As the Temerity cleans up the last of the Zernabian snub fighters, Francisco reports that the ground team is facing heavy fire at the landing zone. Tanaka turns back to assist!
Sure enough, as they approach, they see a large unit of Clonoids charging the Zozian position, supported by two copters raining plasma bolts down in support! Red Wolf is having trouble establishing his planned formations under the withering assault.
But the flimsy patrol copters are no match for the Temerity, and Dakaasin makes short work of them on their first pass. Tanaka circles around for a couple more passes over the Clonoid charge, which quickly turns into a rout. Taking advantage of the reprieve, Red Wolf orders the Zozians to fall back to the LZ so they can get their troop formations re-established.

After several jumps through hyperspace to conceal their approach vectors, the Zozian fleets arrive in the Zernabian prison system! Dead ahead of the Temerity is the infamous prison planet where Zik encountered the Clonoids for the first time. Tanaka gets a tactical report from Francisco; their fleet, Blue Squad, has all arrived safely. The other Zozian fleets are also reporting in as they arrive, and the massive Kodiak 2 dominates the scene. The Zozian fleets outnumber the token Clonoid sentry, and their capital ship, while large, is dwarfed by the Kodiak 2.

Upon receiving a similar keep-away message as Defender Zik received when he stumbled on the system, his father Mitch takes to the radio. He announces to the Clonoids that the Zozians have arrived to offer transportation and safe harbor to anyone who wishes to leave the planet. The Zernabians respond with a terse warning, claiming that the slaves are owned by Queen Elcyra and any intruders will be fired upon. Taking the high road, Mitch retorts that there can be no legitimate claims of ownership by one sentient creature on another. The Zozians will not be dissuaded and leave the ball in the Clonoid’s court. Tanaka, of course, hopes they choose battle.

The answer is soon given in the form of a stream of massive plasma bolts from the Clonoid capital ship, which detonate on the hull of one of the Makwa corvettes escorting the Kodiak 2. Mitch gives the order to all Zozian fleets: Engage the enemy!

A gleeful Tanaka guns the engines, eager to catch up to the Sharktooth, who jumped ahead. The Battle of Prison Planet has begun!

A week after the dramatic rescue of the living crystal from planet Hypnos, a lot has transpired! News of the newly discovered alien species has Zozian society awestruck. The people on the planet have prepared their immune systems, and it’s now safe for the Zernabians to come out of quarantine, but the new debate is where to house this new alien… or is it even alive? As the debate rages as to whether a crystal can be alive, a decision is made to grant the crystal a local moon to call home. There is a moon of one of the local gas giants called Aletha which offers a very similar environment to what Hypnos was like before the cataclysm that made the crystal homeless, and the decision is made to allow it to call Aletha home.

Mizhakwan has been interacting with the crystal intensely during the week, and has helped it to pick out a name for itself. Mikigaazo, which means “he is found (by them)”, is the name it chooses, although everyone immediately shortens it to Miki.  Todd has the bright idea that Miki should have a humanoid robot to control, so that it can more easily interact with humans, and he and Dakaasin whip up the Mikibot 1.0 platform for it to try out.

With all this out of the way, it’s finally time to introduce the Zernabians and Miki to the planet Zoz! Zik quickly organizes a big party at his father’s house on Talia Island, inviting Francisco’s band Anaconda to play. During the concert, Vera and Tanaka hang out by the fire with Dr. Taylor, as they’re still recovering from their medical ordeals. Tanaka, sporting a new cybernetic arm, strikes up a conversation with Windrunner, a champion Coup player. Another Coup player, Heavy Club, invites Vera to come to the potlatch he is holding soon to celebrate the wedding of his daughter.

Meanwhile, Zik is helping Miki calibrate the Mikibot by teaching him to dance, the awkwardness of which sends Amelia and Trent into gales of laughter. Seeing them laughing and enjoying themselves is a welcome relief for Dr. Taylor, who’s been worried about them.  He remarks to Vera that the two Zernabians seem to have a good chemistry together, which reminds Vera to ask him a question…

Crank the volume!! The song being performed by Anaconda is Panama by an old Earth band called Van Halen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuKDBPw8wQA

That’s a wrap for Episode 4: The Hypnos Hiatus, my dear Defenders! I will be taking a small break as I prepare for Episode 5: Endarkenment! See you soon, and Happy New Year!!

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!

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!

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!

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?!

A shocked Amelia charges towards the factory, not believing that almost everyone she knows has just perished. Coughing, Zik emerges from the gloom and consoles her as well as he can. The reality is that the firebombs inside the factory that preceded the demolition would have immolated anyone inside. No one could survive that… or could they?

Zik’s horror is multiplied as the inside of the factory starts to explode! Multiple detonations engulf the entire interior in flames!  He turns to run when the whole building is consumed by a massive explosion, leveling the entire structure! Did our hero get far enough away? Or has he been caught up in the blast and crushed by the rubble?