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!

Defender Zik slides down from the rim of the crater to check on Gordon’s condition and formulate a plan.  Mizhakwan has applied a tourniquet to Gordon’s missing arm, but she insists that they need to get him to a proper infirmary as soon as possible. But they still can’t call the Temerity back because of the comms jamming!

To help get a strategy going, Zik asks Zoot to display a tactical map. Zoot creates a hologram showing the approximate location of the snipers and their firing arcs overlayed on the crater terrain.  The hostages are on the central peak of the crater, covered by all three Jairian snipers, whereas the Temerity team is in a hollow to one side.

Zik reasons that the best way to get to the hostages is to try to take out the nearest sniper first, so that they can approach the peak safely. He assigns that task to Trent Quickdraw who begins looking for his target immediately. Then, as Zik and Dak discuss what to do next, Mikigaazo sees an opportunity to pitch in!  His crystalline body inside the Miki-bot is immune to bullets, so he offers to fly up and rescue the hostages himself! Zik tries to stop him, but it’s too late!

Hey Defenders! I know the hologram in panel 2 is a bit tough to read, so here it is a bit larger.  It’ll look better when it gets printed in the third Defender Zik book, which will be made available after the next exciting episode! That’s right, book three will have four episodes in it!

The Temerity crew scrambles for cover at the floor of a crater as bullets zing through the sky. Mizhakwan hurries over to help the maimed Gordon while Zik calls again for Amelia to come back with the ship. But Zoot interrupts to inform Zik that their communications are being jammed! They can reestablish local comms with the team via a tight-beam line-of-sight backup system, but comms to the Temerity are severed!

Assessing the situation, Zik asks how many enemies they face. Sten informs him that there are three adversaries, spread out around the rim of the crater.  In that case, it’s time to reply with extreme violence! Zik and the crew open up and send a hail of bullets back at the Jairians!

Taking cover, Morren taps into a local channel to interrupt Zik’s barrage…

In his eagerness to reunite with his daughter, Gordon Mises gets ahead of the rest of the crew of the Temerity.  Defender Zik urges caution, because this scenario seems too much like an….

AMBUSH!

From hiding, Morren fires at the person who looks most like how he remembers Zik from their last encounter. But that person is the unfortunate Gordon, whose arm is blown clear off from Morren’s shot!

Gordon falls out of the sky, and while Zik scrambles to catch him, everyone scatters. Bullets are zipping in from all around the crater, and there’s a mad dash for cover while Sten, Tanaka and Trent Quickdraw give covering fire.

They reach the crater floor after some near-misses, and Zik calls out to the Temerity for support – Amelia, come back!

There’s been a mighty explosion just outside the Sendlinger Hill Pub! The whole front wall has been blown in, and poor Tanaka has been knocked nearly senseless to the ground!

As the building groans, from outside in the smoke, a figure appears. Is it someone come to help look for survivors? Yes, but not to render aid!  The stranger grabs Tanaka gruffly and shoves a pistol against his head.  He wants Tanaka to know the horror of what has happened before he pulls the trigger.

The Jairians have taken a gruesome revenge on the Kodiak Chadee clan! While they all waited in the shuttle outside for Tanaka to talk to the pub owner, the Jairians snuck up, planted explosives, and blew them all sky high!  The brutal massacre was in revenge for the huge toll the Jairians suffered during the recent battle with the Kodiak.

Outside, someone calls to the stranger to warn him of the unstable building, foolishly shouting his name. Johan flees, laughing at Tanaka’s imminent demise. Just before the building collapses on him, Tanaka repeats Johan’s name, committing it to memory forever…

And there you have it! The end of Episode 3! Will Tanaka survive? What will happen next?  Find out soon, when we begin Episode 4: THE HYPNOS HIATUS!

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!

Tanaka leaps from the bridge tower of the Kodiak and glides silently towards his prey.  The unsuspecting Jairian is so busy sabotaging the cannon that he has no idea his fate is at hand!

SLICE!

Zik hands Ryan one of the elevator cables, and everyone prepares to lift the elevator. On the count of three they all haul, and it finally lifts! Ryan’s extra strength has helped tip the balance! Poor Craig is hauled out from under the elevator cabin, and the mine workers begin doing first aid to try and save his life. Upstairs, Zik thanks Ryan and shakes his hand. What a close call!

Thinking fast, Zik turns and fires his shotgun, hitting the adult of the two Jairians chasing him! The kid stops in his tracks, afraid that he’ll be next, but Zik just stares him down. He drops the shotgun and turns to fight the fire, hoping that the kid has gotten the message: you’re too young to die, so leave off!

Meanwhile, the Jairian is dying a messy death. He asks the kid to avenge him before praising the Jairian revolution. Then he bleeds out messily, and young Ryan turns his head in disgust. War ain’t pretty, lad!