Queen Elcyra’s ship is damaged! As the air rushes out of the new hole Zik punched into her hull, more torpedoes keep launching. One torpedo approaches, but is badly aimed and thus escapes the barrage of point defense fire coming from the Kodiak. Or was it really aimed just right?

As the torpedo passes close to the Kodiak, it bursts open, revealing a clonoid drone! The clonoid, carrying a mysterious cylinder in his hand, drifts down through space to the hull of the Kodiak. It releases the cylinder, which bursts open and encases the clonoid in a film which glues it to the hull! The now dead clonoid has become a tracking device!

The Kodiak fires its cannons in point defense mode and destroys the torpedoes as they approach, but there are so many of them!

Tactical officer Emma notices that not all the torpedoes are aimed accurately, as if Elcyra is shooting from the hip! James Anchor orders her to flag the torpedoes that are a threat in the targeting computer so that weapons officer Jason knows which torpedoes to prioritize. He then gives the order to return fire with the main guns!

Zik takes a seat at an auxiliary station and offers to man the howitzers so that Jason can concentrate on the cloud of incoming torpedoes. He fires the massive front howitzer! James Anchor orders the Chadee fighter pilots to stay in their hangar bay, but to be ready to launch – escape is their objective, not destruction!

Meanwhile, Fiona has found a space suit for both Trent and Amelia, and helps them to learn how to put them on properly. If a torpedo gets through the defenses and hits the ship, you definitely want a space suit on!

Zik’s howitzer shot is a direct hit on the hull of Elcyra’s massive capital ship! Will our heroes make good their escape?

Tactical officer Emma makes the urgent announcement: Queen Elcyra has launched a barrage of torpedoes at the Kodiak! Captain James Anchor gives helmsman Gerald and weapons officer Jason some quick commands, and then announces an alert to the rest of the ship! Zik gets his crash helmet ready and moves to the secondary weapons console.

Meanwhile, there’s nothing Queen Elcyra likes better than crushing her enemies! She cackles with glee, giving Zik’s nickname for her more truthfulness than he probably anticipated!

Down in the medical bay, Fiona is helping Vera into a medical diagnostic pod. It doubles as an escape pod in case the attack goes badly for our heroes! Trent and Amelia aren’t sure what the alarm means, but Fiona explains it quickly. She’ll have to get some proper space-worthy clothing for Amelia and Trent! You don’t want to get sucked out a hull breach wearing a t-shirt or a robe! Fiona has a spare flight suit that should fit Amelia, and she offers Trent some body armor. Will the Kodiak survive the onslaught?

Queen Elcyra seems quite put out that an entire ship of people would laugh at the opportunity to escort her illustrious person to meet with their leaders.

Zik can’t take her arrogance any longer, and cuts her off mid-sentence! He gives her a piece of his mind and lets her know that Zoz has no leaders, nor does it want any! The long and violent history of humanity since the dawn of civilization has proven the point: people who submit to authority inevitably get tyranny!

The crafty, crazy Queen doesn’t seem too bothered by Ziks tirade. She orders her Clonoids to open fire on the Kodiak!

Queen Elcyra has arrived! She opens her first official dialogue with a Zozian vessel by mocking the Zozians. Diplomacy isn’t important to a tyrant!

James Anchor gives a polite response with a stoney expression. Zik isn’t impressed either, but for him things are already personal – after all, Elcyra just killed a bunch of his new friends!

Elcyra introduces herself with the grandiose titles she has bestowed upon herself and tells the Zozians that they can have the honor of escorting her to meet with their leaders.

Zik and James look at each other with bemused expressions. Did she really just say “Take me to your leader” to a ship full of people with no rulers? The situation is too ludicrous for words, and everyone on the bridge cracks up laughing!

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!

Zik starts his ship and gives Seamus access to monitor the systems to keep an eye on the damaged engines. Meanwhile, Amelia has a million questions about the ship and how it works! Zik promises to teach her to fly when they get back home to Zoz. Speaking of heading home, it’s time to start that journey! The small fleet of ships takes off, heading for orbit, while the Zernabian prison factory burns in the distance. They have to travel carefully, trimming the use of the main engines once the ship gets high enough to go the rest of the way on the auxiliary maneuvering thrusters. They approach the Kodiak, which is drifting in orbit waiting for them, surrounded by the wreckage of some more Zernabian patrol ships! It seems the pilot, Gerald, has been busy!

Zik and Amelia deposit the unconscious Trent a safe distance from the factory, and Zik announces his intention to go back inside to stop the riot. But as he opens the door, he makes a chilling discovery: the Clonoid super soldier survived its electrocution! It’s back to create more havoc for the prisoners! Meanwhile, as she hurtles through space towards the prison planet, Queen Elcyra receives the news that the Clonoid cybernetic network can no longer detect the super soldier; communications with it has been severed. Also, the other Clonoids have reported that Zik is escaping. Elcyra has had enough, it’s time to level the building!

Queen Elcyra gets a status report on Zik. His abilities are still unknown to her, and she didn’t scheme her way to dominate Zernabia by being reckless! Rather than stay idle while she speeds to the prison planet, she instructs her Clonoids to prepare the demolition charges that are in the factory! If Zik tries to escape, she’s going to level the place!

Several light years away, Queen Elcyra is racing to the prison planet to see to the prisoner uprising personally! She gets a status report, and it seems that the massive Clonoid soldier has tipped the balance in the fighting firmly onto her side; there are only fifty-six prisoners left alive! This pleases her, but she wants to know specifically about Zik. Will he still pose a threat to her?