Dogma kept close to Sergeant Hunter as he led the way through the line in the cafeteria. He could feel eyes watching him almost curiously. Dogma wasn't used to being stared at. He kept his head down, trying to ignore the eyes staring at him as well as the echoes the tray in his hands was giving him.

He could sense Sergeant Hunter looking back at him, checking on him every now and then as they made their way to Clone Force 99's table.

Dogma heard soft whispers as he took a seat at the table and tried to ignore the looks and voices talking about him as he grabbed a hold of his spoon.

The Sergeant murmured softly to him. "Relax, vod'ika. The tenser you are, the more they'll stare at you."

"Is it always like this?" Dogma asked as he finally looked up at the rest of the squad.

"Yes," Tech responded. "Most days they try to start something."

"Yeah!" Wrecker cheered loudly. "It's fun!"

"For you, Wrecker," Crosshair muttered. "I, for one, would like to go one day without there being a fight in the cafeteria."

"They start it," Wrecker said pointedly as he stabbed his fork into the gray mush.

"That does not mean you must rise to their bait," Tech pointed out as he swirled his own fork around in his mush.

"Heh, they usually are asking for it," Wrecker laughed. "Who cares if a couple of Reg's get their asses kicked? They shouldn't be picking on the guys who are better than them."

Dogma remained silent as the conversation flowed easily. He was still a little too nervous to join in the easy banter, even though it seemed as if Clone Force 99 had accepted him without too much fuss. Well, from everyone but Crosshair. But Crosshair just seemed like one of those brothers with smart mouths. Fives had been like that.

Dogma pushed his thoughts away from Fives, knowing what that thought would lead to all too well.

I hope –

He concentrated back on the conversation flowing from the rest of Clone Force 99. It was almost easy to fall into a relaxed position with them, even with the eyes on him and the whispers of the other clones around them.

This was the most Dogma had felt comfortable since before Umbara.

And not even then had he felt this relaxed.

Vaughn, his only other surviving batchmate, had liked to say that Dogma was never relaxed.

Although between Tup and Vaughn trying to help him relax, Dogma was never able to be completely at ease with them like he had before Skeptic and Zap had been decommissioned.

He had gotten his name after Skeptic and Zap had been taken away.

They had broken the rules one too many times and the trainers had finally had enough. Their entire batch had nearly been decommissioned after an awful training session in which Skeptic had attacked a trainer.

Zap had been decommissioned after the Kaminoan's tests had determined that he and Skeptic had been too close.

Dogma, Tup, and Vaughn had barely escaped decommissioning because of those same tests.

They had gotten two new squadmates nearly immediately after that, Sterling and CT-0000/1010 or as he had become known after they had been deployed to the 501st, Fox. Both of their batches had been decommissioned entirely.

Fox had been the one to snidely give Dogma his name. Fox had never gotten along with Dogma and the rest of his remaining batch. He had only barely gotten along with Sterling, who seemed much closer to Vaughn than anyone had expected.

Dogma had fought back against Fox's cruelty the only way he could by taking Dogma as his name, although it was pretty clear that he and Tup both agreed it suited him.

Fox, Sterling, and Vaughn had been lucky to not be on Umbara. The three had been left on the Resolute to reinforce it in case of attack. Dogma hadn't even seen any of them before he had been sent back to Kamino.

He wondered briefly how Tup had broached what had happened to him with the rest of their squad. Vaughn would have likely completely shut down. He had shut down in a similar way after Skeptic and Zap had been decommissioned. Only Sterling had been able to help him wake up after that.

Sterling would likely have stuck closer to the rest of their squad, clinging almost desperately to Vaughn.

Fox. . . Fox would have probably made some nasty jokes but would have also curled into himself and been angry that he hadn't been down there with them.

And Tup. . . Tup hated Dogma after what had happened on Umbara. He wouldn't have even cried for him. Even though they were twins.

Dogma quickly shook his head, shaking away the memories of his old squad as Hunter laid a hand on his shoulder.

He looked up meeting Sergeant Hunter's gaze.

Sergeant Hunter looked concerned as he murmured softly. "You alright, vod'ika?"

