“Touch me again, chakaar, and I’ll ram this into your carotid artery.”“I haven’t got one.”“Then I’ll have to keep stabbing you until I find somewhere else that bleeds copiously.”

“That’s the worst thing about having chakaare like us around. We just wander off, find someplace you don’t know about, and hole up in it and get into all sorts of mischief that you know nothing about. And then we bill you for it. Dreadful.”“Dreadful. Is this the kind of thing that CSF might notice?”“Were we to get out of hand, I imagine very senior officers in CSF might need to be reassured, but not by you.”“Dreadful. Hypothetically, anyway.”

“If you take a shot at someone, you keep firing until they can no longer return fire. Wound them, and you have an angry enemy who knows your position.”

“Your boys okay?”“Tired, edgy, but giving it all they’ve got. One of ‘em has sworn to get Vau, another is having a love affair with a woman he shouldn’t even look at, I’m collecting waifs and strays like an animal shelter, and we nearly killed a treasury agent. But if I told you the really bad stuff, you’d think I have problems.”

“Every miracle's got a mundane explanation. [...] and you can choose - you can look at the wonderous surface or you can look at the crud beneath. I want to see the wondrous, believe me. I just know it isn't going to be there when I've finished looking.”

“Why should I cooperate with you now?”“Because you’re stuck in a ship with four creatively sadistic people who hate your grey guts, and maybe the Jedi and the strill aren’t that fond of you either, and all you’ve got are the clothes you stand in. See how long you last…”

“Oh, you are a little ray of sunshine today, aren’t you? Now, look at your progesterone levels. Still higher than normal. Are you pregnant? Have you been throwing up?”“No. But I get cravings. Will I get stretch marks?” said Fi.Gilamar kept a straight face. “Yeah, say goodbye to your figure. Everything sags from now on.”