Defender Zik finishes plugging the giant hole in the hull of the Kodiak by filling in the gaps between the tables with the Hull Putty™ compound.  A curious Amelia asks about the Putty, and follows it up with a pointed question about how many times she’ll have to see Zik nearly die trying to save the day.  Zik assures her that there’ll be just one more time.

Amelia observes that Zik really handed Morren’s butt to him during their fight.  Zik assures her that the villain is probably dead by now, because of the broken visor.  A crack like that isn’t going to be easily reparable in the limited time someone has to live after getting spaced!

Stopping Zik from walking for a moment, Amelia lets him know how much she appreciates Zik jumping to her aid and beating back the murderous Morren.  She was off to a great start with that fork, though! I bet she could’ve taken him.

The tender moment causes Zik to remind himself to keep it cool. As much as Amelia makes his heart race when she looks at him like that, Zik remembers the promise he made to Trent to not pursue her. Still, it couldn’t hurt to enjoy the moment, right? It’s so easy to get lost in those beautiful eyes…

Thinking quickly, Zik dons his breather mask and turns back to the ship.  The force of the wind could easily blow him too far away to get back on board in time, so he hustles to deploy his EVR system.

Back on board, he sees that Amelia is stuck in the doorway, holding on for dear life! Morren broke off her breather, so if she gets spaced, she’s a goner!  Zik plugs the giant hole with the only thing at hand – two tables!

As the wind diminishes, Amelia regains her footing.  Zik asks her to hand him the Hull Putty™ canister so he can plug the remaining holes between the tables.  Amelia, like Trent, has never been in space before, and this kind of battle is all new to her, so she’s understandably confused as to why there was a sudden explosion.  Zik deduces that someone blew up the Jairian Hull Breacher vessel that was attached and plugging the hole with its breaching dock, and he guesses that a rookie mistake like that is sure to anger his buddy Captain James Anchor!

Trent Quickdraw has lived up to his name! As he fires on the Jairian breacher ship attached to the Kodiak, there’s a huge explosion! Defender Zik and Morren, in the galley right next to the breacher, are blown off their feet!

Worse still, that breacher was the only thing plugging the hole in the Kodiak’s hull that it made when it attached itself! Zik and Morren are quickly blown into space, and both of them forget their battle in a desperate scramble to fix their face masks.

Inside, at the doorway of the galley, Amelia grabs on for dear life as the air swoops out of the giant hole in the hull!

In the galley, Defender Zik lands a solid blow with his club, shattering the visor of Morren’s helmet! Someone’s in trouble if he gets spaced!

Meanwhile, on the bridge, a confident Trent is running out of targets for the Kodiak’s cannons. Between the Chadee snub fighters and his efforts, they’ve eliminated almost all of the Jairian fighters! He turns his attention to the Jairian breacher ship, attached like a lamprey to the side of the Kodiak. With the right angle, maybe he can blow it right off the hull…

In the breacher, the copilot is alarmed at the fact that all the boarding parties seem to be disappearing on him. But the pilot is even more alarmed to see one of the Kodiak’s cannons swing towards them.

At the last moment, both the Jairian pilot and Gerald realize what’s about to happen, but their cries go unheeded as Trent mashes the fire button!  What’s the big deal?! Find out next page!

While Defender Zik battles Morren in the mess hall, down one level and all the way aft, James Anchor is waiting patiently in the engine room.  He knows that this is the obvious target for the Jairian raiders to capture, since they can’t get to the bridge.

Sure enough, the scallywags charge in, brandishing their weapons, ready to kill anyone in their way. But Captain Anchor has a little surprise for them – he draws his gun and points it right at them, finger on the trigger!

The Jairians are stunned. No one shoots guns on a spaceship, especially not in an engine room! Doing so is a really good way to blow yourself up! They call James’ bluff.

Except that James Anchor never bluffs! He explains that his gun isn’t loaded with bullets at all. Rather, the gun has small hunter-killer drones in it, and he’s now set them to target the unique bio-signatures of the three Jairians! James describes in detail how the drones, once launched, are a death sentence for anyone unlucky enough to be their target. Even if the Jairians somehow make it out of the Kodiak alive and try to disappear, the drones will hunt for them forever. And the worst part is that once the drones locate their target, they drill in a straight line to the heart. Depending on where they start, that could be quite an uncomfortable way to die!

The Jairians hesitate, and Emma emerges from hiding with a roll of space duct tape.  James Anchor instructs them to drop their weapons and let Emma bind them, and really, what choice do they have? It was checkmate the moment they walked into the room.

The gallant Defender Zik and the malodorous Morren Mallor are duking it out in the mess hall of the Kodiak! As a dazed Amelia watches from the doorway, your favorite space hero fends off Morren’s knife attacks and swings back with the club he found! Who will prevail?!

Defender Zik helps a shocked Amelia to her feet. The vile Jairian thug Morren has just assaulted her! But as Zik helps her to the infirmary, he hears a groan from the mess hall — Morren is already getting back to his feet! Realizing that the thug must be on performance enhancing drugs, Zik turns back, and recognizes Amelia’s assailant!

It’s the same Morren from Zik’s first encounter with the Jairians, during the incident at Baker Mine. Morren reveals that among the Jairians, Zik is hated, and referred to as the Butcher of Baker Mine! Donning his helmet, Morren vows revenge!

The vile Jairian invader Morren Mallor continues his sexual assault on Amelia, who fights back as well as she’s able to after regaining consciousness.  She desperately reaches around for something to use as a weapon – and finds her fork!

Scooping up the fork, she lunges at Morren’s face. Her fork finds its mark in Morren’s eye! He howls in pain!

Just then, Zik walks into the mess hall and sees that a Jairian is attacking Amelia.  The club he picked up from the last Jairians he encountered comes in handy, and he gives Morren a mighty wallop in the back of the head!

In the galley of the Kodiak, Amelia regains consciousness after hitting her head. But the Jairian in the hall junction outside heard her!

The Jairian investigates – and likes what he sees! He removes his mask, revealing himself to be Morren Mallor! This is the same Jairian that led the attack on Baker Mine!

Morren explains that him and his comrades do whatever they want, and he wants Amelia! He starts to tear at Amelia’s clothing, and she cries out…

…a cry heard by a nearby Zik!

Over on the Vigilant Gaddi, Ramesh has solved the mystery of why Naser keeps missing his shots: he’s a Jairian mole!  He’s been missing on purpose to protect his comrades! That dastardly spy even sent a message to the Jairians the minute the Kodiak departed to help Zik!

Ramesh engages a secret security device that Zik Enterprises had built into the ship especially for such emergencies.  Naser finds himself locked out of his control panel, and his suit is magnetized to the back of his seat! He pulls a knife, but that too is pulled to the chair, where it remains stuck.

Now it’s time to show these Jairians what the Gaddi can do, even with only one cannon left!