Read the following passage and questions, then choose the right answer from options, the answer should be one of A, B, C, D.

<passage>:
settlers. And not for one world, mind you, but eight!" He stared glumly "The situation on Adobe is nearing crisis. The confounded settlers—a Terrestrial settlers out weeks ago, as I suggested. Now it is too late. "I'm supposed to be preventing the war," said Retief. "It looks like I'm a little late." The pilot's head snapped around. "War?" he yelped. "Nobody told me they was a war goin' on on 'Dobe. If that's what that is, I'm gettin' out of here." "Maybe you didn't hear me. I said I've got to get down." The pilot plunged against the restraint, swung a punch that Retief blocked casually. "Are you nuts?" the pilot screeched. "They's plenty shootin' goin' on fer me to see it fifty miles out." "Okay! You're so dead set on gettin' killed, you take the skiff. I'll tell 'em to pick up the remains next trip." heavy old-fashioned power pistol. "Long as you're goin' in, might as well take this." manual controls. He was dropping rapidly: forty miles, thirty-nine.... A crimson blip showed on the screen, moving out. Retief felt sweat pop out on his forehead. The red blip meant heavy radiation from a warhead. Somebody was playing around with an outlawed more than 1000 yards. At a combined speed of two miles per second, the skiff flashed past the missile, and Retief was slammed violently against the restraining harness in the concussion of the explosion ... a mile astern, and harmless. screen flashed brilliant white, then went dark. The skiff flipped on its back. Smoke filled the tiny compartment. There was a series of shocks, a final bone-shaking concussion, then stillness, broken by the ping of hot metal contracting. of shattered foliage, got to his feet ... and dropped flat as a bullet whined past his ear. He lay listening. Stealthy movements were audible from the left. A stocky man in grimy leather shirt and shorts appeared, moving cautiously, a pistol in his hand. As he passed, Retief rose, leaped the log and tackled him. They went down together. The stranger gave one short yell, then struggled in silence. Retief flipped him onto his back, raised a fist— "Hey!" the settler yelled. "You're as human as I am!" looks just like 'em. I took a shot when I saw something move. Didn't know it was a Terrestrial. Who are you? What you doin' lay. "I'm glad you're a poor shot. That missile was too close for comfort." "Missile, eh? Must be Flap-jack artillery. We got nothing like that." "I heard there was a full-fledged war brewing," said Retief. "I didn't expect—" "Yes. I'm—" "Hey, you must be Lemuel's cousin. Good night! I pretty near made a bad revolvers belted across his paunch. "We can use every hand. We're in bad shape. We ran into the Flap-jacks three months ago and we haven't made a smart move since. First, we thought they were a native form we hadn't run into before. Fact is, one of the boys shot one, thinkin' it was fair game. I guess that was the start of it." He stirred the fire, added a stick. "And then a bunch of 'em hit Swazey's farm here," Potter said. "Killed two of his cattle, and pulled back." "I figure they thought the cows were people," said Swazey. "They were out for revenge." "How could anybody think a cow was folks?" another man put in. "They don't look nothin' like—" Potter? Got four." "They walked right up to my place a couple days after the first time," Swazey said. "We were ready for 'em. Peppered 'em good. They cut and run." "Flopped, you mean. Ugliest lookin' critters you ever saw. Look just "It's been goin' on this way ever since. They raid and then we raid. But lately they've been bringing some big stuff into it. They've got some kind of pint-sized airships and automatic rifles. We've lost four men now and a dozen more in the freezer, waiting for the med ship. We can't afford it. The colony's got less than three hundred able-bodied men." hundred others we haven't touched yet. The Flap-jacks won't get 'em while there's a man alive." against his fringed buckskins. Retief's left fist shot out, smacked Lemuel's face dead center. He stumbled back, blood starting from his nose the pistol fired into the dirt as he dropped it. He caught himself, jumped for Retief ... and met a straight right that snapped him onto his back: out cold. With a swift lunge he seized up the bucket of drinking water, dashed it over the fire, threw himself flat. He heard the others hit the dirt a split second behind him. "You move fast for a city man," breathed Swazey beside him. "You see pretty good too. We'll split and take 'em from two sides. You and Bert from the left, me and Potter from the right." "No," said Retief. "You wait here. I'm going out alone." came in all sizes. A low rumble sounded, like a deep-throated growl. It strummed on, faded bit of activity for you. We've ordered out our heavier equipment and a few trained skirmishers and soon we'll be able to give you an adequate show. Or so I hope." "Additional skirmishers?" said Retief. "How many, if you don't mind my asking?" "For the moment, perhaps only a few hundred. There-after ... well, use of a weapon by one of your units." "My apologies," said Retief. "The—ah—the skirmishform failed to recognize that he was dealing with a sportsman." you won't take this personally, but the fact is, our skirmishforms specific life-forms." "Oh? Curious. What forms are those?" "Vermin. Or 'varmints' as some call them. Deadly antagonists, but lacking in caste. I don't want our skirmishforms thinking of such worthy adversaries as yourself as varmints." scratchily. "Imagine considering us as—what was the word?—varmints." "Which brings us to the crux of the matter. You see, we're up against a serious problem with regard to skirmishforms. A low birth rate. Therefore we've reluctantly taken to substitutes for the mass actions two individuals settle the issue between them." "I ... um ... fear I don't understand. What possible significance could one attach to the activities of a couple of random skirmishforms?" "I haven't made myself clear," said Retief. He took a sip of wine. "We don't involve the skirmishforms at all. That's quite passe." "You don't mean...?" "That's right. You and me." distance." "I suggest we use Tennessee rules," said Retief. "They're very liberal. Biting, gouging, stomping, kneeing and of course choking, as well as the usual punching, shoving and kicking." "Hmmm. These gambits seem geared to forms employing rigid weight. Nothing budged. It was like burial under a dump-truck-load of concrete. He remembered the rangerform he had captured. The sensitive orifice "May hide-ticks devour the gougerforms!" Hoshick bellowed. "You've without end. I am shamed before you...."

<question>:
How many casualties have the colonists suffered so far?

<options>:
A The only casualties so far are Swazey's two cows.
B 300 killed or wounded.
C 4 killed and 12 wounded.
D 16 killed.

<answer>:

C