Consequences of Our Choices

Prologue: People Are Weird

Author's Note: This is my first work of fiction that I've produced and I do hope to continue this Fanfic through hard work and the occasional review from viewers. Basically, this will be about an aspiring Padawan that goes through through the Clone Wars and befriends Barriss Offee and Ahsoka Tano. This'll be AU, as well. Anyway, his name is Ace Omega and he's the son of Granta Omega and the grandson of Dark Jedi Xanatos. And though his father had no Force-sensitivity whatsoever, he rivals Anakin Skywalker as a candidate for the Chosen One. If only his midi-chlorian count would show itself during his classes... Oh, Ace is eleven in this first chapter. And for more information on Xanatos or Granta Omega, go to Wookieepedia and search them.


"Initiate Omega, please pay attention." At the sound of my instructor's voice, I picked my head up from my desk in class and groggily looked around.

"What?" I asked, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. This caused my classmates to giggle and make a few rude comments, but I was used to it. After all, being the grandson of the infamous Xanatos does prepare you for the humiliation and constant teasing that you go through in the Jedi Order.

My instructor, Ms. Yerner, sighed and rubbed her forehead. She was an old female Human with a pale pigment. Her skin, which might have been smooth at one point, was wrinkled and showing signs of dry, dead skin. Her robes were a cream color and reached her ankles, as most senior Jedi females wore their clothes.

But by "senior", I mean old. Not as in a "veteran."

"Since you're so interested in your studies, why don't you answer question forty-five in our pre-evaluation data-books?" she asked, smiling up at me. It contained no warmth.

I looked down at the datapad and read the question. What is the capital of Corellia?

We had been studying planets in the Inner Core for some time and we had just finished Corellia's basic information. Sadly, I'd been in Master Yoda's office, being reprimanded for not paying attention in class. I'm so screwed...

Ms. Yerner turned around for a moment, but that was all it took for another youngling to nudge my foot with hers. The desks in our class were arranged so that they were all crammed together and no one could see feet movement from the front, so Ms. Yerner had no idea what was going on.

Anyway, I looked over at the Initiate and examined her. She was my age, eleven, and was a yellow-green skinned Mirialan. She wore dark robes and a hood over her head. She mouthed "D" at me, though I didn't catch on.

What? I mouthed at her.

"Am I interrupting something?"

Both of us turned our heads forward and found Ms. Yerner glaring at us. The Mirialan replied, "Oh no, Ms. Yerner. Initiate Omega just dropped a data-pen, that's all. I was giving it back to him."

I could hardly hear her though, because I was still struggling with the answer to question. And what in Yoda's name does "D" mean? Wait...

"Um... D," I answered, feeling a little stupid. "Coronet City."

Ms. Yerner narrowed her eyes at the Mirialan and I, but she couldn't prove that the other initiate had helped me. "That correct, Omega." She looked up at the chrono and added, "Class dismissed."

The shuffling of feet and some dialogue about "stupid Inner Core" filled the room and, soon, the hallway as we exited. I walked alone, as I usually did, and tired to hurry off to my dorm without attracting attention. "We really dodged a bullet there, huh?"

I looked down to my right and found the Mirialan walking at my side. She caught my gaze and flashed a coy smile up at me. "Something the matter, Ace?"

"You cheated." Cheating was intolerable in the halls of the Temple and Initiates were severely punished for the crime. The fact that another youngling had given me the answer was enough to land us both in Master Windu's quarters. And Master Windu can be terrifying at times.

The girl tilted her head at me. "I'm afraid that you cheated, Ace."

"You helped me."

Another annoyingly cute smile. "No, I didn't. I just happened to be saying the letter 'D' as a silent answer for myself and you went and took credit for my work." She mockingly scoffed at me and added, "Speaking of which, that's against the rules. I should report you to the Council right now!"

I stopped frowning and might have even smiled, but I was still angry with her. Frustrated, not angry, Ace. A Jedi doesn't feel anger. He is at peace with his surroundings. "We could've been caught."

"She had no proof."

"An Initiate could have told her."

She laughed softly and replied, "Who would have been the snitch, Ace? Really! I mean, Initiates like to draw attention, but not that kind of attention." She smiled her coy smile at me. "And it's not like you're going to do anything about it. I saved your butt back there!"

I thought about this for a moment. She had saved me from another trip to Master Yoda or Master Windu. I smiled a little and scratched the back of my head. "I guess that you did save me, huh? Thanks anyway." I paused, then added in a question, "What's your name?"

Her annoying grin turned into a curious, yet polite smile. "Barriss Offee." She held out her hand as we walked and I shook it.

