173. Traditions (DD, DW, TW, BP)

The team cracks a Methyl-90 ring after a female security guard is raped and murdered after she witnesses the drugs being loaded on the NC 716.

174. Circle of Abuse (DD, DW, BP)

A series of grisly murders aboard the CS 10 baffle the group. The killer turns out to be an engineer whose latent mutant powers were activated by the radiation from an explosion in Engineering. The killer is out for revenge against his formerly-abusive mother.

175. Trouble in Paradise (JB, DD, BP) (Guest GM: DW)

While on patrol, DeVerst is contacted by his older brother Shang, who is a soldier fighting for the preservation of the paradise dimension of Rashod. Once the warlord responsible for starting the war sends a robotic assassin to kill Shang, Zzintar, Plasma, and Dirk team up with Shang and the rest of the Rashod resistance forces to defeat the warlord.

176. The House (DW, DD, BP)

Due to a freak accident, Dirk is thrown into a pocket dimension, where he wanders through a ghost-infested house. After fighting a guardian demon, Dirk is confronted by Lucien, who informs him that this particular dimension houses one of the seals seperating Nexus and other technology-based realms from the demonic realms.

In the meantime, Armor, Plasma, and Zzintar track down the source of the accident and discover that the villainous sorcerer Mogul has used his powers to punch a hole through the fabric of space, opening a gate to a numonic universe. Mogul�s hope was to capture a numonic being to use as a source of power for his magic. The team defeats Mogul and gets the numonic being home before her numonic structure breaks down. The group gets back to CS 10 in time to find Dirk in the Medical Center recovering from his wounds.

(SOUNDTRACK: Music from "The House", by Alex Otterlei)

177. A.I.C. (DW, DD, BP)

Responding to the discovery of a computer virus in the computer aboard CS 10, the group heads to System 347, the source of the virus, and the location of Nexus� last encounter with AIC (episode #147). The team ends up destroying the System 347 node, and locating a couple others. While investigating AIC, the team rescues two members of VISION from a merchant ship under attack from Markann fighters. Rescued were Iron Eagle and Firestorm. The rest perished when the merchant ship exploded.

Dr. Darwin receives a �pet� cat named Felicia Silverfang. Felicia actually is intelligent, possessing mind-link, telepathic, and desolidification powers. Her first encounter with the group is when Plasma discovers her asleep on his bed.

178. Dirk DeVerst, Secret Agent
(DD, BP)

Dirk is induced to undertake a mission for the NIS to stop a Hesperian sympathiser from destroying the Nexus government. Using access codes stolen from NSF HQ during a power failure caused by AIC, ex-Admiral Ahmed Hashwari planned to fire the commandeered Wolcott Gun at the government center on Ebronessa.

(SOUNDTRACK: Music from the movie: "Goldeneye")

179. The Wrath of "Dan"
(DW, DD, TW, JB) (Guest GM: BP)

When rights to the Nexus TV show are transferred via court order from the Necromantic Broadcasting Company to the Demonic Broadcasting Company, the CEO of NBC, Dan the Evil Necromancer decides to have his revenge on the group.

180. Return of the Markann
(JB, DD, DW)

CS 10 responds to a distress call from Platform 6, a monitoring station set up to monitor Markann troop movements. Upon arrival at the station, the group discovers that the crew is dead, and the station is wrecked. The group is then confronted by a Markann soldier, which they manage to track down and destroy.

The group discovers an ion trail leading from the area. Following it, the CS 10 ends up in occupied Markann territory, where it is ambushed and crippled by a squadron of fighters. The group ends up fighting Markann boarding parties who are in search of mutant DNA for use in creating superpowers in Markann subjects. After retrieving a DNA sample from Plasma, and after thoroughly defeating the group, the Markann head back into the Badlands, leaving the CS 10 to be towed home.

