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!
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!
Defender Zik wraps up his first story about how he became so well known on his home planet of Zoz! With all the preparations complete, he launches his escape pod and leaves the asteroid behind. It’s all in the hands of fate, now!
He lands the pod in the middle of Zoz’s largest ocean, the Mirabilic, close to where the asteroid will be passing by. Sure enough, as he emerges from the escape hatch, the asteroid streaks by overhead, exploding with a giant sonic boom!
Amelia is pretty impressed with the tale. No wonder Zik became so famous! Few people have ever saved an entire planet before. Zik tells her that this wasn’t the first time he made headlines on Zoz. What will be the next tale?
Zik has gotten a direct hit on Queen Elcyra’s massive ship! James Anchor notices that it’s had the desired effect: the rate of fire from Queen Elcyra’s ship has dropped off dramatically! That means it’s time to get the heck out of here, and he gives that order to the helmsman Gerald. James also gives Zik the green light to cover their escape with a few more rounds from the Kodiak’s howitzers! Boom! How do you like that, you tyrant?! Elcyra’s ship is now leaking air from three big holes!
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?
