Nexus - Seventh Season

The Seventh Season proved to be one of the best come-backs that the series has made to this date. When it first began, it seemed as though the series was doomed to remain in the background of the mainstream gaming activity thanks to a false start which infuriated one of the more influential gamers and almost shelved the notion of another attempt. However, through a compromise worked out between the players and myself, Nexus opened up another season, and I have been damn pleased with the results.

This season is filled with firsts. It was the first season in which at least one episode was played through email. It was the first season to not only break the record of one four star episode set by the third season and tied by the fifth season, this season had five four star episodes, and a couple of them came one after the other.

Perhaps the biggest experiment this season was the use of some of the more active players as Guest GMs, which gave me time to actually play the game. The guest GMs added a new approach to the game, and they gave the campaign more depth. As a result of some of their ideas, Nexus now has a spell list and procedures on how to go about getting spells, and we are continuing to work on ship designs. A new set of maps was set up, a new area was added to the Nexus universe, and Nexus has two new enemy races

The episodes of this season were thoroughly enjoyable to the players and fun to run as a GM. I believe we are all looking forward to the next season.

The seventh season of Nexus was rated at:

Seventh Season Episodes

86. Red Alert (JBu)

Bridger Thompson is assigned by the NIS to test the security of their facility on the NOC. While there, he confronts some villains who infiltrated the site earlier and are intent on stealing secrets from the facility�s computers.

87. Kingpins (JBu, RS) (PBEM)

The group foils an Organization plot to destroy Nexus when the criminal organization fakes orders for NCr 7 to report to Minar. They then commandeer the vessel and head to Nexus, intending to drop a lethal chemical into the atmosphere.

Miniseries: The Tragic Story of Rachel Danne

88. Jailbreak (JW, DD, DW)

The group is selected to do a security test at the Al-Jebel maximum security prison�essentially, their job is to escape. They manage to do this, but once they are outside, they end up having to deal with three criminals who also escaped during the group-induced blackout. As they trek across the desert, the group comes across a huge nest. The team takes refuge in a cave near the nest.

The group awakens the next morning to discover that the parents, a couple of dragons have returned. The group is trapped in the cave, and the only way they manage to escape is by creating a geyser from an underground pool they find.

Once the group escapes and reaches the prison�s perimeter markers, they are met by the three escapees.. During the battle which ensues, Rachel is critically wounded and is quickly transported to the ship. She is fitted with bionics and admitted into the Series V Program.

89. Dimensional Dangers (JW, DD, DW)

Things start off badly for Logan Markenaught when he receives a visit from his mother while NCr 7 is docked at Center. Things go from bad to worse when the elder Markenaught is taken hostage by the villain group Psionex, who was hired by LOVE Inc to demand that Nexus disband their navy. As a demonstration, the villains shut down the ship�s power grid.

The team infiltrates into the engine core room and a brief fight erupts. Then, Asylum, the leader of Psionex appears long enough to restart the power grid. He had overheard a report from the Bridge that the ship had slipped into an area of subspace instability. The re-initialization of the warp drive shoots the ship into an alternate universe where the alien Zizziti have almost conquered Nexus, and the NCr 7 is one of the few remaining Nexus starships. The group convinces Psionex to work with them in figuring out how to return home. They do this by firing five torpedoes into the instability. The detonation stabilizes the area, and the group and villains are transported home. At that point, Psionex transports themselves away to avoid capture.

90. Instruments of Destruction (JW, DD, DW)

The group is sent to deactivate the old planetary defense systems after they are tripped by the passage of a rogue comet. In the process, they confront the inhabitants of the old planetary space center that was bruned out in a nuclear accident. In the end, the group confronts the White Knight, who set a bomb to detonate a few of the nuclear warheads. After White Knight transports himself away, Sarah Nyjax manages to disable the timing mechanism, averting certain destruction.

91. Trouble at Texton (DD, DW)

The group is called to the Texton Collider Facility to stop the facility�s supervisor, Dr. Ograbgo, who plans to use the collider to create a hole in the fabric of the universe. This episode was based on a Galaxy Rangers cartoon episode of the same title.

92. Avalanche (DR, DD, BM)

The group is sent on a rescue mission to retrieve passengers of a tram that got caught in a tunnel during an avalanche. This episode was based on the Thunderbirds 2086 episode of the same name.

93. A Night at the Fights (DR, BM)

While en route to Pleroo to participate in the NWL games, Corona and Knight Dragon receive a police APB on Psychout. Since the report originated near the Badlands, they ignore it. Once on Pleroo, the two heroes end up fighting Psychout in the finale match of the games.

94A. Master Disk, Part 1 (DD, DR)

Sarah Nyjax travels to Pleroo to attend a conference on quantum physics. While there, she meets up with Corona, and the two of them discover a mystery surrounding the latest publication of the EEUK (Escott Encyclopedia of Universal Knowledge). The disk containing Volume 6, (letters Q through S) was stolen, and Escott wants to have the disk returned.

When the heroes are given a starmap of Nexus, they surmise that Nexus Genetics Lab, located on Sheba, had something to do with the disappearance. However, upon further investigation, they discover that the probable culprit was Survias. This is backed up when the team is attacked by supervillains in the pay of Survias.

94B. Master Disk, Part 2 (DD, DR)

The group is breifly seperated in the aftermath of the Terror Inc. attack, but they regroup and head to Pleroo in time to catch the villain group with the missing disks.

