A mighty brawl erupts in the jungle, as the gorillaurs attack Defender Zik and his Chadee pal Tanaka! As the huge male takes a swipe at Zik, a female sneaks up on Tanaka, who is drawing his pistol.  She grabs Tanaka from behind in a half-Nelson, forcing him to drop the gun!

Zik and the huge male square off, but it goes about as badly for Zik as you might expect. With his suit integrity beginning to decline, Zik also whips out his pistol and aims at the male. However, the female has Tanaka in a death grip! One false move, and Tanaka gets a dirt nap!

Surrendering his gun, Zik pleads for his good friend’s life. They’re captives of these enormous, mysterious creatures!

As they continue to walk into the jungle, Zik and Tanaka, unaware that they’re being stalked, talk about how to handle Tanaka’s predicament as a Ronin Chadee. Zik suggests that Tanaka could ride with his crew on the Temerity, which Tanaka seems open to.

Meanwhile, Zik’s helmet visor scanners are going crazy. There’s so many life forms that it’s unable to separate one from the other and form an analysis. Or is it because it’s encountering something it’s never scanned before? Something large, and not in the database?

Suddenly, a GORILLA CENTAUR jumps out of the dense brush and attacks!!

Taking charge, Defender Zik decides the strange gravity shift and animal noises need to be investigated.  He puts Ryan in charge of the landing zone, and gets the young Matthew to be his official helper. Ryan is to call for help for the stranded family, and hang tight until it arrives.

Then, Zik and Tanaka head into the jungle in the direction of the sounds they heard. Zik asks if Tanaka has any theories about what just happened, but neither of them understand what they experienced.  Gravity shifts that strong shouldn’t happen, especially deep within the gravity well of a planet!

To lighten the mood, Zik brings up the great prank that Tanaka pulled on Ryan earlier. Tanaka chuckles, remarking that it’s good to remind cargo haulers what real flying looks like from time to time! Zik mentions that it’s good to see Tanaka smiling again, but Tanaka admits to his good friend that being happy when you’ve lost your whole clan feels sort of impossible.

Now that everyone’s safely on the ground, Defender Zik inquires as to why the skycar was on fire. The driver isn’t sure, she just had an inertia warning, everything spun around, and the engine caught fire.  Before Zik can investigate further, however, something causes all of them to fall off their feet! There’s a loud humming sound and everyone’s thrown to the ground!

As they recover, an eerie and enigmatic ROAR comes from the jungle beyond the beach. Defender Zik intuits that something strange is afoot on this tropical island!

In the midst of the mirth aboard the shuttle craft, Ryan detects an SOS — someone’s in trouble! The crew is nearby, so Defender Zik takes charge and they sail in to the rescue!

The troubled craft turns out to be a skycar with a burning engine. As Tanaka approaches and Ryan reassures the driver, Zik leaps out of the back of the shuttle, engaging his jetpack! He lands on the side of the skycar, rips out the rescue panel and leans inside.  A child gazes in amazement at the sight of Zoz’s favorite space hero, but his terrified mother is doing all she can to keep them aloft! She yells at Zik to take the child first, which Zik agrees to do.. but can he save the mother as well?!

The hangar bays doors of Bastion Station open, and the new shuttle craft is launched! All systems are in the green, and Defender Zik and crew head down to the atmosphere of planet Zoz to conduct their atmospheric flight test.

As Zik hands over the scanner controls to young co-pilot Ryan, a mischievous grin creeps over Tanaka’s face. While Ryan is in mid-sentence, Tanaka suddenly jerks the craft into a precipitous drop followed by a tight loop back to level. A terrified Ryan cries out that Tanaka should have warned them, but where’s the fun in that?!

In the hangar control room for Bastion Station, Defender Zik and Dakaasin go over the characteristics of the shuttle prototype while they wait for Tanaka. It’s a candidate for an upgraded shuttle for both Kodiak Planetary Security  and Zik Enterprises Merchant Marines (ZEMM), and it’s been created to be heavily modular at the request of James Anchor. The ship can be quickly converted to serve many functions, from cargo and crew transport, to search and rescue, and can even be outfitted for combat situations.

Tanaka arrives and wants to know if this is a live fire exercise. Dakaasin lets him know that they’re only doing an atmospheric flight test, with the modular repulsor wing arrays attached. As they enter the hangar, she explains that the extra-large repulsors are for rescue or escort missions where a larger bubble of debris repulsion is required. When a ship is in trouble in space, there’s often a lot of debris zipping around that needs to be brushed away!

They arrive at the shuttle to find Miki, Ryan and Sten, who’s doing some calibrations. Mikigaazo, as an alien new to the human world, has more questions than can be handled by an exacerbated Sten. Everything’s ready to go, so it’s time to get this test underway!

