"Doctor Aphra 15: War of the Bounty Hunters: Party Favors" by Alyssa Wong

 "Doctor Aphra 15: War of the Bounty Hunters: Party Favors" written by Alyssa Wong, illustrated by Minkyu Jung, Victor Olazaba, and Rachelle Rosenberg

Well this one was super interesting!! We get a brand new powerful scary artifact, more on Crimson Dawn, and potential bad news for Just Lucky and Ariole...

We start right in the middle of Deathstick's attack on Aphra and Just Lucky and get some pretty darn rad panels from it! (see below) Then Sana and Ariole burst on the scene and send Deathstick scrambling for the moment. But guards enter the room (remember Aphra is after the necklace she stole from the Black Sun member) and it seems like things are not going to turn out in Aphra's favor...until...she discovers a Thought Dowser. Which it turns out is an INCREDIBLY powerful tool created and used by The Ascendant. Something even the Sith were afraid of!! This thing is absolutely terrifying. I definitely want to know more about these "Ascendant" people!!

Aphra manages to hack the thing into actually working and she does some serious damage! (see it "turned on" below) The device works by amplifying your words and associated thoughts so intensely that the people these words and thoughts are directed toward are absolutely compelled to comply. She gets Deathstick and ALL the guards to each stab themselves in the stomach!! Goodness, Aphra! But the Thought Dowser leaves the arm she used to hold it charred and damaged. Unfortunately it's her electro-tattoo arm and they don't seem to be working post-Thought Dowser (see below).

Once the four protagonists make it to the hangar bay, a stand off occurs and Aphra does everything she can to ensure Sana and her escape, but Just Lucky and Ariole are left out in the cold--she can REALLY hold a grudge...I mean, Just Lucky did try to kill her...but she's tried to kill a lot of people herself, so... Of course, as she says in the panel above, she didn't outright kill the two men, just left them in an unlucky spot.

Trivia: Deathstick uses Dathomirian poison...interesting...

I will leave you with the last panel of the issue...it's kinda spoilery:

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