(SOUNDTRACK: Music from "Battlethemes", by Alex Otterlei, and "The Hunter, The Hunted", by Alex Cremers)

181. Confrontations (DD, DW, BP)

The team confronts and defeats Capt. Stacy Wiliins and Stiletto, who boarded the ship and completed sabotage of the T/D drive and the warp engines.

182. Rescue of the Little People
(DW) (Guest GM: BP)

Armor is sent to a medieval world to rescue a villiage from minions of Dan the Evil Necromancer.

183. Mistaken Ally (JB, DD, BP) (Guest GM: DW)

While on leave, the group confronts what turns out to be four demonic thieves who are helping their master, Nevermore gear up for his revenge against Xavier. The team agrees to help Nevermore when the time comes.

184. The Mystere (DW, DD, BP)

The group responds to distress calls sent in from along the Nexus/Khitai border which indicate that colonies on both sides are being attacked by an unidentified ship. When the crew investigates, they find that the perpetrator is a NIS-manned dreadnought which is attempting to instigate a war between the beseiged Khitai Empire and Nexus.

185. The Espionage Caper
(JB, DW, DD) (Guest GM: BP)

While transporting down to Ebronessa following a string of terrorist attacks on CS 10, the group is kidnapped in mid-transport and subjected to drugs and other forms of interrogation...the purpose of which is to divulge secrets of the NSF. NIS agents break into the terrorists� hideout before any real security leaks can develop.

186. The Renegades (JB, DW, BP) (Guest GM: DD) (NR)

The CS 10 responds to attacks at Terra and Acheron. The perpetrators turn out to be escaped prisoners from the Blackiyd Empire, who are persued back toward Blackiyd territory.

187. Xavier's End (JB, DD, TW, BP) (Guest GM: DW)

Nevermore contacts the team and tells them that he has tracked Xavier in the unexplored territory to the west of Nexus. After picking up Nevermore, the CS 10 is taken to a group of three planets where they meet Andar K. who tells them that the original Illian and Xavier have teamed up to destroy the inhabitants of the planets. The entire thing turns out to be a setup created by Illian and Andar K. to get the three planets to ally with each other in order to better defend themselves against the Markann. Xavier is killed during a battle in which the group was trying to gain control of the bridge of his ship.

188. Play With Freak
(DW, DD, TW, BP)

The group is called to the Telford Insane Asylum to put an end to a prison escape, which they do successfully. However, one of the prisoners, Freak, remains at large and transports back to the CS 10, where he causes all sorts of psychic mayhem until he is captured.

189. The Tournament
(DW, DD, TW, BP)

The time for Armor to be tested by Rage finally arrives and the CS 10 goes to Raghast where Armor enters the tournament. While this is happening, Zzintar, on orders from Nexus, assigns Dirk, Silver Streak, and Back Widow the job of stirring dissent within the slave majority on Raghast.

The slaves revolt against their masters, and Armor barely wins the final battle against Rage. Invasion fleets sent to Nexus decline to return, and an invasion fleet sent to Arachnia is defeated. Armor assumes the throne at Raghast and resigns from the NSF.

190. The First Shots (DD, BP)

The CS 10 is called to a remote planet to rescue the crew of a medical ship that ended up deep in Markann territory. Once the team contacts the ship, they learn that several members of the crew took a shuttle to the surface of a nearby planet in order not to put too much strain on the already overloaded life support systems. Black Widow is sent to retrieve those crewmen.

While Black Widow is attempting to complete her job, the CS 10 comes under attack from a large force of Markann fighters. A fierce fighter battle erupts. On the planet, Black Widow is unable to save the crew of the medical ship when a Markann strike force lands on the planet and distracts her enough to allow a Markann fighter to destroy the shuttle, along with most of the medical personell.

Just as Black Widow reaches the CS 10, the Markann unveil their new weapon, which they captured during their battles with the Xarians. The weapon, a �planet razer� is test fired at the CS 10 just as Zzintar orders an emergency T/D jump. The result is that what remains of the CS 10 is blown into a temporal/dimensional wormhole.