บท 5: Training
*BOOM*
Jaden was blown through the air by a thermal detonator explosion landing in a crater as he was surrounded by blaster fire and explosions 'These simulations are way too realistic.' He thought to himself as he rolled onto his stomach with his blaster rifle in hand. One of the rules he had to abide by while training was to not use any Force abilities and to not use his lightsaber, Clones didn't have that luxury so he wouldn't be allowed to either.
Luckily he was given a medical examination before training and in a few hours they managed to heal him up pretty well though not fully, Commander Delts laughed and told him that it would make for a better challenge when he's in the simulation room.
"Soldier keep moving forward!" A Clone Captain shouted as he dived into the crater with Jaden. Commander Delts had told him that if he wanted to learn how to lead he needed to learn how to follow and learn how Officers command on the field. Of course, these were all holograms but they were all programmed to emulate real clone soldiers and the blasters they shot most definitely felt real.
"Yes sir!" Jaden shouted as he stood up and ran out of the crater while firing his blaster ahead at the enemies. It was hard to see the enemies as he was in what was a weird forest with bright moving plants and trees, the droids were taking cover behind the trees as they pinned their troops down. Jaden slid behind a tree and grabbed a thermal detonator from his felt before throwing it and hoping for the best, this was hell. He looked around the battlefield and saw clones being killed in droves and yet the Captain kept on ordering them forward and they followed commands without question.
"Move! Move! Move! We need to secure the LZ if we want reinforcements!" The Captain shouted as he blasted Droid after Droid.
Jaden was able to keep calm though only barely, in his work as a freelance thief, he'd gotten into his fair share of firefights but nothing could truly prepare him for a full-scale battlefield like this. He came out from behind the tree and started firing again only to end up being shot in the shoulder "AHH." He shouted as he fell to the ground, he grabbed his shoulder as he kept shooting at the approaching droid army, however, a battle droid spotted him on the field and shot him in the head.
*Simulation Ended*
Jaden breathed heavily as he lay on the floor, all the pain from the blaster fire disappeared and he was in a large empty white room "You did a bit better that time sir, but if you want to lead troops you'll need to do better." Commander Delts said over the speaker in the room.
Jaden scowled as he sat up "Why do I even need to do this training, how many other Jedi did it?" He asked.
"Including you, I'd say around eight Jedi that I know of volunteered to complete this training." Commander Delts replied.
Jaden scoffed "Seven Jedi out of thousands of Jedi have no experience on the battlefield whatsoever." He said before he started laughing.
"Correct sir, shall we start again?"Commander Delts asked, Jaden stood up and slapped his face before nodding "Let's go." He said.
*Simulation Start*
"Come on Soldier! We need to secure the LZ for reinforcements before the clankers overrun our position!" The Clone Captain shouted as he ordered the other clones to take a defensive position. In this simulation, we were the only company left and had to secure the landing zone to make way for reinforcements, 144 soldiers two AT-TEs and a couple of demolition squads.
Jaden ran to some cover with his squad and they took position behind some cover "Protect the AT-TE's Flank soldiers, we don't need a bunch of metal heads taking out our heavy artillery!" His Sergeant shouted as he gave them all their orders.
Jaden held his rifle and leaned it on the barrier that faced the forest just beyond the clearing "Enemy Contact, 3 o'clock." His squadmate warned.
"Open fire!" His sergeant commanded.
Jaden turned his rifle and started firing blindly into the tree line, however since the enemy was still out of their vision he didn't know if he was even hitting anyone. However that changed once they started firing back, the first clone to go was Jaden's Sergeant whose head was taken off with a plasma pulse rifle.
"Enemy Tanks crossing the tree line!!!"
*BOOM*
Jaden and his entire squad were blown away as the enemy tanks blew up their cover.
*Simulation Ended*
Jaden felt himself feel relief once more when the pain went away but it didn't last long "Are you ready to go again, sir." Commander Delts said through the speaker.
*Simulation Start*
"Come on men reinforcements are nearly here!" The Clone Captain shouted right before he was shot with Jaden not being far behind.
*Simulation Ended*
"Let's go again, sir."
*Simulation Start*
"Enemy air support incoming!"
*Simulation End*
"Again sir!"
*Simulation Start*
"Commando Droids have overrun the east sector!"
*Simulation End*
For hours and hours, Jaden ran through the simulation and yet he still made no progress in the objective. On what seemed to be the hundredth simulation he stood up, he was struggling to control his anger and frustration no matter what he did. He knew a Jedi always remained calm but Kriff that "These exercises are completely impossible Commander, no matter what I do we get overrun, and when we manage to beat the enemy back then they gain another advantage!" He shouted.
