Nexus - Ninth Season

It is rapidly getting to the point that I can no longer heap more praise on this series. It would seem to be both bragging and redundant. However, the ninth season did bring with it the most character development and the largest number of plot twists of any season thus far. Also, the Nexus soundtrack was first used as a addition to the adventure in this season. After that event, the soundtrack was regularly used, sometimes with great effect, as in episode 163, and episode 180.

Toward the end of the season, we bade goodbye to Dan Worthington, who has said that he will begin a Nexus-based campaign of his own in St. George, Utah. As far as I know, that is the first time that a game universe has been moved to another city by someone other than the campaign GM.

The ninth season of Nexus was rated at:

Ninth Season Episodes

152. Feats of Strength
(DW, FW, CR, DD) (NR)

During a repair and rest stop at Nexus, Armor responds to an evacuation request from a geological survey team on a nearby asteroid. In the midst of this crisis, Armor fails to save a woman who was pinned under a large boulder. After the repairs to the DN 10 are completed, the team is assigned to run a sensor survey of the stellar formation called �Hell�s Fountain.� The sensor sweeps turn up the unordinary when they discover a derelict Nexus scout vessel.

Upon boarding the ship, the team discovers that the entire crew has been gruesomely murdered.

After returning to the DN 10 with a lone survivor from the derelict, the crew begins to experience strange occurances, culminating in the kidnapping of Redblade�s child, and an attack on the bridge. Both of these incidents were caused by malevolent non-corporeal entities intent on escaping the gravity well of Hell�s Fountain. The situation is resolved when Zzintar pilots the DN 10 directly into the center of the gravity well, forcing the entities to flee.

153. Welcome Home (DD, JW) (CIV)

Captain Stacy Wilkins begins to suffer the effects of a reproductive disorder, and she, along with Stiletto explore her past. They find that she is a member of the Arachnid race. While Wilkins explores her racial past after having the disorder cured, Stiletto is given over into sexual slavery. When Wilkins discovers this, she rescues Stiletto and they return to Nexus.

154. Class Reunion (JW, BR, TG)

Zzintar, Redblade, Samiel, and Recon join forces to battle Psyren, Shroud, the Raiders, and the Destroyers, who had teamed up in an attack on the Nexus Military Academy. The target of the attack was a young psychic prodigy.

155. Survival (BP)

Lt. DeVerst is notified by Dr. Darwin that he did not take the required survival course, which is to be taken before active service in the Nexus Starfleet. While DeVerst agrees to take another survival course, the whole incident turns out to be an NIS plot to get information on DeVerst�s Khitai background.

156. The Long Arm of Captain DuBois (DD, DW, TW)

When the prison transport ship carrying Shroud disappears, DN 10 is sent to track it down. The trail leads to the frontier, and its path takes it straight toward Markann territory. Capt. DuBois assembles a fleet of ships, and the fleet sneaks into Markann territory in search for the prison transport.

The transport is finally found on an asteroid in a heavily-fortified Markann system. The team shuttles down to the surface of the asteroid and discovers a hidden base. Once inside the base, they confront Dr. Destroyer and several of his hired hands. In the firefight that ensues, Dr. Destroyer is not only able to escape, but he kidnaps Psyren as well. The group is left to fight its way back to Nexus territory. The fleet loses most of its ships in the attempt to get out of the planetary system, but the rest of the ships make it back safely and report to both NSF and NIS about their encounter.

157. The Swordsman (DW, BP)

While investigating the disappearance of a passenger liner, DuBois and DeVerst find themselves facing champions sent by Rage as a preliminary test for Armor.

158. The Artifact (DW, FW, BP)

An investigation into the notes of a deceased archeologist leads the team on a hunt for an ancient artifact that has entered Nexus territory and is destroying any inhabited planets in its path.

159. The Demon in the Staff (JB, BP) (Guest GM: DW)

The recurring nightmares experienced by the crew of CS 10 force Zzintar and DeVerst to go to the planet Estirun to recharge Zzintar�s staff. While there, the duo defeats Xavier and the Demoness, who wanted to acquire the staff for themselves.

160. The People vs Dirk DeVerst
(DW, BP)

While on leave, DeVerst is framed for the murder of his girlfriend, who turns out to be a deep-cover Khitai agent assigned to be killed in such a way that a NSF officer is implicated. Such an incident would spark a war between the Khitai and Nexus.

161. The Darker Side (DD, DW, BP)

Due to severe drops in crew performance levels caused by the continuing recurring nightmares, Dr. Darwin declares a Code Sapphire medical emergency, and orders the CS 10 to divert immediately to the Longshot Research facility for treatment. While en route, however, an accidental explosion in one of the torpedo bays sends the ship through a T/D misjump. While the crew is dealing with this crisis, another ship phases through the CS 10, and the resulting disruption of the fabric of space/time causes two people from the unknown ship to be transferred to the Nexus ship.

