Plan of Dissent

"The wise man leads, the strong man follows."

- Moral

"Plan of Dissent" is the ninth episode of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series' fourth season. It aired on November 11, 2011.

Official description
"After the Republic conquers an Umbaran airbase, General Krell orders Rex and his men on towards the heavily fortified capital. Realizing there's a better plan, several clone troopers disobey orders to carry out a rogue, covert operation."

Synopsis
While the clone troopers prepare to secure the airbase, Obi-Wan Kenobi calls in with rather bad news, as his own forces are pushed back by long-range missile fire and the Umbaran forces are now resupplied by a support ship guarded by a strong fleet contingent. Before he can give more information, the Umbarans jam the transmission, whereupon Krell decides to march directly to the capital city to end the war on this planet without even thinking about attempting to re-contact Obi-Wan and coordinate a joint attack, as Rex tries to suggest.

When Rex briefs his men about the impending new mission, the troopers begin to argue amongst themselves. Some, including Rex (if reluctantly) and Dogma, maintain their faith in Krell as a Jedi General, but others – especially Fives and Hardcase – openly question his military competence, which is obviously clouded by his own stubbornness and lack of regard for his men. Fives suggests using the enemy’s own fighters and access codes to sneak their way behind the Umbaran defenses and take the supply ship out in a surprise strike. When Rex forwards the plan to Krell, the Besaliskan Jedi refuses to “waste” any men on what he calls “frivolous adventures;” but Fives decides to go on with the sneak attack nevertheless. This begins to create friction among the clones, culminating in Rex and Fives arguing about their role as soldiers.

Fives and Hardcase eventually attempt a sneak crash course with one of the Umbaran fighters, but the test literally becomes a crash when the fighter proves too hard to control for Hardcase, and finally, one of their fellow troopers and a missile accidentally fired by Hardcase give the game away. Fives and Hardcase just barely manage to explain the mayhem away with a booby trap left in the fighter’s programming, but this only serves to reinforce Krell’s opinion that the fighter infiltration mission will lead to disaster, and he officially discards the plan, but Fives, Hardcase and Jesse decide to go through with it nevertheless. Fives decides to attack the supply ship’s main reactor from the inside, as Anakin Skywalker has done once before. Before they leave, they confide only in Rex, who reluctantly grants his blessings.

The rogue troopers commandeer three Umbaran fighters and take off towards the supply fleet. In the meantime, however, Dogma notices that Fives and his cohorts are not in the barracks and gets Tup to join them in spilling the beans to Krell, while Krell (who is as yet unaware of the true situation) proceeds to reprimand Rex about the unauthorized start of the fighters. Rex cunningly explains that the three are merely off for a scouting mission for the upcoming assault on the capital, allaying Krell’s suspicions for the moment, but then he spots Dogma and Tup attempting to make their way to Krell and manages to turn them away at the last moment.

Fives, Hardcase and Jesse arrive at their target, but only to find the supply fleet under heavy attack from Republican space forces. They manage to sneak their way into the supply ship’s main hangar, but a battle droid eventually discovers the pilots’ true nature and raises the alarm. The reactor is put on ray shields immediately, foiling the clones’ attempt to blast them and leaving them to face an approaching droid interception force. Hardcase spontaneously detaches a missile pod from his fighter and, exiting his vessel, guides it by hand into the reactor system, sacrificing himself to ensure the mission’s success. Fives and Jesse make it back to the airbase, where they, Rex and Tup share a brief moment for Hardcase’s passing before they are fetched to face Krell, who has come to know about what happened. In order to protect Fives and Jesse, Rex attempts to take the blame upon himself, whereupon Fives attempts to do the same in favor of Rex. But Krell proves unforgiving in any case and promises harshly to have both Fives and Jesse court-martialed and executed for their 'act of insubordination'.

Cast

 * Dee Bradley Baker as the clone troopers
 * Dave Fennoy as Pong Krell
 * James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi
 * Matthew Wood as the battle droids
 * Tom Kane as the narrator