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NeoNET isn’t going down, but if they do, they are not going gently into that dark night. They are the sec- ond-largest megacorporation in the world, and they have dirt aplenty on all of their fellow AAAs. Along with that, all of the top executives are going to want to cash in on the dirty paydata they have while they can still use the leverage and security of NeoNET’s seat at the big table in the sky. I get a lot of time up here to keep an eye on what the executives around the corpo- ration are doing and who they’re doing it with. These efforts at the top are going to have varying effects on some of the other megacorps if our beloved NeoNET dissolves, and I’ve already got a decent idea of which way each is trending. Here’s a quick look at some pro- spective actions and how they’ll affect each corp. Four of these actually surprised me, because I wouldn’t ex-

pect to see efforts from NeoNET going towards certain parties among the AAAs. It’s one of the few signs that have me worried.

First up is a quick look at the usual suspects: Saed- er-Krupp and Evo. NeoNET is working hard to make this pair suffer. This isn’t much different than normal. The top dog and the up-and-comer are always going at each other. For NeoNET to make moves against S-K is expected; it’s the volume that’s straining the shadows’ ability to keep up. Work is stable throughout S-K strong- holds like Germany and the Middle East, but businesses or operations linked back to the German megacorp all over the world, especially those on the periphery or in places with deep shadows, like Seattle, are getting hit at an alarming rate. NeoNET is working away the edges to try and keep Saeder-Krupp from pulling further ahead as they slip.

Evo, the real evil behind CFD, is the other megacorp in NeoNET’s sights. While the shadows seem to be whispering NeoNET’s name when it comes to blame because of Boston, we all know that was Celedyr’s pet project gone awry. Now that Evo is “taking in” all these monads, it should be obvious to everyone that they were running this thing from the beginning, and now they’re pinning everything on NeoNET because of Celedyr’s experimental error. Good thing is, NeoNET isn’t taking it lying down. Runners are taking contracts to hit Roskosmos facilities around the world—there’s a heavy focus on fuel and production facilities for those teams that aren’t skilled at being quiet, and launch and data facilities for those teams that know bullets and bombs are not the answer.

NeoNET records also show them increasing their efforts to gather monads. They’ve been doing a lot of snatch and grabs rather than hits, but from what I’ve read I’m still unsure if they’re making power plays or just info snatching. While they tend to file what they have on the activities of the head case, they don’t put a lot of AI pat- tern analysis in the files I’m sifting through. Runners out there might want to actually start looking at what AI or AI fragments have taken control to see who NeoNET is trying to gather. They contract a lot of work against Evo because going after monads there is like shooting fish in a barrel.

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Riser pointed out Kirilenko’s death but never pinned it

on any corp. Think that was an early part of this play? Clipping a troublesome and powerful monad before they got away?

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Sunshine

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Kirilenko looks more and more like an inside job. Whether

Evo or Vory it’s not clear, but someone had to have cleared the way for those street punks to get him. And it wasn’t Riser.

First were two they were trying to soften, next I’ll go after two they are trying to strengthen: Ares and Aztech- nology. Not just because they both start with the letter A, but because they’re both getting similar treatment, just in slightly different regions with a dangerous area of overlap.

NeoNET’s actions with both have been all about co- operation in their rivals’ home regions rather than com- petition. For both Ares and Aztechnology, this looks more like a lack of attempts to screw up their operation more than an actual message from the bosses to play nice. This means Ares and Aztechnology aren’t neces- sarily aware of the lack of interference, but you can bet they’re going to start getting suspicious if their intelli- gence offices are reporting a sudden drop in operations tied to NeoNET. That’s going to lead them to want to know why—and that means work for us.

That first step shouldn’t involve us much and really means a drop in business for the shadows, but the back end will make up for it. This little window also offers a great time for independent operators to work behind some misdirections that point to NeoNET if they’re working against either of the big A’s.

While most of the executives within NeoNET are go- ing to follow the trend, some greedy middle manager is going to want to snag a little extra nuyen while everyone else is laying off or playing nice. This is going to lead to ops from on high ordered by executives who need to make an example of what happens to subordinates who look out for their own ends instead of efficiently following orders.

Horizon isn’t a big target—it’s part of the reason they’ve kept their seat on the Court—but they are tak- ing excessive hits from NeoNET lately. The efforts seem to be part of their plan to divert focus onto the smaller megacorp if someone needs to be removed from the board. The biggest place they’re trying to target is the cor- poration’s use of their Singularity program and its appar- ent acceptance of monads. The corporation as a whole follows the will of the Singularity, and NeoNET is trying to run a smear campaign saying that the Singularity has been undermined by CFD, and that’s why it’s accepting the monads. Most of their efforts are on subsidiaries or corporations that have peripheral connections to Horizon and the ones that don’t drink the kool-aid on a daily basis.

