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Chancellor Palpatine was standing near Mace Windu. He wore a robe of rich, deep maroon in soft vela cloth. An ornate overcloak of blue swept the tips of his boots. Anakin was reassured to see a welcoming expression on his kindly face. The Chancellor nodded slightly in recognition. They had met on Naboo just after Anakin had been accepted for Jedi training.
"We have been asked by the Senate to undertake an escort mission,"
Mace Windu began. As usual, he did not waste time on preliminaries. "The Council has chosen you to accompany a Colicoid diplomatic ship."
"Dangerous, this mission will not be," Yoda said. "Yet delicate, it is."
Anakin suppressed a sigh. It wasn't that he hoped for danger, exactly.
But a little excitement would be welcome.
"The Colicoids do not welcome the Jedi presence," Obi-Wan guessed.
Anakin always admired how quickly his mind worked.
Yoda nodded. "Yet know it is necessary, they do."
"What is the threat to the ship?" Obi-Wan asked.
Chancellor Palpatine gave a quick look to Yoda to ask permission to speak. Yoda blinked his large eyes in agreement.
"The pirate Krayn is known to be in the area in which the Colicoids will be traveling," the Chancellor explained. "He's shown no hesitation in attacking diplomatic vessels in the past, but we think a Jedi team might be a deterrent." Palpatine shook his head gravely. "Krayn and his two associates, Rashtah and Zora, are ruthless. When Krayn hijacks ships, he not only steals their cargo, but sells their inhabitants into slavery."
Krayn. Anakin tightened his muscles. What was it about that name that caused his body to react with fear? He felt suddenly cold. Only the discipline he'd learned from Jedi training helped him suppress his body's involuntary shiver.
Krayn..
Slave trader. Slave raider.
The name on everyone's lips on that terrible day.
Raider, trader, raider, Anakin's brain chanted nonsensically.
Remembering hovered above him, just out of reach. He could only feel the dread it would bring.
Then memory bloomed inside him. It filled his blood like a poison.
Every detail rushed at him, just as he'd sworn to recall them that day.
He remembered the cool, crisp day on Tatooine. A picnic. Flowers woven through Amee's braids. The sweet taste of fruit pastry. And then the sudden shock of hurrying through their row of quarters, seeing faces unrecognizable from terrible fear…
He had burst into his quarters and seen his mother, her legs tucked up against her chest, as if protecting herself from a blow. She had looked up and he had glimpsed terror on her face… No! He had not meant to remember that!
The cave! It had been a memory as well as a vision. Anakin understood that clearly now. The events clicked in with frightening vividness. He had suppressed the memory with an act of will. But he had not been able to shut it out forever.
Now memory had chosen to return at this moment, while members of the Jedi Council had their eyes on him. Anakin almost groaned aloud.
Obi-Wan sensed something. He shifted his weight slightly, drawing a bit closer to Anakin. The unspoken message was clear: I am here, Anakin.
Hang on.
But Anakin was already conquering his shock. He told himself that he was meant to remember now, in this place. Shock hardened into resolve. He had felt Krayn in the cave. He might have been the figure chasing Shmi.
Even though Anakin had never seen the pirate, he knew him. He knew the terror he had spread.
At last there was a chance he could face him. How lucky to have been given this assignment! His hand moved unconsciously to his lightsaber hilt.
"With all respect to the Council and the Senate," Obi-Wan said, "I am not certain that we are the correct team for this assignment."
Anakin could not resist an incredulous look at his Master. What was Obi-Wan doing? They were the perfect team for this assignment!
"The Council might recall that Anakin was once a slave himself," Obi- Wan continued. "He is sensitive to this issue. And as a young Padawan — "
"I am not too young!" Anakin broke in. "And I'm not too sensitive!"
Mace Windu fixed his dark gaze on Anakin, the forbidding look that could cause even a senior Jedi student to suddenly remember each tiny infraction of the rules he or she had committed since the age of five. "We will ask you to speak when we wish your opinion, Anakin."
Anakin was cowed by Mace Windu's reprimand. Mace Windu turned to Obi- Wan with the same severity.
"Do you have doubts about your Padawan, Obi-Wan? If so, you must state them. Certainly they are not obvious to the Council, since only recently you stood in that very spot and vehemently argued that he was ready for the trip to Ilum to fashion his own lightsaber."
So Obi-Wan had to fight to take him to Hum. Defiance flared in Anakin.
His chin lifted. So what? If the Council still had hesitations about him, they would soon learn differently.
"Please forgive me for interfering," Chancellor Palpatine interrupted softly. "I think I understand Obi-Wan Kenobi's hesitation. Even in my limited knowledge of Jedi procedures, I understand that Anakin Sky-walker is a special case. Naturally the Jedi would wish to protect him more so than another Jedi student."
Anakin's face flushed. A special case! Needing protection! He felt humiliation wash over him.
"Anakin Skywalker is not a special case," Obi-Wan said in a firm voice. "Only his extraordinary abilities set him apart. He is certainly not in need of protection. Perhaps I expressed myself badly. I consider him fully able to conduct any mission the Council wishes to send him on. My hesitation was momentary. I accept the mission for myself and my Padawan."
Slowly, Mace Windu nodded. Yoda did as well, but his gaze lingered on Anakin.
Anakin didn't care. His Master had spoken up for him. They had a mission. Nothing else mattered. And there was a possibility he could meet Krayn face-to-face. That was the most important thing of all.