Our intrepid space hero Defender Zik has apologized for getting his old friend James Anchor into a bit of a mess with a prison-rescue side-quest that turned into a huge space battle. But James isn’t too mad about his capital ship the Kodiak getting bloodied in the fighting. After all, getting into space battles and blowing up bad guys is the whole reason Captain Anchor and his crew are in the security industry!

But Zik has larger ideas: the Jairians, who attacked with a much larger fleet than the Zozians usually face, as well as Queen Elcyra and her hostile Zernabian Clonoids, both present a new and larger threat to peace on Zoz! To counter this new set of threats, Zik proposes that Captain Anchor expands his operation – instead of merely repairing the Kodiak, he should expand his capabilities to offer planetary-scale security!  To James Anchor, the opportunity to use bigger ships with bigger guns and take on bigger missions sounds like a dream come true.  In the face of such adversity, they have to think bigger to meet the challenge!

But then Zik’s colony computer, Zoot, interrupts with an important message.  He has decoded a message in the cryptic statement made by the Jairian fleet coordinator, Rachelle! The message, delivered in anagram form with some knuckle-tapping to indicate the order of the words, reveals that not only is James’ long-lost uncle still alive, but that Rachelle herself has taken the same last name, implying marriage! This is a shocking revelation to James, who is left speechless!

Who is the uncle of James Anchor? How did he meet this strange destiny? Find out in a future episode of Defender Zik!

Next: a brief epilogue!

Not long afterwards, Rachelle the Jairian Fleet Coordinator calls for a stand-down of the remaining Jairian troopers and snub-fighters.  They have surrendered! Defender Zik and the crew of the Kodiak have won a hard-fought battle against a huge Jairian fleet and boarding party!

During the prisoner transfer negotiations, Captain James Anchor thanks Rachelle for calling for a cease-fire. He gives her an update on the status of the survivors and assures her that they will be returned safely.

Rachelle is a little concerned when she learns that some of her troopers hare returning in pieces, not all of which are accounted for with certainty! James explains that several troopers wandered into a Chadee barracks, and they didn’t last long against the legendary battle-fury of the Chadee!   Muttering a barely-intelligible curse in reply, Rachelle seems beyond furious, and soon signs off.

As they follow the remaining troops to oversee the transfer, James grumbles about how much of a mess the Jairians have made of the Kodiak. He tells Zik that he’s pretty sure the insurance will consider the mighty vessel a write-off!  Considering the Jairians blew up one of the two huge howitzers, and the giant hole Trent blew into the hull in the galley, he’s probably correct!

Zik, ever the gallant hero, offers to make it up to his longtime friend…

Defender Zik finishes plugging the giant hole in the hull of the Kodiak by filling in the gaps between the tables with the Hull Putty™ compound.  A curious Amelia asks about the Putty, and follows it up with a pointed question about how many times she’ll have to see Zik nearly die trying to save the day.  Zik assures her that there’ll be just one more time.

Amelia observes that Zik really handed Morren’s butt to him during their fight.  Zik assures her that the villain is probably dead by now, because of the broken visor.  A crack like that isn’t going to be easily reparable in the limited time someone has to live after getting spaced!

Stopping Zik from walking for a moment, Amelia lets him know how much she appreciates Zik jumping to her aid and beating back the murderous Morren.  She was off to a great start with that fork, though! I bet she could’ve taken him.

The tender moment causes Zik to remind himself to keep it cool. As much as Amelia makes his heart race when she looks at him like that, Zik remembers the promise he made to Trent to not pursue her. Still, it couldn’t hurt to enjoy the moment, right? It’s so easy to get lost in those beautiful eyes…

Thinking quickly, Zik dons his breather mask and turns back to the ship.  The force of the wind could easily blow him too far away to get back on board in time, so he hustles to deploy his EVR system.

Back on board, he sees that Amelia is stuck in the doorway, holding on for dear life! Morren broke off her breather, so if she gets spaced, she’s a goner!  Zik plugs the giant hole with the only thing at hand – two tables!

As the wind diminishes, Amelia regains her footing.  Zik asks her to hand him the Hull Putty™ canister so he can plug the remaining holes between the tables.  Amelia, like Trent, has never been in space before, and this kind of battle is all new to her, so she’s understandably confused as to why there was a sudden explosion.  Zik deduces that someone blew up the Jairian Hull Breacher vessel that was attached and plugging the hole with its breaching dock, and he guesses that a rookie mistake like that is sure to anger his buddy Captain James Anchor!

Trent Quickdraw has lived up to his name! As he fires on the Jairian breacher ship attached to the Kodiak, there’s a huge explosion! Defender Zik and Morren, in the galley right next to the breacher, are blown off their feet!

Worse still, that breacher was the only thing plugging the hole in the Kodiak’s hull that it made when it attached itself! Zik and Morren are quickly blown into space, and both of them forget their battle in a desperate scramble to fix their face masks.

Inside, at the doorway of the galley, Amelia grabs on for dear life as the air swoops out of the giant hole in the hull!

In the galley, Defender Zik lands a solid blow with his club, shattering the visor of Morren’s helmet! Someone’s in trouble if he gets spaced!

Meanwhile, on the bridge, a confident Trent is running out of targets for the Kodiak’s cannons. Between the Chadee snub fighters and his efforts, they’ve eliminated almost all of the Jairian fighters! He turns his attention to the Jairian breacher ship, attached like a lamprey to the side of the Kodiak. With the right angle, maybe he can blow it right off the hull…

In the breacher, the copilot is alarmed at the fact that all the boarding parties seem to be disappearing on him. But the pilot is even more alarmed to see one of the Kodiak’s cannons swing towards them.

At the last moment, both the Jairian pilot and Gerald realize what’s about to happen, but their cries go unheeded as Trent mashes the fire button!  What’s the big deal?! Find out next page!

The gallant Defender Zik and the malodorous Morren Mallor are duking it out in the mess hall of the Kodiak! As a dazed Amelia watches from the doorway, your favorite space hero fends off Morren’s knife attacks and swings back with the club he found! Who will prevail?!

Defender Zik helps a shocked Amelia to her feet. The vile Jairian thug Morren has just assaulted her! But as Zik helps her to the infirmary, he hears a groan from the mess hall — Morren is already getting back to his feet! Realizing that the thug must be on performance enhancing drugs, Zik turns back, and recognizes Amelia’s assailant!

It’s the same Morren from Zik’s first encounter with the Jairians, during the incident at Baker Mine. Morren reveals that among the Jairians, Zik is hated, and referred to as the Butcher of Baker Mine! Donning his helmet, Morren vows revenge!

The vile Jairian invader Morren Mallor continues his sexual assault on Amelia, who fights back as well as she’s able to after regaining consciousness.  She desperately reaches around for something to use as a weapon – and finds her fork!

Scooping up the fork, she lunges at Morren’s face. Her fork finds its mark in Morren’s eye! He howls in pain!

Just then, Zik walks into the mess hall and sees that a Jairian is attacking Amelia.  The club he picked up from the last Jairians he encountered comes in handy, and he gives Morren a mighty wallop in the back of the head!

In the galley of the Kodiak, Amelia regains consciousness after hitting her head. But the Jairian in the hall junction outside heard her!

The Jairian investigates – and likes what he sees! He removes his mask, revealing himself to be Morren Mallor! This is the same Jairian that led the attack on Baker Mine!

Morren explains that him and his comrades do whatever they want, and he wants Amelia! He starts to tear at Amelia’s clothing, and she cries out…

…a cry heard by a nearby Zik!