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!

Oblivious to the chaos outside the ship, Amelia finds herself in the galley wondering what all the noises are.  She sneaks a bite of pineapple before heading back to the infirmary to see Vera.

But that last second bite causes a fateful delay! The Jairian breacher attaches itself to the hull just outside the galley and cuts through the metal plating! The circular hatch created is flung inward explosively, and Amelia whacks her head on a cupboard trying to get out of the way!

The Jairian boarding party rushes into the ship, and poor Amelia is out cold on the floor!

In the Kodiak medical bay, Amelia is visiting Vera, and recounting the stories Zik told her during their flight. She’s never lived anywhere but the desert prison planet, so his description of living on an island was especially exotic for her!

When Amelia mentions that Zik’s father is a pineapple farmer, Vera leans back, remembering her youth before Queen Elcyra. She hasn’t tasted pineapple in decades!

Amelia excitedly tells her that there are some pineapples in the galley. She runs out to get some, promising to continue with another of Zik’s stories.

Vera chuckles to herself, amused at how Amelia is totally unaware that she’s glowing.

WELCOME TO EPISODE 3! Brawl In The Void is going to be an intense episode, so strap yourselves in!

Zik space-walks over to the Kodiak to help investigate the Clonoid stuck to its hull.

They scan it and determine that it’s dead, but still transmitting a signal to the Clonoid central computer. That means Queen Elcyra used her hapless drone as a tracking device!

James Anchor gives the order to float the Clonoid behind the main engines. A curious Trent is informed that once then engines are lit up, the Clonoid will be atomized!

Zik and Amelia rejoin the Kodiak, and they all set off again for the convoy that the Kodiak is supposed to be protecting.

And that’s a wrap for Episode 2 of Defender Zik! I hope you enjoyed these tales from your favorite hero’s past! Next week, we start the exciting Episode 3, where we rejoin the convoy only to find Ramesh… well… no spoilers!

The Epilogue of Forging The Defender begins! We have one loose end to tie up before the next exciting episode!

Tactical Officer Emma has discovered the Clonoid that evil Queen Elcyra has fastened to the hull of the Kodiak during their brief encounter. Captain James Anchor orders a full stop so that they can deal with the situation.

Zik and Amelia, once notified, circle back in their ship to help out.

Emma explains what she’s discovered to Captain Anchor, and Zik, listening in, is able to spot the Clonoid attached to one of the struts holding the bridge.

Captain Anchor informs Zik that they will be sending some crew members out to get the Clonoid off the hull, and Zik offers to help!

As they travel back to Zoz, Zik wraps up the story of how he met his ex-girlfriend Haven. Amelia is curious though: why is Zik no longer dating Haven if they got along so well? Zik explains that it’s because he and Haven live in different worlds; she spends her time under the waves researching, he feels more at home travelling the stars. Their day-to-day experiences couldn’t be more different!

Amelia tells Zik not to worry. He’ll find someone who shares his love of flying! Hm, I wonder if that reminds us of anyone?

So ends the third and final part of Forging The Defender! It was fun spending a bit of time on Zoz, and exploring the Zozian civilization a bit. I hope you enjoyed the trip down memory lane! We’ve got a bit of an epilogue coming up next, and then the gripping action of- well, no spoilers!

Back in space, Amelia notices something wrong with what Zik has just told her. Haven’s comment belies the fact that she hadn’t heard of the “famous” Zik! But Zik explains that Haven gets so absorbed with her work underwater that she barely notices that the rest of the universe exists. She was only barely aware that Zik had saved her life once before during the incident with the asteroid!

Zik continues his story. The underwater lab is starting to buckle under the weight of all the rocks that have fallen on it. Haven wants to leave using the submersible she usually uses to get to the lab, but Zik informs her that the bay doors are blocked by debris! There isn’t time to clear it all away before the lab collapses!

A frustrated Haven begins stripping off her clothes in preparation to swim to the surface. She gathers some necessities: a waterproof bag filled with her all-important research data, some emergency balloons designed to allow someone to be lifted rapidly to the surface, and a device that emits EM waves designed to repel sharks. Zik is a little surprised to hear about the sharks!

Outside the lab, Haven starts to play with the EM shark repeller, but she can’t remember how to activate it. Zik notices that it’s too late to get it going; a shark has arrived, and it’s noticed them! Uh oh!

Amelia is curious about the type of girl Zik likes to date, so Zik starts telling his next tale! The last lady he dated was Haven LeClaire, a marine biologist.  She had an underwater lab near Zik’s island home on Zoz, where she was researching dolphin and whale communications. On the day they met, Haven had just made a breakthrough: she had learned how to communicate with dolphins! She was also close to discovering how to communicate with humpback whales, and there was a lot of activity around her lab. The ocean was crowded!