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.

With the rescue balloon inflated, Zik and Haven begin a rapid rise to the surface of the water. The shark starts to follow, but Haven finally manages to activate the shark repeller!

On the surface, Zik spits out his breathing unit to tell Ramesh and Todd to help them out of the water quickly! There’s no holding back a great white shark, so they need to get into the boat pronto!

Once safe, they drive the boat to the dock on the island, and Zik helps Haven out of the boat. Todd’s call for help managed to attract some attention, and a transport ship from the University of Port Rothbard, Haven’s research sponsor, arrives to help. A journalist from Zoz Broadcast News arrives as well, drone camera rolling!

Haven tells the whole story of her discovery, the avalanche, and how Zik rescued her to the reporter. And then she says the fateful words that will cement Zik’s legacy for all time! Zik will forevermore be known as Zik the Gallant Defender of Zoz!

Later that evening, once all the excitement is over, Zik and Haven go for a romantic walk on the beach on Talia Island. The couple has strong feelings for each other, and they begin a relationship with a kiss at sunset.

While Zik hammers away with his shotgun, Arata sees the damage the rocket has done on his security monitors. As it turns out, the main elevator for the mine was damaged! It fell all the way to the bottom, bouncing out of its shaft and crushing the legs of one of the miners at the bottom!

Zik hurries over to get a look at what’s going on. He sees right away that the miners are going to need help to free the poor man. He grabs a fire extinguisher and charges out of a side door, heading for the burning elevator building!

But Morren has spotted Zik and sends three of the Jairians after him! One gets stopped cold by the digger drones, but two more make it past! Worse, one of them is the kid, and Zik certainly doesn’t want to hurt him! What will he do?!

The drones are activated by Arata and sent into battle! Three were in a hangar, while the fourth is visible on this page dealing with the ore that Zik brought for processing. On their way to the action, the drones are instructed to pick up some rubble to use as a projectile!

Meanwhile, Morren and the Jairians are pinned down by Zik and Tanaka’s relentless barrage. Morren says something that’s offensive to one of the other Jairians, and is quickly chastised for his indiscretion. But the correction turns out to be that guy’s last words; a pile of rubble lands squarely on him, crushing him!

Morren switches tactics: these drones present an even bigger threat to his attack than Tanaka does! He orders them to be taken out. A rocket is launched, but the guy launching it accidentally leans into Tanaka’s sight and gets smoked! The rocket misses its target drone – and hits an important building behind it!

The shotgun Zik is using has the desired effect as the Jairians scramble for cover.  Zik, Tanaka and Arata seize the opportunity to get into the security building, where they know they’ll be safer.

No sooner do the doors close, however, than the Jairans begin shooting again! Zik tells Tanaka to go to the third floor and fight back, which he does gleefully! He grabs a machine gun and a belt full of ammo and heads up the ladder.

The fierce Tanaka doesn’t even bother to break the window first, he just starts shooting! With a battle cry he begins filling the air with bullets, trying to fight off the intruders!

Meanwhile, Zik patches up Arata. He’s in no condition to fight, but being a Chadee, he doesn’t want to be left out of the action! Zik suggests that perhaps the digger drones that are used to move dirt around the mine can be used to open a new front on the Jairans. Arata eagerly agrees to try it!

Welcome to Beta Lalande 4, home of Baker Mine!

While a drone unloads Zik’s asteroid rubble into the processing plant, your favorite space hero hangs out in the security office with his pals Tanaka and Arata for a spirited game of dutch blitz, a card game popular among the Chadee.

But they’re interrupted by the station chief Frank, who sees something alarming on the news!