Nexus - Third Season

The third season was a vast improvement over the last two, although the episode ratings do not show it (much). The quality of the episodes was sustained throughout the season, and the Nexus universe was enlarged with the help of Alex White, who although he did not have a lot of popularity, added a few very interesting races to the game. (Some races had to be modified, much to Alex's displeasure, and he still to this day doesn't understand that if these changes hadn't been made, races like the minims would not exist in Nexus today.)

The third season could've been called the "noncreative" season, because over 2/3 of the episodes were not originals. Most of these episodes were rated at 2 or lower, although episodes 33 and 40 were rated at 3.

There were no REMARKABLE episodes or characters in the third season, although there came to be enough energy to draw more theme music into the universe, and toward the end, I began working on my masterpiece.

Unfortunately, a personal argument split the group up just before the season finale, despite this, episode 45 became the first episode to get a 4 star rating.

The third season of Nexus was rated at:

Third Season Episodes

30. Contract Breaker (JH, BL, JC)

A new group joins NSF. Their first mission comes when they receive a distress call from a man on the planet Byte who wants to break his contract with Byte Inc. by escaping in order to avoid the customary mindwipe.

31. Death's Spacestation (AW)

Gadget Hatwrench and Ty Randal join the NSF. Their first mission takes them to the Multiplanet Spacestation, where a computer malfunction has caused a weapons and security project to go wild, killing the inhabitants.

32. Leave My Bunny Alone (BL, AW)

Hatwrench and Randal are visiting a park on a pleasure planet during a slight lull in the activity when they find a lost rabbit. When they leave the planet, they take the rabbit with them, adopting it as a pet.

While on the way to the next mission, the ship is attacked by an Organization raider, whose personell are looking for moa eggs which were shipped from Arantas in the womb of the rabbit that Hatwrench and Randal found. The group finds that the rabbit was the target of a hijack of an ABS Technologies ship in the area, and that Hal �the King� Korvus is still interested in retrieving the rabbit. Using a bit of trickery, the group manages to get awa with the moa eggs, which are then returned to Arantas.

33. Sorry for the Inconvenience (JH, BL, AW)

When Nexus ends its anti-piracy patrols of En Diri, the planet�s governor is saddened, but he accepts the situation. Before the group leaves, the governor asks them if they would volunteer to be the subjects of a test which involves the implantation of transponders which monitor the reactions of other people to the subject. Of the group, only Morgan Challenger accepts. What no one discovers is that Mephistopheles has tampered with the implants to make them mind-controlling devices.

Challenger is taken over by the mind control device, and he gets to the main computer bank and feeds vital information about alien races to Mephistopheles� ship. When the group discovers the device, they remove it, then set out to track down the information. When they manage to confront Mephistopheles, he escapes in his ship. When they pursue, Mephistopheles evades pursuit, then stops. The group informs him that he is under arrest, but he replies that he is out of their jurisdiction, and in the Null Zone. Sensors register the presence of three trikaran ships closing in. At this point, Challenger, who had slipped aboard Mephistopheles� ship while on En Diri, fires his laser at Mephistopheles, seriously injuring him. The group then evades the trikaran vessels and returns to Nexus territory, where they turn Mephistopheles in.

34. The Rosananti Incident (AW)

The group is informed of an impending nuclear disaster aboard the Rosananti Spacestation, but are not allowed to help because of the imminence of the explosion. Ty Randal and Gadget Hatwrench steal a ship and go to Rosananti to attempt to repair the reacto, but fail to get the situation under control.

NS 227 arrives and rams the spacestation. Using special grasping claws, the team pulls the reactor out of the spacestation. They then connect four small thrusters to the reactor, which are activated, sending it into deep space where it explodes harmlessly. This episode was based on a plot from Thunderbirds 2086.

