Chapters (57)
- Cover
- Doctor Aphra
- DRAMATIS PERSONAE
- SCENE 1
- SCENE 2
- SCENE 3
- SCENE 4
- SCENE 5
- SCENE 6
- SCENE 7
- SCENE 8
- SCENE 9
- SCENE 10
- SCENE 11
- SCENE 12
- SCENE 13
- SCENE 14
- SCENE 15
- SCENE 16
- SCENE 17
- SCENE 18
- SCENE 19
- SCENE 20
- SCENE 21
- SCENE 22
- SCENE 23
- SCENE 24
- SCENE 25
- SCENE 26
- SCENE 27
- SCENE 28
- SCENE 29
- SCENE 30
- SCENE 31
- SCENE 32
- SCENE 33
- SCENE 34
- SCENE 35
- SCENE 36
- SCENE 37
- SCENE 38
- SCENE 39
- SCENE 40
- SCENE 41
- SCENE 42
- SCENE 43
- SCENE 44
- SCENE 45
- SCENE 46
- SCENE 47
- SCENE 48
- SCENE 49
- SCENE 50
- SCENE 51
- SCENE 52
- SCENE 53
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Sirs, now that I’ve had a moment to think about it, a few words do spring to mind, which I will relay in Geonosian Hive-Mind so that you fully understand…
[a line of Geonosian here that translates to…]
APHRA (narration):
I believe that translates roughly to: “Hahaha! You are on fire and also dead!”
Once Vader and I got to the scene, everything was pretty much on fire, but as I knelt down to survey the wreckage, I could still make out the remnants of droidlike components. And as we ventured deeper into the cave—to the queen’s subterranean lair—I couldn’t help but hypothesize out loud. Even if Lord Vader occasionally seemed annoyed by my chitter-chatter, I knew he appreciated the kind of brilliant theorizing that had led us here. And I had plenty more where that came from. What can I say? This girl loves a hypothesis.
Aphra, Vader, Triple-Zero, and Beetee continue their descent into the depths of the cave.
APHRA:
So the Gotra’s leads are on the money. There is an active factory down here. Interesting tweaks on the standard droid design, too—the wings and all. I suspect the queen doesn’t see these as droids.
I suppose that makes sense. Immortal queen, sterilized. The urge to continue the species by any means necessary. So when biology fails, she turns to science.
They aren’t droids to her…they’re children.
APHRA (narration):
We turned that last corner, and…boy howdy, I’m not even sure how to describe what we saw.
I mean, it was the queen. Obviously.
GEONOSIAN QUEEN:
Hissssss…
APHRA (narration):
I’ve encountered a lot of fearsome-looking creatures in my time. She wasn’t the biggest, she wasn’t the ugliest…but something about the way her sharp black eyes bored into us with such hatred, her mouthful of long, sharp teeth bared, each of her eight…arms? Legs? Appendages twitching, ready to tear us apart…and that regal half-moon that crowned the top of her head swaying violently…
[shudder]
Wait, what was I saying?
Oh, right.
She was absolutely terrifying.
She was positioned in her chamber, a pit where she had managed to permanently attach herself to the twisting metal and maze of wires that was the droid factory, and was surrounded by her hive…womb…
whatever you want to call it. Slime-encrusted glowing orbs formed a wall behind her. These were her children. And she was going to protect them by any means necessary.
Being a seasoned expert in all manner of terrifying things, I kept my cool.
Even when one of her slime-encrusted robot egg things hatched.
One of the queen’s eggs hatches open, revealing yet another murderous, winged battle droid.
APHRA:
And now for our devilishly clever plan to steal a robot womb factory from a homicidally broody alien queen. Do you still think this is a good idea, Lord Vader?
DARTH VADER:
Yes.
APHRA (narration):