Week 7 Story: How the War with V Began
When Dexter DeShawn gave V the contract to steal the Militech flathead, V didn't realize the gravity of the conflict that would erupt between the corpos and the underworld over control of a little state-of-the-art death bot.
An unnamed middle man between V and Dex was the catalyst of this war, convincing V to cut the enemy corpos out of the deal from retrieving the drone. The Arasaka corpos were one of the most powerful corporations running Night City, and the lengths they went to in the name of corporate espionage would be considered war crimes outside the country. Militech was a slightly smaller corpo but still rivaled Arasaka in terms of influence and power, with their specialty being arms development. But once the underground entered the scene, the scales were tipped and an ensuing war broke out between the individual corpos and the mercenaries who stole from them.
V had been contacted by the middle man one day to retrieve a stolen shipment off the bed of a Militech convoy, as the goods had been secured by an unsavory gang known as the Maelstrom. The Maelstrom members had a meeting set up with a representative from Militech to negotiate fees for returning the bot, and Dexter's associate had caught wind of it. The gig was simple. Before the meeting, V was to either infiltrate the Maelstrom hideout, locate, and then secure the bot, or meet openly with the gang and negotiate a better deal. The details of what occurred are lost to time, but what followed can be painted as clear as a picture.
V returned to a club frequented by all mercs, ready to cash out his contract with Dex, when he was stopped by others who caught a glimpse of what he was carrying. Wondering why they showed so much fear in their eyes, V asked what was going on. It was a moment before someone said,"You don't realize what you've stolen, have you?"
Author's note: This is my version of the beginning of the Iliad, but set in the universe of Cyberpunk once again instead. The Iliad is a tale of a war between the Greeks and the Trojans, spurred by the stealing of Helen by a prince of Troy. For this version, I made the catalyst an experimental drone created by one of the corporations in the world of Cyberpunk. The war that would ensue for control of this drone would be between the corporations and the underground network of mercenaries.
Web source: The Iliad, retold by A. J. Church
Hey Aaron,
ReplyDeleteSuch a cool twist on the Iliad. After reading it, I could not even distinguish that it was not a story out of Cyberpunk. You did a great job describing the different groups in the story like Arasaka and Militech, and immersing into a little bit of Cyberpunk lore. The timeline of the story is a bit confusing to me. It seems like the first and last paragraphs are in real time, and the middle paragraphs are backstory content. If that is true, I do like structure. Overall, I do really like your story and how you keep V at the center of it even when giving some backstory.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI have never read the Illiad but you did a wonderful job in your story. I love how you made it into the universe of Cyberpunk instead of just keeping it in the real world. I also agree with Justin about the paragraphs. It gets a little confusing on whether or not it is all placed in the past, future, or if it is a mix of both. Either way great job!
Hi Aaron, good job with this story. I like how you took a story from the ancient past and put it in the future. The switch from poetic meter (I may have read a different version than the class) to Cyberpunk prose was night also night and day, but I found it really interesting. There's no way I could have known what story it was based on without the author's note. I'm unfamiliar with the universe of Cyberpunk, so some things were a little confusing to me, especially in a relatively short story. Overall though good work!
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