Chapter 8: The 2nd LICC Crossover
Chapter 15: The Rings
New Characters: Durante, Golems, Beholder, White Dragon, Ahz's suit
After the departure of the Predators, Jackson, Hudzen, and Keith return to the Archangel's bridge and learn from Carrie that the Macedonia 2 is on course for Avalon's gas giant, Avalon VI. The rings of Avalon VI are dimensionally unstable and randomly send anything that passes through them to locations throughout the Multiverse. Keith decides that the only course of action is to invade Grey's battlestation.
Floating outside in Macedonia 2's gigantic docking area, TorGal continues his search for a way back inside the station following the Predators' betrayal. His attempts are unsuccessful and he soon realizes that something or someone may be outside with him.
On the astral plane, Greymoran continues to search for the "trap door" that will lead him out. Realizing that he's no match for Grey, Greymoran knows that he must escape or be killed.
On the Archangel, Ahz, having recovered from Grey's torture, returns to the bridge with a sentient gelfield suit. The crew decides that they need some kind of transport to get them to Grey's battlestation without being detected so Ahz offers the use of his module from Ryo-O. As Jackson gathers supplies for the invasion of Grey's station, Hudzen once again hears Grey's voice, the voice of Grey's virus. Minutes later, he turns on the Archangel crew, stunning everyone on the bridge and beaming off of the ship onto an escape pod before beaming onto Grey's station. A few minutes afterward, Jackson, Keith, Ahz, and Sorik wake up and realize what has happened. They decide to continue with the attack plan. Ahz transports Keith, Jackson, and himself to the module and they fly toward Grey's station.
On the Macedonia 2, Hudzen, once again loyal to Grey, is quickly surrounded by several of Grey's troops. He's recognized by the group's leader, Durante. After confirming part of Hudzen's story, they decide to take Hudzen to see Grey.
On the astral plane, Greymoran is on the run from a very angry Jakob Grey. As he runs, he finally discovers the plane's trap door. He touches it and exits the plane, waking on the Archangel's bridge. Sorik helps him to Sickbay. After being treated by the ship's EMH, Sorik fills Greymoran in on all that has happened, including the mission that Ahz, Jackson, and Keith are currently on and Hudzen's betrayal. Greymoran decides that they need to help the away team with the invasion.
Meanwhile, Grey awakes in his chambers. He discovers that Hudzen has been captured but he is too shocked by this fact to act on it. He heads for his command center and learns that the Archangel crew is beginning to cause problems.
Outside of Grey's chambers, Hudzen is surrounded by five of Grey's security troops and a Clay Golem. Upon seeing Grey, Hudzen's emotion chip is flooded with hatred. The hatred overrides the Greyvirus and Hudzen's loyalty for Grey disappears. He attacks his escort, killing the troops and vaporizing the Golem using Grey's own security system, but he loses his left arm in the process. After the station goes on alert, Hudzen is soon recaptured by a small army of Grey's troops. After a few choice words with Grey and nearly escaping again, Hudzen is thrown into the brig.
Meanwhile, Keith, Ahz, and Jackson quietly work their way through Grey's station, taking out many of Grey's people as they go. Greymoran transports Sorik and himself to the station, joining them.
Outside, in the Macedonia 2's docking area, TorGal continues to get back into the station. After a few minutes of trying to get an airlock open, he notices blood and a torn spacesuit nearby. Suddenly, a Predator decloaks, attacking TorGal with a droid's welding torch. TorGal's arm burns up and the troll loses grip, falling down toward the bottom of the station.
Inside the station, Jackson detects Grey's lifesign and the group runs to meet him. However, they quickly run into a dangerous creature, a Beholder. They try to run but Sorik is struck by one of the Beholder's energy beams. The Vulcan is frozen, slowly turning into stone, and Greymoran is knocked unconscious. Just as the Beholder is about to finish the job on Keith and Jackson, Ahz manages to kill it. Realizing that Sorik is very vulnerable in stone form, Greymoran has Ahz return him to the ship.
As the Macedonia 2 continues on course, it begins to pass through the the planet's dimensionally unstable rings. The bottom half of the station is exposed and many of the ships and parts of the station in that area are lost. Meanwhile, the small Archangel team approaches the station's command center.
Elsewhere, Hudzen experiences a vision in which he kills the entire Archangel crew, shooting them one by one, including Rita's unborn child. The vision fades and Hudzen finds himself face to face with the Greyvirus image. As the image taunts him, Hudzen decides that there is only one way to defeat the virus. He attacks it, physically pummelling the Grey image until he comes face to face with several robots, droids, and other figures including the EMH, Data, IG-88, and Bender. They inform him that he has regained control of himself and that the virus has been severely damaged and nearly wiped out, but he will still need to find a way to purge it once and for all. Having conquered the virus, Hudzen awakes in one of Macedonia 2's holding cells, ready to escape.
As they continue to make their way to the control center, the Archangel team is finally detected. They are captured by a group of flying monkeys, but Ahz uses his abilities to put the monkeys to sleep, allowing the group to continue on. Jackson disguises himself as a flying monkey and takes his "prisoners" up to the bridge. Grey isn't fooled by the charade and exposes Jackson's disguise. Greymoran, however, is ready, casting a spell that kills most of Grey's vampyres and beginning the battle for the command center.
In his holding cell, Hudzen attempts to contact Carrie. He receives no response. In the control center, Jackson notices Hudzen in his cell. He beams Hudzen to the control center to join the fight.
Meanwhile, on the Archangel, Carrie manages to contact Ryo-O. The two work a plan that allows them to escape the ships surrounding them.
