“The Trigger” - From a Certain Point of View

"The Trigger", by Kieron Gillen, comes from the perspective of Doctor Aphra. This story follows "Far Too Remote."

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WARNING: This is a plot summary of the short story, spoilers ahead:

Doctor Aphra had no love for the Rebellion, as her experiences taught her that order, even the Empire's brand of order, was better than war and chaos. But she found herself cursing the rebels, who had not too long ago abandoned their base on Dantooine. She had hidden her ship in the forest, and had worked her way through the thick foliage until she came upon the former base, looking for loot of some kind, preferably parts that would get her contraband droidekas up and running. But she was frustrated because the rebels were neat and orderly when leaving their base, and she now thought it unlikely she'd find much of anything of value. That's when she saw the TIE group fly overhead, and had just enough time to hide before she saw the base suddenly crawling with stormtroopers.

Aphra heard voices behind her, and knew she would be caught and mistaken for a rebel, so she did her best acting and approached the troopers, as if she was just wandering around at the wrong time. She was taken into custody, and brought to General Tagge. He looked her over, assuming she was a rebel. Aphra hoped some honesty would help, and convinced Tagge that she was not a rebel, but was there only to scavenge for parts. Aphra's feigned enthusiasm for the Imperial presence had Tagge caught up a bit, and he boasted that they had just destroyed Alderaan. Aphra played this off as if she was incredibly impressed with the engineering that would go into such a weapon that could turn a planet to dust. After a brief conversation, Tagge decided that though he didn't believe she was a rebel, the galaxy wouldn't miss her, so he ordered a trooper to take her into the forest and execute her.

While walking into the trees, Aphra did her best to chat up the trooper, continuing her fascination about the planet killer weapon. She mused that the "trigger" to fire on a whole planet must have a complex mechanism so that no single person would think they were solely responsible for the deaths of billions. But she further extrapolated from her experience, that no, the Empire would take no such precautions for the care of the psyche of their soldiers. She then transformed the conversation into what was happening in the now, asking the trooper if he had ever killed anyone before. The trooper was clearly shaken by the conversation with his victim. Aphra calculated that the trooper might not have the guts, or if he did, he would hesitate just enough for her to make her move. While engaging the trooper in conversation, she had stopped walking, and had actually carefully closed the short distance between them. She distracted him enough to ease a small controller out of her pocket, and at the right moment reached for the trooper's blaster. He pulled the trigger, but a simple click was all that came. Aphra's close-range device had temporarily disabled the blaster's firing mechanism. In the trooper's moment of surprise, Aphra grabbed the blaster and hit him sharply across the head. Reeling to the ground, the trooper begged for his life. Aphra commanded the trooper to remove his helmet, which he did instantly, revealing a "kid", probably not even 20, sweaty and terrified. She told the kid there was a difference in killing faceless billions and killing a single person, into whose eyes you can look when you pull the trigger. She told the trooper she'd fire the weapon, so as to indicate he did his job, and they'd let each other go. He agreed. She fired, turned and ran, and dropped the blaster where he would be able to recover it. As she sprinted for her hidden ship, she heard the commotion behind her, and then alarms. The kid had done his duty. She blasted off, and lifted above the atmosphere. She saw the wedge shape of Tagge's star destroyer, as she prepared for hyperspace.

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