A few hours later, the Temerity is screaming through space, heading back to Zoz. The injured are being looked after in the infirmary, and Defender Zik has gotten his suit cleaned up. He and Amelia are looking for Mikigaazo, to see how he feels about the Mikibot platform’s first real-world test. Despite the bot platform getting its head blown off, it still seems to have performed well, but Miki has the final say.

After looking throughout the ship, Amelia and Zik find Miki in the cargo hold.  He’s crouched on the ground next to the two body bags containing the bodies of the ZEMM pilots who were killed by Morren. Zik calls out in a friendly way, but it’s quickly evident that Miki is having a hard time with something.  Miki is trying to understand why he can no longer feel any energy from the two bodies in front of him.

Zik and Amelia explain that the two unfortunate souls have died. This is a new concept for Miki, who becomes alarmed at the prospect that every human will die eventually. Unwilling to fully accept being apart from his friends as an inevitability, Miki asks if a part of himself can remain with each of them all the time, so that he can absorb their energy and always remember it.

Honored to receive such a gift, the human pair agrees, although Zik advises Miki to be cautious about who he gives this gift to. Not all humans are worthy of such trust, and Miki agrees that the Jairians they encountered felt very different.  He could sense the darkness in their hearts, and comments that each human is quite unique, something alien to this creature who can divide and recombine itself.

Amelia gives Miki a little hug and assures him she loves him. Miki comments that love is the best emotion he can sense from a human, and reciprocates the feeling.

And that’s a wrap, Defenders! We’ve come to the end of Episode 6: Apodian Ambush! I have some preparations to make before beginning Episode 7, including finding a new web host for the site. But keep an eye out, Zik fans, because The War Party will be coming at you soon!

Defender Zik flies with Lia back to the rill in the crater where the others are. As they approach, Lia catches the unexpected sight of her father lying unconscious, missing an arm. Understandably, she becomes very upset, and Mizhakwan, busy making a sling for Dak, reassures her that he’s just resting and will be OK. Zik asks Dak if she’s ok, and she reports that her dislocated shoulder is painful, but she’ll live. Mizhakwan reminds Zik that they need to get the injured to the Temerity’s infirmary as quickly as possible.

Depositing Lia in the rill, Zik takes off again, determined to shut down the jammer which is preventing them from contacting their ship. Reasoning that the jammer would’ve been crushed in the avalanche, he directs Sten and Tanaka to look for it at the far sniper position, while he and Trent Quickdraw will check the other one. He reminds his friends to be on the lookout for that final sniper, who is still alive and dangerous!

Trent is skeptical that the final combatant will keep fighting, and Zik agrees that if the Jairian is smart, he’ll be hiding somewhere, but you can never be sure what an extremist will do. Suddenly, Zik pulls up short, remembering that Chadee never take prisoners! If Tanaka happens to find that sniper, he’ll pull his trigger without pausing to consider how valuable a Jairian prisoner would be!

Just then, Sten finds the jammer, and asks Tanaka to cover him while he disables it.  Zik comments that the Jairian probably doesn’t know how lucky he is. Quickdraw counters with a bad pun about how Morren is flat out of luck, crushed as he is under tons of rock!

That brings our intense Episode 6 to a close, Defenders! Stay tuned, there’s an epilogue page coming soon!

Weakened by the barrage of grenades and the trembling of the avalanche at the crater’s rim, a giant chunk of the crater’s central peak is splitting away – and the unlucky Lia is sitting right on top of it! As the slabs of rock peel away, she tumbles down with it, screaming.

Defender Zik leaps into action! With his EVR jets at max power, he dives forward into the falling rubble. Reaching out, he plucks Lia from a rocky doom and swoops her away from danger! The Gallant Defender of Zoz saves the day!

Tanaka and Sten have started a much bigger avalanche than anticipated! A huge stream of rocks courses down the cliff, onto Morren’s head, and spills over into the crater basin below. The two of them have to engage their jets to avoid falling into the stream of stones themselves!

Elsewhere on the rim, the lone remaining Jairian sniper takes one looks and NOPES the heck out of there! It’s good to know when to retreat and fight another day!

On the central peak of the crater, as the ground continues to tremble, Defender Zik turns to the terrified Lia to see if she’s ok.  Suddenly, large cracks appear in the peak!

Defender Zik lands on the central peak of the crater again, debating internally how he should handle this trap of Morren’s. If he stays completely out of the line of fire, Morren will kill Lia, but if he stays in the open, it’s only a matter of time before Morren succeeds.

With very few options, Zik tries to goad Morren into making a mistake.  He begins to insult his foe, but just as Morren is about to hurl some invective right back, Sten and Tanaka’s efforts at the top of the crater rim succeed! A huge crack opens in the cliff face!

Defender Zik remembers just in time that he’s exposed himself to the other sniper! As Trent Quickdraw lays down a barrage of suppressing fire, he dives back under cover.

Morren takes advantage of the situation to launch another batch of grenades, laughing at his opponent’s error. But being distracted by his prey, Morren fails to notice that Tanaka and Sten have managed to sneak up on him, and are now on the rim of the crater right on top of him!  Keeping under cover so the other Jairian sniper doesn’t see him, Tanaka leans out to get a clear shot on his prey, but the boulders under his feet shift! This cliff face is dangerously unstable!

But that gives the ever-resourceful Sten an idea: If they can’t get a clean shot on Morren without exposing themselves, why not just drop the boulder on his head? Even in this lower gravity, the great rock must have enough mass to crush their foe! Tanaka gleefully agrees with the plan, and the two get ready to create an avalanche.

Defender Zik is now atop the central peak of the crater, desperately trying to reach his employees who have been taken hostage by the evil Jairian Morren. But he’s exposed, and Morren sends a full barrage of exploding shells raining on the peak.

It’s clear that the Jairian isn’t trying to preserve the hostages lives, so one of the remaining two reaches out to the other to get them both under cover. Lia gets up and follows, but Morren spots them! Try as they may, they’re not going to make it to cover, so Lia’s brave companion throws her ahead and takes the brunt of the blast!

Furious, Zik launches himself toward Morren, sending a hail of bullets at the foul villain!

The evil Morren informs Defender Zik that his five minute grace period is over. That means one of the hostages has to go. As he climbs, Zik warns Morren one last time to cease his aggression, but to no avail! Morren pulls the trigger, spelling doom for one of the poor hostages! Zik abandons caution and engages his jetpack, but it’s too late! One of his employees is obliterated!

The barrage of grenades launched by Morren Mallor begins impacting the crater peak right above Defender Zik and Dakaasin!  As the dislodged rubble falls, Dak is unlucky and is struck by a large boulder! Fortunately, the lower gravity on this moon prevents a fatal impact, but she falls from her position halfway up the cliff!

Firing up her rocket boots, Dak guides herself to a safe landing, but she grips her shoulder in agony. A worried Zik calls down to her to see if she’s okay, and she reports that she’s got a dislocated shoulder, but is otherwise all right. But with any further climbing or combat out of the question, she urges Zik to carry on without her.  Your favorite space hero is going to have to rescue the hostages on his own, facing down a mortal enemy armed with a grenade launcher!

Defender Zik and Dakaasin are out of immediate danger, as they stay close to the side of the cliff that Morren and the other sniper, Rick, can’t see. They attach some ropes to the cliff and keep their jets off to make them even harder to locate as they climb the central peak of the crater. At the top, three frightened hostages await their fates!

But Morren isn’t so easily dissuaded! Adapting quickly to Zik’s ploy, Morren prepares a grenade launcher, and begins launching grenades at the peak to dislodge his mortal enemy!