An Engineer in Night City - ch 11.1 (Patreon)

Preparation (1)

In a secret area of the East Coast, on a picturesque hotel surrounded by carefully maintained synth trees and artificial waterfalls, a group of men and women gathered inside the conference room to discuss topics that would change the direction of the country forever. They are composed of individuals of different backgrounds, such as Heads of traditional families, billionaires, generals, celebrities, and politicians. In the past, a group like this would be labeled by various names: The Man, the Deep State, and the Illuminati, among others but today, this group is known as the Shareholders of Militech.

None of that is important to the intern serving drinks and catering to this important group.

“He was too reckless!” The intern flinches when the general smashes his hand on the table and spills some water on the ground. Swallowing his fear with professionalism, he quickly moves to dry the spill.

"That operative trusted the wrong person to carry the job," the general seethes, "someone ready to double-cross and sell us to the japs!"

'Isn't that business as usual then?' The intern wisely keeps his opinions to himself while he refills the general's cup, only to jump back as the general turns to glare at him. For a moment he feared the general had heard him, but he sighed in relief when the general attention changed.

"Who will take responsibility for this?" A melodious voice asks the group, making the intern whip his head to her. 'Isn't she a famous actress?' 

A Senator nods to her, "I'd like to know the same thing. Our best opportunity is to take Wube's secret down the drain because some random middle manager got greedy. Who appointed the man to the task?"

The doors of the room open and everyone turns to regard the new arrival. He's wearing a designer suit identical to every other suit of its type, save a few details experts can pick out, with a small "M" pin on his chest, marking him as a Militech Regional Executive.

The intern rushes to clean up a new table and fill a new water cup for the new arrival. He is ignored by the new executive with professional experience. "He's dead," the executive answers the group, "when Adam Smasher delivered Arasaka's Cease and Desist Letter, the immediate superior to former employee marked as 'Faraday' met his end."

The general tsks in annoyance. "Doesn't even have the decency to explain himself before dying."

The Militech Regional Executive taps on the intern's hand and slips a piece of paper, making the young man panic. The intern almost forgot to bring the finger food! With a slight bow to the group, he power walks to the refreshment table to fill his tray.

While the intern was occupied, the Executive gave his opinion of the situation. “In my view, this is an opportunity to implement our plans. The enemy already knows of our involvement making covert operations pointless." 

He leans forward, gaining the attention of the council, "What we should do is leverage our material and numerical advantage to pressure Wube.”

By the time the intern returns with food for the group, they are more relaxed and confident. The intern looks in awe at how the Militech representative quickly took control of the room's mood and changed it to his liking.

An old woman takes a canape from the intern and dismisses him away. "I see, then the deal with NUSA went through?"

The young man offers a canape to the Executive who nods and picks a selection for himself. "Yes. There were pros and cons to failing our retrieval of David Martinez from Wube Inc. The con is that our company's net profit will be lower by the end of the war, while the pro is that we can accelerate our plans, which will force Congress to approve a larger budget for us."

Everyone in the room nods their heads in agreement. As far as the intern understands the situation, the greater NUSA interest in Wube Inc.'s technology and prodigious production capacity is well documented.

The Senator pitches in his idea. "If our plans are going to accelerate, I can start a commission to begin expanding our powers. Once we establish  a few more Federal Agencies our power over the country will recover to the previous level."

The young man's heart skips a beat, but he continues working without showing any outward emotions. 'He doesn't mean what I think he means, is it?'

To the intern's horror, one of the traditional families' Heads puts his hope out of misery, "Good. Once that happens, our hold over this Nation will be complete. The previous puppets did their job well, but the heads of the agencies forgot themselves, this time we will lead hold their leash more tightly."

The room fills with murmurs of agreement. Meanwhile, a projector opens on the wall and shows a large presentation with current and projected Military data. The general takes up the stage and begins explaining the plan of action. “We must first improve our ability to conduct surgical strikes, and we will soon have the budget and approval to train ten more full units of Special Forces class to further reinforce our commando operations in preparation for the upcoming conflict." 

The intern watches as a new image appears on the screen with the estimated troops that NUSA can call to war, worried that the escalation might be too exaggerated against a singular corporation.

