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Dogma was a very loyal soldier. He tried to follow the rules as much as he could, and he always followed his general’s orders. He prided himself on doing whatever General Skywalker needed. But General Krell was a different story.
At first, he genuinely believed they should follow Krell’s orders. He had to be doing what was best for the republic, right? He had to be doing what was best to make sure the Separatists wouldn’t hold Umbara, right? It didn’t matter how many clones died, as long as they died in service to the Republic. Good soldiers follow orders. And that’s what was drilled into him ever since he could remember.
So he argued in defense of Krell’s tactics. He didn’t like arguing against his vode, but he had to do what he believed was right. And that’s following the Jedi General’s orders. This staunch belief in following orders is what got him the name Dogma, after all.
He missed General Skywalker. General Skywalker’s tactics would never be argued like this. General Skywalker’s tactics wouldn’t lead to so many deaths of his brothers. And General Skywalker wouldn’t give him this horrible feeling in his gut.
Dogma usually didn’t sleep well. He woke up in his sleep a lot. It’s even worse on Umbara. When he wakes up he sees that Fives, Jesse, and Hardcase are missing. He has no idea what could have happened. Would they really defect just because of Krell? Regardless, he looked down at his batchmate, Tup, who was sound asleep. Dogma felt bad waking him up. He knew Tup had bad nightmares, so to see him sound asleep was really good. But this was an emergency.
“Tup!!! Tup!!! Wake up!!!” He whisper yelled. Tup slowly roused.
“I’m trying to sleep,” Tup replied.
“Where are they??”
“Where are who?”
“Look!!!” Tup opened his eyes and looked around the room. They had really done it. He only hoped they’d succeed. Then he widened his eyes and looked at Dogma.
“You can’t tell the general.”
“We have to! We have to. They’re violating orders, and if we know that they’re doing, so are we. Do you want to be court martialed???” Dogma said, with a hint of panic that only Tup, who had known him for so long, could pick up on. Tup hesitated, then nodded.
Rex found them walking.
“Where are you two going?”
“We have to tell the general something.” Dogma replied.
“I can relay it to him. You need sleep.”
“No, I should tell him.”
“Dogma.” Tup looked between the two of them, and spoke up. Dogma should hopefully listen to Rex.
Dogma opened his mouth to protest, but only “Nevermind.” came out. Tup led him back to the barracks. Dogma woke up multiple more times that night.
The next day, just after he had put his armor on, Rex came up to him.
“General Krell would like to see you.” Dogma had no idea why, but he felt anxiety at the idea. Would he be blamed for not telling the General about what happened last night? Something else? As Rex led him to Krell’s command room, he overheard chatter among other soldiers. Apparently Fives, Jesse, and Hardcase had blown up the command ship. They had done what was necessary in order to make sure the separatists wouldn’t win. He was glad they hadn’t defected.
“Clone trooper Dogma.” Krell said as Dogma entered the room. Dogma and Rex stood at attention.
“Leave us.” He gestured to Rex.
“...Yes, General.” Rex said, before turning around and marching out of the room.
“I am sure you’ve heard of… the treachery that occurred last night.”
“What?” Dogma asked. He had no idea what could be the treachery. Unless Krell meant…
“Arc Trooper 5555 and Clone Trooper 5597 went against my orders, utilized equipment that had been deemed unsafe and off limits, and conducted a secret mission.” Krell explained. Dogma realized what the exclusion of Hardcase meant. He looked down for a moment, but could not grieve his brother there. “They are traitors and must be dealt with as such. They are to be executed. I want you as the firing squad leader.”
“But… they didn’t do anything wrong. What they did will help the republic!! It’ll make taking Umbara so much easier.” Dogma protested. For the first time in his life, he argued with his general. Krell looked down at him, disapprovingly. Dogma felt… something emanating from Krell. He had no idea how to describe it, but if had he known, he would have said it was pure, all consuming greed and self interest.
“I thought you, of all the clones, would understand. Or do I need to execute you, as well?” Krell asked, threateningly. Dogma felt terrified, but he didn’t back down.
“Even… even if they disobeyed your orders they still deserve a proper trial!!! They did a service to the Republic, this shouldn’t be how they’re repaid!! The Republic matters more than anything. You’re a jedi, shouldn’t you understand???” Krell scowled. Something else emanated from him. Dogma’s mind felt cloudy all of a sudden.
“They disobeyed a Jedi General’s orders. This is a war zone. They committed treason by going against my orders. They went against the Republic. They are to be executed, immediately, and you are to lead the firing squad. Do you understand, Dogma?” Dogma understood.
“Yes, sir.”