Not long after the adventure at Planet Hypnos, Bastion Station is alive with activity. It’s always a busy place, but Tanaka, visiting the station, has taken a moment to have a talk with Mizhakwan. She’s been concerned for his wellbeing after the explosion that wiped out the Kodiak Chadee clan, and Tanaka is opening up about his grief and his sense that he no longer has a purpose. As Shogun of the Kodiak Chadee, he was respected and had the duty to safeguard his family. Now that they’re all gone, he feels lost in failure. He describes himself as Ronin.

Mizhakwan suggests that perhaps founding a new family, or carrying on by founding a new clan might help, but Tanaka doesn’t see that as a path for him. He finds himself just watching other people as opposed to taking action himself. He says that nothing is worth doing, which alarms Mizhakwan. She cautions him against the dark path of nihilism, which can only obliterate the soul. In stead, she suggests the happiness of pursuit; Tanaka should find a way to help someone close to him, even in a small way. That will help him find his emotional footing again.

Just then, Zik sends Tanaka a message about being ready for him to come to the hangar. Mizhakwan suggests that this is a great opportunity to try finding joy in helping. Tanaka is skeptical, since he’s really just here for work, but Mizhakwan insists that he can find purpose and joy in the act of helping his friends.

WELCOME BACK, DEFENDERS! After a short break to get things prepared, we’re in full swing on production for Episode 5: Endarkenment! Sorry for the grim opening, but it gets lighter very quickly! I promise to give you a LOL on the next page to make up for it. Speaking of the next page, I’m going to get to it right away! See you soon!

A week after the dramatic rescue of the living crystal from planet Hypnos, a lot has transpired! News of the newly discovered alien species has Zozian society awestruck. The people on the planet have prepared their immune systems, and it’s now safe for the Zernabians to come out of quarantine, but the new debate is where to house this new alien… or is it even alive? As the debate rages as to whether a crystal can be alive, a decision is made to grant the crystal a local moon to call home. There is a moon of one of the local gas giants called Aletha which offers a very similar environment to what Hypnos was like before the cataclysm that made the crystal homeless, and the decision is made to allow it to call Aletha home.

Mizhakwan has been interacting with the crystal intensely during the week, and has helped it to pick out a name for itself. Mikigaazo, which means “he is found (by them)”, is the name it chooses, although everyone immediately shortens it to Miki.  Todd has the bright idea that Miki should have a humanoid robot to control, so that it can more easily interact with humans, and he and Dakaasin whip up the Mikibot 1.0 platform for it to try out.

With all this out of the way, it’s finally time to introduce the Zernabians and Miki to the planet Zoz! Zik quickly organizes a big party at his father’s house on Talia Island, inviting Francisco’s band Anaconda to play. During the concert, Vera and Tanaka hang out by the fire with Dr. Taylor, as they’re still recovering from their medical ordeals. Tanaka, sporting a new cybernetic arm, strikes up a conversation with Windrunner, a champion Coup player. Another Coup player, Heavy Club, invites Vera to come to the potlatch he is holding soon to celebrate the wedding of his daughter.

Meanwhile, Zik is helping Miki calibrate the Mikibot by teaching him to dance, the awkwardness of which sends Amelia and Trent into gales of laughter. Seeing them laughing and enjoying themselves is a welcome relief for Dr. Taylor, who’s been worried about them.  He remarks to Vera that the two Zernabians seem to have a good chemistry together, which reminds Vera to ask him a question…

Crank the volume!! The song being performed by Anaconda is Panama by an old Earth band called Van Halen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuKDBPw8wQA

That’s a wrap for Episode 4: The Hypnos Hiatus, my dear Defenders! I will be taking a small break as I prepare for Episode 5: Endarkenment! See you soon, and Happy New Year!!

There’s been a mighty explosion just outside the Sendlinger Hill Pub! The whole front wall has been blown in, and poor Tanaka has been knocked nearly senseless to the ground!

As the building groans, from outside in the smoke, a figure appears. Is it someone come to help look for survivors? Yes, but not to render aid!  The stranger grabs Tanaka gruffly and shoves a pistol against his head.  He wants Tanaka to know the horror of what has happened before he pulls the trigger.

The Jairians have taken a gruesome revenge on the Kodiak Chadee clan! While they all waited in the shuttle outside for Tanaka to talk to the pub owner, the Jairians snuck up, planted explosives, and blew them all sky high!  The brutal massacre was in revenge for the huge toll the Jairians suffered during the recent battle with the Kodiak.

Outside, someone calls to the stranger to warn him of the unstable building, foolishly shouting his name. Johan flees, laughing at Tanaka’s imminent demise. Just before the building collapses on him, Tanaka repeats Johan’s name, committing it to memory forever…

And there you have it! The end of Episode 3! Will Tanaka survive? What will happen next?  Find out soon, when we begin Episode 4: THE HYPNOS HIATUS!