Whilst staying out his suspension on Earth, Dodds encountered Patrick Dean who, unbeknownst to him, was fleeing the Confederation after becoming privy to the details of Operation Sudarberg and the true intentions of the ATAF project.

He was requested to return to naval service after serving five months of his suspension on Earth. Along with his fellow wing mates he was enrolled into the ATAF project, though the group subsequently failed to make the grade.

Dodds was amongst the hundreds of service men and women that took part in Operation Menelaus. He was ultimately responsible for saving Griffin and her crew from destruction after spacing Anthony Hawke and Jason Zackaria when he attacked Ifrit.

Despite his actions, Dodds never felt that he had fully redeemed himself for the unlawful killings of Poppy Castro and Stefan Pitt.

Dodds was promoted to the rank of 1st Lieutenant following Griffin and Ifrit's successful return to Spirit.

Along with his fellow wingmates, Dodds was en-route to the Solaris system when CSN Ifrit was ambushed in jump by a Pandoran force. After the invaders forced the carrier from jump, the White Knights were evacuated to the surface of Mythos, to the city of New Malaga. He was separated from his team whilst heading for the main sled bay and was then escorted by two members of Ifrit's security team: Adams and Johnson. Dodds piloted a sled down to the surface of the Mythos with Adams, after Johnson was killed. Adams, however, died during the descent. Additionally, Dodds' sled suffered a malfunction after re-entry, pushing him far off course and forcing him to make the journey to the rendezvous point on foot.

Dodds met Natalia Grace in Eastfields Parks as he attempted to make his way to Mythos' east coast and meet with his team, and the two began making for the north of New Malaga.

Dodds and Natalia were attacked when they drove their Sabretooth into an engagement between Pandoran soldiers and local military forces. Dodds was then confronted by Jason Zackaria, who told him of the Mission and his desire to acquire the ATAFs and the pilots to see it through to completion. Zackaria, however, did not say that Dodds figured in his plans and made to kill the pilot for humbling him in the Phylent system. Dodds was saved when a bombing run against an Imperial Spider put Zackaria's life at too much risk, allowing him to escape.

Dodds went on to spend a night with Natalia Grace (finding her safe and well during his escape from Zackaria), where the two talked for several hours and grew to know one another. Dodds discovers that he finds Natalia very attractive and feels drawn to her, despite her earlier action of possibly abandoning him. He goes on to dream about his time on Spirit with the rest of his team mates, and how Estelle had come to his stateroom after they had been thrown out of the bar. It leads him to some conflicting views as to which of the two women he would prefer to be with.

After meeting up with Estelle and Chaz, rescuing Kelly and Enrique and subsequently learning from Elliott Parks the truth behind the Pandorans and the ATAFs, Dodds goes on to volunteer for Operation Sudarberg.

As the full impact of the Senate's Mistake start to become known, Dodds comforts Estelle in Griffin's bar, even though he is just as terrified of what is to come as she is.

Dodds' meeting with Zackaria was significant, as it was the first time that the admiral had openly spoken to someone outside of the Pandoran army.

In the seven years following the Pandoran's push beyond Mitikas, Dodds became more and more depressed. He was taunted by Zackaria in real life and suffered nightmares in which he would find himself standing outside his parents' house, all his friends having been murdered by Zackaria. Zackaria himself would then kill Dodds, often slitting his throat with the Imperial navy's ceremonial dagger.

Dodds travelled with Enrique and Chaz to Imperial space in late 2624, searching for Zackaria, in a bid to end the war before the Pandoran fleet reached Sol and eliminated what remained of the human race.

After jumping into the system and encountering thousands of inactive warships, Dodds performed a flyby of one and discovered that occupants were either dead or sleeping. He boarded the Machine Infernale in an attempt to discover what had happened and reported his finding to Parks, who brought two of the dead Pandoran soldiers aboard Griffin for examination.

Landing on the planet Kethlan, in the capital city Capitis Duname, Dodds, Chaz and Enrique searched both the Imperial Pantheon and the Forum for Zackaria, but were still unable to locate him. Dodds soon discovered a live Pandoran soldier, identified as "Tim", who hinted as to Zackaria's whereabouts.

Finding Zackaria, Dodds attempted to talk to him, Chaz funnelling words through him when Dodds struggled for something to say. Zackaria fled when he was attacked by a group of malfunctioning soldiers, calling Dodds "Judas".

