[AAA] NeoNET

Headquarters: Boston, UCAS
Seattle Division: NeoNET Northwest, 21st Avenue South and
Massachusetts Street, Downtown
Division Head: Samantha Villiers

NeoNET’s Seattle complex is responsible for the metroplex public database contract, but that’s considered second-place to its primary purpose, which is as a staging point for NeoNET expansion into the Asia-Pacific markets. NeoNET Seattle looks westward, towards Hong Kong, Shanghai, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Russia, amongst others. In return, they draw some fire from rivals in the Pacific Rim, looking to keep the ambitious company out of their backyards.

NeoNET’s other main interest in Seattle is for its burgeoning military contracts: the company upgraded Fort Lewis’ Urban Combat Simulator and computer systems, is working with the Everett Naval Yards, and its TransysNeuronet subsidiary has a cyberenhancement clinic doing work on UCAS military personnel on the government’s tab.

This sort of stuff has potentially brought NeoNET into conflict with Ares, which
tends to view the UCAS military as its private reserve. Thus far things haven’t
gotten hostile, but all it will take is for the two corps to go up for the same
contract for it to get ugly.
> Hard Exit

NeoNET Northwest’s HQ is a complex of eight skyscrapers in Downtown, seven of them encircling the central, eighth, building. Fuchi built the place, but NeoNET has upgraded things since those days and changed the locks any number of times. The sides of the buildings are still aglow day and night with holo and AR displays, and a complex wireless intranet surrounds the complex.

Samantha Villiers, NeoNET CEO Richard Villiers’ ex-wife, runs the Northwest Division. She has guided it for decades, although she certainly doesn’t look it (an executive VP’s salary buys some really nice cosmetic work). Just to keep things “in the family,” Richard and Samantha’s daughter Cara is in charge of the division’s “expendable assets” (that means us, boys and girls). Cara has plenty of experience in that area, since she used to work the shadows herself some years ago.

Plenty of experience, all right. I’ve noticed that Cara Villiers has been quite busy
hiring shadow-talent of late, more than you would expect even for NeoNET’s
ambitious plans. Especially curious have been some of the targets of the runs:
not business rivals, but certain underworld figures and operations. Since I doubt
NeoNET has gotten into the crime-fighting business, I suspect Ms. Villiers is
tying up some loose ends from her shadowrunning days to ensure they don’t
come back to haunt her. Of course, stirring up old ghosts is one of the surest
ways to start up a good haunting.
> Kat o’ Nine Tales