Trial by Fire


September 5th, 2223

Session 201: Fall into Darkness
The Alternate Unit's final mission has come to an end, leaving the remaining members with no direction. Terra, now the leader of the group, attempts to keep Kio, Shadow, and Phirax under control. Meanwhile, President Slasher is faced with a new decision - reploids wish to return to Earth and live there once again. He agrees.

Death Star, learning that the Aquarius is about to arrive home, seems overjoyed - until he accidently begins to drain the Motenk lifeforce from Slasher. He runs away, right as the Alt Unit arrives. They begin to try to figure out why Cheryl's room has been wrecked when they discover some evidence of her doing it herself, then hurrying away after Death Star. But, to make matters worse, a reality-altering pillar appears in the middle of the city - and only one person has the Prime Reality powers to manage that: Death Star.

Session 202: Queen of Chaos
The group enters the new reality dimension in order to find out, but they find a strange world where normal rules of reality no longer apply. And at the center of it is the Hunter Station that was used in the Year Long War. As the group attempts to discover what is going on, they find Death Star, who tells them that Ariel asked for this place. Of course, Ariel turns out to be Cheryl - who seems to have splintered off mentally because of some dark obsession. And if Death Star doesn't stop using the TPR powers, he's going to end up dead. Realizing they have no choice, the group decides to fight Cheryl - and things look up when Snipe, Dias, the real Ariel, and Colephantus show up.

Session 203: Reunited
Cheryl has control of a new reality and she's stolen the TPR powers from Death Star in an attempt to hold onto it. Realizing they have to stop her before everythings falls apart, the entire team - both the Alternate Unit and Aquarius combined - will have to battle her in her godlike state. But in fighting someone with almost unlimited power, can they even win? And can Slasher reach out to her? Sometimes, tragedy is in the workings - because when they take Cheryl down, she reunited with Ariel due to the damage substained, causing both "twins" to become one again. And the feedback knocks back Death Star - and releases the Motenk spirit inside him.

Session 204: Alter Egos
The Motenk inside Death Star seems to have reached a new level of calm - displaying deadly intelligence now and cold, calculative thoughts. He proposes they all walk away and go their seperate ways, but the group isn't about to let that happen - even when Kyouki shows up from exhile and joins "DS" once again. A fight breaks out in which it's obvious the team, weak from the battle with Cheryl, isn't about to win this fight. So, the new members - including Kio and Nicolai - force the group to reach a compromise - join the Motenk DS in taking down the Alliance so that they can then attack the Motenk forces that are gathering.

September 8th, 2223

Session 205: Alliance Showdown
The group is slowly being divided with the Motenk DS in control - Snipe thinks it's crazy to allow him to lead, while others seem to think they need such an evil force in control of the fates. And some others plan to take advantage of the situation for themselves. When the Aquarius arrives at the Alliance HQ Station, the Motenk DS surrenders the ship over to the Alliance forces and claims he's captured the crew. Snipe, Hotaru, Dias, Slasher, Katrina, and Colephantus are handcuffed and sent over to the Alliance jail, while Phirax and Terra try to mount some attack against the Alliance forces - only to be "caught" by Kio, who turns them over to the Alliance forces.

Session 206: Seraphna Redux
Snipe, Hotaru, Dias, Slasher, Katrina, and Colephantus break out of the Alliance jail and proceed to attack the station, searching for Seraphna, while Kio, Phirax, and Terra wage their own little battle against the Alliance forces. As both teams work their way through the station, they finally find the office of Seraphna, where a giant garden is located. The crazy Lunarian decides to deal with them herself and brings out a dragon gear to attack them. Ariel, arriving on the scene late, tries to talk her sister down, but it's obvious that Seraphna is out for blood. As the group attempts to take down the gear, Kio heads back to the hanger and steals his own gear, bringing it back up to aid in the fight. After destroying the dragon gear, Seraphna continues her attack, until the group finally brings her down --- but only to witness her being stabbed from behind by Motenk DS, who kills her and takes command of the Alliance. The group, enraged, ignores his talk of continuing their truce, and Ariel attacks him, despite his threat to kill Katrina and frame them for the murder of Seraphna. As Ariel fights him, the Motenk inside DS orders the Alliance personnel to kill Katrina, which they attmept to do - but Dias takes the shots and dies instead. Ariel, still enraged, continues to battle Motenk DS -- and he allows her to strike a fatal blow to him, then exits DS' body and enters the dead Dias. Death Star, fatally wounded, collapses to his wounds and begins to die, when Ariel gives up her lifeforce to bring him back. However, trouble is far from over - Dias is under control of the Motenk now and the fight is far from over. But what can Stark do about it?

Session 207: Day of the Dead
Dias begins to attack the group, now under the influence of the Motenk spirit inside him. However, Stark reveals his voodoo powers have one more little trick to them - they can channel the dead. Calling up a long dead spirit of a Hunter, he joins the group in trying to subdue Dias - or kill him. Death Star, enraged at the death of Ariel, attacks Dias, trying to bring him down. In the end, they succeed in getting the spirit to give up control of Dias' body. With the battle over, Death Star grabs Ariel's body and takes her back to the Aquarius, willing to use the Cavaet Emptor device to bring her back to life. However, Kyouki, who loves DS, volunteers to give up her own life for Ariel. Arriving too late to stop it, Snipe and Slasher find Kyouki dead and Ariel alive. Angered, Snipe destroys the Cavaet Emptor device before anyone else can use it, then says he's going to find a new leader for the Aquarius: Junior.

September 11th, 2223

Session 208: Dangerous Intervention
The Aquarius arrives at New Parnel, only to find that the Motenks are already there. While part of the team travels down to the planet to find Junior, Death Star, Slasher, Kio, and Ariel attempt to take down a Motenk Cone Ship. The planet side group finds that the Motenks are attacking the planet, so they join with Junior's forces in an attempt to defeat them. However, it turns out the attack is being led by Charon, who has joined with the Motenks now. As the group battles him, they manage to finally win, but Nicolai decides to kill Charon for good instead of taking him prisoner. Back in space, the Aquarius flies into hyperspace and rams the Motenk Cone Ship, since shields and weapons do not work in there, and they manage to destroy it, while sustaining heavy damage. With New Parnel successfully defended, Junior agrees to lead the Alliance forces into war - while Snipe decides to quit the group, finding his disagreements with them to be too great to work with the team anymore.

September 15th, 2223

Session 209: Forged by Fire
As Junior sets up a meeting with Sardis at the Alliance HQ Station, the rest of the Aquarius' crew must find accomodations on the station, since the Aquarius has been wrecked. Slasher begins to make plans to build a new ship combining technology and using the Aquarius as the basis. Death Star attempts to reconcile with Ariel, while Katrina begins to become restless with lack of sleep and contempt for Death Star. Kio and Dias start up some fights throughout the station and cause rucuses in bars, while Phirax gets to know a cellmate after he's thrown into jail.

September 21st, 2223

Session 210: Moving Day
The team is relocated to an abandoned Alliance station located in the area where the Motenks have begun the war. The Motenks are taking over planets along the Alliance and Tsivrixsh borders, so the team is put directly in the middle of the action. However, there's a reason the station has been abandoned - space slugs! As the team attempts to reclaim the station from the evil slugs, Nicolai learns the value of keeping his knees and Kio will demonstrate leadership cunning.