Born in 2189, Stephen Kevin Dexter lost his parents, Telepath Resistance leaders Matthew and Fiona Dexter, after a final assault on their headquarters organized by Psi Corps director Kevin Vacit (Fiona's father). Vacit named the infant Alfred Bester, after his favourite 20th Century science fiction author, and adopted him as a true child of Psi Corps (The Corps is Mother, The Corps is Father, the novel Dark Genesis; see also the comic The Psi Corps and You!). Rated P12, high enough to become a Psi Cop, Bester has devoted his life to the cause of protecting his own kind, determined to distinguish telepaths as being far superior to "mundanes". He is very well versed in matters literary and philosophical (Ship of Tears, Moments of Transition), mainly thanks to his tutelage by Psi Cop Dr Sandoval Bey (the novel Deadly Relations). For a while he would willingly volunteer for "deathbed scans" - scanning the minds of those about to die, his mind being with those that do "pass beyond" (The Paragon of Animals, Deadly Relations). Such is his fierce loyalty to telepaths that he conspired to assassinate Psi Corps Director Johnston (a normal, and Vacit's successor) due to fears his people are being abused by normals in power.
During the course of his work, his visits to Babylon 5 provide much annoyance and inconvenience to the command staff (Mind War, A Race Through Dark Places, Dust to Dust), to his apparent pleasure. (On one non-canonical visit there he had his buttocks blown off in a terrorist attack (from the novel Voices).)
Although he is married with two children (to Alisha Ross (Deadly Relations)), it was a pairing arranged by Psi Corps - he is actually in love with rogue P12 telepath Carolyn Sanderson, who was captured by the Shadows for use in their vessels (Ship of Tears) and to whom he is still committed (The Corps is Mother, The Corps is Father). He has pledged his indebtedness to Sheridan if he is able to release her from the implants (Ship of Tears, Epiphanies, Rising Star).
He persuaded Lyta Alexander to re-join with Psi Corps (Moments of Transition) and was revealed to be behind Garibaldi's conditioning that lead him to betray Sheridan (The Face of the Enemy). Evading a vengeful Garibaldi, he failed to recapture a gang of rogue telepaths aboard Babylon 5 after a first attempt (Strange Relations), but was recalled by Captain Lochley to round them up again (The Tragedy of Telepaths, Phoenix Rising).
Under his command, Psi Corps became a powerful force to protect telepaths, and many secret experiments were conducted to improve telepathic abilities. The Resistance grew in strength against Psi Corps until the Telepath War in the 2260's, after which Psi Corps was disbanded and its leading figures, including Bester, placed on trial for war crimes. Bester escaped punishment, fleeing from world to world until, in 2271, he settled in Paris. He fell in love with hotelier Louise Bouet and wrote literary reviews under the name "Claude Kaufman" before Garibaldi tracked him down and captured him. He was imprisoned for life, and eventually died peacefully in 2281 (the novel Final Reckoning).
Played by Walter Koenig, who appeared as Pavel Chekov in the original Star Trek series and first seven films.