On the way back to Sol, Dodds met Natalia Grace, who had remained on Griffin instead of returning to Cratos, and the two reminisced about what had happened over the past seven years and their experiences of Black Widow. Dodds remembered how, believing the war was over and that Black Widow had been a success, he had asked Estelle to leave the navy and settle down with him. She did not give him an answer. During the second phase of Black Widow, Dodds and Chaz were forced to defend Leviathan during its retreat from the Adetton system, fighting a dangerous battle in jump space.

Arriving back at Sol, Dodds was reunited with Estelle, but noticed how she and Natalia did not seem to get along, vying for his attention. He and Estelle were later attacked by a coastguard, Jermone Fincham, who attempted to murder them with a knife. Dodds succeeded in holding the man off long enough for Estelle and he to knock him down.

Following the theft of the allied forces' last remaining nuclear warheads, Dodds journeyed on Cratos with the other White Knights, Parks, Natalia, Weathers and Liu to the HD 21563010 system, in search of the Elpis' Gift. During the trip, Estelle confessed to still being in love with Dodds and not wanting to lose him to Natalia. Dodds rejected her, telling her that she had broken his heart once already and that he wouldn't allow her to do so again. He couldn't explain his draw to Natalia, but said it was something he wanted to find out. Estelle finally saw reason and they parted amicably.

Natalia later confessed to Dodds that she had abandoned him on Mythos, fearing for her own life and wanting to escape. She had done similar things to others in the past, her desires to escape the life of an intelligence officer turning her into a coward. Dodds confessed his own secret, of Poppy Castro and Stefan Pitt's manslaughters, and the two discovered that they had bonded over the burdens they both carried.

Boarding the Elpis, Dodds teamed up with Natalia and Estelle to repel the Pandoran soldiers that had attacked the freighter, driving them off and fighting their way to the rear cargo hold. He was temporarily blinded and deafened when an advanced flashbang went off next to him, but recovered after a few minutes and helped to safely transport the TSB off the Elpis. He made an effort to rescue Parks, who had been mortally wounded, but was held back by this team-mates, who told him that it was too late and nothing could be done.

Returning to Sol, Dodds finally spoke to his father, discovering that his parents had encountered some trouble at the orchard, but nothing too serious. Dodds met the rest of his team of a final dinner, helping the now-blind Natalia to the table and assisting her in eating. He later walked Natalia back to her quarters, where the two slept together. Dodds dreamed once more of Zackaria waiting outside his parents' house, but was this time saved by Poppy and Stefan, who told him that what had happened on Peri had only ever been an accident and that they had forgiven him.

In the final battle against the Pandoran army, Dodds took down a number of enemy fighters and warships, including Alysha's Calling and the Silversmith's Repoussé. When the Dumb Waiter - the method of destruction to be used against Dragon - was damaged and unable to complete the journey to Dragon, Dodds snagged it with a grappling hook and delivered the bomb himself, crashing down onto the battleship's flight deck after the allied forces pulsed Dragon's shields, giving him a three second window in which to gain access. He used the ATAF's plasma accelerator charge against the forcefield containing the flight deck, blasting a hole through to the middle of the ship.

Zackaria landed on the flight deck at the same time and began chasing Dodds through the ship, as Dodds attempted to activate the bomb. Zackaria's ill health meant that Dodds was able to fight the man more easily and drop off the bomb, but not before Zackaria stabbed him in the shoulder with the Imperial navy's ceremonial dagger. Dodds returned to his ATAF, blasting his way out of Dragon and escaping the TSB's blast radius before the ship went up.

When Zackaria's Sphinx was damaged in the tachyon blasts, Dodds attempted to bring the man in by snagging his fighter with the ATAF's grappling hook. The hook broke off and Dodds chased Zackaria down to the space station's garden he had crashed down onto. He discovered Zackaria resting up against a tree, the man now free of the control of the nanomachines (much like Tim). They talked for a time, Zackaria confessing that he was a prisoner to the machines and asking Dodds to forgive him for everything he had done. Dodds did so.

Dodds agreed to participate with the mop-up operation to deal with the remaining Pandoran soldiers. He did so for two years before retiring from naval service and returning to Earth to start a brewery. He married Natalia Grace and had two children with her, one girl and one boy.