“In recent years we observed a rising trend of more influential gangs encroaching on corporate business. While these gangs are in most cases supported by larger entities, some manage to grow to such size on their own merit. Needless to say, seldom do they exist for long.

Should you find one that has been around for a long time, it is highly advisable to treat cautiously with them. Either put up a polite front and find a weakness to exploit, or deal with them in decisive fashion. Failure to do either will quickly end up with your corporation being brought down.”

- ‘A corporate guide to deal with filth’, Issue 27

It took Us quite a while to calm down properly. Our offence had been halted, the rest of Us setting up in defensible positions. The district began to feel a bit like a graveyard, the sounds of combat silenced, giving off that feeling of the quiet before the storm.

Neon Sutra had gotten the hint, excusing themselves after their talk with Jenna. Not that we blamed them, something they couldn’t understand happened to one Samurai, only for two more to show up as backup. We would have run for the hills as well, if we’d be in their shoes.

Chloe’s presence next to Us helped Us find our balance once more. The pain was still there, that feeling of emptiness, but it no longer hurt as badly. Our mood was immensely sour, though.

Not that we had been in a good mood before, but right now, after the horror had subsided, rage started to bubble up from deep inside Us. No matter how much we thought we prepared, we were never ready, and it seemed that any time we actually tried to do something, something else went wrong.

Maybe it was just the experiences of the past couple days that had Us this riled up, but for some reason we couldn’t shake the feeling of anger and hatred that we felt, both directed at the ones responsible, and, to a degree, even at ourselves.

Originally we wanted to be circumspect, to keep the damages to a minimum, but the more we thought about what transpired, the less we could bring ourselves to care.

The collective decided that we would squash these fuckwits with decisive force, no more prisoners, no more holding back. No more sending those of Us who weren’t specialised for it out to scout. Our mission in the old industrial district was important, yes, but right now this mattered more to Us, and so we pulled all the Meerkats back, using them to scout out Kanvai District.

The Sabertooths and the Siverins began to move, spreading across the district to form a defensive line to mark the territory we had cleared. It did spook a couple of the smaller gangs, but most of them left Us alone. Those who didn’t were met with a swift and decisive end.

We still weren’t willing to use the corpses of those we killed as biomass, that was just a step too far. But we did begin Hexclaw production back on the Corvette, procuring cheap biomass from Kaysa and sending it back with the shuttles. It wasn’t a perfect solution and brought our points to near total depletion, but we needed more specialised drones.

Amidst our restructuring another caste was born as well, one we probably should have gotten much sooner. The Warleaders were kind of important to the Hexclaw hierarchy, and while we were still human, we also were Hexclaw, to some extent.

The leader of this new caste took the name Bellona, one of the War Drones. She selected two direct subordinates, which would help Us organise better. On paper we didn’t need that, Hexclaws could organise and coordinate almost flawlessly across the Hive. But there was a limit to that, considering that our Hive was based on a human mind and personality.

It was the first real indicator that we were fundamentally different to Hives like the Devourer of Worlds, one we had so far been aware of, but had not internalised yet. And one we paid a steep price for.

The two subordinates of Bellona took on the name Kharon and Thanatos. They were tasked with leading their own platoons, each of them immediately beginning to build their command structure. It was not like earthen militaries, we were part Hexclaw after all, but it was different from how the Devourer of Worlds functioned.

Eventually we came out of our funk. In the meantime the rest of Us had already finished their preparations, restructured and repositioned, we now formed a properly united front. One that was fundamentally different from our previous approach. As one we moved, slowly but surely scanning every part of town. It would take time, of course, and we couldn’t all spend time picking off stragglers. But it already helped in reducing casualties.

We decided that we should head over to Black Lotus. Simmons had told Us that they would know more about our adversary, and we wanted to get as much information as we could to properly stop them. To that end we began to make our way over, Chloe and Jenna in tow.

