“An unidentified spacecraft in rural Ylma County, Fola Province has been recently discovered, presumably months after its initial crash, raising more questions than answers. Authorities say the wreckage does not match any known flight plans, civilian, commercial, or military. Our correspondent Iva Rov has more.

  Iva Rov, field reporter:

  The spacecraft has since been relocated and removed, but the impact site remains present in this remote stretch of forest in Ylma County, far from any infrastructure. Locals stumbled upon the wreckage last week, but investigators now believe the spacecraft may have gone down a few months ago.

  So far, officials haven’t confirmed what type of spacecraft this was, only that it does not match any filed flight plans, commercial or private.

  With no black box recovered and no remains found, authorities say the investigation is ongoing. The National Kosmospace Administration and Planetary Safety Agency are now working alongside other federal agencies, but some details remain classified.

  In the absence of answers and growing speculation, officials caution the public not to jump to conclusions. Iva Rov reporting from Ylma County; we will continue following this story as more details become available.

  Anchor:

  Still ahead today—new forthcoming policies, and the arrival of supplementary Coalition aid in the containment of local demonic and anomalous presence…”

  The small and clunky holoscreen continued to play as noise in the background while Vertan and Lym browse the vendor’s goods of the open-air black market.

  Though he knew she is more than capable, Vertan couldn’t help but keep an open eye out for suspicious individuals. He quietly rues the rise of these markets since the Coalition’s slow encroachment; new regulations and restrictions on certain essential goods have caused people to resort to often illegal or even dangerous means of importing them, and the ease of restrictions on other goods has since caused crimes and addictions to spike up. Even looking down the dirty roads of this sketchy district, Vertan could see the results of these policies.

  Nonetheless, he is forced to make use of these means.

  Somewhere further down the road at a bar, a prostitute, bruised and beaten, screams out, trying to escape from a backroom before being pulled back in. Lym’s eyes flicked over in that direction, taking mental note.

  “Will that be it, boss?” the vendor says to Vertan as he pays for Lym’s purchase. “Only a few bits today, you usually get a lot more!”

  “I know, I know,” quips Vertan. “Here’s a tip for you since you’re good to me.”

  “Aw, yer gonna make me cry!” chuckles the vendor. “Say, I saw you two been walkin’ around together, you ain’t gonna tell me about your lady friend there?”

  The vendor winks at a groaning Vertan.

  “She’s not my lady!” grumbles Vertan. “Let’s say I’m doing my acquaintance a favor.”

  “Oh, ho!” laughs the vendor. “Well alright, then! Let me know how it keeps going, boss!”

  Vertan meets back up with Lym, and the two begin walking through the street, keeping an eye on their surroundings.

  “Is that everything you need?” asks Vertan.

  “Yes, this should do,” says Lym.

  “So with these parts, you should be able to finally fix your navigator?”

  “It should substantially increase the odds of completion.”

  “God—you talk like a machine.”

  “Are we not all machines?”

  “Hm? What are you on about?”

  “We are all made up of smaller parts working together following a higher protocol. Are we not all machines, if made of different materials?”

  “Just—I don’t know, lighten up a little. You’re so strict and uptight.”

  “I am just saying.”

  “And so am I—”

  “Wait here.”

  Before Vertan could protest, Lym takes a sharp turn and immediately enters the bar next to them. A few screams of terrified men ring out. Moments later, several prostitutes run out into the daylight, scurrying off from their captivity as Lym calmly exits the building. Several of them thanked her as a savior before they hurried on their way.

  From behind her, a surviving man wields a large knife, attempting to plunge it into Lym’s back.

  He thrusts the knife down, only for it to visibly shatter upon impact. Lym, without so much as turning around, grabs the man from behind, and instantly swings him over her head, slamming him straight into the ground, splattering him and cracking the already ruined pavement even more.

  “How disgusting,” she muttered as she casually brushed herself off, rejoining a staring Vertan.

  “H—Holy shit,” says Vertan.

  “What does that mean?” Lym asks earnestly. “What is holy about shit?”

  “Oh, erm, it’s another expression. To express shock.”

  “You are shocked of this bad man?”

  “No, um, I’m shocked by what you did to him.”

  “Interesting. I see.”

  “W—why?”

  “Is it not obvious—?”

  “I mean, yes, I know it’s a horrible establishment, I just have never seen anyone deal with it in such a manner.”

  “So, you know of it and did nothing?”

  “That’s not what I meant, and my situation is difficult, I told you about this—I try to not go looking for trouble now.”

  “You suggest that it is out of your means?”

  “Yes, that’s what I’m trying to say!”

  “It was within my means.”

