An Engineer in Night City - ch 8.2 (Patreon)

New Outposts (2)

In another place, the European Space Agency and its directors discuss the feasibility of imposing sanctions on Wube Inc. 

The Executive Director glares at his peers. “There must be something we can hit Wube Inc. with! They are encroaching on the ESA territory and authority!”

The Director of Groundside Operations adjusts his glasses, making the light reflecting the lens hit one of his colleagues. “It is difficult. Normally we would prevent the space agencies from launching from optimal sites, but Wube Inc. is within the area of influence of Night City. Any open acts of hostility will draw the ire of the local corporations.”

The Executive Director's anger boils over and he hits the table with his fist in his fury. “So what, they are just some backwater company operating out of a single city! Why are we treading carefully around an upstart like them?”

An immaculately dressed man raises a delicate hand, looking seductively at the Executive Director. “I might have the answer for that, Thomas honey.”

Thomas chooses to ignore the Director of Marketing flirting with the help of his years of experience. “Get to the point, Director Leopold, and I have to remind you that HR sent me complaints about your behavior.”

The Director of Marketing ignores the glare from his colleague. “Aw, you’re no fun~ fine, be that way. It’s what makes you cute, after all.”

Director Thomas grits his teeth in quiet annoyance, “Get to the point already.”

“Oh ho ho, don’t have your knickers in a twist, honey, this is all in good fun. You know I love you, don’t you? Now, the reason why we can’t just smack down Wube Inc. without worry is because that boy, Mark Henderson, made powerful allies.”

The Marketing director clicks a button on the table, and a projector shows the data analysis of Wube Inc. and the Engineer. “As you can see, he’s considered good friends with Yorinobu Arasaka, which makes targeting the company with overt means a bad prospect.”

The other directors study the file in front of them, with the Director of Finance pointing out the first issue with the theory. “Isn’t Yorinobu Arasaka practically disgraced? His faction within the company might have some influence, but the company is still run with an iron fist by Saburo.”

The flamboyant director tsks in admonishment to the Finance director, showing a new image on the projector. The image displays David Martinez and his new role as Wube Inc. Representative at the Arasaka Night City director’s meetings.

The Executive director falls silent, as he understands the gravity of the news. He knows that allowing a representative to sit on an Arasaka meeting is a great honor in the eyes of Saburo, it is a privilege that the ESA took decades to gain. Conceding the point, he switches strategy. “Very well, then perhaps he should focus our efforts on his extraterrestrial efforts.”

“I don't think it’s wise to do that, Mr. Thomas.” a voice comes out from the speakers, the image of an Egyptian woman with neon green hair appearing soon after.

“Madam Prime Minister, what an honor having you appear in the middle of our private meeting. To what we owe the occasion?”

“Don’t patronize me, Director, any matter involving the space habitats and lunar colonies is the interest of the Confederation, and the ESA regulates the launch of new rockets due to building the original infrastructure and being the leading power on aerospace travels, however, Wube Inc. recently proved that new options are available for us.”

Director Thomas quickly recovers from the shock of the declaration, pointing an accusing finger at the Prime Minister. “You sneaky bitch! You already have him under your pocket, don’t you?”

The woman on the other side of the screen smirks. “Do I? Or are you old fossils too blind to see that your way of doing things will only harm your interests in the long term? There’s a reason why the Confederacy managed to gain so much during the Fourth Corporate War.”

“Do you think we’re afraid to take action against Wube Inc. just because of your influence?”

The Prime Miniter smirk turns into a smug grin as the image on the screen switches to a spaceship made by the Engineer. The space vehicle is an ugly box with a strange aesthetic, having buildings on top of a flat platform resembling an earthside factory, but in space, a pair of thrusters on the stern provide thrust to the abomination.

The image changes, showing the spaceship crashing on a space station before it is boarded. “As you can see, The Engineer is not afraid to attack those he considers his enemies with absolute force. If you start causing trouble for him, do you think he will spare you? Your agency has a long history of bullying countries and corporations with massive rocks, but Wube Inc. is not only capable of defending himself, but he is also capable of retaliating against his enemies. I would say he’s almost eager to do so.”

The director watches the various sample images demonstrating the capabilities of Wube Inc., remembering his previous professional and personal relationship with the woman and regretting becoming her enemy. Eventually, he addresses the Prime Minister directly. “Why are you interfering in the affairs of the ESA? If I remember correctly Wube Inc. still isn’t an associate of the Confederation.” 

“You’re right, he isn’t. Which is why the Confederation is stacking our claim on him. As for interfering with your affairs, did you become so much of a creature of the EEC that you forgot the Confederation is only neutral among the Earthside corporations and legacy nations? Anything related to space is our concern.”

