Arlo was a technician of the Human species (of male gender), who at first was in service to the Galactic Empire, but later switched his allegiance to the Alliance, during the time of the Galactic Civil War.
Following the Battle of Yavin, Arlo's assignment was at the Imperial Fortress situated on Yavin 4, where he worked as a technician's assistant. During his time stationed on Yavin 4, his direct supervisor was a technician named Tellulon. However, Arlo was unaware that Tellulon was secretly a spy working for the Rebel Alliance, having infiltrated the Imperial armed forces. Arlo himself began to question the Empire, wondering if it was the morally correct side.
In the year 1 ABY, during the Empire Day celebrations, Tellulon encountered a group of Rebel spacers at the Imperial Fortress where he and Arlo were stationed. Tellulon suggested that a Rebel spacer should try to convince Arlo to join the Alliance. The spacer then met with Arlo, who agreed to listen to the Rebel's point of view, and eventually decided to abandon the Empire and become a member of the Rebellion. Subsequently, the Rebel spacers visited Colonel Verks to inform him of Arlo's change of allegiance.
Arlo was featured as a non-player character within the 2003 video game titled Star Wars Galaxies. This game was a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game that was created by Sony Online Entertainment and distributed by LucasArts, before it was shut down on December 15, 2011. Arlo was incorporated into the game following the release of "Publish 19," which occurred on June 29, 2005.
During the Empire Day live event in 2005, which spanned from June 29 to July 11, 2005, he could be located within the Imperial Fortress and was an integral part of a quest named "Empire Day Revealed." In this quest, Rebels were tasked with convincing him to join the Rebellion. Only by treating the Imperial with respect could the Rebel player successfully persuade Arlo to defect. If the player was sarcastic or impolite to the Imperial, Arlo would refuse to join the Alliance, preventing the player from achieving 100% completion of the quest.
After the conclusion of the live event, Arlo was never seen again in the game, because the Empire Day event was stopped until it was completely reworked in 2008.