Interlude : Arasaka & Biotechnica

The Arasaka Corporation came to power after many years of struggle after the Second World War, when Saburo Arasaka brought the old Zaibatsu to new heights. The ruthless leader used all their advantages, learned everything he could, and partook in any evil necessary to bring his vision to fruition. Despite previous setbacks, Arasaka managed to remain one of the strongest corporations in the world with a branch in every country.

While most of the high-level decision-making is centralized on Saburo and his close advisors, each important Branch is allowed to determine its own strategic goals which will then be judged by The Emperor to be either praised or reprimanded against each of their branches. This sentiment of competition is encouraged by Saburo, taking inspiration from his time as a soldier during the war.

In Night City, the highest positions are held by the local CEO, the Chief of Counter Intelligence, the Director of Finance, the Chief of Security, and a cadle of other employees. Adam Smasher leads his division that answers only to Saburo, the direct Arasaka descendants, and their appointed CEO, in that order. However, the Butcher of Arasaka often works together with the Chief of Security when not directly deployed by the CEO.

In the current Strategic meeting, Yorinobu Arasaka was invited to sit as an observer despite holding a relatively low position within the Night City branch. His past as a delinquent is known by the veteran executives, while the newer generation sees him as one of the potential heirs to the empire.

"The next topic of the meeting will be our position concerning the new corporation, Wube Inc. Please, Director of Finance, you have the floor."

A pair of interns give those present new folders while a presentation flicks in their virtual screens. "Thank you. Ever since Wube Inc. started operations, their income has grown at a prodigious rate," a few numbers appear on the screen, "their first sale of what is being marketed as RGB Chips became a huge success among other corporations, with Arasaka benefiting from their product. We cut our costs significantly, as shown in the data provided, despite the steady increase in the price for each new batch. As for their physical expansion, they are happy to keep the production hidden in the worst areas of the territory known as the Badlands. From a purely financial perspective, the partnership with Wube Inc. was one of the best decisions made, as they are capable of supplying us with a nearly miraculous product for a cheap price."

The CEO nods, with some of the other meeting attendees looking over the provided data, curated for their department interests.

"What about the reverse engineering process of the RGB Chips, Section Chief?"

The invited Research Section Chief answers with enthusiasm. "It goes steady, Mr. CEO. While we are unable to crack the fabrication process of the Chip that gives its strange properties, we learned several new uses for the chips, and by combining them we can build various interesting machines, among them is a new form of a high-performance supercomputer that is already paying dividends with our attempts at data mining beyond the Black Wall. Unfortunately, we lack the Blue Chips necessary for some of our experiments and prototypes, and we require a larger volume to produce better results."

"I see." The CEO replies without any commitment, as he knows that when you give a hand to a researcher they ask for the entire family in a body casket for research. "Director of International Relations, you mentioned earlier that you had news about Wube Inc.?"

"Yes." The woman starts, "Wube Inc. officially started orbital operations, building their private orbital station, and they also recently built a mining outpost on the Moon. Initially, the ESA tried to embargo Wube on suspicion of breaking the treaties on Mass Drivers, however, Wube Inc. provided proof that they only utilize chemical rockets for their orbital operations. The same goes for the transport of goods between the moon, their orbital station, and back to Earth. Currently, the ESA is trying to legally pressure Wube Inc. threatening sanctions and embargos in Space. Wube Icn. official response was a video showing their Chief Engineer claiming to only have pacific intentions for space exploration and the advancement of technology while openly displaying several books on the history of Corporate Wars, notably books that detail when and how certain corporations won a definitive victory against their enemies. They believe they can fight off, or even win, against the ESO, but their behavior indicates they're unwilling to cause mass death of innocents for the sake of company interests."

"What a strange dichotomy," Yorinobu speaks for the first time.

"What do you mean?"

"Avoiding the death of innocents would suggest a strong moral character that's rare in the corporate world, yet he is willing to burn people to death with his weapons. The Engineer alluded that those he considers 'enemies of mankind' don't have any rights, and he uses any means necessary to dispose of them. His near fanatical enmity with the local gang of 'Scavengers' became well known in this city, and the Mayor is willing to look the other way on that matter due to the increased popularity ratings in the poll for better public security in the city."

The CEO nods. "What is your opinion on Arasaka N.C. putting pressure on Wube Inc.?"

Yorinobu pauses, making a show to deliberate on the matter. "I would advise against moving against him so soon. At the moment, he's a partner that provides valuable resources to Arasaka, and so far showed no direct animosity to our group. In contrast, Militech performed two operations on the Factory and came empty-handed in the latest raid. I don't believe those actions will endeavor Militech in the Engineers favor."

Yorinobu pauses again to glance at all present executives in the meeting. "Currently, he is an asset to Arasaka's interests and Wube Inc. needs the money and resources provided by us as his current largest customer. On the other hand, while we are profiting from his products we are not dependent on them, so alienating the new company so soon before we can extract its value's worth is nothing but foolishness."

"Well said, my son." A voice suddenly said with a rare open display of pride.

A large virtual monitor appears on top of the conference table with Saburo Arasaka sitting calmly in his private office. He stares at the CEO and Yorinobu from his position above before giving his edict.

