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

Driving was something I was never really good at. Granted, I always rode a motorbike to work or do some groceries, I didn\'t really go too far on my own despite my gas tank having the capability of doing so. Then again, fuel prices really didn\'t help matters. Along with my paltry salary, why in the world would I waste money just going about looking cool on my oh-so-flashy motorbike? Instead, I skimmed off what little gas I really needed and paid for what few amenities I really needed, such as fast internet and rising electricity prices.

Besides, I was accident-prone enough to not really wanna use the damn thing unless I really knew the roads leading to my destination.

"My-Shizu!" Shade called out behind me, the tension around the room rising faster and faster as the [Rig] slowly loomed in the distance. "Do we engage?"

"Wait! We don\'t even know if they\'re enemies yet!" the princess quickly denied. "Moriya, what does the console say?"

Oh boy... "Lemme check first, okay?"

Clicking my tongue, the nerves of using a completely foreign machine finally set in as my hands shook in a cold sweat. I was barely moving the trackball at all at this rate as my eyes trained themselves solely on the other blinking triangle showing up on the chart. I didn\'t know what the flashing buttons did, or how to even use what I could only hope were communication devices that could somehow hail the other ship and determine their allegiances.

"Any time now, Moriya," Shade sarcastically called out, the tension in his voice making my own anxiety even worse as I felt the panic begin to set in. "They\'re getting closer here."

"I-I\'m doing my best here!" I weakly fired back, my lips going dry as my heart began hammering from all the performance anxiety. "You do realize that I have no idea what I\'m doing, right?!"

"Well, that\'s no excuse!" the man rightfully chided.

I kept quiet as I seethed through my teeth, my hands slowly coming back to my control as I forced myself to breathe. There was no way that I\'d get us all killed here. Even if it-

[*SPLASH!*]

"W-What was that?!" Shizu alarmingly asked.

"They\'re firing at us!" Shen anxiously announced from her spot at the bridge. "They\'re spewing black smoke!"

"Vestygian scum!?" Maruki quickly shot up towards the nearest window, his armor clanking with each step. "To think that sending a battleship to Kattleynan soil isn\'t enough?! For them to send a [Rig] means there are [Somatics] on board?!"

[*SPLASH! SPLASH!*]

My eyes widened at the sound of more shots landing just beside our [Rig]. Red errors washed over the side of the bridge, buffeting our view with water as I quickly moved my hands to steer us away from this thing.

"Pretty sure they aren\'t friendly, Shizu!" I called out.

"We kill them then!" the princess growled, her excitement bleeding into her voice as she strode forward. "Moriya, fire at will!"

"Aye... Aye?"

I said that, but I didn\'t really know what to do. Looking down, the doodads in front of me were as obscure as they were unlabeled. They were color-coded at least, but they sure as hell didn\'t say anything about what any of these buttons did!

[*BOOM!*]

"W-We\'re hit!"

Hearing the fear in Shen\'s voice, I gritted my teeth as I forced the [Rig] to steer further away from the enemy ship. The chart was doing little to give me any sort of information about how massive its scope was, and I didn\'t have anything close to a minimap to even rely on, meaning I had no choice but to bark out to Shen if we were about to hit something.

It probably also didn\'t help that we didn\'t have our lights on.

"Shen! Give me a heads up!" I yelled out, the bridge now exploding into chaos as Shade and Maruki waited for their orders. Shizu already had her [Code Watcher] out, and Guidance was obviously doing her best to do what she did best, though the grimace on the dev\'s face just showed how badly it was going for her with the screwed-up code hindering her progress. "I can\'t see anything from here, so-"

[*SPLASH! SPLASH! SPLASH!*]

My heart almost sank as I heard the three splashes that probably would\'ve sank us if I didn\'t give us some space away from the enemy.

"Ugh! It\'s no use!" Guidance frustratingly screamed. "I can\'t do anything right now! It\'s just not Binary!"

"Then we have no choice but to solve it the old-fashioned way," Shade growled. "Just give us our orders, Shizu!"

More shots came out, this time, an errant cannonball almost hitting us right on the bridge as it whooshed dangerously right past us.

"I shall go out and provide defense!" Maruki yelled out, his shield already glowing brightly. "Hail me if we\'re to board the enemy [Rig]!"

"What!?"

Before I could even question his decision, our tank was already out of the door, probably sprinting towards the deck where he would... raise his shield and somehow tank a cannon blast?!

"Dammit!" Shizu yelped out, her panic also starting to set in as she jumped to my side. "This is supposed to be the best that the Empire has to offer! Surely we can fire back!"

"If this is any standard [Rig], there will be some mundane cannons by the broadside of the [Rig]," Shade muttered out as if in deep thought. "I don\'t know much about [Rigs], but those will at least allow us to defend ourselves while we figure out how to use the Marquean systems installed in this thing."

"Cannons then?" Shizu asked. "Do you know-"

"Yes, I do," Shade nodded. "I\'ll teach you on the way."

[*BOOM!*]

"A-Another hit!" Shen cried out.

"Let\'s go!"

With Shade\'s word, he and Shizu disappeared away from the bridge, leaving me alone with Shen and Guidance as I stood there looking all stupid.

[*WHOOOOOMMM!! WHOOOOOMMM!!*]

As if things couldn\'t get any worse, the red lights were back in action as they blared ominously above us. I just knew that we were gonna sink at this rate, but surely this wasn\'t the end of us!

"Guidance!?"

⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