Nexus - Fourth Season

The fourth season reversed the lack of creativity that had dominated throughout the third season. This was a very good development, as it said that home grown, stand alone episodes could be just as popular as those that weren't originals. However, when the GM needs a rest, the precedent had been set in the third season for the importation of ideas to take the load off the system.

The fourth season could also have been called the "Bob and Alex" show as these two played in the majority of the episodes, and this gave these formerly minor players in the game a chance to shine a little.

The fourth season continued to improve the game as the chemistry among the remaining gamers continued to be good. The group was reunited about halfway through the fourth season, and some of the most memorable episodes occured in the second half of the season, although this doesn't take anything away from the episodes in the first half of the season that were also very well received. However, episodes like "The Perfect Crime," and "Revenger," continued to give the players more deadly villains to deal with, and these villians were as far away from Mephistopheles as one could get.

However, toward the end of the season, and the end of my stay in Pennsylvania, I felt that in order to really end the campaign with a bang, I had to do away with a major villain, so that the players would feel justified in playing 57 episodes of the same game. Besides, my characters in the other campaigns were coming to very big and very successful conclusions, and I felt obligated to return the favor. Thus in episode 58, Mephistopheles was put out of commission rather permanently, and the final curtain closed over Nexus for the time being.

The fourth season of Nexus was rated at:

Fourth Season Episodes

Miniseries: The Third Minar-Trikarus War

46A. Blitzkrieg (BL, AW)

The trikaran fleet reaches and attacks Minar, quickly destroying Minar�s air force and the orbiting Estesara Colony. They then descend to the surface. The group (Stormbringer, Mebish, and Tabryngm) help evacuate the Nexus military headquarters on the planet, then battle trikaran soldiers who are attempting to enter the building. After being forced into the undergroupnd tunnels under Minar City, the group reaches a bar, where they are captured by the trikarans and are tried by a kangaroo court which sentences the team to death via exile to the desert.

In the desert mountains, the team meets a caravan of mirovi, who takes them to the hidden city of the desert people. Another prisoner who was sentenced to death by the trikarans is in fact a spy for the trikarans, and he secretly reveals the location of the underground city to his masters.

Another trikaran fleet attacks the minim planet Ahrlohn. The minims are joined by a fleet from Nexus, including NS 227. The two fleets battle each other, mostly with fighters. The minims are forced back, and the battle becomes a rout. The Nexus/minim fleet begins a disorganized retreat. The trikaran mothership then powers up all four of its pulsar cannons and fires them, vaporizing the planet Ahrlohn.

46B. Close of the Conflict (BL, AW)

Neuman and Randal, along with a couple other Nexus agents are sent on a secret mission which takes them first to a newly-established trikaran base in the Abel-chkan Belt. They are captured and almost put to death, but Archimedes McTaggart saves them at the last minute. Neuman however, disobeys McTaggart�s order to leave the area with the rest of the group and is caught between two large groups of trikarans and is killed. His death buys time for the group to escape by shuttle. Once outside, the group has a perilous encounter with wo trikaran fleets, but they finally manage to escape.

The second stop on the secret mission takes the group to Trikarus, where they sneak into the main computer center and erase any reference to the location of the planet Minar. They are caught, and their ship leaves to avoid getting captured. Ty Randal slips away from the group and enters a lift. The rest of the team is rescued by the ship, which is piloted back to the capital. After the guards are eliminated, the group makes their getaway. As the ship is leaving Trikarus, the group�s computer expert�s mind is taken over by the trikaran fleet commander. The computer officer shorts out the ship�s engines and the trikaran mothership decloaks right behind the ship, hoping to capture the team. However, Marcella Quantum hotwires the warp drive and the group escapes.

Ty Randal confronts the trikaran empress, who is interested in recruiting Randal because of his magical abilities. When Randal refuses, the empress attacks him. In a battle to the death, Randal is severely injured, but he manages to teleport back to the ship.

