Chelli Lona Aphra

"Thank you, Mr. Lord Vader. Sir? Your majesty? Your illustriousness? Honestly, no idea. I'm a rogue archaeologist, not a protocol droid."

- Aphra, to Darth Vader

Doctor Aphra was a human female who lived during the Galactic Civil War. Aphra was a rogue archaeologist and the foremost raider of lost weapons in the galaxy. She was also the pilot of the Ark Angel. Shortly after the Battle of Yavin, Darth Vader turned to her for assistance in acquiring a personal army of battle droids.

Stealing assassin droids
"And now for our devilishly clever plan to steal a robot womb factory off a homicidally broody alien queen. Still think this is a good idea, Lord Vader?" "Yes."

- Aphra and Vader prepare to fight a Geonosian queen

The Human female Aphra worked as an archaeologist and technician, reactivating technology including droids for military use. At one stage she was sent to prison, but the sentence did not stick for long. The criminal group known as the Droid Gotra hired Aphra to acquire two droids for them which had been constructed as part of the Galactic Empire's Tarkin Initiative. She managed to find one, the astromech-like BT-1 assassin droid, floating in space near where it had destroyed the Initiative base that had created it. The droid was equipped with strong behavioral inhibitors that she was unable to bypass due to the fact the only droid only spoke an R&D language from the base it had destroyed. She also acquired the deactivated body of the second droid, 0-0-0 and kept both onboard her starship Ark Angel. In order to activate the two droids, Aphra needed the Triple-Zero personality matrix, which would activate 0-0-0 and allow it to communicate with BT-1, as the matrix contained the R&D language.

Shortly after the Battle of Yavin, Aphra traveled to Quarantine World III in Kallidahin Space in order to steal the personality matrix. She was able to bypass the planet's surveillance, using stealth microdroid dust to reveal the laser security systems in the room containing the matrix and slip past them to reach it. After collecting her prize she accidentally triggered the security, forcing her to flee from the systems response, which included automated blaster fire and a droideka. Thinking she had escaped, the Doctor was confronted by the curator Utani Xane and a group of B2 super battle droids, who reclaimed the matrix. One of the battle droids then informed the curator that they had a visitor, and Aphra was brought along by Xane to meet the new arrival who turned out to be the Sith Lord Darth Vader. Xane protested Vader's presence on the world, but the Sith quickly attacked the curator's four battle droids.In the confusion, Aphra tackled Xane as he tried to flee, knocking the matrix from his grasp and off of the landing platform the group was on. She managed to catch the object before it fell, while Vader killed Xane. The Sith then revealed he had come to the planet seeking Aphra, as he needed her help.

Alliance with Darth Vader
Aphra brought Vader on board the Ark Angel and asked how she could help, also wanting to know how Vader had found her, before changing her mind. The Doctor set about trying to break through the personality matrix's code lock, which she estimated would take a few hours, but was astonished when Vader unlock it immediately using her console. With matrix ready to use, she installed it into 0-0-0's body, which activated and introduced itself. Aphra overrode the droid's programming by voice to recognise her and Vader as masters it shouldn't harm, stopping it from trying to electrocute them through a handshake. She then ordered the droid to wake up BT-1, which 0-0-0 was able to do, but once activated the assassin droid prepared to attack Vader and Aphra. 0-0-0 was able to talk his fellow droid down, defusing the situation, and allowing Vader to explain to Aphra that he needed her to help him acquire a private army, as the forces of the Galactic Empire were no longer under his control due to his failure to prevent the destruction of the Death Star battlestation. Aphra agreed to cut her ties with the Droid Gotra and serve Vader, informing him what he needed could be acquired on the planet Geonosis.

Using the Ark Angel, the four traveled to the sterilized world of Geonosis, where the Droid Gotra had previously informed Aphra that a surviving Geonosian Queen was still using a functioning droid factory. Aphra had been meant to capture the factory for the Gotra, but offered to help Vader claim it instead. The Doctor sent 0-0-0 and BT-1 ahead to move through the tunnels leading to the factory and began questioning Vader as they followed a little behind the droids. After the assassin droids destroyed a number of B1 battle droids that attacked them, Aphra examined the battle droids and found they were slightly altered from the standard model, more closely resembling Geonosians, and concluded that the surviving queen probably viewed them as children. The group of four then discovered the queen, who had a gigantic robotic womb which could create the altered battle droids. Vader attacked the queen and cut her body from the factory womb and ordered the assassin droids to destroy the battle droids which the queen had ordered to attack him. Aphra then attempted to activate a location beacon and send it to the factory's roof but discovered the beacon's thruster had malfunctioned. Leaping down from the platform she was standing on, the Doctor reached Vader, who used the Force to move the beacon to the ceiling. With the beacon secured, the Ark Angel fired on its location upon Aphra's orders, destroying the factory's ceiling. Vader used the force to create a bubble, protecting himself and Aphra from the blast. The two were then lifted from the cavern by Vader's own J-type 327 Nubian, which had dropped down cables to collect the factory womb. The assassin droids used jets to fly up after their masters, while the B1 battle droids unsuccessfully attempted to stop them on the queen's orders.

Once Vader, Aphra and the droids were safely off Geonosis and back on board the Ark Angel, the archaeologist managed to activate the droid factory and used it to produce a BX-series droid commando for Vader. 0-0-0 was then left in charge of the womb to produce an army for Vader while applying his own advancement methods which involved droid self improvement. Knowing she had fulfilled her purpose, Aphra asked what Vader planned to do, assuming he would kill her and requesting that the Sith make it quick. She was surprised when Vader elected to keep her around, believing that he would have further use for her. 0-0-0 the informed the pair that the Wookiee bounty hunter Black Krrsantan was contacting them as he had completed a job Vader had earlier hired him for: capturing a scientist commissioned by the Galactic Emperor Darth Sidious. The Wookiee delivered the captive to the Ark Angel, where Aphra and Vader greeted him before leaving 0-0-0 to torture the man. The droid killed the captive but was able to discover that his named was Doctor Cylo-IV, and that he operated a base where he was creating potential replacements for Vader on the Emperor's orders.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Darth Vader 2: Vader, Part II
 * Star Wars: Darth Vader 3: Vader, Part III
 * Star Wars: Darth Vader 4: Vader, Part IV
 * Star Wars: Darth Vader 5: Vader, Part V
 * Star Wars: Darth Vader 8