Chapters (57)
- Cover
- Doctor Aphra
- DRAMATIS PERSONAE
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- SCENE 53
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
As I drifted through the endless black, I knew: My face looked exactly like my mother’s before she died.
SCENE 53
INT. BLACK KRRSANTAN’S SHIP. MOMENTS LATER.
APHRA (narration):
This time I’m dead. Definitely, definitely dead.
And I know you’re probably asking: So how are you recording this, then, oh great and powerful and ingenious Doctor Aphra?
Do you know me at all?
The answer, of course…is that I’m not quite dead.
BEETEE:
BLEEP!
TRIPLE-ZERO:
No, I’m not exactly sure how long a human can stay alive while exposed to a hard vacuum. But now is not the time to indulge in your experimental mindset, Beetee. There she is! Retract her aboard!
Swiftly!
BLACK KRRSANTAN:
HHHHHRRRRRRWWWW!
TRIPLE-ZERO:
Yes, quite. Your ship does have many fine attributes, Mr. Krrsantan, perfect for a rescue mission. Are you alive, Mistress Aphra?
APHRA:
Maybe. You can have your ingots back, Krrsantan. They shielded me against the deadly atmosphere of space quite nicely, just the way I…
well, I didn’t totally know they would. I’m done.
TRIPLE-ZERO:
I have to admit, I’m impressed, Mistress Aphra. Having Master Vader eject you into space, and reusing the equipment from the Son-tuul Pride robbery to retrieve you? Elegantly done.
APHRA:
What can I say, guys? Crushing fear of imminent death is a great motivator. And I knew you still had a soft spot for me, Santy.
Only way Vader’d let me go was if he thought I was dead. Only way he’d think I was dead is if he’d killed me.
TRIPLE-ZERO:
Hmm. Of course, he might have always used the saber.
APHRA:
He’s Darth Vader. He was never going to be kind.
APHRA (narration):
Yeah, so. Maybe I kind of, sort of hatched a pretty incredible master plan. See, while I was angsting my way through the entire liquor stock of the Cosmatanic Steppes bar…it really hit me that Vader was never going to let me go. He’d swat me like a fly as soon as he laid eyes on me.
And not just because I’d assisted him in a little light treason and gotten myself captured by the rebels.
I think he also knew, after I pressed him on Vrogas Vas…that I was close to figuring out his deepest secret. The one about the kid—
Skywalker.
Something stuck with me about Luke’s natterings to his little R2 unit.
When they were exploring the Jedi temple ruins, he’d said he sensed someone important nearby. And yeah, sure…he could have meant some Force magic kind of thing.
But his voice kept echoing through my head as I pounded yet another Corellian whiskey shot…
LUKE SKYWALKER:
My father—I sense my father.
APHRA (narration):
It all made sense. Vader’s obsession. The way he’d said he also “sensed” Luke on Vrogas Vas. Everything.
That was it. That was the secret.