Jenna had brought her Sentinels, slowly unloading them all to reinforce our troops. They acted as our defence, a task they were specifically built for. It helped greatly in reducing unnecessary deaths.

All that said, we still suffered losses, few as they might be. After our initial shock at the experience, we now had a better handle on things. And while the feeling of loss would never be something we could get used to, we at least were no longer incapacitated by it.

Much to our surprise, Black Lotus was already expecting Us. Or maybe they were just expecting anyone who could help deal with this mess. We weren’t sure, the people who greeted Us with polite words didn’t specify, nor did we find it important to ask. While they were obviously a gang, they were different from the usual fare. Their cybernetics were more high class, their clothing more uniform and expensive, the way they carried themselves reminded Us more of a PMC than of a traditional gang.

That theme also continued with the border of Black Lotus’ territory. Typically most gangs clashed quite heavily, but few would dare to get too close to Black Lotus, and so there was about a block of unclaimed territory between Neon Sutra and Black Lotus.

It also quickly became apparent that this part of town was built with Japanese aesthetics in mind from the get go. While subtle at first, once we arrived at the central plaza, or as much as you could call it a central plaza, all the buildings had a definitive Japanese touch to them. It gave the entire area a rather curious atmosphere, one we didn’t mind at all. Really, it managed to be a lot more homey than we would have expected.

Our guides led Us towards one of the tea shops nearby, one that was obviously a bit more high class than most. Even from a distance we could see a group of people present there. The central figure was a tall and rather lanky man, clad in a very fine suit. It was a proper and expensive suit, denoted by the fact that it looked almost ordinary.

Most of the suits you found in the Outer City tried to look all expensive, but really were just cheap knock offs that could barely be called proper clothes, not to mention that they were uncomfortable as fuck. At least in our opinion. We only wore one once for a roleplay for some guy with a fable for corporate managers.

Regardless, the suit did suit him rather well. Together with his youthful face, devoid of any facial hair, and his carefully groomed deep brown hair, he came across as a pleasant man. Underlined was the image by his easy smile, and casual body language and gestures. It gave him the aura of someone with authority, but despite that also someone who was easy to talk to.

He was currently busy chatting with a rather stern looking woman, who wore a proper suit of body armor, a high class bodyguard if we’d had to guess, and a stern expression that seemed to be a mixture of ‘please leave me the fuck alone’ and obedient subservience.

From their interaction we guessed the man to be a bit of a casanova type, although he was very careful not to invade her personal space, even with his lively gestures. Despite not having spoken a word with him yet, we already felt like he was the kind of guy who wouldn’t abuse his position of power too much. Which did make Us a bit suspicious, truth be told.

When we came closer he turned to Us, giving the three of us and our entourage a quick glance, before fixing his gaze on Us with a friendly smile. Not the HR type either, this one looked genuine.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Ah, your Majesty, what a pleasure. Lady Bloodhound, Lady Legion, I am truly delighted to make your acquaintance. It is a shame that our meeting was facilitated by these less than stellar circumstances.”

He gave us a formal bow, deep enough to be respectful, but carefully measured to not come across as subservient. The man was not ours to command, and the way he held himself made that very clear. We weren’t an expert on things, but from our assessment he had made his career in social encounters.

“Would you be willing to sit down and have some tea with me? Of course, I would not dream of keeping you for too long, you have business to attend to, and I am very aware that you do not wish to waste time. That said, I do prefer to conduct business over a proper cup of tea to share with my guests.”

We glanced at Chloe and Jenna for a moment, but they didn’t say anything, obviously leaving the talking to Us. Considering it for a moment, we nodded.

“We suppose we can find the time for that.”

He gave us another friendly smile and waved over to a table nearby. Three women of Japanese descent, all clad in more westernly suits, appeared, as if from thin air, and pulled a chair out each, for the three of us to sit down.