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It’s created a lot of turmoil in Horizon’s hometown of

L.A., but the problems it’s causing are riling up the PCC. Rumors are swirling about Horizon subsidizing the PCC and a second nationcorp joining the Corp Court.

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Traveler Jones

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Horizon has done a lot to help represent Native American

issues thanks to their connection to the PCC. It would be nice to see a truly Tribal-supporting corp on the CC.

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Mika

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Yes. But which tribe would they support? ;)

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Lyran

Efforts to work the Court against their smallest mem- ber wouldn’t be complete without efforts to bolster Wuxing and pull them further ahead of Horizon. Neo- NET has been coordinating to help Wuxing update their Matrix infrastructure, while Wuxing has been easing shipping costs on most of NeoNET’s physical products. The move has created some rifts with AAs that had Neo- NET shipping business, but someone near the top just doesn’t care.

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Word coming down from up high is a great way to strain

relationships between execs who have worked out deals and been working together for a long time. It gets personal after you work together long enough. Plenty of problems are coming from the fallout, and corporate problems mean jobs in the shadows.

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Mr. Bonds

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Wuxing is doing almost all of NeoNET’s black shipping

these days. Most of it is hidden among their regular products but private shipments do occur. These are being targeted by other megas looking to strain their relationship, especially Maersk. They don’t like losing the business they had thanks to NeoNET’s European contingent.

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Ma’fan

Last up is the most worrisome—a look at the Jap- anacorps: MCT, Renraku, and Shiawase. As one might expect from the history NeoNET has with Renraku and Shiawase execs via their Fuchi past, you can be certain nothing positive will come their way. MCT, on the other hand, is in for some beneficial opportunities based on NeoNET’s efforts against the other Japanacorps.

MCT should up their net worth thanks to NeoNET’s efforts but could easily shoot themselves in the foot if they don’t choose to slack off a little on the outside Nip- pon cooperation initiative that they have thrived with thus far. They don’t need to completely turn against their allies, but they may need to look the other way when NeoNET goes after them.

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They’ll most certainly be a solid number two if something

were to happen to NeoNET.

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Mihoshi Oni

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With the struggles Ares is going through, it would leave a

Euro-based and Japanese-based megacorp at the top of the heap, with no Americorp in sight.

But the issues of MCT are a mixed bag. While they can benefit from NeoNET’s efforts to weaken their fel- low Japanacorps, NeoNET still has some grievances against MCT. The big names at the top of both corps have been battling it out for decades, and this is one of the first times we might get to see what happens when one of them goes down hard. A lot of skeletons may start falling out of rice paper closets over this. The more recent events (so the stuff the kids in the shadows will remember and not just look at as a payday because the old people are fighting) come from Boston and St. Louis. MCT had a hand in the Boston incident as part of Project Vulcan. Rumors actually involve Pax and a cult of Dissonance-worshipping technomancers who span the world, not just Boston, being infiltrated into MCT. Neo- NET supposedly knows all about it. In St. Louis, MCT has been using their influence with the local Yakuza as well as construction companies and affiliates to slow and stall the work on NeoNET’s HQ in the city.

With all this, expect NeoNET to bring some pressure against MCT for their part in Boston. If this was street lev- el, we could expect some kind of plan to take everyone down with them, but these are corporate executives. They want to build their golden parachute as opposed to changing the system. The work involving Boston will probably pull a few dissonant technos into the dark labs and maybe toss some more serious technomancer flak toward MCT.

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Or maybe they can do some good and help free some of

the technomancers already buried in the MCT dark labs.

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Netcat

Renraku earned their bulls-eye a long time ago with their acquisition of a piece of the Fuchi pie. Shadow ops from NeoNET are going after the new friendly pub- lic image initiative that the once-feared Red Samurai megacorporation is taking. Runners will find themselves inserting code into mundane household drones that are going to create some unpleasant reminders of the past. The move will parallel the new informational news campaign that compares the Renraku Arcology disas- ter and Boston, while spinning the possibility of it being Renraku’s fault. Even though the public still won’t get the whole story, NeoNET will push things towards Renraku, rather than going down alone.

On a more devious note, NeoNET is actively work- ing to damage the Fuchi brand. Though most of the Fu- chi product line comes out of NeoNET, small portions are still made from within the Renraku fold. If NeoNET collapses, the Fuchi name could be used more exten- sively by Renraku. Operations from NeoNET against assets within NeoNET, in particular Fuchi, are occur- ring with increasing frequency. The shadows are raking in the nuyen while the Fuchi brand name is being run through the mud thanks to faulty products, coding er- rors, and poor service.