  “Could you at least have considered the kind of trouble that stirs up? We’re trying not to draw attention to ourselves! I know we’re lucky this time that you keep an eye out and consider these things, but what if we slip up one day?”

  “Well. I was taught that the cost of inaction will always be greater. Hesitation killed my comrades. You speak to me of your complaints with the system and yet fail to bring change even on the local level?”

  Vertan wanted to continue arguing, but for some reason fell silent at this. Given the money and resources he had, why didn’t he at least put in the effort to try and stop these things from happening?

  “Besides,” Lym continued nonchalantly. “It bothered me.”

  She carried on moving forwards, and after a tense moment, Vertan followed suit.

  Would a machine have done that?

  Would another person have done that?

  *****

  Walking further away from that district, the two made their way through the city’s center, crossing it on the way back towards Mother Zviedal’s residence on the far side. The plan would be to make a visit before the trek back to Vertan’s hidden cabin in the woods, where work is expected to complete on repairing Lym’s navigator.

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  On the way through the urban environment, more and more traffic began to build up as citizens crowded the streets, a news skycaster hovering up overhead. Coming out to the square, the duo could see a protest taking place; hundreds of individuals all drumming up chants, waving flags, signs, and banners in front of the government building against the arrival of supplementary Coalition troops. In front of the building are armed law enforcement, equipped with riot gear and standing between barriers. Armed vehicles remain present.

  “This shit’s gone crazy!” another bystander exclaims to another. “I’m never going to get out of traffic with this!”

  “What’s their deal? They don’t want us safe and secure?”

  “You don’t get it! Let us deal with it then! We don’t need foreign troops on our planet!”

  Seeing that traffic had been halted to a crawl, Vertan and Lym didn’t bother with finding a taxi, and continued to make their way on foot.

  “Vertan!”

  Vertan turned his head around, but couldn’t find the source of the voice.

  “Vertan,” says Lym, pointing. “Is it him?”

  Turning towards that direction, Vertan finds Tilko amongst the crowd, holding a banner of his own.

  “Vertan!” shouted Tilko. “What are you doing here? Are you protesting too?”

  “No!” Vertan shouted over the noise. “We’re just passing through, on the way back home. What is this about? The troops I assume?”

  “Yeah!” replied Tilko. “We’ve been protesting all month. They’re expected to come in tomorrow.”

  “Bastards!” exclaims Vertan.

  “This is not the people’s choice?” Lym asks.

  “They claim it to be fairly elected democratically, but we all know that’s bullshit!” Tilko replies. “All our politicians are bought up and paid for. We can talk more another time—you two best stay safe and out of trouble around these parts, law enforcement has been known to—”

  A ruckus and commotion begins separating the crowd between shouts and screams. The armed riot control, who were previously standing guard, have now moved forwards, firing non-lethal rounds at the scattering protestors. Billowing gases soon enveloped the air.

  “Violent protests will not be tolerated!”

  “Get back!”

  “What are you bastards talking about?! We did nothing! We—”

  A young man near them gets beaten down, his sign stripped from him. Immediately, three armed men began to pin him down and beat at him, kicking the downed protestor.

  “Lym!” Vertan shouts.

  Walking towards the men, one of them looks up towards her.

  “Stop where you are!” he commands. “Come any closer and I’ll shoot—”

  With a single clench of her fist, the man’s gun disintegrates underneath her grasp in the blink of an eye. In shock, he and the other two attempt to tackle her to the ground, only to find themselves immediately thrown across the plaza, sliding on the ground several meters away.

  “Are you alright?” Lym asks the protestor.

  “It’s—it’s you!” he stammers. “Th—thank you!”

  “No time,” Lym answered. “Get to safety.”

  And with a slight pat, she sends the man on his way to rejoin his kin. Immediately analyzing the battleground, she could see that multiple other groups are falling victim to physical altercation. Neutralization of hostile forces should be an easy task, she reasoned.

  The difficult part would be precise control to prevent collateral damage.

  Before Vertan and Tilko had the opportunity to say anything, she had already swiftly moved off to deal with the rogue riot control. Given limited options, the two rush off to help lend aid to the injured protestors that Lym frees.

  Before long, the tides began turning in favor of the protestors. The panicked law enforcement began regrouping, and reinforcements had moved in to supplement and boost the number of armed men.

  A second skycaster has joined above, relaying the news from another angle.

  “Freeze!” one of them shouts. “Don’t move!”

  Looking around the plaza, Lym sees that law enforcement had ceased fire on the civilian protestors. She had scared them enough. However, she is presented with another problem.

  She is now the only barrier between the two.

  Turning to look back, she could make out and see Vertan, Tilko, and others tending to the injured. Though more importantly, many had begun rallying behind her, seemingly for protection.