95. Dark Sphere (DR, JB)
(Guest GM: BM)

Ex-NSF officer Rahne Derkin picks up Corona, who is found drifting in space. Once Corona is revived, they encounter the after-effects of the explosion which destroyed the entire Ahrlein system � a shock wave which devastates the entire SE Sector. Surmising the extent of the damage, the group heads for Center Station to get a situation report.

When the group arrives at Center, they find that the station has almost been destroyed by the blast. The heroes mount a rescue operation to save the remaining crewmen, who are slowly being killed from a radiation field being emitted from the battered station. Once the crew is safely aboard the rescue ships, Corona destroys the remnants of the station.

As the group is heading to Eastcaith, they discover a formerly unknown planet that is completely urbanized. Once the ship lands, the group discovers that the inhabitants are from a parallel universe where a brutal war is being fought. The planet escaped the war by using space fold engines and creating a dimensional rift. While on the planet, the group meets up with Knight Dragon and together, they fight a group of supervillains calling themselves the Death Skulls.

96. The Beserker (BM, DD)

When Crown Prince Alexander of Sheba asks for the aid of the group in investigating the fiance of Queen Victoria, the team accepts. However, after the prince leaves, Knight Dragon convinces Sarah Nyjax to kidnap the prince on the assumption that he is not who he seems to be. The two of them head to the engineering section, where Knight Dragon kills the five technicians working there, but the incident is recorded on one of the two cameras located there. The blast doors are brought down in an attempt to trap Knight Dragon in the area long enough for Security to arrive in force, but instead of trying to leave, Knight Dragon breaks through the blast doors sealing the engine core off from the rest of the section. He then proceeds to batter the core until he breaches it. To avoid an explosion that would destroy the ship, the core is ejected from the ship.

Meanwhile, Sarah Nyjax temporarily blinds the prince and is taking him to a shuttle when Zachary Foxx and Nikko approach and inquire about the prince�s condition. When Nyjax can not convince Foxx that the prince is OK, Nikko is allowed to establish a brief mind link with the prince and she discovers the truth. Nyjax is led away.

When Knight Dragon reaches the shuttle bays, he discovers that Nyjax is not there as planned. After looking for her, he heads out into the corridor and disables the turbolift access to the deck. He also closes the bulkheads in the stairwells. He then primes one of the shuttles for a full reverse blast with a four miute delay, hoping to blast through the back wall of the bay. He fails to notice the hangar operator in the control booth, who notices this action and cancels the computerized commands. He shuts down the computers on all of the ships in the bay, and tells the other shuttle bays to do likewise.

Nyjax is convinced by the captain to assist in the capture of Knight Dragon. When she, Foxx, and Nikko reach the hangar deck, they arrive just in time to see a two-man fighter slam into the corridor and into the next shuttle bay. After the three engage Knight Dragon in a protracted firefight which results in another wrecked shuttle and a severly damaged flight deck, Knight Dragon is subdued and placed in stasis to await his trial.

Judges Beth March, retired Fleet Admiral Zahd Vidikit and Fleet Admiral David Hansen render a guilty verdict and sentence Knight Dragon to permanent internment at the Longshot Cryogenics Facility.

97. Silver And Gold (JW, DD, DW)

The group confronts a villain team who pulled a robbery of the Nexus Gold Repository.

98. As the Mind Turns
(BM, JB, JW, DD,DW) (Guest GM: DR)

The group learns that the prisoner transport that was to transport Knight Dragon to Longshot failed to reach its destination. NCr 7 is dispatched to the transport�s last known coordinates in an attempt to find it. The group, including Xavier, Markenaught, Nyjax, Foxx, and Nikko are transported to the surface in a marginally habitable planet in System J-27, where they find Knight Dragon and Corona.

After an intense battle, Xavier probes the minds of both Corona and Knight Dragon and discovers that Queen Victoria�s fiance was actually a Mephistoheles clone who planned to marry the queen and take over Sheba and the planet�s seat in the Nexus Parliament. Knight Dragon was just about to discover the plot, and he was mentally controlled by the clone in order to prevent the plan from getting out. Once this is discovered, the charges against Knight Dragon are dropped.

99. The Fallen Hero (JW, DD, DW)

While Rachel fights for her life at a hospital on Nexus, with Xavier keeping a vigil at her side, VOICE members attack NCr 7 and take over the Bridge, upon which time Markenaught makes a daring rescue of the Bridge personnel after a fight in which the members of VOICE were dropped in short order.

Meanwhile, Rachel awakens and escapes from the hospital in an insane fury. Xavier follows her and attempts to subdue her but is unsuccessful. Rachel finally collapses and dies in Xavier�s arms. When Xavier returns to the ship and finds that Black Raven has been interned in the ship�s stasis room, he kills the criminal in revenge for the death of Rachel. He is given a trial in which he is found innocent by reason of temporary insanity.

100. F.O.D = Flameout (JW, DD, DW) (Guest GM: DR)

While on R&R at Welcome Station, Mirage and White Lightning confront Hellfire, a villain who threatens to destroy the station unless he receives one million Nexus credits. Mirage pulls off the perfect rip off�she hands over one million counterfeit credits and the villain leaves. It was a good thing this plan worked, as the battle between the heroes and Hellfire was a stalemate.