Chapters (57)
- Cover
- Doctor Aphra
- DRAMATIS PERSONAE
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- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Hooks right in—’cause I’ve got the magic touch. Oh, and I’ve made so many personal modifications to the Ark Angel, my beloved ship will run on anything. Even old droid parts.
A loud explosion rocks Maz’s ship.
MAZ KANATA (on comm):
What! Direct hit, our gravity’s knocked out…
APHRA:
Soooo…did I mention that I’ve actually been looking for this exact
’mech bit? I had a theory that it would enhance my weapons system—
looks like I was right! All-purpose astromech bits! Or at least they are in my hands…
MAZ KANATA (on comm):
I don’t understand how you… you…
APHRA:
Your techs are a buncha charlatans, Maz. You should reaaaalllly consider replacing them if you want to keep that badass pirate queen rep.
MAZ KANATA (on comm):
That isn’t… Void! Retreat! This isn’t over, Aphra…
APHRA:
Oh, I know.
As Maz’s ship retreats, Aphra actually sounds a little contemplative—
APHRA:
I really do hope we get that drink one day.
SCENE 2
INT. VAULT ROOM. QUARANTINE WORLD III. KALLIDAHIN SPACE.
Aphra stands at the entrance of the vault, gazing at the small wall safe located on the other side of the room.
Atmosphere: This facility has a rigid, very sterile quality—cavernous yet tightly secure in a way that always seems empty, despite it being full of dangerous weapons. Even the smallest sounds carry a bit of an echo, bouncing off the endless chasms and hard metal surfaces.
APHRA (narration):
Maz was right—that microdroid dust and I, we were about to have some major adventures together. I mean, they’d kinda have to be major if they led to my death, right?
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
My next stop, after successfully escaping Maz’s pirate gang and kind of, sort of inflicting a truly astonishing amount of damage to their ship, was Quarantine World III in Kallidahin space.
This quarantine world was established to, and I quote from some really boring academic text I only partially skimmed at university “safely contain artifacts classified as highly dangerous and possibly lethal.”
In my professional archaeologist opinion…this is a buncha bantha crap.
The things contained in this facility are deadly works of art. They should be out in the world, being truly appreciated by those who understand their power. They should be living their dreams and blowing stuff up.
If I had the time—and, let’s face it, if someone was paying me an astronomical amount of credits—I’d liberate every single artifact in this quarantine world’s cold, gray central facility, with its maze of twisting wires, its middling surveillance system, and its overwhelming feeling of excruciatingly dull…emptiness.
But I had to focus: I was only here for one thing.
Bypassing surveillance was no problem. Ditto breaking into the cavernous vault housing the thing I was after.