Death of the Sith

Chapter 24: The Training

The elite team has been undergoing intensive training for several weeks now, and their performance has been outstanding. However, a shadow of doubt lingers. While their confidence in their own abilities is unshakeable, the real challenge lies in what awaits them on the target planet. Will the current training regimen be sufficient to prepare them for the unknown threats and conditions they'll encounter?

Brandon asked, "Master, you know I am not the one to put an ominous cloud over anything, but this time I wonder if we will see an unclouded day in what we are doing?"

"When I was training you to be a Jedi, it concerned me with what you committed on. Reality has its darkness, and we all have to admit that we have more of it in our lives. What you have done is admirable, but my young Padawan, you need to face the dark things in your life rather than trying to turn them into the light. It will not turn out for you or me. We all must accept that life can stink." She waited for him to think over what she said before answering his question. "for your question, my dear friend, with the Dark-side of the Force and at Palpatine's stronghold, there won't be any daylight at all. When we get there, all of us will have to be on guard. No one can prepare for what awaits us on that planet. They will throw anything and everything at us."

From the Force, she knew what was on her Padawan's mind. She said lovingly and respectively as she could, "Brandon, I know you want to be at my side when I have to face him. You're very, very strong with the Force. You have and will do outstanding things in years to come. Going with me can't be one of them. Not that I don't want you at my side. Ever since I trained you, I knew we will always be a two-person Jedi team. With what I have to do in defeating him, I must do it alone. Skaara will be the only being that will go with me, but it is not for helping me defeat him." She sighed, "he will be with me to make sure that if I fail, I won't be turned into a new host for the Dark-side. The universe will suffer beyond anything if I were to be this new host."

"I realize all of that, but I still feel I can be with you. Maybe that extra help can be all that keeps you from being a new host. I don't know what I would do if I lost you. What you have done for me is beyond all I could ever hope to ask for."

"Same goes for me. You have enlightened me in being who I am today. Yes, it was Teal'c that got me to think before I became a Jedi Knight, but he couldn't have gotten me to do that if it wasn't for the love you and your family have shown me from the start. If I saw you die in his stronghold, it would make all the difference in how I dealt with him for the last time."

"Who said they would kill me? We both have learned much about the Force and our enemy."

"Even though that is true, I have to be the only one to do this, and you know it."

He said with sadness in his voice, "I know. It does not make me feel any different."

Sam smiled, "Keep trusting in your feelings and always listen to them. When it is time, you will do the right thing. I know you too well. You still look at the worst-case scenario. As I have always told you, 'we cannot be prepared for everything.' Even with this special training we're doing now, we won't be prepared for all that will happen."

She got up from the ground she was sitting on. She turned and looked at Brandon with a smile with a hand to help him get up from where he was sitting.

Even though he returned the smile, he harbored reluctance. The image he had perceived through the Force when he last encountered her had shifted, altered by the confrontation with Palpatine. It wasn't merely a change in outcome; it was a transformation in his perception of his Jedi Master. The Force revealed a person who would be almost unrecognizable compared to before. The uncertainty gnawed at him: would this shift in character lead to improvement or deterioration? The unknown weighed heavily, especially when it concerned matters of such significance. Her well-being couldn't be dismissed lightly.