Chapters (57)
- Cover
- Doctor Aphra
- DRAMATIS PERSONAE
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- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
DARTH VADER:
Now is not the time, Aphra.
APHRA:
But—
DARTH VADER:
Not the time.
TRIPLE-ZERO:
Not Fett, sir. It’s one Krrsantan, Black.
DARTH VADER:
The Wookiee?
TRIPLE-ZERO:
He claims to have a very important delivery for you!
APHRA (narration):
Trust Triple-Zero to totally interrupt a touching bonding moment between me and my new boss.
The “important delivery” ended up being some poor soul the fearsome Wookiee bounty hunter Black Krrsantan had captured. And he was about to bring this unlucky organic aboard for Triple-Zero to torture information out of—I guess that’s why Trip sounded so excited.
TRIPLE-ZERO:
Oh, this will be just glorious. If I believed in the Maker, I would thank them for allowing Black Krrsantan to bring me such a wonderful gift.
My first organic torture since my reawakening. It’s been ever so long, but you know what they say: You never forget just how soft human flesh is, how pliant…especially when needles are involved!
DARTH VADER:
Do whatever you must.
APHRA (narration):
I must admit, I was struck by the note of…eagerness that flitted into Vader’s voice when he asked if the bounty hunter Boba Fett had found “the boy.” True, it might not have sounded like “eagerness” on anyone else—it was a wisp, a hint, the slightest alteration in vocal cadence.
And because I was starting to truly know him, I could hear it.
Who was this “boy,” and what boy could ever be that important to Darth Vader? I needed to find out.
But part of maneuvering around Darth Vader means knowing when to shut up—so that’s what I did. For now.
I was also still stuck on the Dark Lord’s eventual plan for my death.
I studied his mask as he listened to Triple-Zero’s excited blatherings…
TRIPLE-ZERO:
[slight in background, not interrupting speech]
—and that’s when I usually deploy my other neurotoxin, the one I only use for special occasions! Then again, it’s always a special occasion when I get to drain an organic of its lifeblood!
APHRA (narration):
Had Vader heard me? Did he understand? Had I disgusted him with my plea, even though it had been delivered in an offhand, carefree kind of way?
While I was learning to read him better…with this, I was getting nothing.
That mask, that shield against Darth Vader’s countenance, is legendary. And I can confirm: It is about a billion percent more intimidating up close. Something about those glassy black pits where his eyes should be…when you stare into them, they really do look like the Void. Endless black…and only the occasional blurry reflection of your timid face staring back at you. The longer I stared into his eyes, all I saw were mine, desperate to know how he planned on killing me.