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                          Next Dawn Comics Present 
                             www.soljo.org/ndc/
                                   
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                       A Soljo Publishing Production 
                               www.soljo.org

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                                 CRUSADE    

             			   -=-  

                                SEASON ONE                                

                                   -=-

                     PART SEVEN: The Worst of Times.

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A black cloak is covering the body of Milton. Inquisitor is stood over the 
body. His red and black suit is lit by the flames of the battlefield. 
Inquisitor walks towards the robots on the battlefield. Flanking him is a 
handful of over robots. These robots are smaller than those that have been 
fighting. 

Steve, Sabre, Saviour, Yoshimi and the troops have regrouped. They have taken 
a secure position, sheltering behind a collapsed 747. One of the troops is 
keeping watch and can see Inquisitor's advance. Steve is in shock.

"I never thought he would die," says Steve.

"I had to do it," replies Yoshimi.

"I know."

Saviour is going from troop to troop healing their injuries. He gets to 
Yoshimi. She has wounds on her arms.

"Do you want me to look at that," he asks.

"It's nothing." 

"You'll perform better at one hundred per cent than ninety-nine."
Yoshimi shrugs. Saviour takes a hold of her arm.

"How have you been?"

"Very busy."

"Me too," smiles Saviour.

The arm Saviour is holding glows under his hands. He takes his hands away 
and the wounds are gone.

Inquisitor points to areas around the plane. The robots take their 
positions. The plane is covered from three sides. Inquisitor steps 
forward.

"We have you outflanked. I am not giving you a warning. I am not 
bargaining with you. I am telling you, that you are all going to die."

Inquisitor steps back and signals to the robots. They begin to fire on the 
plane.

The plane rocks under the hail of fire. The alliance forces huddle together 
and arm their weapons.

"Ready?" asks Sabre.

A barrage of nods respond to the question. The group scramble to the nose 
and tail ends of the plane.

The robots advance on the tail of the plane. They open fire hitting the 
tail and blazing holes in it. Sabre ducks round the corner and fires a number 
of shots before ducking back round behind the cover of the tail. He looks 
at his colleagues. Sabre, Steve and numerous troops.

"How does it look?" enquires Steve.

"Not good," says Sabre.

The robots advance on the nose of the plane. They open fire on the plane. 
The shots pierce the plane windows, spraying glass and frames everywhere. 
Yoshimi steps out and fires a number of shots, hitting a couple of robots. 
She ducks back behind the plane.

"This doesn't look good," she tells Saviour and the troops with them.

Steve and Sabre have taken low positions and are firing shots under the 
plane. They aren't having any success. Steve gets to his feet. Stood beside 
him is Ghost. She looks at the plane.

"Use the plane," she says.

Steve looks at their shelter. He doesn't understand.

"Make it fly."

"I've got a plan," declares Steve.

A troop takes Steve's place as Steve runs to the gathering of troops at 
the other end of the plane.

"Yoshimi, Saviour."

They turn to Steve. The troops continue to take shots.

"I'm going to use the plane."

"How?" asks Saviour.

Inquistitor leads the central group of robots towards the plane. They are 
firing upon the plane, each shot piercing the fusilage. The plane lifts 
off of the ground and holds high in the air. Then the plane hurtles 
towards the Inquisitor and the group of robots at a rate of knots. The 
Inquisitor drops his cloak and raises up his arms. He fires two beams of 
energy at the plane, pinpointing it's fuel tanks. The plane explodes in 
mid air, spraying pieces of shrapnel across the battlefield. It rains down 
on both sides of warriors. Steve shields his forces from the murderous 
rain, deflecting it back to where it came. Large shards of plane splinter 
the chest of one of the robots. Another has it's head sliced away by a sheet 
of glass. 

The smoke clears. The group of troops led by Steve stand staring at the 
group of robots led by the Inquisitor. There is nothing to shield them from 
each other. The Inquisitor raises his arm and the robots begin their march. 
The troops begin to fire their weapons. The air is filled with artillery 
fire. Steve sweeps his arm across his body knocking down the front row of 
the advancing robots. Inquisitor sees this and fires two beams of energy 
at Steve knocking him to the ground.

Sleep. Beautiful sleep. Peace is mine now. Sleep.

"Wake up Steve," says Ghost.

"We need you."

Steve stirs. He is lying on the battlefield. All around him is fighting. 
Ghost stands other him. Steve sits up.

"This is what we've been put here for. You need to lead us now."

Steve gets to his feet. He sees Inquisitor about to launch an attack on 
Saviour. Steve levitates Inquisitor into the air and drops him by his 
feet. Before Inquisitor can stand Steve kicks him in the ribcage. Then 
another and another. Inquisitor gets to his feet and throws a punch, but 
Steve has read it and ducked away. Steve throws a punch of his own, 
knocking Inquisitor to the ground.

Fighting continues on the battlefield. Each combatant is too engrossed in 
their personal war to notice the arrival of another in the war zone. 
Desirei walks through the middle of the battlefield. He crouches and picks 
up the dust from the ground and sprinkles it back down to earth. Desirei 
clicks his fingers and the robots disappear. He clicks them again and the 
troops disappear. Only Steve, Saviour, Sabre, Yoshimi and Inquisitor are 
left on the battlefield. They stop fighting and look very confused.

"You are fighting the wrong people," says Desirei.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Crusade.

Written By ChickenSoup.
Characters By ChickenSoup & PaRiS.
Cover Art By PaRiS.
New Dawn Comics (www.soljo.org/ndc/) part of Soljo Publishing (www.soljo.org).

All Storylines, Contents & Characters Copyright Next Dawn Comics & Soljo
Publishing 2004.

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