47. Legends (AW)

NS 227 is called into the Wuffian Restriction Zone to retrieve another Nexus vessel which illegally entered the zone and threatened the planetary government with destruction.

48. The Message of Love (AW)

During a survey of the Beta III system, NS 227 encounters two trikaran ships which are being confronted by a small minim-manned ship which is from LOVE Inc, a peace-monging group which was formed on Minar during the last days of the recent war with the goal to spread the message of peace to all the peoples of the galaxy, including the trikarans. The two trikaran ships almost totally destroy the unarmed ship, then turn to NS 227. Quantum and Randal beam over to the minim ship and surprise the trikarans by firing a small photon at them. (The Nexus officers brought a portable torpedo rack with them).

49. Tanith's Crusade (BL, AW)

While on patrol near Araz Tebi Cha, NS 227 receives a message telling them that all of the religious statues of the twin deities of the myshi have been destroyed. Contact with the deities, who are of the Illianti race, lead the team to conclude that the destruction of the statues was caused by Tanith, the myshi god of death.

The team doesn�t have time to ponder this though, as Tanith starts a plan to replace the current myshi homeland with a replica of the territory, in which the inhabitants worship him. He plans to do this by bringing in another dimension to cover over the worlds in the myshi territory. This would destroy the original planets. The Illianti tell the team that Tanith�s power is concentrated in crystal which contains a multiverse. Tanith will not be able to execute his plan if the crystal is taken out of myshi territory. The group manages to steal the crystal and leave the planet where Tanith lives, but Tanith discovers the theft and hurls a tremendous energy bolt toward the planet Nexus. The bolt is disrupted when NS 227 flies into the Prison Zone in front of it, sending it into the zone. Gadget miscalculates the return jump and the ship ends up in the mirror universe. (see episode 13)

50. Opposites Repel (BL, AW)

NS 227 is stranded in the alternate universe, where they confront their alternate universe doubles. Kevin Warmonger�s double is after the other Illianti Crystal. Kevin gives it to him after he receives a working model of the Nexus Empire�s cloaking device, which is destroyed before it can be installed.

51. Smoke Em Out (JH, BL, AW) (civilian)

Kevin Warmonger joins the crew of the Slipstream as it makes its first mercahnt run. It is sent to the planet Dieri to deliver a secret package. When that job is done, the Slipstram loads cigarettes in their hold for a shipment to Alpenshore, where they will drop the cargo to receivers at a designated spot. The problem is that cigarettes are taxed heavily on Alpenshore, so the Slipstream will be smuggling them onto the planet. The secret meeting is not registered with the planetary authorities who show up to investigate. The Slipstream is forced to disintegrate the remainder of the cargo, much to the displeasure of Kevin Warmonger, who had arranged the deal. The ship leaves Alpenshore, heading for the minim worlds.

Warmonger, having left the ship to attempt to deal with the planetary customs authorities is left to fend for himself. He manages to escape, and he too heads for the minim worlds.

52. A Step Back in Time (JH, JC)

The team investigates a disturbance in Nexus� timeline. What they discover is an assassination plot against Arton and Beth, perpetrated by agents of PSI, who are working for Mephistopheles.

53. The Perfect Crime (JH, BL, AW)

NS 227 is ordered to map a newly-found asteroid field near Minar. While at Minar, they pick up Kevin Warmonger, who is hitching a ride back to Nexus. NS 227 also stops at Ophir, in Gondwana , where they pick up Dr. Braxton, a noted psychologist whose job it will be to run a psychological profile of the crew due to the high levels of stress which have occurred due to the past few missions.

There were no problems in the first few days. That changes once the ship gets into the asteriod field. Braxton is mingling with some of the crewmembers in the ship�s lounge. Nysia Tabryngm, being a typical minim, attempts to introduce herself to Braxton, but she is met with controlled disgust. This doesn�t stop Nysia, who when later introduced to Braxton, grabs his hand and shakes it. Later, Braxton orders a round of drinks for some of the crew, and spikes Warmonger�s drink with Methylactylide 90, a drug which causes severe muscle spasms and then insanity. Three hours later, Warmonger goes into convulsions and is taken to the medical center. Unfortunately, the neural scrambling caused by the drug activates an anti-theft deadman switch on Warmonger�s ship. The destruction of NS 227 is narrowly averted when the shuttlebay doors are blown open and Warmonger�s ship, along with the other shuttles and ten people are blown into space.