"It's nice to meet you, Barriss." But I had already heard of her. She took all advanced classes and there were rumors that Master Yoda would allow her to go to a master earlier than expected. She had long since moved on from the forms of Shii-Cho and Makashi and was now studying Soresu, form three, under Jedi Master Coleman Trebor. Master Trebor was a member of the Jedi High Council and one of the most well-known swordsman in the Order.

But back to the point; Barriss was a born Jedi. She never fell asleep during lectures and in sparring matches with other initiates, and even Padawans, she never lost focus and beat her opponent almost every time; the only exception was Ferus Olin, but he was at least four years older than us.

"Barriss!" a voice called out. We both turned around and saw a Rutian Twi'Lek racing down the halls. He arrived, panting, and smiled at both of us, though confusion was apparent in his expression. "We still going to the mess hall?" His voice sounded Rylothian.

"Of course we are, Tutso!" she replied, giving him a strange look. She turned back to me and said, "Ace, this is Tutso Mara. His master is Jedi Knight Kento Marek. Tutso, this is Ace Omega."

Tutso gave me a friendly smile, though it was obvious that he was still wondering why Barriss was talking to me.

"Ace, would you like to join us for lunch?" Barriss asked politely, looking up at me.

I scratched the back of my head. When people asked me to go to lunch with them, it was usually to set me up for some stupid prank or whatever. But Barriss seemed to genuinely like me. Still not convinced of her motives, I answered, "I'm going to have to pass." With a nervous laugh, "I might actually get some studying done."

"Oh. Okay," was Barriss' reply, though a rejected expression spread across her features. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow then."

I waved goodbye to them, but a guilt began gnawing at my heart as I walked back to my quarters. I should have taken that offer, I thought.

Suddenly, an orange blur slammed into me and I stumbled back against the wall. Looking down to the projectile, I saw that it was a small Togruta girl with orange skin and small lekku. She had crystal eyes and I saw that one of her canine teeth was missing. She couldn't have been more than seven years old.

Rubbing her small montrals, she said, "Sorry about that, Initiate Omega. I was playing tag with my friends."

"Well, doesn't everyone know who I am," I replied sarcastically. I pulled the girl to her feet.

She gave me a lopsided grin and said, "Of course we do! Your grandfather was Xanatos!"

I winced at the mention of my ancestor's name. When I was about four years old, I had been sent to Temple for instruction as a Jedi. While the Healers were examining me, they had found that my DNA matched up with Xanatos. They had informed the Council of this and all of them managed to keep it a secret for five years. Then, some Padawan "stumbled across" my health records and told the entire Order about it.

And people laughed at me and made fun of me because of it. It wasn't my fault that I had a Dark Jedi as a grandfather, though. It wasn't like I had chosen my ancestors.

"Anyway, you owe me lunch." This statement from the small Togruta brought me out of my stupor.

I scowled down at her. "Why do I owe you lunch?"

She gave me that grin again and said, "You knocked me over. Tradition state that you repay a bad deed with a good one, or the demons will come and haunt you in your sleep."

I rolled my eyes and replied, "You do know that the instructors just tell you that to scare you into not doing anything bad, right?"

"I know that," she said, laughing. "But I'm starving and my friends probably forgot all about me, so lead the way." With a confused smile, she added, "And has anyone ever told you that you're really tall for your age?"

While my father had been human, my mom had been an Epicanthix. Epicanthix were basically humans, except that they were really tall and muscular. Their life span was usually around one hundred-thirty years old and they had epicanthic folds around their eyes. They also had brown or green eyes and tan skin.

"Yes, actually. I'm half-Epicanthix," I answered. While my folds were distinct, I was almost six foot tall at only eleven years old. My skinned was tanned and muscular as a warrior's and my eyes were an emerald green, with brown around the pupils.

"I don't really see-" she started, then her eyes widened and she grinned again. "Oh, I see the epicantic folds now! But you really have to squint."

I crossed my arms and rubbed my forehead. "Listen, if I'm going to get you lunch, can you at least tell me your name?"

"Ahsoka," she said, crossing her arms as well. "Ahsoka Tano." She started walking off and called out, "Come on, Tall Guy. They're serving bantha meat today and if you didn't know, Togrutas are carnivores."

The corners of my mouth lifted upwards and I followed her to the Mess Hall. We entered and she immediately said, "Those meanies!"

I noticed the direction in which her statement was said and I asked, "Are those your friends?"

A group of younglings about a year younger than me were mustered around a table near the tray deposit area. It consisted of a Wookie, Two Twi'leks, another Togruta, and three Humans. They all seemed to be having a good time- without Ahsoka.

