It was a beautiful day for a run. Sunny. A whispy cloud deck and the random puff of a breeze cooled Althea's exposed skin while she jogged. The atmosphere on this world was so very much like old Earth's. Unfortunately, the biodiversity was too low and the colonists hadn't been able to make it a viable world. Planets get that way when their parent stars pass into the final stages of their lives. They still refused the resettlement orders. Was dirt farming of moss, lichens and a few hardy grasses really a better choice than starting again on a new planet? The last holdouts had holed up in their "city": really just a powerplant amid the remnants of an alien civilization's stone walls. The original stonemasons had gone extinct when humans were still figuring out the best way to kill a mastadon. She didn't wonder why the Sol Alliance had sent her in to cleanse the colony. "Pick up the pace, lady!" The voice of her handler, Harrak, came from 2 kems back. Althea glanced back and triggered the magnification zoom in her enhanced irises. She could easily make out the clanking telepresence robot plodding along as it followed her. Harrak himself was 100 km away, safely esconsed in the lander. "And try to get your excitement levels up. I'd rather not prime your enhancements artificially on this test." "Oh-- go chase your tail, Harrack! I'm fine. How close did you say I was?" "Less than a hundred emms now. The gnat-drones have flagged two sentries near the entrance and a trio in hiding only 3 emms to the south of the gate. Confirming... all have body armor." "Won't help. Arms?" "Two pulse rifles. The rest have side arms. The best of it is decades out of date." "Can I use what I take from them?" "Orders are that you're to neutralize all parties with nothing but your body. No firearms allowed." "And what's the record time for a similar operation?" "I had an asset take out 18 rebels in 57 decichrons just last week. I'm betting you can do this lot in 48!" Althea replied, "Forty, or I'm buying beers," as she stepped into a brief jog. She leapt the final 10 meters, surprising the five guards. Her upgraded biochemistry kicked in, slicing time at a resolution 5 times better than any other human. She killed the first guard by smashing her left forearm into his throat. Before he could begin to gasp, his trachea was pulverized. She twisted to her right and flattened another sentry with a side kick that dented the dusty old armor he'd somehow procured. He hit the stone wall behind him with enough force that Althea heard his spine snapping. The first of the hidden guards reacted, just a twitch, but Althea was a blur. Her front kick landed in the small of the middle woman's back. Althea put both hands on the rebel's shoulders and vaulted over the heads of the other guards. A twist in mid-air brought her face to face with the rebels. They hadn't yet had time to lift their weapons. Althea dropped to a low stance. A sweep kick upended the rebel to her left. Before that guard hit the ground, Althea pulled a knife from the scabbard on the waist of the rebel on the right. She spun and kicked the falling guard in the side. The woman cartwheeled in mid-air, her neck snapping when she landed, head and shoulders twisted at an impossible angle against the stone roadway. Althea cracked the hard composite materials of the final guard's helmet with the pommel of the stolen knife. She finished her with a punch to the throat. Althea checked her mission timer. Not bad, she thought, only 7 decichrons so far. There might even be enough time for wisecracking. Tactical data beamed directly into her visual cortex and alerted her to movement in the shadows to her right.