A large raiding fleet of Jairians is approaching the cargo convoy!  The Kodiak is finally in communications range, and James Anchor broadcasts an ultimatum: leave the convoy alone or face the consequences!

Rachelle, the Jairian fleet coordinator recognizes James’ last name. She tries to scare him off with an ultimatum of her own.

But James Anchor is a stalwart guardian! He gives the Jairians a final warning and then issues orders to prepare for battle!

The Jairians approach the convoy… will the Kodiak make it in time to save them?

Zik is in the secondary hanger with some of the engineering staff of the Kodiak, working the kinks out of his newly repaired ship. The team solves the plasma imbalance problem Zik detected during his training flight with Amelia.

As they wrap up the repairs, the red alert alarm sounds for the third time in the past couple of days. As Leslie gripes, Zik decides to head up to the bridge.

Up on the bridge, Captain James Anchor gets a status report from Tactical Officer Emma. The ship is closing in on the convoy they were protecting when they left to rescue Zik, but Emma has seen another fleet on the scanners. It’s a Jairian raiding party!

A furious James Anchor can’t understand how the Jairians could have already found out that the convoy was unprotected.

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!

Zik wraps up the story of the attack of the space commies! Amelia has decided to make herself comfortable, pulling her chair right up to Zik’s and using your favorite space hero as a couch. He doesn’t seem to mind too much.

Meanwhile, over on the Kodiak, James has brought Trent Quickdraw onto the bridge to show him some of the features of Trent’s new battle armor. The visor has a bunch of cameras on it, one of which will allow Trent to see through walls! There’s a limited range, and he can’t see too much detail, but he can see enough… Enough to see that Zik and Amelia are a little closer than he’s comfortable with! While Jason may be jealous of the cool view settings in Trent’s armor, Trent is preoccupied with what he sees on board Zik’s ship!

So ends part two of Forging The Defender! There’s one more part to go, where Zik describes where the “Gallant” part of his name comes from. Tune in next week for that!

Captain James Anchor is on his way back to the bridge of the Kodiak with a fresh coffee. On his way, he stops by the medical bay to check up on Vera. Fiona has stabilized the sleeping Vera, and is confident that her lung cancer can be cured. James also asks for a status update on the blood tests that Fiona has done on all three of the Zernabian passengers. Sure enough, the divergence of the Zozians from the rest of the human species over the last thousand years has resulted in some new pathogens and viruses for which the Zozians have no immunity.  Fiona is working on it, though, and it won’t be long before she can create a vaccine!

Next, James Anchor stops by the hangar bay, where an off-duty Jason is teaching Trent more about how to use firearms. This time he’s holding it safely! Not with his finger on the trigger like before! Although, in Trent’s defense, he had never held a gun before and there wasn’t time during the riot to teach him properly. But that’s being remedied by Jason now! Jason is just as impressed at Trent’s innate shooting accuracy as Zik was.

Meanwhile, Emma is busy sifting through the battle data from their encounter with Queen Elcyra. She seems to be onto something unusual, but what could it be?

So ends Part 1 of Forging The Defender! We’ll dive straight into part 2 next week! See you then!

Your favorite space hero Zik pauses in his narrative of the tale of the spinning asteroid because this part of the story reminds him of a song. He’s twisting, turning through space trying to land on an asteroid, and the lyrics to an Old Earth song by Metallica fit quite nicely! He sets the ship on autopilot and loads up the tune so that Amelia can hear it.

For those curious, here’s the song:

Meanwhile, on the Kodiak, James Anchor is on the bridge watching Amelia’s flying lessons with amusement. She certainly seems to be having fun out there! Gerald, currently at the helm, agrees.

Tactical officer Emma has been busy analyzing the recent battle with Queen Elcyra in the hopes of discovering all she can about Zernabian technology. She gives Captain Anchor an update, and he asks her to focus on the torpedoes for now. It’s very odd that guided torpedoes could miss the only target in the area, and James wants to know why.

But first, he needs coffee! Incidentally, coffee is a great beverage to enjoy awesome space adventure comics with! Grab a cup with me! Mmmmm, that’s good stuff.

Zik turns to James Anchor and thanks him again for arriving in the nick of time. Our heroes seem to have gotten away! But Zik thinks it may have been too easy. Think about it: Queen Elcyra wasn’t aiming her torpedoes properly, and she all but ceased fire right after the Kodiak landed its first shot. Zik thinks she let them go! But why?

Meanwhile, Trent and Amelia have arrived on the bridge in their new space suits! This will keep them much safer while traveling in the dangerous environment of space! (Seriously, why the heck do people on Star Trek wear pajamas to work?)

And, clinging to the hull, deader than a doornail, is the clonoid that Queen Elcyra planted on the hull of the Kodiak…

WOW! It’s the end of the first chapter of Zik, The Gallant Defender of Zoz! Prison Planet has been quite an epic tale, clocking in at 147 pages! I’d like to take a moment to thank the people who have supported me in getting here, especially Adam Black and Raven Perez for their art and story-writing advice. These guys are great coaches! Also, all the great readers who have been tuning in every week to see the continuing adventures of their favorite space hero, and especially the awesome site members who have signed up to get the extras. And lastly, my awesome family for being supportive as I spend countless hours drawing and drawing and drawing. Thanks!

Episode 2 starts very shortly! Next week I will be featuring some amazing fan art that up until now has only been available for site members. The week after that, a whole new Zik adventure begins, along with a major shift! Stay tuned, you’ll be blown away!

Zik has gotten a direct hit on Queen Elcyra’s massive ship! James Anchor notices that it’s had the desired effect: the rate of fire from Queen Elcyra’s ship has dropped off dramatically! That means it’s time to get the heck out of here, and he gives that order to the helmsman Gerald. James also gives Zik the green light to cover their escape with a few more rounds from the Kodiak’s howitzers! Boom! How do you like that, you tyrant?! Elcyra’s ship is now leaking air from three big holes!

The Kodiak fires its cannons in point defense mode and destroys the torpedoes as they approach, but there are so many of them!

Tactical officer Emma notices that not all the torpedoes are aimed accurately, as if Elcyra is shooting from the hip! James Anchor orders her to flag the torpedoes that are a threat in the targeting computer so that weapons officer Jason knows which torpedoes to prioritize. He then gives the order to return fire with the main guns!

Zik takes a seat at an auxiliary station and offers to man the howitzers so that Jason can concentrate on the cloud of incoming torpedoes. He fires the massive front howitzer! James Anchor orders the Chadee fighter pilots to stay in their hangar bay, but to be ready to launch – escape is their objective, not destruction!

Meanwhile, Fiona has found a space suit for both Trent and Amelia, and helps them to learn how to put them on properly. If a torpedo gets through the defenses and hits the ship, you definitely want a space suit on!

Zik’s howitzer shot is a direct hit on the hull of Elcyra’s massive capital ship! Will our heroes make good their escape?