Chapter 151: Northern California in Position
“What’s the response from the government?”
Lucius paced irritably around his office before finally turning to his secretary.
After hesitating for a moment, the secretary answered, “The government says we should first figure out how to organize resistance forces on our own. They’re still in the middle of their deployment.”
“Deploy my ass!”
Lucius slammed his palm down on the desk, furious. Reinforcements were practically at their doorstep, and they were still talking about deployment?!
What a sick joke. It was obvious they planned to keep watching from the sidelines. If the situation turned bad, they’d simply abandon Night City altogether. After all, Night City’s special status meant it had never truly been under the control of Northern California’s major corps.
If it really couldn’t be held, cutting Night City loose was not unacceptable to them—despite how much revenue it generated.
“What about the New United States?”
“Most of those not-too-bright Southern California factions have already been wiped out. A new rising commander has appeared—Kurt Hansen. He’s earned military merit with outstanding results and extremely low casualties, and he’s gained the trust of Admiral Jamde.”
“However, he’s suspected to be someone Myers sent over, so whether he’s truly on Jamde’s side is still unclear. But judging from the current situation, his sudden involvement likely means he’s aiming for Night City.”
“Send all his intel and files to Arasaka. Once they know who he is, they’ll definitely look into him.”
Lucius waved his hand, signaling the secretary to pass the information along to Arasaka.
“What do we do next?”
“...Mobilize the government forces currently inside Night City, and the NCPD as well. Oh, and while you’re at it, contact Night Corp. They definitely won’t want Night City falling under New United States control—it goes against their interests.”
“What about trying PROJECT?”
At the mention of that name, Lucius narrowed his eyes. According to his contacts inside Arasaka, he knew PROJECT’s relationship with Arasaka was rather delicate right now. Approaching them at this timing…
“Go ahead and try, but don’t place too much weight on them.”
“If fighting breaks out, where should we set the defensive line?”
“We don’t have any other choice. And… I think they’re thinking the same thing we are. Set the line on the outskirts of Pacifica. Do everything possible to keep them from entering Pacifica proper.”
As he spoke, a pained look crossed Lucius’s face. A massive amount of money and investment had been poured into Pacifica.
Night City had placed enormous expectations on that area. But… it seemed sacrifices were unavoidable now.
On the bright side, Pacifica’s construction wasn’t fully complete yet. That meant both sides could act with fewer constraints. At the same time, the existing infrastructure limited how freely the New United States forces could deploy, which actually worked in Night City’s favor.
After all, there was no way they could compete with the other side in heavy firepower.
...
“Lucius is asking us for help?”
Roland froze for a moment after hearing the news, then began considering whether it was necessary. He did plan to show a bit of PROJECT’s strength in this battle, and helping Lucius…
Hmm. That might work. The main objective right now was to drive the New United States forces out.
It would also be a good opportunity to show them what PROJECT could do.
Wait—if he remembered correctly, the main operation on Night City’s side was “Midnight Storm,” commanded by Kurt Hansen.
“Dogtown…”
Roland stroked his chin. He was very interested in that territory. Since he was already involved, there was no way he’d let Hansen take it entirely for himself. The counter-espionage intelligence unit hadn’t made any moves yet either—he might as well send Zed over there to carve out a foothold.
“This can be planned properly…”
PROJECT would confront Hansen’s forces head-on, preventing him from fully securing the area. Once the timing was right, they would withdraw openly, leaving Zed and part of the team behind.
As PROJECT’s “old guard,” they would split the territory with Hansen’s side.
“Reply to Lucius and agree to his request. Tell him we’ll help block the New United States forces, but they must keep everything confidential. If any information leaks, our support ends immediately.”
“Understood.”
...
“Lucius has already started organizing resistance forces. Should we give him some incentives?”
Kaneda looked over the intelligence in his hand and asked Kuroda.
Iwasan was already gone.
“Hmm… That’s fine. Give him some support so he can hold out a bit longer.”
“Oh, and PROJECT has also agreed to help.”
“Hm? That’s unexpected. I thought they’d already leaned toward Militech… Still, that’s good news.”
“There’s also intel Lucius sent us, saying we should pay attention to someone named Kurt Hansen.”
“That kind of thing should go straight to Intelligence. Don’t bring it to me.”
Kuroda waved his hand dismissively, clearly uninterested.
“Um… Mr. Kuroda…”
“Hm? Say it straight. No need to stutter.”
Kuroda raised an eyebrow.
“Mr. Yorinobu called…”
“What did you just say?!”
...
At the outskirts of Night City, yellow sand filled the sky as convoy after convoy sped away from a certain location. Among them were Nomads—and Wraiths.
Under normal circumstances, it was almost impossible to see these two groups together. But now they were, for a very simple reason.
Chasing them from behind were reinforcements sent from Northern California to support Night City.
Yes, although Northern California intended to sit on the fence, they still sent a thousand-man force over as reinforcements. At the very least, they had to keep up appearances.
“Damn it, that’s a lot of troops! Boss, are we just insanely unlucky today?!”
Within the Wanderers’ convoy, a man wearing a cowboy hat shouted loudly. They had originally planned to head to Night City to buy supplies, only to run straight into a military force…
And right at the front of the column, no less—drawing immediate attention.
“We’re not the unluckiest ones,” the man called Boss laughed. “The unluckiest ones are the Wraiths.”
And that was exactly the case. The Wraiths had come to rob them, and during the robbery… they ran straight into Northern California’s troops.
And now they were being hunted down.
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