132. Forced Rescue (DR, DD, DW)

While making a minor port stop, the Excalibur takes on passengers who are headed for Hali. Once the ship is underway however, the passengers inform Capt. DuBois that they have laced the ship with explosive devices and that if he does not take them to the Kallin system, the ship will be destroyed.

Upon reaching the kallin system, the Excalibur finds a small fleet of pirated vessels. The hijackers now state that their purpose is to free the prisoners at a high-security prison. When DuBois doesn�t go along with this, the hijackers reveal themselves as NIS agents. This gains DuBois� obedience and he goes into his Ready Room. He is then locked inside the room under the Code Diamond Medical Quarantine. The same thing happens to Plasma and the majority of the ship.

DuBois gets out of the trap by giving the transporter technician a field promotion to the rank of captain, giving him the authority to transport personell out of the quarantined areas. When the team appears on the Bridge, the situation goes downhill to the point that when DuBois makes a pass at the female leader of the hijackers, she is killed by her overly-jealous boyfriend. This starts a firefight on the Bridge and the Nexus personell hurriedly transport themselves to a Nexus corvette that had been part of the pirate fleet. The pirates get away with the Excalibur and NIS personell deny involvement in the incident.

133. Possibility Curve, Part 1
(JW, DD, DW)

To his horror, Capt. DuBois finds himself not only carrying another passenger aboard the Excalibur, which was recovered near the Khitai border, but carrying a strange artifact as well.

The passenger turns out to be a time traveller who feigns interest in the Nexus ship and culture. He does not divulge much about himself except for the fact that attempts to keep him in confinement fail.

While members of the crew are taking an interest in this time traveller, Capt. DuBois is examining the artifact, which seems to absorb passive energies around it. When he touches it with a device confiscated from the time traveller however, the artifact activates, and Capt. DuBois, Markenaught, and Plasma disappear.

Each of the three find themselves living in the shadowsa of their former lives. DuBois si a machine technician in a factory, Markenaught is a civilian pilot, and Plasma is an alcoholic security guard. They all manage to meet in a bar and there they find the time traveller, who informs them that they have travelled into an alternate dimension.

134. Possibility Curve, Part 2
(JW, DD, DW)

In order to find a ship big enough to have the necessary items needed for the time traveler to construct a tool for use in returning the team home, the team is enlisted to be attendants to the time taveller, who volunteers his services to help stop the war between the Terran Empire and the League of Minar.

While aboard the ship, DuBois steals the needed impusle drive rods and Markenaught ponders over whether he should take a girl he has found himself in love with back to the regular timeline. The negotiations between the Minims and the Terrans go sour in a hurry as the Minims announce that three strike fleets are at work while the negotiations are in progress. As proof of this, they show one fleet as it destroys the planet Nexus.

DuBois then suggests that the time traveller let it slip at the negotiations that the Terran Empire has learned the secrets of time travel, and that they will use it to destroy the League of Minar unless an immediate halt to hostilites is called.

The minims retire to their ships to mull this new threat over, and this gives the group time to make their escape.

135. The Second Dimension
(DW, JB, JW) (Guest GM: DD)

The Excalibur is hijacked by a race from another dimension. Once they arrive, they are freed by a ship from the United Galactic Fleet, which requests Nexus assistance in their fight against their mortal enemies.

136. Tests of Command (DD, DW, JW)

Capt. DuBois gives Markenaught command of the Excalibur as a test of his command abilities. The test turns deadly when the Excalibur answers a number of distress signals from planets in the area which indicate that they have been attacked. One of the attacks was picked up on film, and the film shows that the attacking ships are Markann.

By tricking the Markann into believing that all of the planets northeast of Maharastra were expecting an attack, the team managed to send the Markann south. The Markann met the Excalibur in the Wilisford system after first sending a false ID signal to the Nexus ship. The Excalibur and the Markann fighters engage in a quick firefight which leaves the Excalibur and one fighter damaged. The Excalibur pursues the fighters out of the Wilisford sysem, where they find two Markann dreadnoguhts waiting. The Excalibur and its crew are quickly captured.

137. Mind Games (DD, DW, JW)

Markenaught and Redblade are taken from the Excalibur to a temporary base in the Badlands for interrogation and experimentation. Markenaught is subjected to a series of tortures which are aimed at seeing how far the human psyche will go to protect itself from outside forces. In the process, Markenaught gives up information on the location of various military bases in the NW Sector.

Meanwhile, the crew of the Excalibur are following a warp signature left by the two Markann ships. They find Markenaught and Redblade and transport them aboard using a high-speed transport idea posed by Zzintar. Markenaught is later given a demerit for his leaking of information to the Markann.

