25.2 World Building?

Thrust back into the limelight, I winced as everybody's attention landed solely on poor old me. Hell, even Shen was bright-eyed staring at me as if I just come to save her from embarrassment.

Which, now that I thought about it, was kind of exactly what I was getting into.

"Go ahead," Shade insisted, waving his arm towards the console as if to welcome me into my new role. "We have a mission to complete, after all."

The urge to frown was great, but I kept my cool as I strode forward.

"You think you can get us going, Moriya?"

"Why didn't ya tell us earlier?!"

Shizu and Shen both gave me looks of hope and anticipation as they visibly gave way to me. Stepping up to the metaphorical plate, the various doodads and blinking lights of the console frankly intimidated me to the point that I was having flashbacks of dealing with faulty machinery.

"Well? On with it."

"I haven't even touched anything yet, Shade," I fired back at the smarmy guy. "At least let me get situated first."