  “Who is she?!”

  “I don’t know, but I’ve heard of her!”

  “From whom?”

  “One of my cousins, I think!”

  “Do we trust her?”

  “Just go along with it for now! She’s protecting us!”

  “Get behind her! Don’t get too close!”

  “She’s on our side! I saw her fending off those scum bastards!”

  A tense standoff. On one side, the unarmed civilian protestors. On the other, armed and protected police.

  In between, a lone woman named Lym.

  A shot rings out, and the protestors collectively flinch.

  Opening their eyes, a group of protestors find that Lym had suddenly appeared in a flash before them, despite being several meters away earlier. Calmly, she walks back to her original position, front and center of the armed law enforcement.

  Outstretched in her hand is a non-lethal bullet.

  In disapproval, she shakes her head with a frown as she drops the bullet to the ground.

  In shock and fear, the men hold their stance for a moment, though Lym can already sense their shaking.

  “She’s a threat! Open fire!”

  Several more shots ring out, sending the crowd into a panic.

  None were hurt.

  In the next moment, Lym once more appeared front and center before them, in a rushed blur. With a shake of her robes, she brushes off any bullets that remained on her. Outstretching her hands, she presents that these bullets were caught as well.

  A stunned confusion emerges as the crowds begin to figure out what had happened.

  With a face that expressed a tired disappointment, Lym puts the rest of the bullets into her pocket, yet keeps one in her right hand. Her eyes flick over to one of the officers.

  With a flick of the wrist, she throws the bullet like one would with a dart, immediately kneecapping the officer, sending him to the ground wailing. One by one, she moves down this line, systematically doing the same for every single individual, the bullet sending out an audible crack! each time it exited their leg and impacted onto the pavement behind them.

  Gunfire began to be focused on her in vain; her other arm at the same time, in an equally fast blur, catches every single incoming bullet, dropping them to the ground beside her, a deliberate action to prevent potential collateral damage should they bounce off from her into haphazard directions.

  By the end of the ordeal, all law enforcement officers present are writhing on the ground in pain, every single one of them clutching their right knees.

  *****

  “Cheers to our protector!”

  The entire bar gives out a tremendous hurrah. Tilko poured another glass for Vertan as he stood next to Lym. The two have since been brought along with much of the crowd that day for Lym’s actions.

  “Unprecedented!”

  “It was unbelievable!”

  “You saw that, didn’t you? They couldn’t do anything!”

  “Lady, where are you from?”

  “I swear I saw her earlier that day! She took down that nasty establishment down in the black district—”

  “This is mad! They didn’t even bother to arrest her! They couldn’t do anything about it!”

  “So she’s just running about free right now?”

  “Good! Fuck the bastards! She’s on our side!”

  Vertan looked over at Lym, and somehow, he could sense her unease. One of the flying cupholders comes by, almost getting knocked over by another rowdy customer, and presents the drink to Lym with a polite “Enjoy your drink, ma’am.”

  She tentatively holds the glass in her hand, scanning, analyzing, before allowing herself to take a sip.

  “This is good,” she comments.

  “I’m glad you like it,” says Tilko.

  “You eat and drink like this?” asks Lym. “These kinds of consumables?”

  “What? I mean, yeah, a lot of the time. Well, these drinks, not so often though, you get them every once in a while.”

  Lym gives it another taste.

  “It’s so. Good.”

  “Lym,” says Vertan. “Have you not tried anything around here?”

  “My last meal was your mother’s stew when I first arrived here.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes.”

  “You go for that long without eating?”

  “Regularly. The suit helps.”

  Lym stares back down at the drink, and then back up to the cheery faces around the bar. Cheering, laughing faces, celebrating from the turning of tides earlier that day.

  “So happy,” says Lym. “You live like this?”

  “What are you talking about?!” exclaimed Tilko. “Your face has been so long, cheer up some!”

  On the holoscreen playing in the corner, is news coverage of what had happened earlier that day.

  “Footage has been captured at today’s protest of a dangerous individual, violently retaliating against peacekeeping officers and causing multiple injuries, thankfully none of which were life-threatening…”

  From the aerial footage, Lym could be seen taking down the armed men, and the bar roars into joyous celebration.

  “I never caught your name!” exclaims Tilko.

  A moment’s hesitation.

  “Lym,” she says. “My name is Lym.”

  “Lim, ah?” responds Tilko. “Everyone! Please give a round to our heroine Lim!”

  “What was that?”

  “Lim! Her name is Lim!”

  “Cheers! Cheers to our madame!”

  The crowd continued to celebrate this occasion, giving thanks to the woman named Lym.

  At that moment, Vertan notices that he has never seen the woman smile.