"Yorinobu, I am appointing you as the official liaison between Arasaka and Wube Inc. Your official role in the company will be to make new deals between our two companies. You are authorized to allow a representative from Wube Inc. to come to Arasaka under heavy guard to attend some of our meetings, and I hope that you will use this as an incentive to convince Wube Inc. to give us the same courtesy."

The other executives gasped at Saburo's words. The tradition of having an observer from another company during important meetings isn't extended outside Japan. It shows Saburo's foresight in the partnership with Wube Inc.

"At least your misguided youth finally came to use, Yorinobu, as this Engineer appears to be a fan of your amusing 'indiscretions.' Hopefully, you will leverage that for the company's interests."

"Yes, chichiue. I won't disappoint you." The potential heir bows to his father.

The large monitor fades away, and after a brief moment of murmurs, the meeting resumes.

In another location, Biotechnica is having its quarterly meeting as usual. Attending the meeting is a similar lineup of executives as the Arasaka meeting, with a stronger focus on the research team leaders being present.

"Now, let's move on to the results of projects our branch manages. Starting with you, Miss Klein. Tell us about your project." The CEO gives the voice to the team leader.

"Thank you, Miss CEO. My project is the monitoring and cultivation of third-party talents to use for Biotechnica. There are several chemists, geneticists, and botanists working in Night City wishing to sell their discoveries to us, and our team monitors those individuals and small groups. Recently, someone named Zhang Qiang claimed to be studying how to genetically modify plants to become more resistant to the adverse conditions of the natural soil and climate of most of the world. He promises a first sample by modifying a tomato strain that's fit for human consumption that's grown on Night City soil in upcoming months. We have other such leads that our team is monitoring."

"Good," the CEO nods in approval, "make sure to keep track of all the promising candidates. Depending on the individual, we can acquire new products at a pittance of a cost. Now, Dr. Wesker, what about progress on your study?"

"Our study is progressing admirably, Miss CEO," the scientist adjusts his glasses, "the first trials on the Megabuilding Hospital 04 showed an increase in effectiveness while maintaining the lower costs, thanks to the 'approval' of so many volunteers suffering from terminal or fatal illness. Our process of inducing stem cell differentiation might revolutionize medical treatment, and some interesting results suggest a 'reanimation' event that my team is intrigued to pursue. If everything goes well, we will have a product ready for production and a lead for a new line of inquiry by the next quarter."

"Thank you, Dr. Wesker." The researcher gives the CEO a bow, and they all stand to leave as the next phase of the meeting is relevant only to the management. After they each give their report and decide on what goals to set, the CEO addresses the Security Chief.

"Any important news that the rest of the board should be aware of?"

"Yes." The large man acting as Security Chief replies, "We successfully sent the convoys containing samples of our finished product to our production facilities and archive in the headquarters in Europe, however, some of the decoy trucks were hit which indicates a breach in our security."

"Can you tell us which convoys were hit?"

"Yes, the TSG-NC2024-PL convoy was hit. The security was killed while the civilian drivers and the accompanying scientists were let go to return to Night City on foot. We already disposed of those loose ends. Unfortunately, nothing distinguishable was found in the abandoned wreck as they used termite bombs to dispose of the evidence."

"I see. Thank you for the information. If nobody has anything else to report, the meeting is adjourned."

When the last person exits the conference room, the CEO slowly returns to her office and calls her secretary to cancel all her appointments for the day. She goes to a secret coffer in her room taking out a bottle of whisky to pour herself a cowboy shot. With familiar expertise, she downs the shot in a single gulp.

"Fuck, did they find out the documents?" The CEO starts to pace back and forth around the room in panic. The CEO has a secret so severe that she would do anything to keep it hidden before anyone notices her fuck up.

The truth is that Biotechnica NC is currently being unprofitable. Despite the high income generated by the company, their branch should be in the red due to incompetent management, corruption, and misappropriation of company resources, also known as "theft" for the majority of the human population. While the latter two can be excused or overlooked under the right circumstances, the first crime is far more severe in the eyes of the people of importance.

For the past few years, the CEO has sent secret documents to a discreet accounting firm to "adjust" the balance and hide her incompetence from the headquarters, who don't see the need to bring disciplinary action against each branch 'indiscretions' unless the cases become public. If her crimes become public, she won't be able to sweep it under the rug, and Biotechnica will be forced to make a public statement.

She must avoid this at all costs.

The CEO walks to her terminal and opens the files, tempted once again into removing the files from the system, resigning, and then retiring somewhere safe, allowing her successor to deal with this, but she's not delusional. She knows that if she runs away, they will eventually catch her. All she needs to survive is to slowly rebalance the book so that an audit will only catch a misdemeanor for her, and she will have a nice, cushy home sentence in her penthouse after bribing the right people.

Unknown to her, a certain satellite network managed to sky on her, using advanced technology to look through most walls and into her room. Thanks to the robust nature of most computers of the late twenty-first century, the satellite can safely spy on her computer monitor, and with the aid of Wube Inc. computational capabilities, the screen contents can be decoded.

The Engineer finally got what he needed. Now, he will need to plan his next steps carefully.