The Devil's Puppet

[Zapp]

This is Liberty Navy patrol Epsilon 4-2! There are four Phantom ships, they came out of nowhere! Current position is ---

The message descended into garbled static. Anyone on secure Navy frequencies had heard it, which included Lieutenant Commander Eddy Looper. A grizzled pilot in his early fifties, Looper was accustomed to squaring off against the Phantoms and even went out of his way to take them on. They're somewhere in California, at least, he thought. His comm-uplink was set to system-wide Navy secure band, which meant that he wouldn't have to search all of Liberty. Knowing Phantoms, he'd likely find them along one of the lanes harassing traffic and generally provoking a military or police response.

First response by the Navy would be to shut down all jump gates in and out of the system, as well as ground all traffic. Civilian casualties had to be minimized. In more actuality, however, that task fell to the Police -- crowd control. Second, several veteran wings would be dispatched to sweep the lanes and find them. Engagement would not be made unless it was forced or the Phantoms tried to flee (not likely). Backup would be requested, and they would engage only when they had fully superior numbers.

Unless, of course, Looper was first on the scene. He had been chewed out by his superiors for engaging the Phantoms on odds of up to three-to-one.

There we are, as expected...

He found them along the lane to the New York jump gate. Typical pirate hot spot, as almost all traffic in the system had to pass that lane. There were four ships; a Sabre and three Shadows, those black wraiths of ships that inspired fear in so many. Not Looper, though.

"Best say your prayers to whatever God you might believe in, demons," Looper sneered, readying his weapons to engage. "Because I'm about to send you to them."

Weapons flashed as the demons called out their own taunts, and the angelic Guardian sped towards them in a halo of spastic fire and flames. They danced as if puppets pulled on the strings of the gods and devils, black harbingers of destruction battling the white savior.

Can it be no surprise, in this godless age, that the savior was vanquished?

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