The crew is immediately into trouble as the two intruders destroy the ship�s main power grid and disappear into the darkened corridors. When DeVerst, Zzintar, Armor, and Whitestreak catch up to the intruders and engage them in a firefight, they discover that they are fighting alternate-universe versions of Armor and Silver Streak.

Dark Streak is captured and put in the brig, and Dark Armor is trapped in a turbolift. However, while the team tries to get information from Dark Streak, Dark Armor goes to the Bridge and attempts to take over the ship. When none of the crew follows his orders, Dark Armor flees to the Captain�s Yacht. Armor goes to the Captain�s Yacht, where he is ambushed by Dark Armor and hacked into unconsciousness. Dark Armor then tries to launch the yacht, but its moorings are locked down. At this point, DeVerst and Whitestreak provide a distraction which the recovering Armor uses to shoot off Dark Armor�s facemask. He then orders the yacht flooded with knockout gas.

Dr. Darwin discovers that both intruders have actually been aboard CS 10 for two weeks (their time) due to the temporal distortion caused by the ship phase. The two were also suffering from severe exposure to the nightmares, and were put in stasis. After their recovery, Dark Armor tells the team that in his home universe, the year is NY 362, and he is part of a small cadre of resistance fighters trying to save what is left of Nexus in their universe from the combined forces of the Markann, Dr. Destroyer, and Rage.

162. The Sandman Cometh (JB, BP) (Guest GM: DW)

The crew of CS 10 is evacuated to Longshot, and while they are there, prisoners escape while asleep and engage the team in battle, displaying powers and skills they normally do not possess. After trying various methods to contain the situation, Zzintar and DeVerst are invited to confront the Sandman on the astral plane. They fight him and manage to win, thus ending the plague of nightmares. (for now)

163. Historie Des Vampyres (DW, BP)

The group is startled by what appears to be a massive explosion in space. While they are attempting to figure out the cause of this disturbance, Beth appears to Armor and tells him that the vampire Count Vironus has changed history and has thus destroyed the normal timeline. The team is sent to NY -753 to the period just before the vampiric exile, where they foil Vironus� plan to destroy the Technologists by unleashing a bioplague on them.

(SOUNDTRACK: Music from "Interview With a Vampire", and others...)

164. Revenge of the Dark Lord (DW, TW, DD, BP)

While investigating the assassinations of several Nexus government officials, the group becomes the target of the wrath of Mephistopheles, who is out to seek retribution for his 180-year imprisonment. When Mephistopheles defeats the characters, he tells them that they have a choice between imprisonment in the Mephistopheles Nebula or a test. The group chooses to take the test.

165. The Day Before...
(TW, DD, BP, JB) (Guest GM: DW)

While Armor is sent to represent Nexus at a diplomatic conference, the rest of the group is sent to a costume party being thrown by a high-ranking Nexus officer. The party goes well until guests start disappearing...and turning murdered in grisly fashions.

Despite intense investigations and strict surveilance, guests continue to be killed. Finally, the group explores the grounds and finds a grave marker with the date March 31, 346. Further investigation of the house uncovers two large rooms under the house....and all of the guests, all alive and well, and laughing at their April Fool�s joke.

166. The Pocket World (DW, DD, BP)

The group is ordered to the Khitai border to monitor enemy movements. En route, the ship encounters gravimetric disturbances caused by the sudden appearance of a planet in the ship�s path. These disturbances culminate in a gravity wave that destroys the ship.

The characters find themselves in a primitive setting. Armor finds himself recovering from a supposed fight with Rage. Illian finds all of her forms merged and she is a sasquatch-like monster. Dirk finds that he is a heroic mercenary hired by the Khitai sheriff to deal with the monster. Trident finds herself in girl form, and in conditions nearing slave labor.

Armor escapes from the care of his �relatives� and arrives in town only to confront �Rage�, who he successfully defeats. Trident joins Dirk and together, they go after the �monster�, which they kill.

At this point, the �test� ends, and Mephistopheles announces that the party, except for Illian has passed the test. Beth then appears and sentences Mephistopheles to death for crimes against humanity. The sentence is carried out with the help of a Greater Knight of Justice. Illian is then restored to life and the group continues on their way.

167. CUT! CUT! CUT! (JB, DD, DW) (Guest GM: BP)

The ship is diverted to Terra to have the T/D drive realigned. During the realignment however, a group of thugs ambush the party, attempting to steal the crystal. At this point, things get interesting.

The group is drawn into an alternate dimension where magic predominates, and where Nexus is a TV show on the verge of cancellation. The group�s task is to save the T/D crystal from the thugs, and save their TV show from cancellation.

