The next day, the Temerity arrives at lonely planet Hypnos, adrift in the galaxy without a star to orbit. Francisco reports that the trajectory of the small world takes it up out of the galactic plane, and it loops back down somewhere up the spiral arm. This planet has travelled a long way in the intergalactic void before its return near Zoz!

Zik remarks that planet Hypnos has some incredibly huge canyons scarring its surface, but he gets distracted by the debris field they’re entering. It’s quite thick, and he needs all hands in the cockpit to help identify and eliminate the asteroid threats.

As they plow through the debris field, whatever the flotsam repulsors can’t push out of the way, Trent blasts with the point defense cannons! They finally make it through thanks to great teamwork and Zik’s piloting skills.

It’s time for a closer look at the remote and desolate planet Hypnos, and what they discover is a shattered world of craggy canyons and deep craters! What happened to this place?!

Later that night, Defender Zik is up late doing homework. The CEO of Zik Enterprises can’t just disappear, after all; there are all kinds of projects that need your favorite space hero’s attention. Just as he’s wrapping things up for the night, the door chime sounds.

It’s an upset Amelia that Zik turns to find at his door.  Inviting her in, he asks her what’s bothering her. It turns out she’s having more nightmares about the explosion at the prison factory. Zik can relate to dreams of falling rubble, and sympathizes with her plight. Amelia asks if it’s okay that she sleeps in Zik’s room. Gallantly offering her the bed, Zik gets settled in to sleep on the floor.

Amelia asks if Zik will be all right sleeping on the floor, but Zik laughs it off by saying that his muscles provide extra cushioning. She then asks about his nightmares, and Zik explains that he had similar dreams of falling rocks crushing him after his mother died in the avalanche. Probing him further, Amelia asks what his mother was like. Zik relates some fun anecdotes about how patient his mom was with two precocious boys.

But just as Zik turns back to Amelia to tell her she would have loved his mother, he discovers that the exhausted girl has drifted off to sleep already!  Zik gets Zoot to turn out the lights, and they go to sleep, ready for new adventures at Planet Hypnos tomorrow!

Trent tries to come up with a reason to avoid having to open every cupboard and hatch on the Temerity, but Mizhakwan is quick to resolve his issue! With a promise of snacks, she makes sure Dakaasin can stay on the bridge until the smudging is done.

The news that there are baked snacks on the way is a welcome break in the cockpit. Amelia, still exploring how great food can taste when it’s not Clonoid gruel, can’t wait. Although, she’s still a bit puzzled as to why Mizhakwan insisted on being part of the crew, seeing as she’s retired. Zik explains that he’s known her for years; she was his mother’s medicine woman. This amazing lady goes wherever the energy feels like it’s moving, and we’ve already seen how Zik is like a lightning rod for fate!

Back on task, Zik checks in with Francisco, because the ship is getting close enough to get better scans of planet Hypnos. Francisco has determined that the tail they saw back at Bastion Station is most likely a debris field! This isn’t something they’ve ever seen before, and anything new to explore in space always inspires your favorite hero!

Within the hour, the eager crew of the Temerity is on board and ready for launch! Zik takes the sleek spacecraft out of the hangar, commenting on how much pep the engines have. This is a ship that really wants to fly!

Zik checks the status of the systems with Dakaasin, who is in Trent’s weapons post on the bridge, monitoring the engineering systems closely on this maiden flight of the Temerity. Everything checks out, so he tells Amelia to engage the hyperdrives.

The Temerity jumps to superlight speed and streaks out of the Zozian solar system!

On the elevator to the bridge of Bastion Station, Zik asks Zoot to send a get-well-soon message to Tanaka. Zoot can be summoned as a holographic image now, which is something Zik still has to get used to. The colony computer’s sarcasm remains intact, however!

Arriving on the bridge, Zik asks what the new discovery is all about. Francisco, the science officer for the Temerity, explains that he’s found an unusual rogue planet not too far away. The planet’s readings on the scanners are diffuse and fuzzy, as if it were a comet with a tail.  However, the drifting planet is to far away from any stars at the moment, that the evaporation process that produces a comet’s tail would be impossible here.

Trent, still new to living in space, asks Zik’s brother Todd what a rogue planet is. As someone always enthusiastic about scientific discovery, Todd gives Trent an explanation: it’s a planet drifting alone in space, orbiting no stars, just drifting through the galaxy.

This space oddity is an excellent first target for exploration, Zik decides. He clears a departure time with orbital traffic controller Jolene, and sends word to the rest of the crew of the Temerity to prepare for their first adventure! Set your azimuth, Defenders, we’re off to Planet Hypnos!

In the infirmary of Bastion Station, your favorite space hero gets an update on the efforts to protect his fellow Zozians from the diseases that have been floating around the rest of humanity while they’ve been separated for the last thousand years. As it turns out, enough Zozians have gotten their immune systems ready that Doctor Taylor is happy to report that Zik and the crew of the station will be able to leave quarantine soon. Zik also gets an update on Tanaka’s condition, which has stabilized following his surgery.

