PRIVATE The Little War

[Vigilant]

Northside Industrial District, Watson
Sundown
@Ingrid Miller

The pouring rain had just stopped as I pulled my car into the scene of the crime. As I stepped out I grabbed my umbrella from the passenger seat and took a deep breath of the acrid petrichor, the rain having jut barely cut through the thick smog that choked North Watson.

As I looked around, the evidence was laid out bare before me, but the silence was deafening. A hole in the warehouse wall the size of a shipping container, spent casings, blood, but not a warm body around. The only thing I could call it was "being taken for a fool". But this should have been expected.

The NID was perhaps the shittiest part of the city outside of Pacifica. It was a "recovering" combat zone, and for Militech: a glimmer of hope, dashed right before our eyes, if you ask me. But, someone downtown saw the potential in it, clearly. In the last few years, Militech had broadened its business in Night City, and with a bit of muscle had forced their way into the NID with the hope of reclaiming the derelict docks and warehouses from those freak gang bangers called Maelstrom. With any luck their plan would be to revive the district and claim a nice waterfront property for themselves, just as Arasaka had. It was a nice pipe dream, and there was next to nothing to show for it now.

When I'd got the call that a Militech warehouse had been hit I was at first excited. Since Texas, the last year had been a living hell of wondering whether I'd be discharged, or worse, put down. Did I want to be posted to NC? Hell no, but there was no shortage of things to get done here, and though my time here was a punishment, it had a silver lining. This attack had given me the carte blanche I needed to get our op underway. Our MO was clean the streets, prepare for Night City's return to the Union, and we'd have a clean casus belli on whatever gang psychos had hit us. Unfortunately, the perpetrators were as of yet unknown. The NCPD was too afraid to touch this part of the city, even if Militech hadn't told them this was being kept in-house, so official records of gang activity this far north were dubious where they even existed.

A street scholar might have been able to tell us it was Maelstrom, some might say it was obvious. This was, in their language, their turf. I couldn't quite tell whether or not those cyberpsychos were really stupid enough to invite war against Militech, but maybe they were. The other group on the hitlist were the unfortunate comeback kids on the block: Red Chrome Legion. Neo-fascist punks, anti-anything but themselves. Some might give them credit for their nationalism, but they aren't the kind of Americans I'd come to recruit in this town. Their resurgence in Watson and their anti-corporate beliefs put them on the hitlists, right along side the hardline 6th Streeters who had broken off from the main gang over the corporate question. Of course, the real meaty question was not who hit the warehouse, but who hired them, and the scene had the stench of Arasaka all over it. If anyone was worried about encroachment on their territory, it was the Japanese.

I'd come to NC knowing one thing for sure. We were fighting a little war. This city was a microcosm of a global conflict, one that had begun with the Unification War, one that would continue to be fought right here in Arasaka's playground. Since they were on the back foot it seemed only reasonable for them to strike back.

However, whoever they had hired to do their dirty work this time had fucked up in one key way... they'd given Militech a potential ally, united in grievance. The warehouse attack had not only damaged Militech supplies, but those of a European corp, HPI Consortium. As far as I'd been told, a representative would be meeting me on site, so I didn't deign to go poking around without them.

So, as I waited, I cased the parking lot, looking for any signs of who we might be bringing the hammer down upon.

 

[Ingrid Miller]

Information

Objective: Investigate the case
Location: Northside Industrial District, Watson, Sundown
Equipment: Military attire
Tags: @Vigilant

"English" | <"Swedish"> | ["Icelandic"] | ~ Thoughts ~
[ Abracadavre ] ​

Attempted break-ins and vandalism were a daily occurrence in the life of the company; although these were usually minor and lighter offences or attempts that were really easy to cover up. In most cases they were nowhere to be found and the HPI dealt with them in-house. However, today's events were not so easily dealt with, as it was not only HPI's interests and one of its warehouses that were attacked, so to speak, but also Militech. It was precisely for this reason that it was necessary for HPI to work with the city and thus with Militech. Ingrid was not happy about this news, as the redheaded woman preferred to investigate such cases on her own. It wasn't that she wasn't a team player, because she could work well in a team, but she felt she could be more effective on her own.

If she is alone, she can use things, technology and contacts that HPI would not otherwise want others to know about. Not yet. Like most companies, HPI liked to keep its own affairs and business secret.

When she went to the scene, it was still raining, but she didn't mind, riding her motorbike at high speed through the streets from the HPI headquarters to the area where the problems were. By the time she arrived at the scene, the rain had stopped. The car park was fairly deserted and desolate where Ingrid had to go, with a good few blocks of cordons and closures, so there was really no one coming into this part now. When she arrived at the edge of the cordon, she asked the agents and police officers there where exactly she needed to go, where the person she needed to meet was.