Dogma nodded, "Yes, sir. I'm fine."

Sergeant Hunter managed a soft smile and squeezed his shoulder gently. Then he turned back to the rest of the squad as Wrecker spoke directly to Dogma, "So, you ready to go on your first training session with us, vod'ika?"

Dogma hesitated for a moment before slowly asking, "What exactly are we going to be doing?"

"Sparring," Tech responded smoothly. "Hunter reserved the training room just for us today. Although we did not know that you would be joining us when he did it."

"It's a good thing I did," Sergeant Hunter stated simply. "We have two days to get you up to date on our tactics. Starting with how you fight is a good thing."

Dogma rubbed his arms at that. "I haven't had much time to spar during the last three months. I probably won't be any good."

"That's why it's a good thing I reserved the training room." Sergeant Hunter said softly, gently running his hand along Dogma's shoulder again. "This way we can get you up to speed on fighting again."

Dogma nodded silently.

"I call dibs on the first spar," Crosshair said, a sharp glimmer in his eyes as he spoke.

Dogma blinked at him in tense surprise.

Sergeant Hunter rolled his eyes and said, "You'll need to be careful, Cross. He's still adapting."

Crosshair waved his hand and said, "And that makes me the best person to get him back up to speed."

"As a sniper, Crosshair rarely has to physically fight," Tech explained to Dogma casually. "Because of this, he is the one with the least experience in one-on-one combat."

Dogma nodded at that, quickly.

Sergeant Hunter shook his head again and said, firmly, "Alright, boys. Concentrate on finishing breakfast so we can get to the training room as soon as we're done."

"You got it, Sarge!" Wrecker said cheerfully.

Dogma nodded silently and turned his attention back to his food.

It was only a few minutes of silent eating before a noise from behind Dogma nearly caused him to turn around. It was only Sergeant Hunter's grip on his arm that kept him from turning. Dogma glanced over at him.

The Sergeant's gaze was sharp and he silently shook his head.

It was then that the noise got closer and a voice, obviously another clone, said, "It's just like I said. Defect squad has a new freak. Wonder what makes this one freaky."

Dogma tensed, head twitching down to stare at the floor. He couldn't breathe, the world seemed to have frozen around him.

"This one almost looks normal, though," another clone said, the blood rushing through Dogma's ears not able to drown out the voices.

A sneering laugh, "Still a freak."

Dogma shut his eyes, trying to control his breathing as the clones behind him laughed meanly.

His eyes shot open when he heard something slam against the table. Dogma jerked his head up, staring up at Wrecker who was glaring at whoever was behind them.

Dogma heard Hunter let out a small hiss. "Wrecker. . ."

"How about you come over here and say that to our faces, hut'uun!" Wrecker growled out, anger pouring out of every pore of his body.

The cafeteria fell silent.

And then the clone that had originally spoken spat out, "What did you say to me?"

"He said," spat Crosshair as the sniper got to his feet, "that you should come over here and say that to our faces. Unless you're too scared, Reg."

The clone scoffed. Dogma heard footsteps coming closer to their table. He shot a quick nervous glance at Hunter who still looked tense and who still had his hand on Dogma's arm.

"I said," the clone spat out, "that you're all freaks."

Dogma could feel a tension race up his spine when the clone said it again. The other clone noticed Dogma tensing based on the mean laughter that came from him and his friends. Dogma shut his eyes again and tried to draw into himself, attempting to calm his racing heart.

Barely a second had passed before something stopped the sound of the laughter, something that sounded like fists smacking into flesh.

Dogma jerked his head up again, eyes widening as he saw Crosshair throw himself over the table, clearly following Wrecker.

He turned his head to the side, catching sight of Wrecker slamming a clone to the ground so hard the floor tiles cracked. His eyes widened as Crosshair slid to a stop and whipped a tray into two clones so hard it knocked them to the floor.

A small groan came from Hunter. "Not again," he muttered under his breath.

Tech did nothing, eyes still fixed on his datapad though a small frown curved across his lips.

Dogma's eyes shifted back and forth, uncertain of what he should do.