This episode used several idea threads from the STNG episode �Chain of Command.�

138. Rage (JB, DD, TW)
(Guest GM: DW)

While the Excalibur is on a standard patrol, the group encounters an alien ship. Upon establishing communications with the ship, Capt. DuBois discovers that the ship is commanded by Rage, his old nemesis, and he is kidnapped from the Bridge. Commander Cain orders the DN 10 to follow the alien ship.

However, the alien vessel soon draws the ship through a wormhole and into a pocket dimension. Further investigation reveals that the pocket dimension contains at least 12 wormholes leading to other dimensions. Talks with Rage uncover the unpleasant fact that Armor has been taken because of his fighting abilities which will be used in planned invasions of the universes which are on the other side of the various wormholes.

Once the group decides that it is time to return to Nexus, Armor is returned to the Excalibur. The explanation from Rage is that he needs more work. Commander Cain however, sees that there is a serious chance that these aliens may attempt to invade Nexus at some point in the future and after the Excalibur drops a couple of spreads of torpedos on what is believed to be the command center of the spacestation the Excalibur was docked at, they quickly head back to the wormhole.

Energizer and Cain come up with a plan to collapse the wormhole, and they execute their plan just as they are leaving the pocket dimension, hopefully keeping the wormhole closed for some time.

139. Involuntary Cooperation
(JB, DD, DW) (Guest GM: JW)

The team is transferred to DN 7 and while the ship is on standard patrols in the NW Sector, they discover a large subspace null field. While in the process of investigating further, the team learns that the Fleet Admiral has been abducted from his offices on Nexus. Before they can investigate the matter further, several members of the command crew of DN 10 are also abducted.

The group finds themselves in various states of restraint. Armor is fully restrained and tortured when he sees his jailors are reptillian and attacks them. Zzintar is put in a white-walled cell and refuses any contact with his captors. Plasma and Redblade, along with Redblade�s newborn baby are treated well, after the aliens perform several treatments on the baby which subject it to rapid aging. The gorup does not believe repeated statements from their captors that they wish to establish peaceful relations with Nexus.

After finally finding the Fleet Admiral and after seeing through a holographic illusion of being on one of Nexus� moons, the team is returned to DN 7.

Further investigation of the subspace null field reveals a �cityship� in the center, and the ship is headed through Nexus territory. Zzintar comes up with the idea to phase shift DN 7 into a time before the cityship arrives near the border of Nexus. Then as the cityship materializes, but before the null field is set up, the evacuated dreadnought materializes. The resulting anomaly of physics causes a cascade explosion which destroys both DN 7 and the cityship.

140. Infatuation (DD, DW)

While en route to Terra, the team, which has been transferred to DN 10, starts to notice strange occurances aboard the ship. The holodeck malfunctions, nearly fatally, the food processors only serve Capt. DuBois� favorite dishes, and the ship changes course and starts heading toward Katakoro, DuBois� homeworld.

DuBois and the team surmise that the computer�s advanced personality has made it vulnerable to emotions, in this case, infatuation with the captain. In order to return the ship to normal, Zzintar shuts down the ship�s neural network and purges it from memory. The ship�s AI is then reactivated and the ship resumes its original course.

141. Cry Wolf (JB, DD, JW)
(Guest GM: DD)

The team is called in to help capture two escaped prisoners from the Rhemsis Callo maximum-security facility. When they find a subspace trail heading off into Hesperian territory, they follow it. The trail soon heads back into Nexus space and ends at Devil�s Icebox.

Upon landing on the planet, the group finds an evil variant of Xavier, who has befriended the Demoness. After a short fight, Xavier leaves, leaving the group rather frustrated. While en route to Rhemsis Callo, the two escaped prisoners are teleported to the brig by Xavier, who was simply using them as bait for the Nexus officers.

142. The Plague (DD, DW, JW)

A medical emergency on the planets Tristenoira and Bael prompts the DN 10 to report to the Strabicevo naval base to pick up crucial medical vaccines which are to be transported to the afflicted region.

Along the way, DN 10 hits a gravitational disturbance caused by the nearby Arachnia Wormhole. After they clear the disturbances, they find that several canisters of the medical vaccines and several canisters of a electrolyte chemical have been smashed and that the contents have mixed together.

The team ends up with the nightmarish task of fighting a mutated virus-like entity which has created a micro-brain from the spilled contents of the canisters.

