Disclaimer:  I don't own any part of Star Wars, sadly.  It all belongs to Lucas.  I do own Arianna  (Ari), Jett, Katri, Derin and Lightsaber (aka Saber).  So if you would like to borrow any of them please ask first.

Arianna tucked a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear with a sigh.  She kicked the machine she had been working on for the past hour and a half, frustrated.

            "Work, come on," she muttered under her breath.  The machine whirred to life after a moment.  "Finally," Ari muttered.  All of a sudden, there was a flash of sparks and she threw her hands up to block her eyes and face from the shower sparks and blinding flashes.  The machine whirred loudly, then with a low groan, it died once more.

            "I give up," Ari groaned in frustration.  She put her tools down, wiping her now dirty hands on her cream-colored pants and tunic.  Her white boots, which went almost up to her knees, were dirtied by the constant shifting sand of the planet.  Ari then undid the ponytail her hair had been in, only to brush it back with her fingers, and pulling it back up, making sure to get the loose strands.

            "Hey, Ari, did you get it working?"

            "Yeah, until it decided to blow a fuse, or ten.  This thing just isn't working," she called back as the person came closer.

            "Dad's not going to be pleased."

            "If he wants it to work so bad, let him fix it," Ari muttered.  She glanced up as her younger brother, Jett, entered the room.  He was 12, six years younger than Ari.  He was about 5 feet tall, which was about fives inches shorter than his sister.  Both of them had blonde hair that was always light from the relentless twin Tatooine suns, as well as sapphire blue eyes, though Jett's had more of a green tint to them.

            "Let me look at it," Jett offered. 

"Be my guest," Ari motioned to the lifeless machine, while Jett picked up a few tools.

Ari sat down on one of the chairs in the garage like tech dome, rubbing her temples.  She wished that one day she would be able to feel rain on her face again, not scrounging to get the last little bit of water vapor from the atmosphere.

            "Even though I know it was for the best I just wish that Mom and Dad would have let us stay on Naboo or some other decent planet," Ari muttered.  "I'm not a mechanic, I never have been and I never will be. I want to get off this planet and do something with my life."

            Ari and Jett's parents had been agents in the early rebellion, which was now sweeping across the universe.  They had lived on Naboo, their father a medic and their mother had been a handmaiden to Queen Mei'inda, who had taken the throne after Queen Jamilla resigned, until they got word of that the Empire would be coming after them.  In the cover of darkness, the family stole away to their ship. The escape was by luck, since the Imperials were surrounding the planet already.  It was quick thinking, and fast ship that saved them that night.  They traveled to Tatooine where their parents had friends they had met through other friends, Owen and Beru Lars. Upon landing, Ari and Jett's father sold their starship to buy a speeder and a farm that was a neighbor of the Lars'.  That had been 11 long years ago, though Ari could remember it well.

            "But if you went off planet," Jett spoke up, pulling Ari in from her train of thought.  "You wouldn't have met your boyfriend," he smirked.

            "He is not my boyfriend. He is a boy who is a friend and one of the few decent people on this rock," Ari replied.

            "Suuuure.  'Oh Luke, I love you soo much'," Jett teased, raising his voice to sound more like a girl's.

            "Oh you wanna see love. This is love," Ari leaned over and started to tickle her brother.

            "Stop!!" Jett shouted, laughing. 

            "Take it back," Ari told him with a grin

            "Alright, alright.  I take it back," he responded.  Ari then let him go, and looked at him to see if he would say anything else.  He turned on the machine and it started again, this time it didn't die.   "See?  That is how you do it," he remarked, somewhat smug.  "Oh and Ari?"

            "Yeah?" she asked.  Jett made a few kissing noises.

            "Ari and Luke sitting in the sand , K-I-S-S-I-N-G-" he started to sing.  Ari shot him a look and Jett took off running up the stairs.  Ari just shook her head as her pet caindo walked in.  She had fur all over her body, which was the same color as the sands of Tatooine and the top of her head came to Ari's hip. She walked on all fours and had a tail that seemed to always wag, which annoyed Ari's father if it knocked something off a shelf.  She had brown eyes and short pentagon shaped ears that rested against her head.  Her tongue was hanging out, panting from the heat.

            "Come here Lightsaber," she said with a smile.  Lightsaber, who was better known as just Saber, walked over to her, pushing her head into Ari's hand, asking to be pet, which Ari did of course.  She had named the candido after the weapon of the legendary Jedi Knights, though her father had asked her many times to chose another name.  He argued that the name was build on legends alone, though Ari was certain that there had once been Jedi

            "What am I going to do with that kid?" she asked Saber.  "I don't like Luke like that.  He's my best friend, beside you.  The only other girl my age is Cammie, and I think she has slept around with the entire male population of Anchorhead.  The rest of the people my age are all guys."

            Ari made her way over to her T-16 that was in the garage area as well.  As much as she didn't like being mechanic, she didn't mind working on her T-16.  She was one of the best T-16 pilots , having had to prove that she could just as good as Fixer, Windy and the rest of the group. 

Even then though, Ari didn't always feel like she fit in.  She sometimes had strange feelings, as if to say something was going to happen.  Sometimes a sand storm, other times a danger during one of the race she had with her friends.  Once in a great while she seemed to get visions, giving her a sense of déjà vu at times.  It frightened her, so she had only told one person about it.  Luke Skywalker.  Her best friend, someone who was more than a brother.  They had clicked when they had first met, though Luke spent most of his time with Biggs until he went to the Academy last year.  Since then though, Luke and Ari had almost become inseparable.

"Ari!"

"Yeah?" she called back.  She looked up as her father came into the garage.

"How is it looking?" he asked.  Ari motioned over to where the machine was still running.

"Jett fixed it."

"I thought you said you could handle it."

"I also told you I wasn't a mechanic," Ari replied dryly.

"Well, I need you to be for a bit."

"I want to get out of here and go to some university or something, not be a mechanic forever," Ari answered.

"Arianna, this is how life is.  You know we would have died if we had stayed.  It might not be safe to go to a planet controlled by the Empire if they remember your mother and myself.  Also, what do you plan on doing? Jumping a ship to join the rebellion?  Look where it got this entire family."

"I thought if you believe in something, you should stick with it," Ari replied simply.  Saber sensed that argument getting worse, walked over until she was almost leaning against Ari's leg.

"We did, and look what happened."

"It is a worthy cause, one worth dying for."

"I am not going to let my only daughter go and get involved in this.  I'm not letting you go to put your life in danger.  I don't care what those 'friends' of yours are telling you, but I don't want to hear it.  I've been there," her father answered angrily.

"You don't think I remember running off in the middle of the night?" Ari asked, getting upset.

"That is the past.  I am looking out for your future.  For you to live.  And I don't mean with you running around with those boys.  You are a young lady, you can act like it."

"Oh yeah, first you want a mechanic and now a young lady.  Decide."

"I want a daughter who is able to keep her mind out of the clouds for more than two seconds to see the way life really is."  With that, her father turned and walked out.

Ari went back to half heartedly tinkered with her T-16 and then looked outside where the speeder was. 

"Maybe I should take a short ride, just to get out…" she said to no one in particular.  She went over, Saber following close behind.  Ari jumped in, Saber jumping into the passenger side.  Ari looked over at caindo with a small smile.  "You coming too?"  Saber gave a small bark as if to say yes.  Ari powered up the speeder.

"Where are you going?" Jett asked, appearing from where his room was located.

"None of your business," Ari replied, hitting the accelerator, and started across the property.

"Say hi to loverboy for me," Jett shouted after her.