Hunter seemed to notice his indecision and let out a tired sigh before he stood up, turning to where Crosshair and Wrecker were pounding the cadets into the ground. Dogma turned his head to watch what the Sergeant would do.

Hunter stood to his full height and shouted, "THAT'S ENOUGH!" in an officer tone that made Dogma's back stiffen.

Instantaneously the other clones and Crosshair and Wrecker all froze in place. Crosshair and Wrecker immediately headed for Hunter, bracketing him on both sides. The cadets recovered from their surprise and immediately the ringleader sneered and stood to his full height, glaring at Hunter.

Dogma glanced back as Tech got up and headed around the table towards him, wrapping an arm around Dogma's shoulders and pulling him to his feet, gently pulling him to close ranks at Hunter's back.

The touch was warm, and Dogma leaned into it slightly.

He quickly glanced at the cadet, taking in the sneering dislike clear on his face as he took an aggressive step towards them.

Blood was staining the ringleaders face as he glared at them in clear hate. Dogma had only been stared at like that once before.

I hope you can live with yourself, Dogma.

Dogma shuddered as the words resounded again and again in his head as the Shiny sneered out. "You karking defective. . ."

Before he could continue a short sharp bang rang out in the cafeteria. Dogma twisted his head and spotted the familiar visage of one of the Kamino Guard Commanders, Blitz, he thought.

The Commander had a hand on his hip with the other holding his DC-17 which he had just smacked against a table to get their attention.

"What is going on here?" he snapped out.

The younger clone recoiled, looking suddenly nervous to have attracted the Commander's attention in a not-so-good type of way. Hunter meanwhile just straightened up and responded coolly. "Just a little disagreement, Commander."

The Commander was practically bleeding skepticism as he said, shortly, "And tell me why I should believe that, Sergeant? There is food on the floor. The cadets are bleeding all over the place. And your sniper looks like he's going to have a black eye."

Dogma twitched at that, shooting a quick fervent look at Crosshair, taking in the growing bruise around his eye.

Hunter shrugged calmly. "Not our fault your cadets keep on baiting Wrecker."

The Commander let out a put-upon sigh of annoyance and turned towards the batch of cadets. "CT-62-3369, is there anything you want to add?"

The ringleader lowered his head and said, quickly, "No, sir."

The Commander huffed and snapped out, "Alright then. Everyone involved in this is to clean up this mess. Then you five will report to my office. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," the five cadets said quickly.

Hunter remained tense and silent before he turned to face their group, a frown on his face.

"Crosshair, Wrecker, it looks like you have some clean-up to do." he said coolly.

Wrecker smirked. "It was worth it, Sarge. They deserved it."

Crosshair nodded viciously. "They almost made Dogma cry."

Dogma flinched a little, face flushing with embarrassment. Hunter laid a hand on Dogma's shoulder and said, "Be that as it may, you didn't need to start a fight. Again."

Hunter gave a small shake of his head and gestured over to where the five cadets were cleaning up the mess, saying, "Get going you two. You heard the Commander."

Wrecker groaned but both he and Crosshair headed over to the group of Regs and grabbed some of their own cleaning equipment.

Dogma stared at the floor for a long moment before he muttered. "Sorry."

Instantly Hunter turned towards him and tilted his head up, so that he could look Dogma in the eye. "Not your fault, vod'ika. They were being rather nasty, weren't they?"

Dogma flinched a little at that and the memory that came from the Sergeants touch.

A young cadet, a young Hunter glaring defiantly up at three much older vode as the sneered down at him.

Hunter ran his hand along Dogma's jawline, the soft touch drawing Dogma from the memory. "And Wrecker would have gone after them anyway. It's in his nature to start fights."

"Indeed," agreed Tech.

Hunter gave a small smile of amusement and said, gently, "Now, finish up eating and then Tech's going to take you to the training room to wait while Cross and Wrecker finish cleaning up. That sound okay to you, vod'ika?"

Dogma gave a small hesitant nod and Hunter clapped him gently on the shoulder.

He turned away to supervise Crosshair and Wrecker as Dogma and Tech settled back down at their table to finish their meals.