterparts.

Bungie released in one of their weekly updates that the main antagonist of the new title would be a female. This has led some to believe that this antagonist is actually Captain Dare sending the Rookie and his comrades on a suicide mission. As you find your way through the ruins of Mombasa, you begin to piece together what has happened, and Dare's true intentions. Further support of this theory is shown in the new Halo 3: ODST trailer. In the scene where Mickey and Dutch destroy the bridge, you can see Marines and other UNSC personnel still on it.

Trivia

 * This Marine is voiced by Tricia Helfer, who is widely known for her portrayal of "Number Six" from Battlestar Galactica. She joins Katee Sackhoff as Battlestar cast members lending their voices to the Halo games.
 * She wears a special type of armor, which has been shown to be a modified version of the Recon armor for ONI personnel.
 * Her first name is Veronica.