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prolonged period without communication, I dispatched a security detail along with Dr. Kane, in case there was some sort of medical emergency. We figured our sister colony might have lost reactor power or had a disease outbreak or something of the sort. We lost contact with our team also, and haven’t heard anything since.”
    “How long have communications been down? When did you send the team? How many men, and how were they armed?”
    Swanson nodded as if pleased with how quickly Reznik was taking stock of the situation. “They failed to answer our radio calls about two weeks ago. Ten days ago, their supply specialist didn’t show up to trade supplies as he was scheduled to. And five days ago I dispatched our security detail. Eight men like the guards here,” he said, gesturing to the two by the door. “They were wearing their standard equipment and armed with their batons. The team carried Bio-Rad suits in case they were needed. A couple of the officers even carried immobilizers—right, Officer Cole?”
    The larger of the two guards spoke up. “Correct, sir.”
    “What’s an immobilizer?” Reznik asked.
    Swanson gestured to Cole, and the guard answered. “It’s an aluminum tube approximately one meter in length that fires a projectile net that ensnares the target.”
    “And that’s it? They went into a potentially hazardous situation without any type of lethal weapons?”
    “Mr. Reznik, we don’t deal with violence on anything even approaching the level that you are familiar with. My men aren’t trained for that. And besides, these are hardened facilities we are talking about. It would take an organized army to breach one of the Colonies, and I assure you, there is no such force around with that capability or intent. Or so we thought, anyway. So you can probably see why we were a bit unprepared for what happened.”
    “And what happened? What makes you believe that someone with my skills is needed? Maybe they had an accident and their way back got cut off. Like you said, there could have been a disease outbreak or something.”
    “Because of this,” Swanson replied. He pushed a tablet computer across the desk and tapped the side of the unit. A video began to play.
    Reznik watched what looked like the feed from a helmet camera on one of the guards. The group was walking down a long underground tunnel with intermittently spaced lights. When the guard turned his head, Reznik could see how large the tunnel was. You could probably even drive a Humvee through there , he thought.
    A couple of the guards were speculating as to what they thought they would find ahead. An older man with graying hair and a beard walked behind them, carrying a satchel over his shoulder. That would be the doctor, then , he thought. All of them appeared to be oblivious to any possible danger ahead.
    After a couple of uneventful minutes, there was a high-pitched beep from somewhere. The guards stopped in confusion, and then there was an explosion. Anti-personnel mine of some type , Reznik knew. The image turned to static for a minute or so.
    When the video feed cleared again, he could see bodies on the ground amidst the smoke. The guard wearing the camera was down, and his camera was tilted sideways at ground level. He could hear groans and cries of pain, but it was unclear how many were still alive.
    After a few moments, he could hear voices approaching. Footsteps became audible.
    “What have we here?” asked a guttural voice. “Ah, looks like the cavalry has finally come!”
    A booted foot entered the frame, and then the tip of what appeared to be a machete. “No, no! Oh my God! Stop! Who the hell are you?” a voice cried in terror. The foot stepped out of the frame, and Reznik heard the wet thump of a blade chopping into meat. A few beads of blood spattered onto the lens, and he could hear sounds of a struggle off camera.
    Now he could see other figures in the picture as the ambushers moved amongst the party, quickly finishing