Been chewing on this for a while and I need to put it somewhere before it consumes me completely:
Obi-Wan has never been the biggest fan of flying, and when the Council installs a new AI co-pilot in his starfighter he is told it's a slightly more advanced model than usual. And ANI is, at first, exactly what you'd expect: smooth, efficient, responsive. And then he makes a joke about Obi-Wan's landing and Obi-Wan thinks, well. They did say advanced.
But he doesn't think too hard about it. He's actually flying better, which is the important thing, and he finds himself looking forward to getting in the ship in a way he never has before, which he also doesn't think too hard about.
But then the anomalies start. Little things at first. ANI goes quiet mid-sentence sometimes, not a lag, not a glitch, more like someone trailing off because they thought better of saying something. He responds to offhand comments the way a person would. He laughs once, genuinely, at something Obi-Wan says, and then catches himself, and the half-second of awkward silence afterwards is so distinctly human that Obi-Wan stops talking entirely.
He lets it go. And then doesn't let it go at all, and keeps pulling at the thread until the whole thing comes apart.
ANI isn't an AI. He never was. He's a real person, neurally linked, flying remotely, and he has been the entire time.
And he was supposed to be Obi-Wan's Padawan, before he was taken. Obi-Wan fought for him, promised to train him, but the Council said no, quietly and firmly, told him Anakin would be placed elsewhere, and Obi-Wan never found out where.
Never found out what happened to him.
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