Star Wars: Doctor Aphra – Chaos Agent #5
“AETURNA AT LAST”
She’s been a rogue archaeologist. A pawn of the Empire. A reluctant ally to the Rebellion. After the fall of the Empire, what’s next for…
Following a botched heist, DOCTOR APHRA was brought into custody and recruited to join D.A.A.G.R.–a shadowy subdivision of the New Republic. This team specializes in hunting down important and dangerous archaeological artifacts, making Aphra the perfect addition.
Despite struggling with the deactivation of her electro-tattoos, she successfully completed missions with Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. After meeting with D.A.A.G.R. leader METEORA GREY, the good doctor learned that her tattoos were actually deactivated by…her sister?!
Writer: Cherish Chen
Artist: Kieran McKeown
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Colourist: Michael Atiyeh
Cover artist: Ejikure
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Publication date: October 29 2025
Last issue we ended with the eye-opening realisation that Doctor Aphra has a sister, and not only that but she was the one – not the New Republic – who switched off Chelli’s electro-tattoos, and here in issue 5 of Chaos Agent we find our errant doctor waiting ourside a briefing, room, shadowy figures inside behind the glass, which opens to reveal Meteora and Princess Leia, who is not only the patron behind the operation but also the one – claims Aphra – who keeps sending her off on missions as the New Republic’s ‘errand girl’. Leia explains how her half-sister Dellen, also known as Aeturna, switched off Chelli’s electo-tattoos to tie her down to help DAGGER and the New Repubic, but she’s gone missing, meaning they have no means of switching them back on even if they wanted to. Aphra’s mission is to find her missing sister, and bring her to Nakadia. Do that and Leia will sign off on having her tattoos turned back on.
Assigned a new partner for the mission, a reconditioned GNK droid designated DG-AT7, she hits the space lanes, following New Republic intell to Ord Mantell, Hosnian Prime, Nar Haaska and finally Provina where she finds a promising lead, a lone building that DG breaks into, finding electical equipment lying around everywhere. A few moments later and Chelli is ambushed by a hulking, helmeted man convinced that she is Aeturna and eager to bring her in. Just as he has Aphra cornered we flashback to her childhood with Dellen, and the two girls playing with electrical equipment, specifically a type of battery that is lying nearby and rubbing it to get the charge hot she kicks him off for enough time to shock him into unconsciousness before DG hurls him out of the room.
Spying a keypad on the wall with no visible door she enters a code and walks down the steps, where she finds her sister Dellen at a desk with images of Chelli on all the screens. They begin their sisterly bickering, and we learn that not only has Dellen been following Chelli’s progress this past year, but she is also being hunted by the Empire. Oh, and she won’t turn Chelli’s tattoos back on, much to her younger sisters shock and surprise. On the screens we see the Imperials heading back in to bring Dellen in – out of patience after asking nicely for her to lend her talents to their cause – and as Aphra insists they go to Nakadia to escape the Empire and at least talk to the New Republic, Dellen is resistant. They spot a vessel high in the sky, and run into Dellens own vessel, blasting off to escape, only to crash land due to Dellen’s less than stellar piloting skills.
Aphra is knocked out, and saying goodbye to her sister Dellen steps outside to confront the Imperials, who roughhouse her a little before Aphra wakes, gets her head together and then confuses the entire situation by claiming that she is the real Aeturna, and that Dellen (aka Debbi) is her decoy. Accepting the offer to lend her talents to the Empire, the Imperials decide to take them both and let their boss decide their fate, and soon they are aboard their ship, about to take off. However, it turns out Chelli pocketed more of the batteries than anyone realised, passing them to Dellen and we see her thrown them towards their enemies, shocking them again as the sisters leap out of the ship.
Outisde they sit on the grass, gathering themselves and we see the Imperial brute stagger out vowing revenge, only for Dellen to break out of her handcuffs and knock him out with them, just as DG arrives and roughs him up even more. Aphra asks again, what does her sister want to do, and by way of thanks she first reactivates her electro-tattoos much to Chelli’s delight, and then – after Chelli gives a few surprisingly heartfelt words about how she herself has changed, finally contributing to something good – Dellen pauses to think and suggests to her sister that they decide on their next move ‘at the next horizon’ and we end the issue with the two sisters feeling positive about their futures.
The issue ends with a definitive ‘End’ box, and the next page reveals next months comics, which don’t include issue 6 of Chaos Agent. If this is the end of the series, that would be a huge shame, as this version of Aphra – cheeky as ever, inventive, persistent but finally willing to do some good after the fall of the Galactic Empire – has been fun to read, a treat to view with gorgeous artwork this issue by Kieran McKeown and a story and script by Cherish Chen that shows not only does she ‘get’ the character, but she also knows where she wants to take her. Fingers crossed ‘End’ simply means the finish of this particular storyline, and after a pause we can get back into the action, because as original Marvel characters go, Aphra sits right at the top of the tree alongside Beilert Valance and Plif.