The bodyguard did the same for the man, and after we were all seated, the waitresses, at least we thought that to be their job, began preparing tea. From the way they conducted themselves, we were pretty sure that it was more in line with Japanese traditions. Although, as the man had suggested, they didn’t spend time on the more elaborate ceremonies that we were pretty sure would typically be part of the tea preparation in Japanese culture.

Then again, we were far from being an expert, the only things we knew about any of that came from some feeds we scrolled through a couple of years back. So maybe we were entirely off base.

“Before we begin, please let me welcome you to Seiharu Ward on behalf of Black Lotus and our illustrious Oyabun Watanabe Satoshi. My name is Sebastian Nakamura, confidant and advisor to Watanabe-sama. We have heard from our friends in the Obsidian Gaze that you were looking to speak to us, concerning matters of the attack on the district under your care. I shall get straight to the point, your Majesty. While we cannot boast the same technological finesse that our counterparts in the Obsidian Gaze have, we did manage to find and capture a number of agents that were trying to infiltrate Seiharu Ward. Through this, and the close cooperation with Obsidian Gaze, we managed to learn a few interesting things that might be of help to you.”

While he spoke, the tea was prepared. The waitresses placed a cup in front of each of us, before giving us and Sebastian a deep bow, leaving us to our discussion. Sebastian picked up his cup and took a moment to savour the taste. We did likewise, curious to see what kind of tea this was, and were pleasantly surprised at how good it was.

“The exact names of those that organised this attack are not known. Those that did meet them only referred to them as Bosses, from our questioning it appears that there are five of them. Of course, as is the case with all information extracted by less savoury means, this has to be taken with a certain amount of caution. We are quite certain, however, that most of the information we obtained is, at least in their basis, correct. The agents we captured were not career infiltrators, nor trained soldiers. Their gear was better than what most gangs around this part of town could boast, but at the end of the day, they were nothing more than simple goons. From what we could figure out, they belonged to different gangs that were eventually bought up and brought together. As you can imagine, that leaves a lot of bad blood between them, which did make questioning them a bit easier.”

He waved at Us, sending Us a package with information. After a quick check for any malicious software, even if that would have been an insanely stupid thing to try, we opened it, perusing it in the virtual realm while he continued to speak.

“We are almost certain that two groups are acting in tandem. I won’t bore you with the details, those are all part of the package I just sent you, but there are certain important parts that stand out. The first being that both groups are obviously very differently inclined to secrecy. While the first group doesn’t seem to make any conscious effort to hide their tracks, the second is much more cautious, acting from the shadows and quite skilled in hiding any traces of their involvement. The method they employ for that is, at least in part, based on an old encryption algorithm developed by Quantum Veil a few years back. They are no longer using it, to the best of our knowledge, after a rather significant shortfall of the encryption algorithm was discovered. It makes decryption laughably easy, if you know what to do, part of the reason we managed to get as much information as we did. That said, while we cannot give you any more information on the second group, we can give you quite a bit on the first. They have a permanent residence in Little Town, one they spent quite some time, and probably millions of credits, reinforcing. From the general profile we managed to make of their leaders, it is unlikely that they would run away. They might, if they find their chances of winning decreasing, but they seem to be arrogant and egotistical, believing themselves to be better than anyone else.”

He smiled, “Another thing we can tell you is the reason for the attack. From our investigation it is clear that this attack has been planned for quite some time, although with different targets. The shift to hit the redlight district was a rather drastic, and last minute, change in approach, likely brought forth by your sudden appearance on the scene.”

We raised our hand. “Hold up, are you saying that we are their intended target?”

“That does appear to be the case, yes.”

“But why?” This didn’t make much sense to Us, considering that we had no interest in Little Town, or anything else other than making the redlight district a better place to live.

So far we hadn’t actively antagonised anyone, even making a point of being disinterested in anything other than the redlight district. The one gang that had come to Us, Blazing Inferno, we had sent to speak to Jenna. Neon Sutra we had refused outright, unless they had some substantial benefit to offer, and even then we wouldn’t offer them the same protection.