Taking his leave with Amelia, Zik inquires as to the reason the Doctor seemed annoyed with her.  Amelia discloses that she’s been having a hard time sleeping on the space station, because it’s so quiet compared to her tent on the Zernabian prison planet, and because she’s getting nightmares about all her friends dying in the factory explosion.

Zik sympathizes, and says that he’s noticed the difficulty the Zernabians have been having adjusting to all that’s happened. That he’s been keeping things fun during quarantine hasn’t gone unnoticed by Amelia, and while she’s grateful, she just can’t sleep.

To cheer her up, Zik lets her know that the Temerity is being prepped for launch, and that if she wants to copilot with him, she’s welcome. An excited Amelia heads off to get suited up, while Zik boards the elevator to the bridge of Bastion Station.

Defender Zik checks in with the engineers on his new ship, The Temerity, so see if they can take her out for a spin.  Chief Engineer Dakaasin lets Zik know that all systems are ready to go! Sten is always obsessed with doing calibrations to optimize weapon performance, so he’s tinkering with the Point Defense System, and will be working on the big Vakarian cannons next. Zik wants to go on a journey, so it’s time to get the sleek spaceship ready to fly!

As Zik heads to the bridge, he decides to take a detour into the infirmary.  Dr. Lucien Taylor has been working closely with doctors and hospitals across Zoz to help everyone on Zoz get their immune systems ready for contact with the rest of the galaxy! No one wants a repeat of what happened when Europeans and North Americans started mingling for the first time in the 1500s.

But when Zik gets to the infirmary, he sees Amelia in her pajamas apologizing to the doctor for something. What’s going on?

Welcome back Defenders, to Episode 4: The Hypnos Hiatus! After a brief interlude to get the first two Defender Zik books printed, we’re back!

Our story opens with your favorite galactic hero trying out his new space suit outside Bastion Station.  The research station orbiting Zoz is administrated by Zik’s brother Todd, who is monitoring the flight. Zik reports that all its systems are nominal, and Todd replies that Chief Engineer Dakaasin will be happy that her new suit design is working well.

Zik enters the station’s hangar to let Dak know personally. She and her assistant Sten are getting the final tuning done on the Temerity, Zik’s new space cruiser! They’ve been working hard on it while Zik and everyone who went to Zernabia is in quarantine on the station, and the results are beyond Zik’s wildest dreams!

Our intrepid space hero Defender Zik has apologized for getting his old friend James Anchor into a bit of a mess with a prison-rescue side-quest that turned into a huge space battle. But James isn’t too mad about his capital ship the Kodiak getting bloodied in the fighting. After all, getting into space battles and blowing up bad guys is the whole reason Captain Anchor and his crew are in the security industry!

But Zik has larger ideas: the Jairians, who attacked with a much larger fleet than the Zozians usually face, as well as Queen Elcyra and her hostile Zernabian Clonoids, both present a new and larger threat to peace on Zoz! To counter this new set of threats, Zik proposes that Captain Anchor expands his operation – instead of merely repairing the Kodiak, he should expand his capabilities to offer planetary-scale security!  To James Anchor, the opportunity to use bigger ships with bigger guns and take on bigger missions sounds like a dream come true.  In the face of such adversity, they have to think bigger to meet the challenge!

But then Zik’s colony computer, Zoot, interrupts with an important message.  He has decoded a message in the cryptic statement made by the Jairian fleet coordinator, Rachelle! The message, delivered in anagram form with some knuckle-tapping to indicate the order of the words, reveals that not only is James’ long-lost uncle still alive, but that Rachelle herself has taken the same last name, implying marriage! This is a shocking revelation to James, who is left speechless!

Who is the uncle of James Anchor? How did he meet this strange destiny? Find out in a future episode of Defender Zik!

Next: a brief epilogue!

Not long afterwards, Rachelle the Jairian Fleet Coordinator calls for a stand-down of the remaining Jairian troopers and snub-fighters.  They have surrendered! Defender Zik and the crew of the Kodiak have won a hard-fought battle against a huge Jairian fleet and boarding party!

During the prisoner transfer negotiations, Captain James Anchor thanks Rachelle for calling for a cease-fire. He gives her an update on the status of the survivors and assures her that they will be returned safely.

Rachelle is a little concerned when she learns that some of her troopers hare returning in pieces, not all of which are accounted for with certainty! James explains that several troopers wandered into a Chadee barracks, and they didn’t last long against the legendary battle-fury of the Chadee!   Muttering a barely-intelligible curse in reply, Rachelle seems beyond furious, and soon signs off.

As they follow the remaining troops to oversee the transfer, James grumbles about how much of a mess the Jairians have made of the Kodiak. He tells Zik that he’s pretty sure the insurance will consider the mighty vessel a write-off!  Considering the Jairians blew up one of the two huge howitzers, and the giant hole Trent blew into the hull in the galley, he’s probably correct!

Zik, ever the gallant hero, offers to make it up to his longtime friend…