"Indeed General." Commander Delts replied over the speaker. Jaden furrowed his brow at the Commander's words but he quickly understood their meaning.
"You put me in an unwinnable scenario? To what end?" Jaden asked.
"The simulation that you've been running through was based on an encounter on Sullest before it was taken by the Separatists." Commander Delts informed him.
"The Admiral's orders were for you to be run through this simulation first." He continued.
Jaden felt his frustration rising, he'd agreed to do the Admiral's damn training despite not needing to and yet the man insisted on playing around with him "What possible reason would he do that!" Jaden said his voice starting to get louder.
"The commanding officer in this encounter was a Jedi and due to his lack of experience and his refusal to take any of the advice the clones gave he ended up sending them to their deaths." The one who spoke wasn't the voice of the Commander but of Admiral Novak.
"The aim of this simulation was to place you in the shoes of a Clone Trooper who had just been ordered to die due to his commanding officer's incompetence." He continued.
"Do not forget General Katarn, Clones will never disobey orders but they still recognise when they've been given an impossible task. It is your responsibility to make sure you give the right orders, otherwise, we may find ourselves on the losing side of this war." Admiral Novak said before turning off the mic and leaving.
Jaden sighed as he felt his anger dissipate, the admiral was right, this entire time he'd been in the simulation he felt helpless. Most of the time all he could do was shoot and wait till he died, when he was more proactive he just ended up dying quickly, he'd even suggested they retreat to the Captain but he just turned and said to him 'Good Soldiers Follow Orders.'.
He was lucky he wouldn't be going into the battlefield, he didn't know if he could stomach making a mistake that would send hundreds to their deaths. He hoped he'd never be put in that situation though in life you fairy rarely get to choose what you want.
"General, shall I run the next simulation?" Commander Delts asked from the observation room.
"No... start the simulation over again."
———————————————————
Jaden collapsed onto his bed when he got back from training, he hadn't even gone to the mess hall as he was too exhausted to even eat. He quickly fell asleep only for his alarm which took the form of SD8 woke him up a few hours later as it was time to train with Satele.
Satele had him run through the same exercise for a few hours just to make sure that he'd retained his lessons, which he had so Jaden progressed to channelling water away from himself with the force, this was an entire world harder than just channelling heat away and Jaden struggled greatly with it.
By the time their lesson ended and it was the early hours of the morning Jaden had made little progress and he was currently breathing heavily on the ground "Do not look so disappointed Jaden, had you been able to complete this exercise in a single night then I would've thought you were the force itself." She said jokingly trying to cheer him up.
"I also believe it prudent to start running you through the lightsaber forms, if anything were to give you away then it would likely be swinging that lightsaber like a barbarian," Satele said with amusement.
Jaden managed to push himself up and drag himself towards the bed "Jaden if you wish to become competent in the time frame you've given them perhaps it would be more prudent to refresh your body by meditating." She advised.
"But I don't like meditation, I just want to sleep." He whined as he slammed his head on the bed.
Satele sighed "Even a Youngling has more discipline, trust me Jaden you will come to relish the moments when you can meditate, especially at war." She stated.
Jaden lay on the bed for a moment before groaning and sitting up "Good now focus on the force flowing through you, feel it rejuvenate you, many Jedi extend their lifespan this way." Satele explained.
Jaden did just that as he closed his eyes and felt the force enter his body, like before he felt his aches and pains go away but without the physical enhancement that came with it. He felt his tiredness drift away and his body refreshed itself, it was an amazing feeling "I feel like I could do the training all over again!" He said with excitement as he stood up from the bed.
"Indeed it is a rather good feeling, but be careful Jaden you can only refresh yourself so often before your body can no longer sustain itself on the force alone." She warned.
Jaden just nodded not taking in her advice as he was still awed by how refreshed he felt, he then opened the draw of the cabinet by his bed and took out the lightsaber he'd left there "Be careful with that Jaden, a Jedi never goes anywhere without their lightsaber, you'll bring more suspicion to yourself if you continue to do so." She stated.
Jaden nodded as he pressed the button and ignited the blue blade of the Padawan. Satele ignited her holographic lightsaber "I shall start with teaching you Form I, known as Shii-Cho." She stated as she took
"Every Jedi starts with learning Form I when they arrive at the temple, however, while it is effective it is rather simplistic which is why Jedi usually move on to different forms." She continued.
Jaden copied her stance and put both hands on his lightsaber "What form were you best at?" He asked out of curiosity.
"By the time I created this Holocron, I'd mastered all the forms, though I had the greatest degree of mastery in Form IV, Ataru." She replied.