35. The Shining One (AW)

As the team is returning from the Rosananti Spacestation, Gadget is visited in her sleep by an alien, which merges with her. The next morning, after reporting a burning sensation all over her body which is combined with a headache, Gadget discovers she has magical powers. However, medical tests show that the powers are the result of the alien fusion, which is burning out the cells in her body. As a result, Gadget has three days to live. She is placed in stasis until a solution to her problem can be found.

Captain Hansen orders the ship to proceed to the planet Zalgus, a neutral planet bordering on the Null Zone, and the home of the aliens responsible for Gadget�s condition. En route, the ship is stopped by a trikaran frigate who claims that the Nexus ship is in trikaran space. Hansen orders a thermite bomb dropped out of the shuttle bay with a distress beacon attached to it. Not wanting the beacon to alert anyone, the trikarans destroy it, and NS 227 returns fire, crippling the trikaran ship.

Upon reaching Zalgus, Hansen is politely told that even considering the unusual circumstances surrounding the incident, the inability of Gadget to accept the �gift� would be seen as a rejection and an insult by the race. The only solution mentioned is a duel to the death. Gadget is put up against a 6� tall Gormelite. The Gormelite wins, but Gadget is spared because the aliens relented in their strict adherence to racial customs.

36. Treasure Hunt (JH, BL, AW)

As NS 227 is making a port call at Dieri, they intercept a com signal from an Organization agent in Dieri�s Prison District. The message tells of a �package� which is to be picked up and delivered to a certain Thomas One Eye. Dieri�s security force asks the group to investigate the matter.

As the ship is heading toward the Abel-chkan system, where the package is supposed to be located, it is stopped by a merchant vessel whose pilot identifies himself as Thomas One Eye. He then pays the team for the message. Two other ships approach, asking about the package. When a Dieri security ship approaches the area, the newcomers open fire on it, severely damaging it. NS 227 returns fire, damaging one ship, which self-destructs, taking the other ship with it. Thomas One Eye is told to wait in positon until NS 227 can retrieve the packgae.

On a dead asteroid in the Abel-chkan Belt, the team finds a deserted Organization base. Inside one of the buildings, the team discovers a trap designed to destroy anyone who investigates the base. The asteroid is destroyed, but the group escapes safely. Needless to say, Thomas One Eye is nowhere to be found.

37. On Sunday (JH, BL, AW)

A wandering woman turns out to be a princess and Conrad Steele returns the prodigal princess to her father and all�s well for the moment. However, two days later, the princess is missing again, and the group sets out to find her. When they do find her, she is in a local tavern under the protection of the owner. They tell the group that the king wants to back out of an arranged marriage between his daughter and James April, a crewman aboard NS 227. Reasoning with the king fails when he kidnaps his daughter from the group. The matter is resolved when April and the princess steal a fighter and outrun three loyalist pursuers to NS 227. April and the princess are married soon after that.

38. The Only Thing There is to Fear... (AW)

Nysia Tabryngm joins the group as the chief science officer aboard NS 227. In this adventure, the ship is approached by a mysterious vessel which refuses attempts at communication, and which continues to place itself on an intercept course. Captain Hansen orders the shields raised, and in response, the ship fires at NS 227. Within a minute, NS 227 is crippled to the point of near uninhabitability. The ship slowly makes its way to a nearby uncharted planet and the crew begins preparations to leave the ship.

Hansen leads a recon team down to the planet where they find a city inhabited by a race of mysterious beings who tell the group that they must not colonize their world because they would contaminate it with their fear. When the team resists this notion, Nysia ois transported through time and space and relives the destruction of Abel-chkan. Another being however, says that there is always an alternative to fear. On the way back to the ship, Nysia begins to feel ill. She finds that the rest of the team has vanished and the shuttle�s environment has been ruptured Since there is no way to stop the inevitable, Nysia succumbs to what appears to be her death.

She awakens on the Bridge of NS 227 as the alien ship is approaching. This time, just as Hansen is about to give the order to raise shields, he stops, and the alien passes harmlessly by.