As the battle on the bridge continues, the Archangel crew begins to be overwhelmed. Keith is stabbed in the leg by a battle droid and the sheer numbers of Grey's forces pin down the rest of the XDCA fighters. Luckily, Hudzen, Jackson, and Keith are able to fight off enough of Grey's troops to hide and regroup in a nearby conference room.
Elsewhere, Grey flees the command center with Greymoran in pursuit. What looks like an act of cowardace turns out to be a trap as Grey leads Greymoran to become face to face with a White Dragon. The dragon chases the wizard back to the command center and traps them in the conference room. Inside, Hudzen and Jackson come up with a plan to open a wormhole and send the dragon far away from the station. Hudzen also searches for information on how to purge the Greyvirus from his systems. As they plan, Greymoran realizes that the dragon can hear what they're planning to do. He decides that there is only one way to get out of the situation. He exits the conference room and gives Ahz, who is floating above the dragon, the signal to act. The Wanderer does nothing, but the floating man distracts the dragon, allowing Greymoran to open the wormhole beneath the dragon and send it to a superhot planet. They soon figure out that Ahz has been hit by a drug that has made him blissfully unaware of what is going on around him. Ryo-O teleports him to his lab. After Jackson finds Grey's location, Greymoran sends Keith and Jackson to an unoccupied Klingon Bird of Prey that is connected to the station. Greymoran and Hudzen head to Grey's location to take out the madman once and for all.
Carrie and Ryo-O finally manage to get out of Grey's station, but the Archangel loses part of a warp nacelle in the process. They begin a search for the Revanche and the rest of the XDCA forces.
Hudzen and Greymoran continue to make their way to Grey's location. They split up in a fork in the corridor and Hudzen is attacked by Durante wearing an exosuit. After taking a bit of damage, Hudzen manages to cripple the exosuit and pull Durante out before killing Grey's loyal officer. Hudzen quickly meets up again with Greymoran and they continue on toward Grey.
As the station falls apart around them, Grey's ships attempt to exit the station. Jackson and Keith, still on the Bird of Prey, also try to escape. After nearly getting caught by another ship, they are given a little help by Grey's forces and are able to exit the Macedonia 2's docking area, escaping to open space.
Meanwhile, Carrie and Ryo-O manage to find the XDCA fleet and the universe that Grey's station and the remnants of his fleet are currently in. They attempt to contact the Revanche. Soon, the XDCA forces are ready and on course for a final assault on Grey's fleet.
Keith and Jackson manage to hack into Macedonia 2's computer system and find the command codes for several of Grey's unmanned ships. They use the codes to take control of the ships and lead them out of Grey's station. However, they are soon greeted by several of Grey's ships which begin to quickly take out the assembled fleet. Suddenly, a portal opens and a massive fleet of ships pours out. The XDCA forces have arrived.
On the station, Hudzen and Greymoran are attacked by a vampyre but manage to fight him off. They come across a very secure door that leads to the Engineering section where Grey is trying to regain control of his station. After a lot of effort, they manage to get the door open only to come face to face with another door. As they try to pry it open, a Magic Golem reaches through and grabs Hudzen, pulling him through. The Golem and five vampyres stand between Greymoran and Grey. Hudzen tries to fight all six at once, hoping to give Greymoran the time to kill Grey.
Outside, the XDCA fleet makes short work of Grey's ships and moves to the severely damaged station. The Macedonia 2 returns fire but it's no match for the swarm of ships as the once great station is continually swallowed up by the planet's rings.
Meanwhile, Hudzen manages to dispose of all but one vampyre and the Golem. Grey, with one chance to escape, decides to stay behind to kill Greymoran. Greymoran reaches Grey and casts a spell that creates a blinding light, destroying the vampyres and temporarily blinding Grey. Hudzen manages to kill the Golem but the Golem lands one last punch just before it dies, causing Hudzen to shut down. After a short fight, both the wizard and the warlord are badly injured. Knowing that all is lost and that he and Greymoran will soon be dead, Grey taunts the wizard and tells him what caused him to do what he has done. He tells of the XDCA's lack of compassion and their refusal to allow Grey to go to his family's funerals after their deaths. He tells Greymoran that he caused Radagast's madness and that he stole the Small Bomb, the weapon that destroyed STU-56. Suddenly, an explosion knocks Greymoran unconscious, sending the wizard flying across the room to land next to Hudzen's unmoving form.
Nearby, Ahz, mostly recovered from Grey's drug, senses that Grey is still alive. He teleports to the Macedonia 2 to make sure that the former XDCA agent dies. Realizing that time is short, Ahz leaves Grey to die in the station and takes Hudzen and Greymoran, teleporting them away.
The crew of the Revanche, along with Keith and Jackson, can only watch as Grey's once mighty station is destroyed by the rings of Avalon's gas giant. Believing that Greymoran and Hudzen are dead, they are mildly surprised when the still severely damaged Archangel returns to the area. Rita and Ahz are aboard, along with a very battered Greymoran. Everyone is delighted to see that he and Hudzen are still alive and that Jakob Grey is finally dead.
Days later, Greymoran and the rest of the Archangel crew stand on Avalon, the planet that once held the XDCA capitol. Despite learning that his brother Radagast had died in the battle due to damage to his stasis tube, Greymoran's attitude is still positive and hopeful. He resolves that the XDCA will be rebuilt, but differently than before. He tells them that the new XDCA will take care of its people and be a better organization than it ever was before.
Move On To Book 2: Rebuild