After the presentation, the council gives a polite nod to the General. Soon the group proceeded to discuss other matters regarding their plans, with budgets, estimates, manpower, and other resource allocation being discussed at length. Eventually, the first meeting of this event ends, and the hotel guests return to their rooms.

The intern jumps in fright when his superior pats him on the shoulder. "How was your first Grand Gathering? Exciting, isn't it?"

He weakly laughs. "I'm still nervous, to be honest. It almost feels like we shouldn't be here, you know?"

"Yeah, I get it. You get used to it eventually."

The hotel staff expertly cleans the room, when suddenly the intern asks, curious, "Aren't they afraid of leaks?"

His supervisor shrugs, "If we can remember the meeting, maybe."

The young man freezes in shock, "What?"

"We all got Doll chips installed to prevent leaks. Take it from me, choom: shut your mouth, do your job correctly, and don't question when you wake up several eddies richer and covered in lipstick. Just be glad it's not other unmentionable fluids."

The intern watches as all the other workers don't find his supervisor's words shocking. He now finally understood why some of his coworkers have a permanent haunted expression when not interacting with the public.

...

The Militech NC CEO's office finished restoration recently, after Adam Smasher's rampage. While the CEO survived, several security teams, middle managers, and low-wage workers perished when the Arasaka's Executioner gave his employer's Cease and Desist order.

The CEO glares at the ceiling, still finding new bloodstains and body pieces everywhere in his room. "That psychopath did this on fucking purpose. It's one thing to kill people, another to enjoy it, but the bastard must enjoy making cleanup nearly impossible. I will need to change to another room and rebuild the room at this rate."

While he was lamenting the state of his office, his antiquated phone rang. Picking up the collector's item, he synched the call with his cyber eye implants. "Good evening, Madam, what can Militech NC do for you?"

The silhouette of a woman on the other side of the call snorts, "Don't be coy, Mr. John Willians, you know why I called."

CEO Willians had an idea, "retaliation against Wube Inc. and Arasaka, I imagine?"

The mysterious caller shakes her head, "We will leave Arasaka alone for now. And it isn’t going to be a mere retaliation, it is War.”

The CEO prefers diplomatic solutions to his problems, but he holds no illusion about who makes the important decisions of the company, and after a visit from Adam Smasher, he's feeling vindictive. “I see, I am in the mood for some blood recently. May I ask what is my purpose in this ‘grand plan?'”

Crossing her arms under her chest, the woman begins to explain. “We will be using your assets in the city when the time comes, but for now, we need you to start litigating against Wube Inc. to distract him and buy us some time. I’m sure that Madman has enough dirt to bury a city you can use against him.”

John hums in agreement, “Of course, it shall be done. I will send the best lawyers Militech's money can buy after those upstarts.”

“Good, we will be in touch, Mr. Willians.”

Once the call ends John shakes his head. "I can't believe that old fossil Sam is still itching for war. That old mummy was almost smiling by the end of the call."

…

In the apartment shared between Pillar and Rebecca, a large screen shows the current news, with the two news anchors slowly appearing in view as the camera approaches them.

"I miss the old intros," Pillar mutters while he gets comfortable on the couch. With Rebecca away for the night he can enjoy some peace for once, and he needs something to help sleep after cleaning up. "What sort of bullshit are they going to feed me today?"

The pair of anchors, a stocky man with a strong jawline and a pale, blond bombshell start the program.

The first to start is the blond bombshell. “In tonight's news, Militech starts a legal battle against Wube Inc. What can you tell us about this, Johnson?”

The screen shows the Militech log and Wube Inc.'s iconic gear clashing. “Thank you, Karina. It is what you already said: Militech decided to enter into a massive legal battle against Wube Inc. over several issues."

Pillar watches as the images of Militech's portable gun are set side by side against the images of Wube Inc.'s gun turrets, with the pictures taken from far away.

"Among the issues are various suspected patent breaches of their weapon system, with claims of the famous Wube Inc.’s gun turret being a copy of Militech proprietary portable turrets technology.”

The Edgerunner snorts. "That's fucking bullshit, and weak too. Those clowns need better material."

