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
That’s right: We broke into the vault from the other side. From space.
I know. I know. Sometimes I impress myself, even.
I gazed out into space as we space-walked our way along the underside of the Imperial cruiser. Credit ingots spilled out into the starscape—an ingot belt to rival the asteroid belt, shiny and beautiful and so very, very expensive.
The ingots spill out into space—and there are millions of them.
APHRA (narration):
They glittered as they floated through the stars, their surfaces like rainbow prisms.
And even though we were too far away to actually see this…I thought, just for a moment, that I could see my face reflected in their multicolored surfaces. My eyes sparked with the excitement of adventure, the triumph of a mission accomplished. And I was beaming, that triumph surging through my veins like wildfire.
Hell, I’ll say it: In that moment, right after accomplishing my first solo mission for Darth Vader…I felt great. I could finally, in a way, see why my father had chased that feeling so hard, why he’d completely neglected his wife and only child in pursuit of making his mark. It was absolutely intoxicating—exhilaration and pride and the call of all those credits swirling through my bloodstream in a heady mix.
And as the ingot belt shimmered its way across this little patch of galaxy…I just let myself feel that. And I tried to somehow beam that feeling through time, back to Tiny Chelli Lona Aphra and her dusty chatterplants.
Someday, I thought to her, someday you will be more. And all of this will have been worth it.
SCENE 20
INT. THE ARK ANGEL. MOMENTS LATER.
TRIPLE-ZERO:
Welcome back to the Ark Angel, Mistress Aphra. Black Krrsantan’s asteroid appears to have successfully penetrated the hull. The ingots and all evidence you were ever there is jettisoning into space. It’s rather pretty, though it is a shame no humanoids were harmed—
APHRA:
Not the time, Trip. Now, if I’ve calculated this right, Beetee will do the rest. Anyone with fingers, cross ’em. And hope that Beetee can generate enough of a field to scoop up the loot.
TRIPLE-ZERO:
I’m confident he can, mistress—Beetee is quite resourceful.
APHRA:
That’s what I’m counting on, Trip. Because losing several kerzillion credits into space would put a downer on the day.
APHRA (narration):
Oh yes. That was another part of my brilliant plan—Beetee generated a magnetic field, containing as many of the credits as he could.
Of course…it wasn’t all the credits. There were just so many.