Defender Zik calls for his crew to cease fire, recognizing Morren’s voice.  He asks how in the world Morren could have survived their last encounter, which ended with Morren getting spaced with a broken visor! As it turns out, Jairian trooper uniforms have redundant visors for just such an emergency.

Morren sets out the situation for the Temerity team: he intends to kill them all! But to make it interesting, he’s placed the ZEMM flight crew at the top of the crater’s central peak, and he challenges Zik to try and make it to the top. He promises to free the hostages if Zik makes it.

An understandably skeptical Tanaka objects, saying that they can’t trust Morren to keep his word. But Morren doesn’t care, he holds all the cards! The hostages can just be eliminated right away. Zik hastily agrees to play Morren’s game, if only to buy the hostages more time.

A discussion has begun with the alien crystal on planet Hypnos! Defender Zik begins to interact with the crystal, who is picking up English very quickly.  It already understands that meteorites are common, which is why it took up residence in the cave, and it offers to have the crew of the Temerity join it in there to stay safe from the impending strike.

Zik says that they can’t afford to get stuck in the cave if there’s a direct hit (not to mention that the ship would never fit in there). When Zik explains that they live on another planet far away, the alien crystal already seems familiar with the concept! A shocked Francisco realizes the huge implications that there is yet another species of aliens out there – humans are not alone in this galaxy!

The crystal is adamant that it no longer wishes to be all alone in the cave, and it awkwardly asks to come with them.  Zik agrees, and the Temerity lands to pick up its newest passenger!

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…