"I thought they were," she replied. Her shoulders were slumped and her eyes had lost that joyful twinkle. "They're in my clan and we had just finished lessons for the day. I was talking to them when they said that we should all go play hide-and-seek tag. I guess that they just wanted me to go away."

Feeling a spark of pity for the younger Initiate, I said, "Forget them. Let's get you some food, 'soka."

She smiled softly at me and I returned it. Walking up to the lunch line, I waved the cafeteria worker over and said, "Two bantha meat sandwiches, please. And two juices."

The worker nodded and placed our food on the tray. "Here you go. That'll be ten credits."

Digging the money out of my pocket, I handed it to her and walked toward an empty table with Ahsoka on my heels. I placed the tray on the table and pulled out a chair for her politely. She sat down and immediately dug into her sandwich, while I just sipped my juice. "So, what clan are you in?"

She looked up and wrinkled her eye markings. Swallowing her food, she replied, "The Clawmouse Clan. What about you?"

"The Bergruufta Clan."

"I hear that they put you there because of loyalty," she said, watching me take a bite of my food. "Would you say that you're loyal? True of heart?"

I scrunched my eyebrows together. It was true that you were placed in a clan because of your foreseen characteristics and personalities. The Bear Clan was a place for the brave and those in the Katarn Clan were there because of their stealth. There were many other clans, but I had little time to dwell on them since Ahsoka's question plagued my mind.

Am I really loyal? Or will I be like my grandfather and try to destroy the Temple, then commit suicide?

"I thought you said that you were going to get some studying done," a feminine voice said from my right. I looked over and saw Barriss staring at me. She didn't look annoyed, but she wasn't entirely pleased either.

"I was," was my reply and she raised her eyebrows, probably wondering why I had bailed on the activity.

Ahsoka shot her a grin. "You see, Tall Guy here practically trucked me over with all his muscle and stuff. So, he had to buy me lunch or else the demons would come for him."

Barriss smiled at her, amused, and then turned back to me. "Fine. I'll let you off the hook for this one, Omega. But since you're here, my friend, Claire, just became a Padawan and we want to have a little celebration for him in the bowels of the Temple." She said "bowels" in a deep, yet funny voice.

"The bowels?" I replied, using the same voice she had.

She smirked and repeated, "The bowels. It's what we call the old chambers of the Temple. They're mostly abandoned and a lot of them were closed off for safety purposes."

"Why disobey the rules then, if they're closed off and dangerous?" Ahsoka asked, listening to our conversation.

"The Council just says that to keep us out of there and to make sure that we're not doing anything inappropriate, whatever that's supposed to mean!" she said, not knowing what the masters meant by that. At the time, Ahsoka and I didn't either. "Anyway, we're going to go down there in a few days, but we need help with decorations and stuff. Since you're tall and all that, I was wondering if you would help us."

She gave me a look where she stuck out her lips and made her eyes go big with pleading. I raised my eyebrows. "If you stop giving me that face, I'll do whatever you tell me to do."

"Great." She smiled and added, "You're welcome to come to the party, as well. Both of you. Claires's gonna be so surprised when he sees the place after we fix it up!"

I smiled at her and Ahsoka took a bite of her sandwich. Barriss said, "I'll meet you after class tomorrow, Ace. See you around..."

She trailed off, waiting for Ahsoka to give her a name. "Ahsoka Tano."

"Well, Ahsoka." Barriss nodded to the Togruta, then smiled down at me. "Ace."

I lifted the corners of my mouth as she walked away. Then, I frowned, a question popping up in my head. Does this mean that Barriss is my friend? What about Ahsoka? When did I even get friends?

I shook my head and a group of giggling girls interrupted my train of thought. I lifted my eyes to a table of female Padawans about fifteen or sixteen years old that were staring at me with a weird look in their eyes. They kept giggling and I looked behind me to see what was so funny. There was nothing to the rear of me. What are they laughing at?

Looking back at them, I tried to wave at them. They immediately waved back and started talking among themselves. "When did I get so popular?" I asked aloud.

Ahsoka shrugged and said, "Don't ask me. I just met you."

"But those girls keep laughing at me," I replied, gesturing to them.

She looked over at them and frowned. "Huh. Well, I guess that people are just weird sometimes, right?"

Ahsoka couldn't have been any more correct. In just a matter of hours, I had managed to avoid being caught by Ms. Yerner, make two new friends, make others laugh and be invited to a party for a new Padawan. Yeah, people are really weird.


So, how was that for a first chapter? Just tell me in a review. And if you seriously don't know who Xanatos or Granta Omega is then search it on Wookieepedia, which is the Wikipedia for Star Wars if you didn't know.