Zoot projects a life-sized hologram of the Clonoid Super-Soldier that nearly crushed Defender Zik during their battle on the Zernabian prison planet. The audience gasps in shock, staring at the image in disbelief. Red Wolf voices that disbelief, but James Anchor steps in to back the word of his old friend. He offers the telemetry data from the Kodiak 1, and commends Tanaka for being the one who finally took down the beast.

With that settled, Heavy Club returns to the matter of whether this mission is an acceptable proof of bravery for Onawa’s hand. Given the size of this beast, is Red Wolf still up to the challenge? Red Wolf re-asserts his intention, saying he’ll face anything to convince her that he’s worthy. A skeptical Heavy Club questions Red Wolf’s judgement, but says that it’s a problem that solves itself either way it goes down, because if this mission is too much for Red Wolf to handle, he’ll be dead. Ultimately, it’s Onawa’s decision, and she accepts. Maybe her judgement is also misplaced, but that’s love for you!

The elder most against the war party makes one last appeal, reminding them that Elcyra will retaliate. Zik stands up and points out that Elcyra will eventually find Zoz no matter what they do, and has already announced her intention to subjugate them. Hiding is pointless. He also points out that their ancestors accomplished one of the bravest feats in history by being the first to launch themselves on an interstellar journey to find a new home. Their great grandparents risked everything to escape tyranny during a dark time in human history, and the least they can do as beneficiaries of that bravery is to offer the opportunity for others to share in the liberty they bought.

A question of the practicality of fighting Elcyra’s advanced ships brings James Anchor to his feet. He offers the assistance of his new fleet, including the newly constructed Kodiak 2 capital ship. To ease the concerns of the most skeptical elder, he proposes that the invading ships jump into and out of the prison planet’s system from random directions to help conceal the exact location of Zoz.

Mizhakwan has heard enough. She can see that there’s nothing that will change the minds of the youth who are hell-bent on carrying out this raid. She offers to go along with the raiders to keep them in line. Mitch, Zik’s father, also offers to accompany the raid, and between them represent the interests of the elders. The meeting concludes, and everyone who can fight is left to decide if they will volunteer to sign up for this historic mission!

Defender Zik slides down from the rim of the crater to check on Gordon’s condition and formulate a plan.  Mizhakwan has applied a tourniquet to Gordon’s missing arm, but she insists that they need to get him to a proper infirmary as soon as possible. But they still can’t call the Temerity back because of the comms jamming!

To help get a strategy going, Zik asks Zoot to display a tactical map. Zoot creates a hologram showing the approximate location of the snipers and their firing arcs overlayed on the crater terrain.  The hostages are on the central peak of the crater, covered by all three Jairian snipers, whereas the Temerity team is in a hollow to one side.

Zik reasons that the best way to get to the hostages is to try to take out the nearest sniper first, so that they can approach the peak safely. He assigns that task to Trent Quickdraw who begins looking for his target immediately. Then, as Zik and Dak discuss what to do next, Mikigaazo sees an opportunity to pitch in!  His crystalline body inside the Miki-bot is immune to bullets, so he offers to fly up and rescue the hostages himself! Zik tries to stop him, but it’s too late!

Hey Defenders! I know the hologram in panel 2 is a bit tough to read, so here it is a bit larger.  It’ll look better when it gets printed in the third Defender Zik book, which will be made available after the next exciting episode! That’s right, book three will have four episodes in it!

While Tanaka bars the door, Zik tries to ride history’s first centaur rodeo. Misha the gorillaur grabs your favorite space hero off her back and flings him across the room. Recovering quickly, Zik squares off with the giant creature, while the holographic dragon continues to distract it.

Meanwhile, Tanaka finishes with the door, effectively blocking the much larger Marco from entering, and he leaps up onto the steel frame which surrounds the lab.  He gazes down on the chaos and hesitates. Does he really want to help Zik stop the singularity machine, or could this be an escape from the pain of his lost clan?

Defender Zik launches into action, getting Zoot to project a holographic dragon to distract the gorillaur! While Misha deals with the flying phantom, Zik jumps on her back and feeds her some lefts! Meanwhile, Tanaka starts piling furniture in front of the door to prevent the enormous Marco from joining the fray. A furious Dr. Wagner shouts at Misha to see through the illusion and concentrate on subduing the prisoners.  Can they stop the singularity machine in time?!

On the elevator to the bridge of Bastion Station, Zik asks Zoot to send a get-well-soon message to Tanaka. Zoot can be summoned as a holographic image now, which is something Zik still has to get used to. The colony computer’s sarcasm remains intact, however!

Arriving on the bridge, Zik asks what the new discovery is all about. Francisco, the science officer for the Temerity, explains that he’s found an unusual rogue planet not too far away. The planet’s readings on the scanners are diffuse and fuzzy, as if it were a comet with a tail.  However, the drifting planet is to far away from any stars at the moment, that the evaporation process that produces a comet’s tail would be impossible here.

Trent, still new to living in space, asks Zik’s brother Todd what a rogue planet is. As someone always enthusiastic about scientific discovery, Todd gives Trent an explanation: it’s a planet drifting alone in space, orbiting no stars, just drifting through the galaxy.

This space oddity is an excellent first target for exploration, Zik decides. He clears a departure time with orbital traffic controller Jolene, and sends word to the rest of the crew of the Temerity to prepare for their first adventure! Set your azimuth, Defenders, we’re off to Planet Hypnos!