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?!
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!
Zik checks to see how badly Frank is hurt, but the poor guy was dead before he hit the ground. The Jairians aren’t done with their aggression, and they open fire on your favorite space hero and his pals! Zik grabs Frank’s shotgun and dives out of the way of the incoming bullets, but poor Arata isn’t quite so lucky and gets hit in the shoulder.
From behind cover, Zik and Tanaka ascertain that Arata is just injured and isn’t in mortal danger. Zik tells the two Chadee to get ready to run inside the security office. He leans out and fires! Frank had loaded slugs in the shotgun, which are devastating at such a close range. Indeed, the round goes right through one of the Jairians and hits the assailant behind her!
Zik gets into an argument with the Jairian who’s demanding they surrender the mine. The man won’t back down! He refuses to leave and start his own mine elsewhere, he’s here for the resources available at this mine!
Frank interrupts the discussion and asks the Jairians to leave, or he will have to declare them trespassers.
The unhinged Jairian has had enough! He shoots Frank dead! A shocked Zik watches as his friend collapses in front of him!
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?
Tactical officer Emma makes the urgent announcement: Queen Elcyra has launched a barrage of torpedoes at the Kodiak! Captain James Anchor gives helmsman Gerald and weapons officer Jason some quick commands, and then announces an alert to the rest of the ship! Zik gets his crash helmet ready and moves to the secondary weapons console.
Meanwhile, there’s nothing Queen Elcyra likes better than crushing her enemies! She cackles with glee, giving Zik’s nickname for her more truthfulness than he probably anticipated!
Down in the medical bay, Fiona is helping Vera into a medical diagnostic pod. It doubles as an escape pod in case the attack goes badly for our heroes! Trent and Amelia aren’t sure what the alarm means, but Fiona explains it quickly. She’ll have to get some proper space-worthy clothing for Amelia and Trent! You don’t want to get sucked out a hull breach wearing a t-shirt or a robe! Fiona has a spare flight suit that should fit Amelia, and she offers Trent some body armor. Will the Kodiak survive the onslaught?
The Clonoid super-soldier is shocked as a large rail-gun round bursts through his heart! His thick skin may be able to withstand sidearm rounds, but this is significantly bigger! The Clonoid falls, the giant chunk of rubble he was hoisting crushing his head. Zik is taken aback, unable to comprehend what has happened until, through the smoke, he glimpses the familiar sight of the shuttle and two fighters from the Kodiak inbound! James Anchor has arrived just in time!