The red-haired woman arrived at the right place after this briefing. She arrived on the scene now as a mere agent, not as the face of the HPI, the acting director. The fact wasn't very well known about her position, she hadn't yet made a public appearance, so she could easily impersonate anyone. As the woman stopped in the deserted parking lot, she also shut off the engine, reached up to the helmet and took it off. First her red hair peeked out from underneath, then her face became visible. Otherwise, she was wearing light armour, mostly the kind worn by soldiers or commandos. As she looked across the parking lot, she noticed the young man she was to meet.

The woman put the helmet on the handlebars of the motorbike and started to walk towards the man. Ingrid did not hide her military movements, which were nevertheless elegant. She much preferred to be thought of as a simple agent or something, it was the job she really liked anyway. As she progressed through this short term, she could already see the damage the mob was causing. Yes, this was a case that was hard to keep secret, the hole in the wall was big enough for anyone to see. All that was certain was that this was a serious case, perhaps the most serious the HPI had ever encountered.

When the woman approached the man, she extended her hand in his direction in accordance with common courtesy, and if he accepted her hand, she squeezed it firmly.

"Hello, I am Valeria Ragal, representing HPI. Have you started reconnaissance of the area?" she asked him.

 

[Vigilant]

@Ingrid Miller

I paused for a moment as the roar of a motorbike cut through the hazy droning of industry, just as the last squad car on the block packed up and made ready to leave. There was nothing left for them here, not that Militech would allow. They'd be off to track the perps, to no avail I reckoned.

I stood on edge as the I watched the motorbike roll to a stop through the alley, drawing the eyes of the cops. No shit. As she pulled her red locks out from under her helmet I thought if this was really who I was supposed to be meeting. The bombshell in the combat armor was a far cry from the stiff euro-suit I'd expected. She had a nice firm handshake too, and a brief second I almost didn't want top pull away, until my peripherals caught the weapons she was packing.

"Mark Stuart, Militech. My office wishes me to extend a thank you for allowing us to keep this as in-house as possible. Good neighbors are hard to come by in this city. If you don't mind, I've awaited your arrival to begin. Please, follow me." I let go of her hand and pointed my closed umbrella towards our, and our perpetrator's, point of entry as I began to walk towards the hole in the wall.

"Biggest clue is staring right at us," I lowered my umbrella down to the alleyway floor where the ruble of the wall had been blasted outwards, some flying clean through the wall opposite. "How they got in I don't know yet, but an automated inventory audit we ran this morning said military grade RPGs were missing, among other weapons. These are goods we do not want on the streets," when the army arrives, I wanted to say. Militech weapons were all over night city, but a sidearm was magnitudes different to military grade explosives and automatic weapons. The pacification of Night City would easier if the gangs had less fire power, not more. Shitshow as it was though, I couldn't reveal any cards out the gate. I wasn't an FIA agent in this matter, but Mark Stuart of Militech's security department.

"Would you mind telling me a bit more about HPI, Ms. Ragal. I apologize for my unfamiliarity, but this impromptu partnership took my people by surprise, as I'm sure it did yours."

 

[Ingrid Miller]

Information

Objective: Investigate the case
Location: Northside Industrial District, Watson, Sundown
Equipment: Military attire
Tags: @Vigilant

"English" | <"Swedish"> | ["Icelandic"] | ~ Thoughts ~
[ Abracadavre ] ​

"I think it's in all of our interests to keep the case and the information in-house as much as possible," she agreed.

If this information is made public, much bigger trouble could start. More attacks, more tests where anarchists and other gangs or individuals try to find new weaknesses in the enemy. And the enemy was precisely Militech and HPI. The redheaded woman knew full well that Militech and/or the city were the big fishes in this case, HPI didn't have nearly enough power to matter much. Of course, one of the company's long-term plans was to one day become a megacorporation, but that was a distant goal. All in good time.

"Do you suspect ARASAKA, or NightCorp?" she asked in a suspicious tone when he mentioned the neighbourhood.

At the next one, she just nodded and followed Stuart to where he was going. They didn't really have to go that far and arrived at the huge hole in the wall. The woman only raised her eyebrows for a moment, no other emotion showing on her face or in her cold blue eyes. It seemed that the preliminary data and news were not false. As they arrived at the huge hole, the woman spoke again.

"You don't have to answer my previous question Agent Stuart, it's the work of an even worse neighbourhood... less bad neighbours work more sophisticated than that." she told him.