Braxton then enters Nysia�s quarters, where he attacks her and slits her throat. He then enters the medical center just before Warmonger is to come out of his coma. Braxton gives him a force sword, deactivates the restraining straps, and leaves. When Warmonger awakens, he grabs the force sword and rushes outside, where he viciously attacks and kills the two guards stationed there. A crewman notices this attack. Warmonger takes off down the corridor and is met by Marcella Quantum, who is investigating the Methyl 90 found in the drink. Warmonger is rendered unconscious by Quantum, who in a show of victory (stupidity), crushes the force sword. The resulting explosion of the sword�s battery pack kills her, Warmonger, three guards, and damages part of the deck.

Braxton�s next move is to poison the ship�s food supply with Meth 90. After that, he quietly goes about his business. No suspicion is placed on him until after he is no longer on the ship.

54. The Messenger (BL, JC)

Dan Strutter and Dexter Manning join the NSF and their first mission takes them to a cruise ship that is bound for Bannar and Drayhoah. They are in search of signs of suspicious activity regarding the Null Zone and the two religious worlds. The two officers discover a plan by Mephistopheles to incite the two religious rivals into open warfare, with the majority of Nexus in between them. The agent carrying Mephistopheles� orders is a beautiful woman named Endra. While attempting to capture Endra, Manning attempts to steal a broach that she is wearing. The broach was the symbol for the courier�s guild. Manning�s attempts only succeed in summoning a Mephistopheles clone, who teleports Endra away.

55. Revenger (BL, JC)

Dar Lawless joins Nexus and is paired up with Dan Strutter as the two investigate a wave of murders involving in some sort of scandal. The investigation leads them to a slum area on Nexus, where they confront an armored killing machine in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse. The end comes when Lawless attacks Revenger with a flame attack which breaches the fuel tanks on Revenger�s flamer, enveloping the entire floor of the apartment building in a burst of flame. Lawless manages to escape, but both Revenger and Strutter are killed by the fiery blast.

56. Long Ago in a Galaxy Far Away (JH, BL, JC)

Dar Lawless and Major Daniels are sent out to pick up Paul Tanaka, a new recruit to the NSF. On the way back to NS 227, the team�s shuttle is swept into another dimension that is completely urbanized. The group finds that the navigational computer is smashed, and it is therefore impossible to return to Nexus without help.

After fighting their way through a few annoyances, the group reaches a university and is sent to Professor Mendan, a specialist in temporal travel. He tells the group that he would be able to send the group home if there was enough fuel for his time machine. The fuel is an extremely rare substance that is impossible to duplicate. Mendan tells the group that he has enough fuel to get them to an area where they may be able to find a larger supply.

57. Land of the Demons (JH)

Major Daniels makes his way through a fantasy-type world in order to recover the fuel necessary to activate Mendan�s time machine. The fuel is located in an old temple, which comes complete with killer traps and demons.

58. Embracing Eternity (JH, BL)

The team is sent to stop Mephistopheles, who has obtained a temporal crystal, which, if detonated, could destroy the fabric of time in the detonation area. Mephistopheles plans to bring the crystal to Nexus and detonate it, destroying the planet. He could then pick up the pieces and rule what was left. However, his ship is intercepted by the team, and is engaged in a battle. Losing the battle, Mephistopheles detonates the crystal in an attempt to strand the team at the battle site forever, but the team escapes in the nick of time. Mephistopheles also attempts to escape via a magical teleportation spell, but the effects of the detonation are quicker than the speed of the spell, and Mephistopheles becomes a visible vapor trail from the explosion of his ship, which is also frozen in time.

(This was the last episode which was played with the original group.)