“Dismissed.” Dogma marched back to the elevator, and went down. His eyes had no trace of emotion in them. He would execute traitors to the Republic. He was doing what was right. Good soldiers follow orders.
“Ready.”
“Aim.”
“Wait!!” Fives said. He talked about how this was wrong. How they shouldn’t be executed. It resonated with all the members of the firing squad-including Dogma. And then his mind went cloudy once more.
“Fire.” None of the troopers hit. He didn’t understand. They were committing treason. They were betraying the Republic! Fives and Jesse were traitors, and had to be dealt as such. Those were the orders and good soldiers follow orders!
He and Rex got called up to the command room.
Dogma stared at the clones of the 212th who had just realized, along with himself and the other members of the 501st that they had been set up. That they had fired on their fellow troopers, their brothers. That they had killed them. Dogma was horrified. He killed his fellow soldiers. He did.
When Rex had been told where the 212th’s platoon leader was, and that he was alive, Dogma followed. Someone named Waxer, but Dogma didn’t know him all that well. He had only recently been assigned to the 501st, after all.
When he heard that Krell had commanded it, he felt genuine distress. General Krell was a Jedi. He wouldn’t do this. He shouldn’t do this. There had to be a reason. But then he saw all the bodies of the clones. His brothers. He saw Waxer’s body. He noticed a drawing of a little twi’lek girl on his helmet. He inferred that it was someone Waxer had helped, that had made such a profound impact on him. Someone he had helped in service to the Republic. What Krell did was treason. He had to pay.
So he stepped forward when Rex told them that what he was about to propose was highly treasonous. He knew Krell had to answer for what he’d done.
Then his mind went cloudy again. He began to doubt himself and his previous conclusion. Krell was a Jedi. Krell was a general of the Republic. There had to be a reason. This was all in service to the Republic. It had to be. All those clones died… they died because they had to, right? For the republic. They followed orders. So he stayed back, and watched what happened from the ground.
When Krell jumped out of the window, followed by troopers rushing down to follow him, Dogma knew what he had to do. They were committing treason. They were trying to murder a Jedi!!! He had to stop them.
Even when he was surrounded by the other members of his Company, he stood his ground. He had to do this, for the Republic. And then Tup joined them. Tup pointed his gun at Dogma. Tup, his batchmate, who had always been there for him and who he’d always be there for.
“Don’t do it, Dogma.” Tup said. He didn’t want to shoot Dogma, but he would if he had to. Dogma looked at Tup. He dropped his gun and allowed himself to be tackled and taken to the Brig.
He waited in the Brig, distressed over what was right, and what was wrong, his mind still cloudy. And then the other members of Torrent came in, Krell in handcuffs. They had succeeded. He stood up, waiting for what would happen.
Rex and the others questioned Krell, and Krell revealed that he was a traitor, someone who wanted to kill the clones. Someone who would sabotage the canpaign on Umbara. Someone who would join Dooku.
“How could you??? I trusted you!!! You had my loyalty and you- you made me kill my brothers!!!” Dogma almost screamed at Krell. The cloudiness in his mind had been broken by the rage he had at Krell. He had done so much for this asshole, he had betrayed his own brothers, because he thought it was the right thing to do. And to find out he had been manipulated, that all those clones had died because Krell wanted them to, made him angrier than he ever thought possible.
“You were the greatest fool of them all, Dogma. I counted on blind loyalty like yours to make sure my plan succeeded.” Dogma looked at him, rage now turned to terror and distress. Dogma had been taken advantage of. That same loyalty he prided himself on had been used against him, and he had let it happen. Everyone else saw how fucked up Krell was. Everyone but him. The other troopers left, and Dogma retreated to the corner of his cell furthest away from Krell.
Krell tried to speak to Dogma, but Dogma’s anger and regret tuned him out. He wouldn’t let himself be manipulated any longer. So he stayed in his corner and said nothing.
And then Rex was hesitating to execute him. The words Krell said were getting to him. Dogma didn’t want to see his Captain be manipulated. Dogma couldn’t let it happen. Fives’ blaster was in his pocket, just a quick hand movement or two and it was in Dogma’s hand. And he shut Krell up. Afterwards, everyone turned to look at him.
“I had to do it. He betrayed us.” Dogma choked out. Now that Krell was dead, all Dogma wanted to do was cry. Cry over the actions he had taken, cry over how vehemently he had defended Krell, and cry over what he almost did to Fives and Jesse. All he wanted to do was apologize but he couldn’t get the words out. Fives gently pushed his blaster down, and took it gently out of Dogma’s hands. He put his arm on Dogma’s back, who was clearly in distress. Not over what he just did, but what he had been doing over the past few days since Krell took charge.
But at least Krell was dead now. Dogma had done the right thing.