The alien crystal continues its story, revealing how the explosion of the gas giant tore the crust off this moon.  Most of the crystal’s home was incinerated by the immense cataclysm, which completely destroyed the gas giant.  The moon itself then flew right out of the solar system, and headed out of the galaxy as it cooled. The crystal was able to conceal itself from discovery by the aliens that tried to kill it.

Appalled, Defender Zik realizes that he’s hearing a story of attempted xenocide! As everyone continues to help move the crystal into the cargo hold of the Temerity, the crystal explains that it went into hibernation for tens of thousands of years until the moon was pulled back into the galactic rim by gravity.

Suddenly, Amelia interrupts to warn everyone that the leading edge of the meteorite storm is here! An early meteorite is about to hit nearby– take cover!!

Defender Zik and the crew of the Temerity have a short window of time to help the living crystal of Planet Hypnos escape the impending meteorite storm! The crew hustles outside, with the exception of Amelia, who remains in the cockpit to keep the ship ready to fly out of danger.

Outside, Dakaasin puzzles over how to cram all that mass of crystal into the hold. It doesn’t look like it will fit until the crystal offers to make itself denser, thereby cramming itself into a smaller volume.

It explains that it is a singular being, and its consciousness splits and merges as it fragments and recombines itself.  When Zik organizes the crew into a human chain to relay the crystals into the ship, the crystal is confused by the term “human chain.” Zik explains that humans can’t split and combine the way the crystal can, but that they often work as a team to accomplish a common goal. Once again, the crystal brings up a mysterious other alien life form it has encountered, which was like humans in that each individual had its own consciousness.

While they work, Zik asks the crystal about these other aliens, wondering whether it was they who stranded the crystal on the rogue planet.  As it turns out, Zik is partially correct.  The aliens are the cause of the stranding of the crystals, but that Hypnos was actually once a moon orbiting a distant gas giant.  However, in a stunning act of attempted xenocide, the aliens detonated the gas giant!

It’s been almost a week since the massive space battle between the Kodiak and the Jairian fleet. All the humans aboard the Kodiak are in quarantine, to make sure the thousand-year immunity gap between the Zernabians and the general population on Zoz doesn’t start a plague. The Kodiak itself is undergoing an evaluation by the insurance company, and it doesn’t look good. However, James Anchor and Zik are already presenting plans for a planetary defense force for their home world to investors.

The Zozians themselves are astounded that they have managed to make first contact with other humans after so long, but there’s a great sense of foreboding at how badly it went. Some have criticized Defender Zik for his handling of the situation, prompting him to release all his video recordings of the events of the past few weeks. Vera has done her best to relay what she knows of galactic history to the people of Zoz, but since she was imprisoned as a little girl, she doesn’t know a whole lot.

While the humans deal with all this, Tanaka and his Chadee clan are on some much-deserved shore leave. There is no danger of them carrying any of the Zernabian diseases, so they have been released from quarantine and are looking for some fun. But before they can start, they have to find a place large enough to house a rowdy clan of Chadee, something not every pub is able to handle. Fortunately, after some searching, they have found the Sendlinger Hill Pub in Port Rothbard, a German Oktoberfest themed bar. The bartender assures Tanaka they can handle his clan, and he opens the door to invite them in when…

KABOOM!

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!

Meanwhile, outside the ship, Tanaka’s fighter has taken critical damage! He ejects in the nick of time, and his ship explodes behind him.

Trained for just such an emergency, Tanaka engages his EVR system. He uses his grappling hook and rocket boots to get to safety. Landing on the roof of the Kodiak’s bridge, he draws his pistol, and prepares to continue the fight!

Oblivious to the chaos outside the ship, Amelia finds herself in the galley wondering what all the noises are.  She sneaks a bite of pineapple before heading back to the infirmary to see Vera.

But that last second bite causes a fateful delay! The Jairian breacher attaches itself to the hull just outside the galley and cuts through the metal plating! The circular hatch created is flung inward explosively, and Amelia whacks her head on a cupboard trying to get out of the way!

The Jairian boarding party rushes into the ship, and poor Amelia is out cold on the floor!

Following Rachelle’s battle plan, the Jairian fighters crowd the space between the breacher and the Kodiak.  They take heavy losses, but they’re able to shield the breacher from the big guns! A frustrated Trent is seeing his cannons go inexplicably offline one by one.

Despite that, Trent manages to damage the incoming breacher! One of the drives gets blown to bits. But it’s not enough; it still has three drives! James Anchor informs the crew: prepare for impact!

James Anchor gets a damage report from his crew! The damage is as bad as it looks, but at least they didn’t lose anyone to death or space! Between reports from Chief Engineer Seamus and Tactical Officer Emma, the captain gets up to speed.

Then Jason announces that the bow howitzer is ready. He hasn’t wasted any time cycling up the weapon and locking it on to its Jairian target! Captain Anchor orders him to fire! The second breacher bites the dust!

Zik is on his way to the bridge of the Kodiak, but he hears the rumble of the guns! The ever resourceful Zoot informs him that the ship is under attack, so Zik decides to don his helmet and search for his Zernabian friends.  They’ve never been in a space combat situation and he wants to make sure they’re safe!

Outside, the battle continues, as the Jairian fighters get to the ship and are engaged aggressively by the Chadee.

On the bridge, Captain James Anchor orders Weapons Officer Jason to target the next Jairian boarding vessel. He’s locked on and ready to go!

But at that moment, a Jairian fighter is shot down. It makes a surprise turn right at the howitzer! The Jairian collides with the howitzer right as it fires, and there’s a huge explosion!

Zik is in the hallway right outside the stern howitzer maintenance access chamber, and sees the flames through the window!

Tanaka opens fire on the Jairian fighters, killing two in the opening seconds of the battle!  When his full battle rage is unleashed, bad guys beware!

Meanwhile, on the Kodiak, Weapons Officer Jason is training Trent on how to use the Kodiak’s guns by assigning him one to get the hang of how the system works.

When that’s done, Jason announces to the Captain that the howitzers are ready to fire.  James Anchor gives the order, and the howitzer incinerates one of the Jairian breacher ships in a single shot!