Last, but certainly not least, is the direct attack Neo- NET has been performing against the middle manage- ment of Renraku. Contracts that seem to be clearing out mid-level execs are popping up with ties back to NeoN- ET. The effort would serve to create fear within the ranks of Renraku but more importantly could create a large gap between the upper and lower management tiers. Things like that have been known to create revolutions within a corporation.

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This is no joke. I just did some work on upgrading my deck

and bought genuine Fuchi parts. I was field testing some commuter links when my bag starts smoking and my whole deck fries out. It was AR work, so no dumpshock, but I had to book it off the train to avoid the pawns. Got home, opened the deck up, and all the brand-new Fuchi parts were a blackened plastic glob.

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Slamm-0!

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Work on the middle managers of Renraku is great practice

work for up-and-coming hitters. Security isn’t too tough and some errors can be managed. Pay usually isn’t great, but neither is the challenge.

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Balladeer

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Wise to make sure that’s who you’re really going after.

Other corps already onto NeoNET’s efforts have been using it as a chance to hit more secure targets under the guise of middle management. Sucks to think you’re going after Joe Sarariman only to discover your mark has some really deep shadow connections.

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Mihoshi Oni

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Also, Nakatomi has been providing extra security for any

of his hand-picked executive choices that might be in NeoNET’s sights. A black suit doesn’t make a Red Samurai any less deadly.

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Thorn

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It does make them easier to shoot!

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Kane

Shiawase got the other piece of Fuchi, so they’re go- ing to suffer from brand damage as well. That’s a down- the-road concern, though, and NeoNET is giving them plenty to worry about today by going after their energy divisions and sewing distrust against the Imperial family of Japan.

As a major symbol of the megacorporation’s history and successes, their energy division is central to the im- age of Shiawase. NeoNET will by no means bring down the entire division, but they aren’t trying to cripple Shi- awase—just get in some parting shots on the way out the door. Expect to see them contracting attacks on pow- er plants and setting up accidents to create issues over

dirty energy. Targets will be sites that have connections to other megacorps so that disruptions in power and services create discord between the companies, not just within Shiawase.

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The SunGen plant was definitely a NeoNET target.

Especially with the aftermath that revealed their solar energy was being supplemented by a nuclear reactor under the facility.

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Sunshine

Much as they’ve done with many of the other corps, NeoNET isn’t letting the entire CFD story fall on them, and they’re spreading the negative PR around. In the case of Shiawase, they’re going big with claims that the Imperial family has become riddled with head cases among their ranks due to Shiawase tech. The end goal would be to create international distrust due to the con- nection but along the way it means a lot of shadow ops to create the illusion. Just to clarify, I actually don’t know if it’s true or not. It’s a lofty campaign and not likely to stick, but it will help divert attention while NeoNET is try- ing to weather the storm.

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I hope NeoNET actually comes through all this. It would

be great to see the fallout of all these moves come back to bite them in the hoop. Not that I don’t like the idea of a megacorp falling, but I like the idea of them stumbling, trying to act like an angry child, and then falling when everyone else comes back at them for the drek they’ve pulled.

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Bull

I’ll wrap this up with just a few words. NeoNET may look like it’s on its way out the door, but they’re not done making our shadowlives more interesting. If they’re go- ing down, the smart runner is snagging every bit of cash they can from their lucrative collapse and even consider- ing running some money grab double-crosses because they know those Johnsons are going to follow NeoNET down the drain. It ain’t the wisest move, but we shoot people in the face for money—we’re not the wisest folks.

Tomoe Minamoto had noticed the entry into her room minutes ago, but she only lifted her head when her prayers were finished. The shrine to her father, Yorito- mo Minamoto, was open before her, fresh incense burning as an offering. Rather than the armor that she thought of as a second skin, she was clad in a bright blue furisode, decorated with soft white snowflakes. It was her mother’s, and the formal ceremony of the af- ternoon called for no less. Resting at the foot of her father’s shrine was his daisho, passed to his only child after he died at the Renraku Arcology seventeen years ago. She had been a child when they were handed to her, unable to truly understand what it meant. To- day, she would be accepted as a Red Samurai, the first woman ever given such an honor.

Her guest cleared his throat behind her.

“The ceremony is still two hours away, Ieyoshi-san, is it not?”

“Hai, Minamoto-san but … again, I must ask that you not attend.”

Still facing the shrine, Tomoe pulled up her long mane of hair, using a silken ribbon to tie it into place. “That would be foolish, Ieyoshi-san. I was second in the class in the katana, third in unarmed combat, and first in sharpshooting. My place will be one of honor.”

“Forgive me, Tomoe-san, but there is no place for you in the Red Samurai.”

There was the briefest of pauses before her hands flut- tered over the bow in her hair. “There is my father’s place.”

“Were you his son, this is true.”

“My father had only one child. It is my legacy. There is no other.”

She heard him step closer, taking a knee as his voice fell. “If there is no son, there is no legacy. Do not dishon-

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