143. The Timekeeper
(JB, DW, JW, TW) (Guest GM: DD)

The group is contracted by a �timekeeper� who asks them to aid in the capture of her brother, who is a rogue. This mission takes them to the days just before the Rhiannon Incident of NY 5, where they attempt to foil an assasination attempt of President Rhiannon two days before he is to be killed in a accident.

144. Be Careful What You Ask For... (DD, DW, JW, TW)

Ikiru is given a cryptic message regarding her criminal past and when she attempts to investigate the matter by stealing a fighter, DN 10 quickly tracks her down.

Upon further investigation, the team finds a �mirrorhead� doctor and his superpowered group who are obsessed with saving the people of Sectorcav from a bioplague. They had purchased gene samples, including ones from the batch stolen from Acropolis to aid them in their task.

145. Trial By Fire (DD, DW, JW, TW)

While investigating a DST message sent from Thishri, the DN 10 becomes embroiled in a corporate war over the planet when they contact mercenaries working for Riko Ltd, who are tired of life in a war zone and ask DuBois for passage off-world.

When Riko discovers this, their orbiting ship attacks and severely damages the DN 10. Gladiator mechanized troops board the Nexus dreadnought and a fierce firefight ensues. Unfortunately, Markenaught, Mantradon, and Energizer are casualties of the battle.

146. Den of Wolves (DD, DW, JW)

When Colonel Wolf asks that the team complete the evacuation of his mercenary unit from Thrishi, they comandeer a Riko Ltd freighter, slip through the system�s defenses and evacuate the unit.

On the way off-world, the team has to fight a fighter patrol, then the Riko ship in orbit. They are assisted in this task by Col. Wolf, who pilots his ship directly into the Riko cruiser, crippling it. The team then meets the DN 10, which had been given secret orders to meet them by Zzintar. DN 10 returns to Belverus for repairs and replacement personell, including Jacklyn Mendoza, the new ship�s counsellor, who immediately annoys both Dr. Darwin and Commander Cain.

147. Who Am I? (BR, DD, DW, JW) (Guest GM: DW)

Suspicions of widespread security breaches arise when investigations of a minim security officer injured during an engineering accident aboard DN 10 discover that the officer was an android, and further investigations uncover androids in all ship�s departments.

A rescue attempt is mounted against a computer AI located in System 347 with the help of Illian, who reveals her true form as the Doppleganger. The rescue is successful, although the computer informs them that they have destroyed merely a single node in a greater machine.

148. Retribution, Part 1
(DD, DW, JW)

Ensign Ikiru answers a letter from the Fusema Clan, asking her to go to a location, later revealed to be the planet Barabas, in the Khitai Empire, in order to participate in elections to select a new leader of the Fusema following the death of the former leader.

Meanwhile, the DN 10 responds to a distress signal from a merchant ship that got caught within a gravitational anomaly. Ikiru is captured by Lung Hung, who then sends a message to DN 10 telling them of her intention to execute Ikiru in retribution for past defeats.

149. Retribution, Part 2
(DD, DW, TW, BM, MW, RH)

After receiving Ens. Robert (Iceman) Henson and Ltjg Istvan aboard the DN 10, the group, along with Sli Silver and Knight Dragon, takes the ship to Barabas to retrieve Ikiru from the clutches of Lung Hung. After a fierce battle in the main hall of the Fusema Clan, the group manages to free Ikiru. Lung Hung narrowly escapes and is revealed to be an admiral within the Khitai fleet.

150. The Command Test
(DD, BM, MW, RH)

Counselor Mendoza is given command of the Darre Class NS 117 during a simulated rescue mission to save a freighter that struck a EMP mine. After scans of the area turn up nothing conclusive, a boarding party is sent aboard the stricken vessel. At that point, things begin to go wrong. Mendoza is forced to strand the boarding party and flee the scene when her ship comes under attack from increasing numbers of Markann fighters. She is eventually forced to evacuate and scuttle her ship. Lt. Istvan goes to the freighter�s engine room to make repairs, but ends up causing a warp core breach. Henson dies fighting squad after squad of Markann soldiers, and Knight Dragon simply disappears. Truly a no-win scenario.

151. The Soul Cages (DD, JW)

Ensign Ikiru�s �command test� turns out to be anything but ordinary when Beth and the terminally injured �Ambassador� Kaebek board the ship during her brief assignment as commanding officer of the DN 10.

While under the influence of the �last wish� condition placed upon her by Kaebek, Beth takes control of the DN 10 and sends it on a journey out of the Nexus dimension and toward the mythical �Island of Souls.� Along the way, the group encounters Lord Leviathan, who rules a dimension comprised of water, and they discover that the Island of Souls is in the center of a dimension of anti-life...that decays anything existing within it, including the characters and their ship.