This is a Beta Test?! - A Literally Broken System

For the love of- "What do you mean 'It can't turn?!'"

"The only option it has here is to fire the damn thing!" Guidance yelled out, her own panic and annoyance rising as the tension of our lives being on the line hung in the balance. "There's no joystick! Directional pad! Anything! Just one big red button!"

"What the hell..."

[*HULL INTEGRITY AT 53%*]

I could only thank our lucky stars that we were somehow still not taking in too much damage. Shen was probably working overtime below deck in a battle of attrition against the enemy attacks.

Looking back at the chart, I couldn't help but click my tongue as our hull integrity dwindled ever so closer to the edge. Meanwhile, the enemy [Rig] seemed to still be sitting healthy at a whopping full health.

Huh, how convenient that this chart could somehow detect stuff like that.

[*"Moriya! We have a situation here!"*]

I blinked in surprise as I heard Shade's voice echo out from across the bridge. It shouldn't be working like that though?

"What the..."

Looking down, my astonishment at what I was seeing made my annoyance flash high even as my hands kept themselves busy steering this damn [Rig]. Sure enough, the lack of the comms system in front of me was apparent for me to see. And of course, squinting a ways away, I saw the microphone I was using earlier in yet another one of these damn kiosks.

[*"Moriya! Can you hear me?!"*]

Dammit! "Guidance, you can do anything yet, right?! Go to the comms and address Shade!"

"Got it!"

[*BOOM! SPLASH!*]

[*HULL INTEGRITY AT 50%*]

"What an utter clown show..."

Gritting my teeth, I let Guidance do the talking as I focused more on the task at hand, which was to keep ourselves as untargetable as possible. For one, the charts were showing all the possible trajectories that weren't visible before I switched the battle controls on. This also meant that I could possibly try to dodge these shots if I could control this massive thing's momentum.

"Moriya! The weapons room is out of commission!"

"Huh?!" I frowned, my attention brought back to the bridge as I looked down on Guidance. "Out as in no more ammunition?!"

[*"That's Moriya, right?!"*] I heard Shade call out from the speakers. [*"Look, the weapons room got hit earlier! We managed to get by with minimal scratches, but we have no mundane means of firing back at the enemy anymore."*]

"Well, that's just great!" I sarcastically yelled out, my eyes going back to the charts as I talked and worked. "Can you hear me from here, Shade?!"

[*"Barely!"*] Shade replied from the comms. [*"It'd be for the best if Lady Guidance did the talking!"*]

"Good! Cause I'm kind of busy dodging and weaving right now!" I nervously laughed aloud. "Guidance! Tell them to get back up here if they're not doing anything productive!"

"Got it!"

Hearing Guidance's firm reply, I went back into the thick of the navigational game. The chart was starting to look more like a game of battleship to me now, with the enemy doing their damn best to make sure that we got sunk while I made sure that the opposite of that would happen. The number of lines coming out from the enemy [Rig] was kind of alarming now though. Were they starting to ramp up the-

[*BOOM!*]

[*HULL INTEGRITY AT 51%*]

Shit... I got cocky...

Tuning everything out, let's revisit the facts. We were currently running away completely defenseless against these guys, they're highly likely to Vestygians, we're probably taking on a bit of water, and we have some kind of ray gun that we couldn't even turn or use without making the [Rig] turn and face the enemy.

Huh... We're just that unlucky then.... Shit!

"We're back!"

I couldn't even turn around as I kept my focus on the charts. But based on the energetic, yet kind of strained and angry voice behind me, I could only assume that it was Shade and Shizu returning for duty.

"The weapons room is completely destroyed," Shade immediately reported. "I doubt we can salvage any cannons out of that room anymore."

"Blasted Vestygians," Shizu growled out, the joy in her tone coming out as malicious as she walked forward. "Those heathens really need to die now."

Looking at the chart one last time before I turned around, I made sure that we wouldn't at least be hit in the next fifteen seconds by setting our direction up and around the enemy, effectively turning around in an effort to drive past them.

"Okay," I whispered out as I turned around, my right hand still on the trackball as I looked at the two. "At least we're- Oh..."

Well, I knew they got hit, but.... They were far from minor cuts and injuries.

"Are you two okay?!" I quickly yelped aloud amidst the splashes outside. "I thought you two only got minor bruises!"

"This is nothing!" Shizu smiled, the blood streaking across her forehead not really doing wonders for my confidence. "Besides, we can heal, right?!"

As if on cue, Guidance was already beside them giving them a few rudimentary heals. Before I knew it, what was once beaten and bloody people were now good as new. Well, except for their clothes. Those would have to be repaired or replaced.

"There," I heard Guidance sigh out in relief. "I'll fix the clothes after we're done here. Assuming that I can even fix them anymore."

"Thank you, Lady Guidance," Shade thanked her. His voice then boomed towards me as he asked, "I thought you already engaged the battle mode?"

"I already did, but this is what I've got," I grumbled out, turning my gaze back to the chart as I did my thing. "The entire room shifted into five different sectors, and we were only two people here. We can't exactly man them all."

"Typical Marquean design," Shade clicked his tongue. "Always complicating things.... We should try and see what everything does and actually kill this menace."

"Right!"

Before I knew it, the three of them walked past me as they all took a kiosk to themselves. Well, that didn't mean that the problem was already over. I could only hope that they figured out what all of these things do before the enemy gets a really solid hit in.

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