To Ingrid, it seemed more like the work of street gangs than a MegaCorp. However, she had not received any information from @Mercy that such a raid was being planned. It will be time for her to speak to her agent. From what he said about what they took from the warehouse, she thought they might indeed be street gangs. So it made the most sense.

"Can we come in and look around?" she asked him.

Since the explosion came from inside, she thought there might be more information there, perhaps a clue as to how they got in. Meanwhile, she quickly thought about how much to say in response to the question he asked her.

"What is perhaps most relevant is that we have had various smart weapons chips stolen from us, as well as nanites in the experimental phase. In response to your question, the company is also involved in nanotech, genetic engineering, cyberware, bioware, weapons, vehicle manufacturing, security systems and AI. But in the current case, we're talking about weapons that were stolen and we don't know how the company's own security system was circumvented." she told him again.

This last part wasn't very pleasant and it wasn't very pleasant for her to admit it either, but after all, they were here to find out.

 

[Vigilant]

"Please, be my guest." I waved an ushering gesture in to the building. returning the polite manner with which she spoke. She was well-mannered and serious about business, a combination I'd seen enough times to know there was something underlying it. Ulterior motives were all too common. I'd have to figure out if she had an angle.

"We of course had initially pegged Arasaka for interference, yes. But consider that as Militech policy. My office has run simulations with projected data accounting for any Japanese influence, given the nature of our enterprise here. They are no way keen to allow us a slice of the dockyards, like the one they've claimed for themselves," I pointed west, towards the crown jewel of Arasaka, their waterfront property, though I was sure Ms. Ragal knew of it already.

"Of course, street gangs are a convenient facade."

As I followed her into the warehouse I scanned the piled shipping crates rising up around us on either side. The exfil point our thieves had chosen seemed choice. They'd have to have known they weren't running into a dead end, or they were crazy and lucky. Further up the corridor of crates, a handful of small drones were lying dormant in death upon the concrete floor, a trail of spent casings leading up to them. A run and gun. I stooped to pick up a bullet casing.

"Hmm. Discharge from an automatic weapon. Chambered in five-five-six. Not the most sophisticated, you're right. But someone had to have gotten an explosive to that wall before they came running through here, under fire from the security drones. Either a great throw or a good aim with something rocket propelled. Fire power they acquired in the building, I'd guess." but really, at this point, who knew?

@Ingrid Miller

 

[Ingrid Miller]

Information

Objective: Investigate the case
Location: Northside Industrial District, Watson, Sundown
Equipment: Military attire
Tags: @Vigilant

"English" | <"Swedish"> | ["Icelandic"] | ~ Thoughts ~
[ Abracadavre ] ​

The redheaded woman just nodded at the invitation and followed him. As they walked, she tried to pay attention to every little detail, as she felt it might be important. From what she could see and from the damage, she was already trying to estimate what kind of explosives it might be and how many of them. After all, some materials were easier to access, others more difficult. The black market always provided a solution, of course, but it was a good starting point. After all, they had to go somewhere based on the clues they found here. It would have been very unpleasant if the redheaded woman had been unable to find any clues after all the training she had received in her life.

"That's completely understandable, Arasaka's influence is already too great everywhere in the world." the woman said matter-of-factly, as if she had just read it out of a report; it was impossible to tell if the woman really meant it or if she said it.

Actually, Ingrid really thought so; she would have preferred HPI to have been as influential as Arasaka or Militech, but the list could go on. Maybe one day, but for now she wasn't going to let those thoughts distract her. The matter at hand was more important, and long-term plans like this were for those who really knew what they were doing. When he mentioned street gangs, she nodded.

"Indeed, and there may be street gangs that are secretly funded by a MegaCorp. Throughout history, we've seen this kind of thing countless times." she told him; though here she was thinking mainly of various terrorist groups or rebel cells funded by various states. But it's the equivalent of a MegaCorp these days.

As they walked on, the woman saw the drones on the ground and the shell casings. From those, it seemed to be a good hunch that it might be one of the street gangs. From the looks of the place there were at least two in here, but probably more. Someone handling the gun and someone with the explosives. She would not have believed that someone could carry a bazooka or rocket launcher and use it. This wasn't Shadowrun, where trolls and orcs roamed around in cyberware. She considered it a stroke of luck.

"Let's call in the technicians and forensics to record the clues, if they haven't already. Also, take a sample from the blast site, hopefully there are still particles left to identify the explosive and its composition. With that data, maybe we can narrow down where it came from or which group is using it." she explained. "While they're doing their job, let's check the security room, see if we get lucky and the security system has recorded something, maybe we can recover the data if the thieves blocked the signal and the recording."

She said more to him, then nodded for him to point the way. After all, she knew that he was 'at home' here now and was probably better informed about the layout and map of the place than Ingrid.