On Luke and Leia's sixteenth birthday, they were feeling rebellious, but they were under guard day and night so it was hard to do anything dangerous.

The two sat down on a bench that night after the birthday festivities and pondered their dilemma. What could they do?

Luke stared up at the stars. "I wish there was a ship nearby that I could fly..." He sighed.

Leia patted his back. She didn't quite understand his obsession with the sky, but she knew that flying was something he really wanted to do.

"Hey, bro, I have an idea," Leia said, perking up. He turned and looked at her. She got close to his ear and whispered so that the nearby bodyguards couldn't hear. "How about we get ride of the guards and sneak into that bar, Oop's Shiny Dump. I hear they don't care how old you are, they'll let you in...And I bet there will be smugglers in there with ships...Maybe you can get one of them to let you fly it or something..."

Luke brightened up. "That's a great idea, sis."


Losing the guards (which included their parents' droids, the slow See-Threepio and Artoo-Detoo) was no problem, it just took a little use of the Force.

Soon, they were in Oop's Shiny Dump, a smoke- and drunk-filled dump with fake shiny jewels all over the place.

The pair looked around uneasily, feeling very out of place. How exactly were they going to go about finding a pilot?

"Hey sugar," a voice came from beside Leia and she jumped. She swerved to look at the speaker, a rugged but handsome brown-haired man who was perhaps in his late twenties. "Looking for someone?"

Leia hesitated for a moment before saying, "Depends on who's asking."

The man grinned lopsidedly, "You've got spunk." He turned to Luke. "She belong to you, kid?"

"She's my sister," Luke stated, a bit of an edge in his voice.

The man's grin grew wider. "All right, what are you two kids looking for?"

Leia's eyes narrowed. "I've trained with martial arts teachers from more than ten systems. Do you really want to call us kids again?"

"Quite a bit of spunk," the man commented to himself. A big Wookiee came up from behind him and growled a question. "Just seeing if there's business to be done," the man answered. "This is Chewie," he said, gesturing towards the furred humanoid, "and I'm Solo, Han Solo."

"Well, Solo Han Solo," Leia said, her eyes twinkling mischievously as she saw annoyance spring up on Solo's face, "do you know where we can get access to a ship?"

"Depends on the reason, sweetheart," Solo said, relishing in the expressions of annoyance that passed across the faces of the two siblings.

"My brother wants to fly a ship," Leia said flatly.

"Wait a second, if you think I'm gonna let some wet-behind-the-ears punk fly my ship—"

Leia exclaimed: "So you have a ship!" just as Luke protested: "I am not wet-behind-the-ears!"

Leia turned to look with a 'Stay out of this, I'll take care of it,' expression, and Luke knew when his sister was like that he had to butt out.

She promptly began arguing with Solo to the Wookiee's amusement, and, growing bored, Luke tuned them out. Something he saw in the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he turned.

His mouth opened slightly, and he had to consciously close it.

The most beautiful girl he had ever seen was standing before him, gazing at him shyly. She looked to be around his age, and she had gorgeous green eyes and thick, vibrant red-gold hair. She smiled slightly at him before disappearing out the door.

Making a split-second decision, Luke said to his sister, "I'll be back," but she simply waved a hand at him. She was still arguing with Solo.

He followed the girl down some alleyways and then into an old abandoned building and up several flights of stairs, and she stayed several feet ahead of him the entire time. At last they entered a door which led to the building's roof, which had a breathtaking view of the city and the twinkling stars above.

Luke slowed down, taking in the sights for a moment. He turned to the girl, and she spoke, gazing upwards, "The stars are beautiful, aren't they?"

Luke stared at her, unable to help himself. He felt like something was drawing him to her, like this was some dream where his greatest fantasy was coming true. "Very beautiful," he whispered, moving closer to her. He reached out a hand and took some of her hair in it, startling her. She began to draw away, but then she stopped. She looked at him with her mysterious green eyes.

The sixteen-year old male found himself decreasing the distance between them even more, so that their bodies were barely touching.

"I'm Luke. What's your name?"

"M-Mara," the girl answered, then her eyes widened, as if she'd meant to say something else.

Luke bit his lip, feeling a wave of shyness come over him, but he brushed it away. "Do you believe that dreams can come true?"

"Yes," Mara answered after a moment.

"Do you believe in love at first sight?"

"I...I don't know."

They looked into each others' eyes, and Luke leaned down to kiss her, but she jumped back and broke away, stammering, "I love the stars, I love to fly among them..."

The spell broken, Luke concentrated on what she was saying, then realized, "You have a ship?"


"Is my money not good enough, is that it?" Leia demanded (quietly, so they wouldn't gain the attention of other bar patrons, though she was using the Force to deflect much of their curiosity).

Han Solo rolled his eyes. "Look, sister, this ain't about my money, it's about my ship."

"I think what this is about is your ego," Leia scoffed.

Solo moved his face closer to hers so he could look her in the eyes. But that might have been a mistake, for a sudden invisible spark flared up between them. Their heads grew closer as he murmured, "It's about that brother of yours ruining my ship..."

"I'm surprised you haven't wrecked your ship with how big your ego is," muttered Leia as she moved her lips closer to his. Suddenly, she pulled back. "My brother! He left."

And then she was gone, off to look for him.

"Blast," Han Solo said.

Chewbacca whuffed.


Luke, Leia sent out to her twin through the Force. It's late, we need to go home.

But I might have found a ship, Luke protested.

Can we do this during the day sometime? Mom and Dad are gonna be furious with us as it is.

Oh, all right, Luke returned reluctantly. I'll meet you in a minute.


They got in trouble, all right. But somehow, it was worth it, for Han Solo and Mara made some sort of impression on them, yet there was also an emptiness left in their absence...

Their seventeenth birthday was when everything fell apart.