"Now let us begin," Satele said as she started drilling him through the different kata. Something which Jaden found a lot harder than he expected, everything needed to be perfect as only then could you start to create your style within the form.
For the next few hours, he went through the forms right up until he had to leave for his ARC training simulations. Jaden couldn't help but feel he was gonna be in for a long couple of months.
———————————————————-
(Two weeks later)
Jaden had barely slept during this time and was sustaining himself on the force with a few hours of sleep every couple of days. Satele constantly reminded him how dangerous this was but he had no choice, between his training with the clones and with Satele herself it didn't leave much time for him to rest. Especially as he was exploring the ship and familiarising himself with its systems, SD8 had been exploring the ventilation shafts and mapping them out to create an optimised route of escape.
Jaden did manage to impress Admiral Novak however, it seemed that one thing the Admiral didn't consider in his unwinnable simulation was Jaden taking command. He'd concentrated fire at one spot in the enemy line and then charged with his troopers to pierce a line in the enemy forces, their biggest disadvantages were that they were outnumbered, surrounded and out in the open.
By taking charge and leading the clones into the surrounding forest, he gave the clones more cover and protected them from enemy air support even if he did have to abandon their artillery. While this might count as retreating Jaden didn't see it this way, they had to secure the LZ so if they led the enemy away while rigging the area to explode.
Both Demolition Squads used up their whole arsenal but they managed to destroy a good chunk of the droids that were following them which allowed them to split up and surround the remaining droids that followed. Jaden wasn't sure how such a battle tactic came to him as he'd never really been much of a strategic thinker just preferring to act instead.
However, when he got back to his room that day it seemed Satele had an explanation for him "It seems that you have a natural affinity for Battle Meditation." She stated.
Jaden sat on the bed as he took off his boots and let them fall on the floor "Battle what?" He asked with a confused look on his face.
"Battle meditation, even in my time was a rather rare ability, while it can be learned a person will never have the same skill as a person who is born with it." She explained.
"That still doesn't tell me what it is," Jaden said.
Satele tapped her chin as she thought of a way to explain it "It is an ability that has many different uses, the simplest of which is that it opens your mind and allows you to draw connections and it boosts your creativity to a greater degree." She stated.
"That is how I believe it affected you today, however when it has been fully trained a person will be capable of boosting his ally's morale, his stamina, his likelihood that a blaster bolt will hit an enemy, it is incredibly powerful." She continued.
Jaden raised his eyebrows "That does sound rather powerful, though it seems pretty useless for me at the moment." He said with a shrug.
Satele couldn't help but laugh "Most Force users both light and dark would be desperate to have such an ability like this, but of course, it goes to someone who shows it no regard." She said as she shook her head.
Jaden chuckled "I don't plan to be leading men anytime soon, though a boost in my thinking and creativity wouldn't go amiss." He said before crossing his legs and starting to meditate, unclipping his lightsaber from his belt he held it out in front of him and it started to float. Since he had gotten the basics of tutaminis down Satele allowed him to move on to what he was desperate to learn which was using the force to move things, probably what the Jedi were best known for.
Jaden's lightsaber started to float around him like it was suspended in some sort of orbit, eventually without him even touching it the second lightsaber he had unclipped from his belt and joined the first one in floating around him "Good now maintain that while you continue your ARC readings." Satele instructed.
Jaden opened his eyes slipping out of his meditative state, he immediately felt his hold on the lightsabers weaken but he was able to keep hold, he grabbed the data pad on the side next to his bed and started to read it. It was a struggle to concentrate on two things at once, especially when one was about troop tactics and strategy.
Jaden continued to read the data pad as the lightsabers orbited him, it got easier the more he continued to do it but it was still rather difficult.
*BOOM*
The lightsabers dropped to the ground as the whole ship shook and the alarm started sounding out. Jaden stood up pulling his lightsaber to him with the force and clipping it to his belt, he then went towards the comm panel and called the bridge "Admiral what is going on!?" He asked.
The screen turned on and the unhappy face of Admiral Novak appeared on it "General we have a saboteur on board, find them before they do any more damage!" He ordered before turning the screen off.
Jaden sighed "It's always something." He said before opening and walking through the door to his room and out into the corridor.
Though Jaden did feel a smile start to form on his face 'This might be a good chance for me to escape if I do it right.' He thought to himself as he walked down the corridors of the ship.
(AN: So Jaden is becoming more competent in the force, tbh i was thinking on how quickly he should master the basics. For this I searched online for how long Luke trained with Yoda on Dagobah, and I found badically 1 week to a month, so I think Jaden doing this isn't too unrealistic. Anyway after next chapter I think we'll be going into our first battle. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.)
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