The infirmary celebrations are interrupted by an urgent call for Defender Zik to come to the bridge of Bastion Station. Zik gives the Zernabian siblings a congratulations and hurried off to see what the problem is. On the bridge, he finds Gordon Mises, head of the Zik Enterprises Merchant Marine division, with a worried look on his face. One of their light transports has been hijacked, and Gordon’s daughter is among its crew!
Taking stock of the situation, Zik asks if Jolene has sent for Kodiak Search And Rescue. She replies that she has, but that all the Kodiak ships are otherwise engaged in a large fleet exercise to test their integration as a planetary defense force. Zik decides that they won’t pull any of James Anchor’s ships from that effort, and that they can handle it themselves in the Temerity. Gordon insists on coming along to help his daughter, and the crew of the Temerity is scrambled to their ship!
Welcome to Defender Zik Episode 6: Apodian Ambush!
Our story opens in the infirmary aboard Bastion Space Station, with Doctors Taylor and Rundenfurt having called a little reunion to share some test results. Zik and Vera are already present as Trent and Amelia arrive, and are asked to have a seat.
Vera takes the floor to explain some very important news the new arrivals. She’s been a surrogate mother to both of them, taking care of them since they came to her from separate prison camps a year apart. Watching them as they grew, Vera was always struck by how similar they were at times. She asked Doctor Taylor to check, and her suspicions were totally confirmed – Trent and Amelia are half-siblings!
Amelia squeals in delight at the news and grabs Trent. She gives her stunned brother a huge squeeze and a big kiss on the cheek. Now she understands the way she’s always loved him! And for Trent, this explains his constant awkwardness around her – loving her deeply, but feeling strange about romance.
Our hero Zik inquires as to how this could have happened. Vera explains, and with that, let’s have a…
DEFENDER ZIK LORE BREAK!
In the beginning of the Zernabian prison camps, couples who produced children were split up from each other. You see, Queen Elcyra understood that the family is the foundational unit of civilization, so she kept families from forming. The evil monarch did everything she could to remove her prisoners’ will to rebel.
At first, Elcyra only kept the remaining Zernabians around as a source of genetic material in case her Clonoids failed. But shortly after Amelia and Trent were born, she came to the conclusion that her backup genetic stock was no longer needed. Sadistically, instead of freeing her slaves, she decided to sterilize them and work them to death.
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…
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!!
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!
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!
James Anchor formally welcomes his guests to the Kodiak, but as Vera’s lung cancer acts up, he realizes that they need a check-up to make sure his crew isn’t in any danger. After all, there’s a thousand years of colds and flus that have had a divergent evolutionary path! The Kodiak’s medic Fiona is tasked with checking them over in the infirmary. But no time for chit-chat, the captain is needed on the bridge!
Zik and James head up to the command bridge and get a report from tactical officer Emma. A huge ship is inbound! There’s only one person that could be! Gerald, the pilot currently manning the weapons systems while Jason finishes stowing the shuttle, is ordered to ready all weapons systems.
Sure enough, Queen Elcyra arrives in her capital ship, mighty pleased with herself for catching the Zozians before they can leave!
An elated Zik rushes back to find Amelia with Vera and a recovering Trent. He assures them that the new spaceships that have appeared are friends who have arrived to rescue them. The shuttle doors open and Zik eagerly greets his good friend James Anchor, who has brought some muscle to back him up. While Jason and Seamus keep a watchful eye for trouble, Zik quickly introduces his new Zernabian friends to James, and tells him about the insanity of Queen Elcyra. Zik also tries to compliment James on an incredible shot, but it was Tanaka who took out the giant clonoid from his snub fighter! The fighter lands, the doors open… and Amelia screams! What has she seen?
Zik vows to help Amelia, but his plan is probably the least likely one that anyone has thought of! He wants to ask nicely?! How strange!
DEFENDER ZIK LORE BREAK!
What most people here on the prison planet don’t realize is that on Zoz, there is a principle that people follow: the non-aggression principle. It’s basically unheard of to go out looking for a fight, since it’s so much easier and less harmful to negotiate a solution. They even have a saying: “He who draws the first sword admits he has lost the argument.”
Unfortunately, Zik, having been raised in that environment, simply takes it for granted that people would understand the need to dialogue before engaging in hostilities. Here on the prison planet, things are a little more stark, and as we’ve already seen, aggression is a way of life.
Anarchy doesn’t mean chaos. Literally translated it means “no rulers.” That’s what they have going on Zoz, and look how nicely it turned out! So many futuristic stories depict either an authoritarian future or a dystopic future with a breakdown of society following a governmental collapse. It’s high time for a story that explores the plusses and pitfalls by a society without masters!
Vera thinks it sounds pretty swell, but she has a warning for Zik: people here are (understandably) angry at their captors, and who knows what Zik’s arrival may trigger!
Oops! That’s kind of an obvious thing, but I’m personally often surprised that people don’t remember this more often. Vera takes advantage of the fact that she’s alone with Zik for the moment to ask him about what life is like on Zoz. It’s probably better than this crappy prison, but you never know!
