sometimes he flipped from his usual mysteriousness to being almost disturbingly forthcoming, revealing stuff to yours truly that was probably at least several levels above my pay grade.

This unpredictability should have been off-putting.

But I loved it. I never knew what the next mission, the next day, the next hour was going to hold. And after my stint on Arbiflux, where every second was always the same…well. This was the kind of adventure I’d been chasing my whole life.

In a weird way, I think my father would have been proud of me. No, I wasn’t pursuing the kind of greatness he was always going on about. I wasn’t trying to bring balance to the universe, or to rediscover some musty old Jedi sect that would somehow usher in a new age of light.

But I was living. That was for sure.

And more importantly, after our little quest to Tatooine, I started to feel like Vader was really beginning to trust me.

I mean! He told me Skywalker’s name. He had me detonate my own special bomb. He let me in on what his Force powers sensed in that beige hut, which seemed very, like… personal. I know he was talking to himself, but I must presume that he was prepared for me to hear it.

And when he said my next mission would be “a matter of some delicacy…”

The Dark Lord was letting me into his inner circle, right? I suppose he didn’t have much of a circle after the whole Death Star business, but still. I was his trusted circle of one. That made me even more important to his greater vision! And that meant I was closer to…well.

Whatever my endgame was going to be. That moment where I’d know exactly where to slide the knife.

Making yourself invaluable to someone that powerful means you’re that much closer to grabbing your own power. And I was so ready for that.

Like I said—all these years, I’d been thinking too small.

Who knew that all I needed to truly realize my potential was for someone to see it in me. To believe in me and encourage all my initiative-taking!

And then possibly end up on the other side of my metaphorical knife.

I was starting to picture…well, a future.

Doctor Chelli Lona Aphra: Super Important Amazing and Extremely Rich Adventurer That Everyone Is Totally Afraid Of.

That sounds so much better than Assistant Curator of a Boring-Ass Museum No One Cares About. Take that, Utani Xane!

I’d…never really pictured a whole future before. I have a tendency to not exactly think ahead—not that far. Especially if something presents the possibility of a momentary thrill.

Like when…okay, I have to back up for this. Here’s the deal, and I’m just going to give it to you straight, because it’s highly embarrassing.