Merging the two training scenes could work as you say. You could move the talk with Shaak Ti to later. If you open with the scene where the cadets bicker, almost come to blows and then are scolded by the drill instructor, it gives enough context to know they just finished a simulation and performed badly. Then you could show a trimmed down version of Echo and Fives asking Shaak Ti for a transferral. I think it’s necessary to keep that conversation because it’s the first instance of Echo and Fives taking an initiative together.