“Formal profile or not, of one thing he was now certain: They had badly underestimated what had seemed to be a Resistance pilot on the verge of physical and emotional collapse.”

“Two surviving human beings on the entire planet, Ruslan thought, and they can’t stand each other. A fitting metaphor for the entire species.”

“Niima was a functioning armpit of a town and nothing more, a place where no one asked questions and everyone went quietly about their own business.”

“Nobody came to Jakku.”

“The trouble with computers, she thought, was that they had no intuitive senses. Only deductive ones. You had to ask the right question.”

“I know what I have to do, but I don’t know if I have the strength to do it.” Ren moved out onto the walkway toward Han. “Will you help me?” “Yes,” Han told him. “Anything.”

“His only fear then was that the man might shoot first and ask questions later. Thankfully, he did not.”

“That weapon—is mine.” Finn all but snarled his reply. “Come and get it.”

“He was training a new generation of Jedi. There was no one else left to do it, so he took the burden on himself. Everything was going good, until one boy, an apprentice, turned against him and destroyed it all. Everything Luke had worked toward: gone. Luke felt responsible. He walked away from everything.”

“But patience had to be learned alone.”

“It is you,” Ren murmured.”

“If she let go or otherwise lost her grip, of course, it would solve all her problems. Permanently.”

“Typical Ren, Hux thought. Self-centered, arrogant, indifferent to the interests of others.”

“You will leave Starkiller at once and come to me with Kylo Ren. Leave immediately.” He added grimly, “It appears that he may have been right about the girl.”

“Maybe one day, before the universe died, Unkar Plutt would take a bath.”

“Women always figure out the truth.”

“Women always figure out the truth.”

“easier question to answer. “Who wouldn’t be? This is New Riviera, the paradise planet, the best of Mother Earth concentrated and then spread like a fine glaze on an entire world instead of just a small part of it.”

“A deep gully formed, separating her from General Hux and the arriving troopers. Utilizing the tiny position sensor emplaced in Ren’s belt, Hux had tracked him to this spot.”

“You are…you are…” The merchant tried to control himself. “You have nothing. You are nothing!”

“A planetary shield being a fairly straightforward thing, there was hardly ever a problem with the system.”

“At incredible velocity and accelerating exponentially, the concentrated volume of quintessence escaped, transforming as it did so into a state known as phantom energy and following the artificial line of egress that had been provided.”

“The blow had cauterized instantly.”

“Long-established totalitarian governments fear any kind of free expression. A sculpture can be a manifesto, a manuscripted adventure can double as a cry for rebellion.”

“I can’t do this by myself. It requires two security codes to access the full system and shut it down.”

“It was exciting and intellectually gratifying to speculate on what might lie waiting in the black gulfs when one was behind the business end of a telescope, quite another to do so isolated on an unpleasant little speck of a world such as this, confronted by a ship of non-human manufacture that uncomfortably resembled a growth instead of a familiar device for manipulating and overcoming the neat laws of physics.”

“Turning the planet into what astrophysicists called a pocket nova.”

“A stability that existed under the Empire, was reduced to anarchy by the Rebellion, was inherited in turn by the so-called Republic, and will be restored by us. Future historians will look upon this as the time when a strong hand brought the rule of law back to civilization.”

“Luke Skywalker? I thought he was just a myth.”

“I don’t get to treat many lightsaber wounds. It’s such an old weapon. People today prefer to fight with rifles and blasters, from long range.” She shrugged. “I suppose it doesn’t matter. Death is death, no matter the mechanism that is employed to beget it.”

“Higher learning does not preclude the presence of lower minds.”

“You smile too much, Rey.”

“Nothing,” declared the first stormtrooper, standing at attention. Poe winked up at the trooper who had used his hands. “Good job.”

“The Ileenium system?”

“Despite the importance of his mission, Poe found himself conflicted. Not only did he respect Lor San Tekka, he liked him. How could he leave him here? “Sir, if you don’t mind, I—” The older man cut him off. “But I do mind, Poe Dameron. You spoke of your mission.” Both his gaze and his tone hardened. “Now fulfill it. Compared to what is stirring in the galaxy, you and I are little more than motes of dust.” Still, Poe demurred. “With all due respect, some motes are of more importance than others…sir.”

“Entering the room, Kylo Ren moved to join them. “Finding the flaw in your training methods won’t help recover the droid.” Although his mask concealed his facial expression, the rage simmering below his calm demeanor was almost palpable. “And yet, there are larger concerns,” Hux insisted. It was evident from both Hux’s tone and body language that he held no love for the newcomer. The feeling was mutual; neither took pains to hide his contempt.”

“she gathered her belongings and headed for the makeshift entrance that led into the belly of the half-destroyed AT-AT walker. It might be an ancient, rotting, rusting example of now useless military might, but to Rey, it was home.”

“There was no reply. That in itself was encouraging. They trudged on, Luke stealing admiring glances at her when she wasn’t looking.”

“She looked up. “Never underestimate a droid, Lieutenant.”

“He worked to pay attention, realizing that the tottering upright stinking blob was speaking. No, he corrected himself resolutely: It was a graceful, fluid biped who was addressing him.”

“Show me, Grandfather, and I will finish what you started.”

“Awkwardly pressed up against him, the Princess seemed to take no notice of their proximity. In the dampness, though, her body heat was near palpable to Luke and he had to force himself to keep his attention on what he was doing.”

“Niima: center of the galaxy, repository of manifold cultures, offering to its myriad inhabitants a never-ending succession of entertainment, education, and enjoyable distractions.”

“Why did you let the alien survive inside Kane?’ The science officer scowled. ‘I’m not sure you’re getting through to me. Nobody “let” anything survive inside anybody. It just happened.”

“You know what I’m talking about. Mother was monitoring his body. You were monitoring Mother.”

“I’m not a hero. I’m not Resistance. I’m a stormtrooper.”

“Standard issue helmets are designed to filter out smoke, not toxins.”

“On the other hand, Andrea had decided last month, on the occasion of her twelfth birthday and for no discernible reason (at least, none that an adult could discern), that from then on her given name would be Fitzwinkle. And then”

“Just stay calm and collected and baffle them with space dust.”

“But ... this will begin to make things right.”