We also couldn’t remember ever dealing with anyone from other districts, outside of them perhaps visiting Us in the brothel. While our memory wasn’t perfect, we couldn’t remember any time we might have offended any client severely enough to warrant this kind of reaction.

So this had to be a recent thing. But the reason for it eluded Us.

“As I said, these people seem to be quite arrogant and egotistical. It is the theory of our illustrious Oyabun that they might feel threatened by your presence. Your growth, and the growth of Lady Legion, has been explosive and sudden, within days both of you managed to get an army and a flagship of considerable power. Add to that the fact that Lady Bloodhound, while up until recently without a known Samurai name, is a known figure, and one that has been a Samurai for quite some time. All that together makes it likely that they fear for their influence in this part of town.”

That did make more sense, even if we still found it to be a rather silly notion. Then again, most people, especially people in power, weren’t known to be too humble or smart. If they were as arrogant as Sebastian believed them to be, it might fit. Still, it did leave a few questions unanswered.

“Aren’t there other Samurai around? We can’t imagine we’re the only ones.”

He nodded. “There are. Two that we know of call this quarter of New Savannah their home. The first is a man in his early twenties, going by IPv12. He doesn’t appear to care much for local politics, preferring to remain within the mesh, only really surfacing when antithesis are threatening the city. The second is a young teenager from the looks of things. We don’t know much about her, but it seems likely that she was bought up by some shell company belonging to the people responsible. The files we found mention a certain ‘Project Purple Star’, from context it appears that they want to use her to obtain more protector grade technology. That seems to be a theme for them, with much of the technology they deploy being based upon reverse engineered Samurai technology. It could very well be that the young Samurai is helping them, albeit unknowingly, in all likelihood.”

That had Us frown.

“All that said, there are few that would pose a threat to them. And other than your presence, there would be very little reason for them to strike out against the redlight district. The Kanvai district, the Chasm, and the Dry Market would be much more useful targets for them.”

“Fucking grand…” we muttered with a sigh.

“Indeed. That is all we have to share with you. I have sent you all of that in the informational package, for you to peruse at your own leisure. Of course, should we obtain more information that would be of use to you, we will contact you, should you so wish.”

We nodded at that, “We would appreciate it. What would you want in return?”

Sebastian laughed easily, “Your Majesty, this is as much to your benefit as it is to our own. Your involvement in cleaning up the infiltrators is payment enough. It saves us time and manpower and doesn’t risk our position in local politics. Really, we can’t thank you enough for the help.”

“Fair enough. You have our gratitude. If you ever need something from Us, feel free to contact Us. While we won’t promise to act upon every request you might have, we will take the time to give it the thought it deserves. Please inform your Oyabun that we appreciate the help and that we are in your debt.”

“It was our pleasure,” he said with a smile, getting up. “I am certain that Watanabe-sama will be delighted to hear that we were able to be of help. Now, I would not dare to keep you any longer. On behalf of Black Lotus, I wish you a successful hunt.”

He gave Us another bow, just as we got up as well. After a few more polite words, our guides led the three of us into the direction of the building that he had told us about. We could have just taken the shuttle, but from context we were certain that they wouldn’t appreciate Us bringing in our forces into their territory. And they have been helpful, we didn’t want to repay that with what could be understood as treason.

“Any thoughts?” we asked as we walked, having pulled Chloe and Jenna into a call.

“It stinks of stupid power plays,” Jenna said, disdain obvious in her voice.

“Yeah. Honestly, I would have expected people to be smarter than this. Then again, intelligence is a virtue that most don’t share. Or common sense, for that matter,” Chloe said, sounding equally displeased.

“Let’s get this over with. Tiny is in position and will deploy soon. Time to fuck these idiots up and show them that the saying ‘don’t fuck with Samurai’ exists for a fucking reason.”