An interplanetary holo-alert broadcasted:

"I'm Sarah Mitchell with breaking news. We've received reports of vaporizer activity on both Titan and Moon colonies. They're wiping everyone out! … My family!" She broke down into tears.

"It's okay, Sarah, I'll take over," said a male colleague.

The broadcast temporarily faded and returned.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm Robert Smith sitting in for Sarah Mitchell. I have with me retired General Andrew Shultz."

"Thank you for having me, Robert."

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"General, in your book, 'Vaporizers in the Wrong Hands,' you warned that the Interplanetary Security Council should not immediately try to topple the Martian dictatorship, but instead encourage an overwhelming migration of well-educated people from the free colonies to liberate and maintain order."

"Yes, Robert, that's correct. Only a few of the superpower colonies in the solar system have manufactured vaporizers. But, as I feared, once they removed the Martian dictatorship, the Interplanetary United Freedom Core didn't bother to clean up the mess."

"That mess being, General?"

"To put it simply, Robert, they were so eager to overthrow the Martian regime they hadn't considered the dismantling, reverse engineering, and rebuilding of vaporizer cores for the black market."

"Do you mean vaporizers are in the hands of … ?"

"That's correct, Robert. Space Pirates have full access to vaporizers, and there's nothing we can do to stop them. Under the ruthless Martian government, they were inventoried, maintained, and controlled, as terrible as it was. God help us all!"