After the scourge of the droids and amid the Galactic Civil War, the bounty hunter Raslin Grace was hired by Melchior Votto, an officer in the Imperial Security Bureau, Melchior Votto, to hunt down the rogue archaeologist Doctor Chelli Lona Aphra, who had frustrated Imperial efforts in the past.
Carrying a hologram of the rogue archaeologist, Raslin Grace prepares to hunt down Doctor Chelli Aphra.
Doctor Chelli Lona Aphra was a rogue archaeologist and criminal active in the galaxy during the Imperial Era. While in theory a supporter of the Galactic Empire and its efforts to impose Imperial order upon the galaxy, she would, in time, realize she was someone who always made an exception for herself in order to remain free from the control of others. Indeed, she would frustrate several Imperial efforts during the Galactic Civil War between the Alliance to Restore the Republic and the Empire. Someone whose actions included inspiring an uprising on the once loyal planet Milvayne and setting back the Empire's search for Echo Base, she was nevertheless able to secure a spot within the Imperial-aligned Tagge Corporation with the support of company head Domina Tagge, who even began a relationship of sorts with Aphra. Following the scourge of the droids, however, Aphra would decide her future lied with her past lovers, Magna Tolvan and Sana Starros, with whom she began a new life of crime.
Following the scourge and amid Aphra's new purpose in life, as well as the ongoing war with the rebellion, Melchior Votto, an officer in the Imperial Security Bureau, decided to put a bounty on Aphra and contacted a bounty hunter they knew, Raslin Grace, to see her taken down, promising Grace it would be a hunt worth her time. Called to the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Peerless by Votto and meeting the ISB officer, Votto presented Grace with the bounty on Aphra via a hologram, with the offer making Grace excited. At some point afterwards, Grace, who began keeping a hologram of Aphra on her person, visited the Bounty Hunters Guild Social Club on the planet D'Assem, where she was joined by several others at a table. Among those present were Just Lucky and Ariole Yu, both of whom were friends with Aphra, Starros, and Tolvan. Also present in the bar were the bounty hunters Boushh, Bossk'wassak'Cradossk, and Durge, as well as the assassin Deathstick, all of whom had varying degrees of involvement in some of the doctor's past exploits. After telling those sitting with her about her supposed greatest hunt, confessing at the end of the story she saw every one of her hunts as her greatest, Grace grew excited for her next endeavor, the hunt for Aphra. Taking out a hologram of the rogue archaeologist, Grace promised the doctor's hologram they would soon cross paths.
The hunt for Chelli Lona Aphra was first mentioned and teased in "Tall Tales," a short comic story by Alyssa Wong and with art by David Baldeón. Released as part of the Revelations (2023) 1 collection on December 20, 2023, the story ended with a "To Be Continued," suggesting that the story of Raslin Grace's hunt for Aphra would continue in future content. Indeed, the background to the hunt—Melchior Votto's hiring of Grace—was depicted in Doctor Aphra (2020) 40, the final issue of Wong's 2020 run of Doctor Aphra. That issue was released on January 31, 2024, with art by Minkyu Jung. When "Tall Tales" was collected as part of Star Wars: Doctor Aphra Vol. 7 — Dark Droids on April 23 of 2024, the "To Be Continued" seen in the Revelations release was removed.