Chapter 84

AN: This planet and other information are from the Expanded Universe. Enjoy!

Her first solo mission affected Ari greatly. While she was successful enough to leave planet without too much trouble, she was clearly still plagued by what she had seen and done. She had immediately gone to her room and tried to get clean in the sonic shower, but not matter what, her skin still crawled. Whenever she closed her eyes, she saw the dead Rebel looking up at the sky.

While she those thoughts plagued her, she kept them hidden and went about with her daily tasks. She retained her title of Lieutenant, but was given more voice in what occurred in the Alliance. Or else, maybe she had just decided to speak up more often. She was not sure which it was, and was not certain if it really mattered because they were doing what needed to be done.

All of this activity lead to Ari and Luke not seeing too much of each other. When they did, they were happy to see each other, but they had both changed. When she saw Luke, Ari found it hard to believe that just a short time ago he was complaining about being on his uncle's moisture farm, dreaming of battles and heroics. Now that he had experienced that life, he was more reserved and the spark of excitement that used to be in his eyes, was not there as much. In a way, he reminded Ari of Ben Kenobi, since he looked just as tired at times, as if the weight of the universe was on his shoulders. She was sure that she also seemed different. She was less emotional and had grown up from a teenager into an adult very quickly.

The time she spent was Luke was often some training and some time to catch up on missions they had been sent on. They knew that they would have to come up with a way to have one last stand against the Empire. And, like she had promised, Ari never brought up what Luke told her that night about Vader being his father. Luke never mentioned it either, but Ari knew that was one of the weights on his shoulders.

One morning just as she was finishing breakfast, Ari was approached by Leia, and Ari knew that it was not for a just a social conversation.

"Ari, we have another mission for you."

"What is it?" Ari asked. She knew she would take it, but always wanted to know in advance what she was agreeing to.

"We have another base that is very important to us. I can not tell you the name just yet, but I can tell you that the planet is not very populated."

Ari just nodded. It did not give her much information to work with though, because all the bases she knew of were on worlds that did not have a large native population. However, she knew she would learn more soon.

All she could do was accept the mission, and she soon found herself with her survival pack over her shoulders, speaking to General Madine.

"You have to be sure these reach the officers there," he handed her three disks that easily fit in the palm of her hand. "If you are to get captured, you must destroy these disks."

Ari hesitated for only a moment before accepting the disks, slipping them into a small pouch attached to her belt. It was used to hold small items like food capsules and she knew the disks would be safe there for the time being. She would have to hide them in a better way before she left.

"And this is yours." The General handed her another disk and Ari knew it would tell her where she was going and what to expect there. She also knew she would have to destroy it after the mission. It was the safest way to give information. That way it could not accidentally fall into the wrong hands, and while they trusted their troops, it was better to be safe and not say too much aloud, then be sorry.

All too soon, Ari found herself back in her fighter, with loyal R4 to help. While she did not know what exactly to expect on this mission, she felt better with the droid.

She had received coded coordinates that had been given directly to R4, which meant that Ari did not have to pilot the fighter. Instead, she put the disk with her mission information into her personal datapad. A hologram of the world appeared and told about its climate, vegetation and wildlife. It appeared to be another well forested world. While she had spent a long time on a desert planet, after all these missions, she was getting used to traveling to places with a lot of vegetation.

"Arbra," she murmured. She had never heard of it, but it seemed a lot more welcoming than Hoth, which she was thankful for. She did not like having to worry about the ice creatures attacking, or anyone freezing to death.

She found one thing very interesting. There were creatures known as Hoojibs, which were rodent-like telepaths. They also appeared to be sentiment. It was going to make for a very interesting mission.

Ari had used their travel time to catch up in her journal and look over the information she had once again. She would destroy the disk as soon as she landed.

As they came out of hyperspace, Siri looked at the planet. It looked a lot like Yavin, covered in vegetation, and no visible settlements. However, valleys and mountains could be observed, which Yavin did not have. Her onboard scanner also did not show anything beside an uninhabited world. That was not a surprise though, since she knew devices could be used to confuse scanners.