(based loosely on the Space 1999 movie, "Alien Attack")

39. You Can't Take it With You (JH, BL, AW)

The team is transferred to Nexus G Branch and confronts the demented Mr. Forcht, who is afraid of death, but more afraid of leaving his considerable fortune behind to be given to charity. He has therefore built a dimensional gate to allow him to transfer his possessions to the spirit world.

40. Bad Medicine (JH, BL, AW)

A strange suicide case on Nexus prompts the NSF to launch an investigation of a drug production factory on the planet Jiren, where the team finds that the original drug, useful as a radiation antidote, is being tampered with. During this episode, the split personality of Conrad Steele manifests itself as Korathos. General Loren McConnel joins the team as the marine commander.

41. Call of Cthulhu (BL, AW)

G Branch is called in to retrieve stolen mystic books. The team finds that the books have been stoelen by a cult which wants to bring Great Cthulhu into the Nexus dimension. General McConnel is killed during this episode during the fianl battle with Cthulhu. Gadget Hatwrench becomes a NPC after this episode.

42. If I Could Talk to the Animals (AW)

Carrain Mebish joins the group and teams up with Ty Randal in an attempt to prevent a new Super group, PSI from kidnapping the daughter of a prominent Nexus senator. The girl is able to communicate with animals.

43. A Dimensional Scream (BL)

Lincoln F. McConnel join the group as the Nexus diplomat aboard NS 227. The group is awakened by a chilling scream in their dreams and soon discover that it came from another dimension. When the NS 227 travels to this dimension, the group discovers the result of an early Nexus experiment in dimensional travel: a ship caught between two dimensions. The problem is that the dimensional wall is attempting to repair itself by destroying the surrounding area, including NS 227. In order to save themselves, the group bounces NS 227 off the dimensional wall and away from the other ship. As they do this, they fire a torpedo at the other ship, destroying it.

44. Engineer for Hire (AW)

Gadget is invited to the Nexus Engineering Conference , which is to be held on Minar. There, she will unveil a new engine design which may revolutionize starship engineering techniques. The ambassador from Minar to Nexus, Admiral Zahd Vidikit will also be attending the conference.Vidikit and Gadget were lovers at one time, so he insisted on attending the conference

NS 227 is en route to Minar when they come across a trikaran distress signal. Following the signal, they discover a derelict trikaran ship. Hansen sends a boarding party over to the ship consisting of Nysia Tabryngm, Archimedes McTaggart, Gadget Hatwrench, and James April. The boarding party is ambushed by trikarans on the supposedly dead ship, and are then drugged.

All members of the boarding party awaken aboard NS 227 with the exception of Gadget. Hansen informs them that the trikaran vessel has powered up and is heading for the border. He also states that Zahd Vidikit has taken command of the NS 227 and is in hot pursuit.

Once the trikaran vessel crosses the border, Vidikit tells NSF that he is violating the border. Once across the border, the trikaran ship orders NS 227 to surrender. At this point, two more trikaran raiders approach the area. NS 227 fires on the newcomers, disabling them. They then fire on the main ship and punch a hole through its shields. Gadget is beamed aboard NS 227 and the ship very quickly returns to Nexus space.

45. Gods of War (BL, AW)

The group is ordered to guard the engineering conference on Minar because of the recent increase in the number of attacks from the trikarans. The team is taken to Minar via a refitted freighter, and they are placed in charge of guarding the conference area.They end up having to fend off multiple attacks from PSI, who was hired by the trikarans to disrupt the meetings. .PSI takes heavy casualties and is forced to retreat., allowing the conference to continue without further interruptions.

As the group is leaving the conference, PSI attacks again, destroying the ship as it lifts off. Carl Danvers is killed in the explosion, but no one else is seriously injured. As everyone is recovering from the attack, they are informed that a trikaran invasion fleet has entered the Minar system.