"Eh?" Ratchet was caught off guard by what seemed to him to be a random statement, and with a great effort kept himself from calling Carter on it. It would only make things worse.

The group Carter described, as well as their methods, were familiar enough. Both sides had tortured for information during the War; Ratchet had the feeling the Elite Guard were still capable of throwing basic ethics to the side when they thought they had reason to. "I've found over the stellar cycles that people like that generally get what's coming to them," he said, about as comforting as he was capable of being. "Even if it usually takes a long time." Too long, in some cases.