The director takes a deep, calming breath before he nods his head. “Very well, we will bow down from overt operations and will keep to diplomatic and economic means to negotiate with Wube Inc. Is that all?”

The Prime Minister nods and cuts off the feed.

The hidden anger of the Executive Director explodes once the woman leaves. “Well, we’re back to square one, and I still don’t hear any solutions from you lot! Also, somebody check the cybersecurity of the Headquarters, this is the third time this month that we’re interrupted in the middle of a meeting!”

In another place, the events of a certain meeting held at the HQ of the European Space Agency are displayed on the agent of Mark Henderson.

“Thank you for helping me, Madam Prime Minister. It is already making me feel better over joining the Confederation.”

The Egyptian-descended woman gives the Engineer a warm smile. “Of course, we help our own. Unfortunately, don’t expect us to move to defend your earthside interests beyond defending your aerospace capacity. It is beyond the purview of the Confederation charter.”

Mark is still grateful for the help, showing a thumbs up to the woman. “Don’t worry about it, I will deal with that myself. Send me a request order and I will send you an invoice and the estimated date for the delivery. Other tasks that require my personal touch will take longer before I can get to it.”

“I understand, Mr. Engineer. Just remember to also pay your taxes on time.”

Mark flinches at the mention of taxes, but for the moment he will put up with them. He is fighting against too many enemies at the same time, and he is willing to make sacrifices to prosper and protect his side.

...

A few days later, Wube Inc. has a new contract signed with West Side City and is the newest associate member of the Highrider Confederation. The moves give extra work to the administrative team of Wube Inc. to smooth out all the new acquisitions, licenses, and bills to be paid. New truck drivers need to be hired, and other considerations will be studied by the Wube Inc. growing team.

Mark's chest fills with pride at seeing his employees working in a safe, supportive environment, compared with the usual corporate hell. He understands how harsh it is to work corporate, though he admits that the world of cyberpunk took the idea and ran through it to the extreme. Mark walks to his rarely used office to find someone, and there he spots his quarry.

David Martinez sits in front of the computer, reading over the documents laid on the monitor with focus, until he notices Mark. “Hey boss, how are you doing?”

The older man approaches David and ruffles his hair affectionately. “Doing better, how about you David, getting used to your new job?”

The Young Man quirks his lips up. “It has its perks.”

That piqued Mark’s curiosity. “Oh, something interesting came up?”

David smirks when questioned. “It’s just that sometimes I need to leave school early to attend the meetings, and all my classmates have this look of envy on me and it’s kind of funny. There’s also Tanaka who always looks like he bit on battery acid whenever I pass by because his father asked him to ‘get closer’ to me.”

Mark bites back the laugh, only partially succeeding. “A wise man once said, ‘the best revenge is living well… while your enemies wallow in their misery,’ and there’s no better revenge than doing nothing against your enemies and having them realize how much of a little shit they are on their own.”

The young man laughs at the remark, “Not sure if my other would approve of this kind of thinking. She’s the type to stop at ‘living well.’”

Mark cautions his young employee and friend. “Your mother is stronger and craftier than she looks. Anyway, how are the meetings treating you?”

David's shoulders shag with fatigue, “they’re kind of brutal. I need to remember everything since they don’t allow you to copy the meeting with a memory shard, and they don’t allow you to take notes.”

The Engineer pats David on the shoulder. “Well, basic memorization is a skill that Arasaka Academy teaches, right? If you need extra help, just call me. How about Yorinobu, did you meet with him?”

The young man looks around, fidgeting while looking away. “Kind of.”

That throws Mark off guard. He doesn’t believe that Yorinobu would be rude or intimidate David, if only because the word would circle around back to Mark. “What happened?”

David cringes, looking down and trying to hide his face in his hands. He whispers his answer too low for Mark to hear.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that. Can you repeat for me?”

The young man yells in response. “He wants to date my mom!”

Mark doesn’t respond or move a muscle, the word of David catching him by complete surprise. He blinks the surprise away, trying to come up with a reason for how that would happen and drawing a blank. “How the fuck did that happen? Did she say yes?”

“I don’t know, alright! It just, kind of happened when he came to visit the Factory to check on that new corpo who’s here to represent Arasaka. My mom also gets dreamy when I mention his name but she stays tight-lipped!”

Mark considers the implications of this potential romance but decides to ignore it for now.  He notes that even if it becomes a pretest for corporate espionage, most of the important materials are within the Factorio System. “At least it’s not Adam Smasher.”

Mark didn’t dodge the thrown coffee mug.