The camera returns to the blonde, “That’s certainly surprising, Johnson, I didn’t know that Wube Inc. had stolen their designs so brazenly.”

With another dynamic change, the cameraman focuses on the male anchor. “We cannot judge a book by its cover, Karina, ha ha ha! Beyond the breach of patents, there are accusations of Wube Inc. violating international laws by using Flamethrowers, and Directed Energy Weapons defending their facilities."

The image now shows a picture of the current mayor Lucius Ryne during his re-election campaign, "Though the mayor already told us that neither weapons violate Night City laws, the first because it is in the category of 'ignition weapons' already in circulation or sold by the corporations, while the latter has seen use exclusively as a defensive, fixed location platform instead of a ‘handheld weapon' which doesn't violate any laws or treaties."

“I see. However, let’s not forget the official stance the current Night City Mayor took regarding Wube Inc. in the past, Johnson.” The beautiful anchor remark reminds him why the Mass Media is despised by the population. 'She should have stuck being a Joytoy, at least she was swallowing dick instead of vomiting shit all day.'

The corporate mouthpiece continues. “Exactly, Karina. It is regrettable, a lamentable choice of backers. Of course, there is a lot more coming, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Militech intends to ensure Wube Inc. faces the full consequences of the law and will spare no expense to make that a reality.”

“Indeed, Johnson. There are some rumors that Militech is doing all of this to try and steal the secrets behind the RGB Chips that Wube Inc. produces, is there any truth to that?” Pillar raises an eyebrow at the 'rumor,' he had never heard this rumor, though a corporation trying to seal secrets from another is common sense.

The pair of announcers continue their back and forth.

“Ha ha ha, if there is, then certainly Militech deserves to keep hold of that vital technology far more than Wube. There are already talks about breaking the patent of the RGB Chips for the sake of Human Development and Environmental Restoration.”

“It makes me sick with how selfish Wube Inc. is in retrospect, isn’t it?”

At this point, Pillar isn't sure if he should open a bag of popcorn-flavored kibble to watch the fiction playing on the screen, or unzip his pants and jack off at how pornographic the pair of anchors suck off their corporate overlords' dicks.

“Indeed. In other news, NUSA officials are sanctioning Wube Inc. products due to lack of approval from their regulatory agencies, and by circumventing the lack of approval, Wube Inc. resorted to selling their items on the black market.”

“That’s surprising, Johnson. Now, for sport. In today’s latest game of …”

Pillar decided to get popcorn. Their dirty talk was too much even for him.

He returned to the screen just in time to see the two Anchors back on the screen with somber expressions compared with before. The female announcer goes first.

“We just received an official note from the press office of Wube Inc. Quoting some of the segments, they claim: that Wube Inc.'s RGB Chips are proprietary products with no patent registered, as their manufacture is a company secret, and a patent by definition requires the disclosure of the production process. Second, Wube Inc. is not required to have their products approved by their regulatory agencies if they don’t plan to sell in NUSA territory, and reminds the, in their words, ‘Lesser Union,' that the free states are independent entities and should be respected as such, especially after their actions in their ‘Failed war of conquest.' Lastly, any other accusations will be disputed and fought in the tribunal, and any libel and defamation instances will be recorded for future litigation.”

The pair's expression remains somber while Pillar cackles with laughter, deeply entertained by Wube's perfect timing. "This is why I like to watch this gronk shit!"

“Those are some serious statements, Karina. I will remind the viewers that we at N54 News are a serious news company, and we don’t take it lightly when accusations are thrown our way. We will not tolerate a slight to our professionalism, and dedication to journalistic integrity."

“Well said, Johnson, now, for the weather…”

The techie puts a mouthful of popcorn kibble in his mouth, chewing loudly. "I can at least respect how they can shamelessly say this bullshit. That's a skill in itself."

Post Chapter Notes

I ended up taking a bit longer to write the chapter today. I am still not on the level of two chapters per day like before, but I can keep a consistent update rate. Once I get more used to the system, the words will flow easier.

Please leave a comment here or on Discord if you like how the new chapters develop. Did they increase in quality, are they the same?

Thanks for reading!