168. General Order One (DD, DW, BP)

Just after Armor returns from another diplomatic mission on the planet Capon (carrying a large crystal orb he received from the planet�s governor), the ship receives a distress call from an unmanned probe. When the team attempts to bring the probe aboard with a tractor beam, the probe activates, emitting an intense graviton pulse which hurls the CS 10 into the Badlands. Finding themselves a LONG way from home, with neither FTL or T/D capability, and in a Xarian/Markann war zone, the group makes their way to Heimdall, the nearest Alliance military outpost. Along the way however, they meet the DN 2 and its legendary commander, Captain Heyward Cain, both of which had been missing for about six months.

The two ships exchange information, and despite the success Cain is having in fighting the Markann, evidence begins to emerge that suggests that Cain had been involved in illegal trades of Nexus technology to the Xarians. The evidence is momentarily forgotten when the two Nexus ships fight off a Markann fighter patrol.

That night, Capt. DuBois is killed, and his body is taken over by a Lotha that had hidden itself in a secret storage area of the box holding the orb. By the next morning, DeVerst and Whitestreak have uncovered enough evidence to arrest Captain Cain, but before they can do this, the Markann, reacting to the last battle, attack again, this time, in force, destroying the DN 2. The ship�s explosion cascades through its T/D Crystals, detonating them, and ripping a huge rift in the fabric of space and time...and the CS 10 is trapped in the middle of it.

169. Anarchy (DD, DW, BP)

While attempting to escape from the temporal rift, the crew of the CS 10 encounter a ship similar to theirs which emerges from the rift. While investigating the ship, Lt. DeVerst is knocked out by a person that Armor later confronts. The person is named Anarchy, and the ship is the DS 10, a �Death Ship� of the NIS-run Nexus Empire. The two start making plans, but Anarchy secretly records their conversation.

The group returns to the ship and Armor awaits Anarchy. Anarchy however, true to his name, transports aboard CS 10, kills the transporter chief, and then sends a trapped gift to Armor, who narrowly avoids it. Anarchy then dumps the taped recording into the holodeck database, where it is discovered by Whitestreak.

As movement toward Armor�s arrest quickens, Armor takes the ship through the rift (after destroying the DS 10 in a quick battle). After disabling the CS 10 and its shuttles, Armor then takes the Captain�s Yacht and escapes. The group follows Armor in the Thor, which he forgot to disable. Armor is captured and placed in stasis, and the ship is repaired enough to return to the other side of the rift.

170. The Demon Gate (DW, DD, BP)

Another ship emerges from the rift and when the group transports over, they discover that the crew has been killed. Further investigation reveals what remains of a botched demonic summoning. The group discovers a runic book and takes it.

Once the group returns to the ship, strange things begin to happen. Illian�s drink at the ship�s bar turns into blood, the turbolift malfunctions, nearly fatally, as do the electrical systems in Whitestreak�s quarters. In the meantime, something is killing crewmembers assigned to power up the derelict ship.

The group discovers the cause of the strange happenings, and transports over to the other ship to complete the ritual. While there, a fierce fight erupts between the group and three demons, the last of which kills Whitestreak just as Illian and DeVerst enter the room. Illian completes the ritual, and the team transports away, leaving the derelict ship to slide back into the rift.

The group then encounters another drifting ship and discovers Dark Armor aboard. He is allowed to take command of the CS 10 after Beth places a mental block around information about history between NY 347 and NY 362. The ship then manages to break out of the rift and head back to Nexus.

171. The Package (DD, JW) (CIV)

Capt. Stacy Wilkins and Stiletto become involved in a High Nexus plot when they attempt to deliver a mysterious package to its owner. The owner�s servant is killed when he attempts to pick up the package. Stiletto tails the assassin, who leads him to Lucien. Lucien mind-controls Stiletto and orders him to steal the package from the ship, which he does. However, when Lucien tries to get Stiletto to give him one of the items in the package, a purple temporal crystal, Stiletto throws it at him instead. The crystal detonates, bathing the entire area in psionic energy, and the two mercenaries escape in the confusion. Lucien does manage to get the other part of the package: an Emotion Doll.

172. The Minar Run (DD, JW) (CIV)

While on the NOC, Stiletto befriends a young Shivali named Shiva, and Capt. Stacy Wilkins attempts to raise money through gambling. Her attempts fail, and Wilkins agrees to haul a �slightly� illegal shipment to Minar. Two days away from Minar however, the ship is stopped by a Nexus police ship - the officers have a warrant to search for illegal weapons, which they find. Wilkins and Stiletto then try all sorts of antics to attempt to get out of the situation, including opening the cargo hold and blowing the cargo - and the officers - into space. After a protracted chase, the police ship is also destroyed, and the two fugatives head for Badlands.