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“Wear your flaws proudly, TeeCee,” Anakin said, raising and clenching his right hand. “I do, mine.”

The cruiser was descending into Charros IV’s ice-clouded atmosphere. Leaning toward the viewport, Obi-Wan gazed down on an arid, almost treeless world. The Xi Char lived on high plateaus, hemmed in by ranges of snowcapped mountains. Expansive black-water lakes dotted the landscape.

“A bleak planet,” Obi-Wan said.

Anakin made adjustments to the controls to compensate for strong winds that were buffeting the ship. “I’ll take it over Tatooine any day.”

Obi-Wan shrugged. “I can think of far worse places to live than Tatooine.”

Into view came the landing platform to which they had been directed. Oval in shape and perfectly sized to the cruiser, it looked newly built.

“I’m certain that it was constructed specifically for us,” TC-16 said. “That’s why the Xi Char were unremitting in their requests to know the cruiser’s exact dimensions.”

Anakin glanced at Obi-Wan. “The Republic could use the Xi Char right about now.”

He set the cruiser down on its broad disks of landing gear and extended the vessel’s starboard boarding ramp. At the top of the ramp, Obi-Wan raised the hood of his cloak against a frigid wind that howled down the slopes. Ahead, a gleaming alloy runner ran from the edge of the landing platform to a cathedral-like structure half a kilometer distant. To both sides of the runner stood hundreds of excited Xi Charrians.

“Guess they don’t get many guests,” Anakin said as he, Obi-Wan, and TC-16 started down the ramp.

As was often the case, the Xi Char’s technological creations mirrored their own anatomy and physiology. With their short, chitinous bodies, quartets of pointed legs, scissor-action feet, and teardrop-shaped heads, they might have been living versions of the shapeshifting droid fighters they had helped produce for the Trade Federation—in walk/patrol mode, at any rate. The wild chitterings of the hundreds-strong mob of welcomers was so loud that Anakin had to raise his voice to be heard.

“Celebrity treatment! I think I’m going to enjoy this!”

“Just be sure to follow my lead, Anakin.”

“I’ll try, Master.”

The closer the Jedi and the protocol droid drew to the edge of the landing platform, the louder the chitterings became. Obi-Wan didn’t know what to make of the sheer eagerness he felt from the aliens. It was as if some sort of footrace were about to begin. Frequently, an individual Xi Charrian, carried away by enthusiasm, would leap onto the sleek runner, only to be yanked back into the crowd by others.

“TeeCee, are they normally so zealous?” Obi-Wan asked.

“Yes, Master Kenobi. But their zest has nothing to do with us. It’s the ship!”

The meaning of the remark became clear the instant the three of them stepped from the landing platform. At once the Xi Charrians surged forward and swarmed the cruiser, covering it from flat-faced bow to barrel-thrustered stern. Obi-Wan and Anakin watched in awe as patches of carbon scoring disappeared, dents were straightened, pieces of superstructure were realigned, and transparisteel viewports were polished.

“Let’s remember to tip them when we leave,” Anakin said.

Occasionally a Xi Charrian would leap on TC-16 or make a grab for one of his limbs, but the droid was able to shake his assailants off.

“In their eagerness to perfect me, I’m afraid they’ll wipe my memory!” the droid said.

“Would that be such a bad thing,” Anakin said, “after what you claim to have been through?”

“How can I be expected to learn from my mistakes if I can no longer remember them?”

They were halfway down the runner when a pair of larger Xi Charrians scurried out to meet them. TC-16 exchanged chitterings and stridulations with them, and explained.

“These two will take us to the Prelate.”

“No weapons,” Anakin said quietly. “That’s a good sign.”

“The Xi Char are a peaceful species,” the droid explained. “They care only about the engineering of a piece of technology, not its intended use. That was why they felt unjustly accused