There was no contact from anyone on the surface, so, using the coordinates that R4 had received, she flew down to the planet. Once on the ground, she opened the canopy of the fighter and was met by a decent temperature, a bit cooler and less humid than Yavin. Jumping to the ground, she took the disk then shot it a few times until she was sure it was no longer usable and so that no one could access any information on it.

While she was doing this, R4 was able to get to the ground as well, and beeped twice at her.

"I know. Well, lead the way," she instructed and the little droid complied with a happy chirp.

Ten minutes passed until R4 gave a small squeal of surprise and Ari saw that the droid was now a few inches off the ground. Frowning, Ari went to him and pressed down on his domed head so that the droid's wheels were on the ground. This only lasted for half a minute. Frowning, Ari glanced around and saw some small furry rodents. They could only be the Hoojibs. However, in the briefing, it said that they were friendly since the Rebels had helped them defeat something known as the Slivilith.

"Stop it," she commanded them firmly. The rodents looked at her with their large eyes, not seeming at all concerned.

"Listen, I am a friend of the Rebels. I need my droid and by lifting him, you hinder us." She was amazed by the small creatures, seeing that together, half a dozen of them could lift R4. However, she did not want to show them this.

The rodents made small squeaking sounds to each other and R4 was dropped a few inches to the ground again. The droid beeped, sounding upset by this. The rodents looked at the pair for a moment before crawled onto R4's dome. The droid tried to shake it off, but the animal clung on.

This caused Ari to laugh, something she did not do often. "Oh, let him ride," she teased the droid, who gave her an electronic raspberry. Glancing to where the others had been, Ari saw that they had once more disappeared into the forest.

With a shake of her head, Ari let R4, and his new companion, head down a small, not well used path.

They continued for another five minutes until the Hoojib made a chattering sound and leapt from R4's head to the ground at Ari's feet. The young woman looked at the creature that just looked back with innocent eyes.

Curious, Ari looked back at it until R4 beeped. She checked the translator on her belt then frowned. "No. R4, this can't be camp. No one is here. I don't see anyone." While there was a clearing and there were a few marks to show something or someone had walked across the ground, it did not look as if anyone was still there.

A small tug at her pant leg caused her to look at the Hoojib. It made a few chattering sounds before bounding off toward one side of the clearing. After hesitating only a moment, Ari followed. She did not know where the Hoojib was leading them, but she did not have any more ideas.

The small rocky hill looked to be made of sheer rock, but when she saw the Hoojib slid between two rocks, she realized it was a small entrance. R4 was able to get through without too much trouble, and, once through, the rodent once again took its place on the droid's head.

After just a few steps into the cave, Ari could sense she was being watched. She used the Force to pick out the Rebel keeping watch. "I am Lieutenant Arianna Narabe," she introduced herself.

The scout waited for a moment before revealing his presence. He was a few feet behind her, and on a ledge along the wall. With small glow lantern, she was able to see him as he jumped down beside her. "How were you able to see me?"

"Through the Force," she explained and a flash of recognition crossed his eyes.

"I know you. At least, I have heard your name mentioned."

"Well, I hope that is good," she managed to joke. The scout was young, only a year or two younger than Ari. However, he seemed younger, not too affected by the fighting and the war. He had to be new. She found herself feeling bad for him, hoping he would be able to stay somewhat innocent, and not as cynical as many of the other Rebels.

The Scout nodded then saw the droid. "It seems that Hoojib has taken a fancy to your droid."

R4 beeped a response to show he was basically resigned to this fate.

"Well, come along Lieutenant," he smiled at her, leading her down a corridor that only had a few glowrods for illumination. "Don't worry; it gets lighter as we get in further. It just makes it easier to high with less light near the entrance," he explained, and Ari nodded. It made sense.

After a just a minute, Ari could see that it was getting brighter and she could hear echos. As they turned once again, she gasped in surprise. The main center had to be as big as Hoth's, with as many people and droids as their previous base.

The scout smiled at this reaction and gave her a quick salute. "Welcome to Arbra Base, Lieutenant Narabe."