The Tacoma Docks
-By Hamburger

The docks are the place to be if you're yearning to breath a bit of fresh, corp-free air, and not worry about the Star busting you for not wearing the right corp accessories in the correct non-threatening manner. Usually in Seattle, the lack of corps means that the gangs have turned the place into their own little playground, but the people have made the docks a relatively safe area as long as you tip cred in the right direction. The big boys leave the beaten masses be down here, meaning that you can get a way with a lot for a little if you know the right people. Fortunately for you, I know the right people. Fastjack asked me to give all you newbies a run-down on the Who and What of our little slice of the people's paradise.
Ugh. Hamburger generally knows what he's talking about, but sometimes you need to run him through the Reality Filter two or three times. Here's the deal: The docks are "corp-free" in that there are no extra-territorials around here, but that doesn't mean there are no businesses. Lone Star is in no rush to to stop crime, but they'll still show up if you coat a city block in white phosphorus. The gangs don't shoot the place up because the Vory or the Mafia don't want the docks to stop running. Seattle is a land-based island due to random political geography- if the docks shut down, the city's screwed.
-Smoke

The namesake of the district is nominally run by the union, led by a troll by the name of Reginald Brubekker III. The longshoreman's union has more power than one would think, as the docks are essentially un-automated compared to similar sized operations elsewhere. The system was upgraded just in time to fail spectacularly for the second crash, and the politicians have lacked the will since then to recommit the funds to upgrading.
That and the Mafia decided that controlling the place through the union was cheaper than investing in the top-drek hackers needed to regularly get away with the kind of stuff they get away with now.
-Smoke
Oh come on! I know the megacorps have to hate the inefficiencies in relying on metahumans. An automated docks would at least double their tonnage processing capacity. I can't think of any pol who would blink at spending taxpayer money with enough corp nuyen coming their way, and there's no way the Mafia can match that.
-Eyebite
You're assuming the Mafia is keeping the pols out of the docks with money, omae.
-Smoke

Reginald's basically a good guy who's made a deal with the devil. A large portion of the Ork and Troll community are SINless, and thus not able to join the union. To keep his community going, he needs a way to get them on the union rolls. In exchange for a steady supply of fake SINs, Reggie arranges for some cargo to "vanish" others to be "expedited" and still more to never be registered in the first place.
Reason number two the Mafia wants to keep drones out of the docks. Reggie works for cheap.
-Smoke

However, there simply is not enough legit work to keep everyone in a livable lifestyle, so in the last few years Reggie has started having his people work for the Vory, doing off the clock cargo loading work for their smuggling operations. The Mafia usually bring their stuff in with at least a veneer of legality - front companies, "missing shipments" and the like. The Vory don't even pretend. The stuff that comes on and off those docks in the middle of the night is usually Vory, almost always highly illegal, and will get you killed if you get too curious.
Ok, Smoke, run this through the reality filter for us. There's no way this guy is working for two syndicates and still alive.
-Pineapple
No joke, Hamburger has this right on the money. Reggie's double dealing. Good intentions and the road to hell, after all.
-Smoke
I can't believe this. There is no way the Mafia is letting the Vory in right under their noses.
-Eyebite
That's because you don't live in the area, omae, and neither do the Mafia. They've had the Union in their pocket for so long they hardly ever come around town anymore. As long as things are working without a kink, the Mafia doesn't ask questions. The Vory, on the other hand, have their Seattle operations based here. They may be smaller, but they're local and they're damned vicious. If Reggie doesn't deal with the Vory, people are going to get hurt, and they won't start with him - they'll make examples. So far, the Vory have been content to let their control stay under the radar.
-Firesale

Another item of interest for the working runner is your friendly neighborhood street doc. Unfortunately, all we have in that area is the ill-tempered russian ex-pat Alexi Roman. The man knows his stuff, but is seriously short on the social skills.
Hamburger's just a bit biased because Alexi didn't let him skate off with his tab unpaid for a change.
-Sheba
Hey! I almost always pay!
-Hamburger

Alexi's the only game in town because he's the only Vory-backed game in town. The Russians own his ass - all I know is he had to leave the mother country in a rush. This is good news for us underworld types, as it means instead of the malpractice dodging hacks we usually have to deal with in shadows, we have an actual trained surgeon to patch us up. Bad news if you trying to lay low from the Vory, but you're in the wrong part of town if you're afraid to hear Russian. Some of those highly illegal shipments I mentioned earlier contain cyberware. The Vory hijack them in the open sea, and then smuggle it into town to have Alexi put into their people. The left overs are sold by Alexi - the Vory get 90% of the cut, of course.
Sounds like the Vory are gearing up to take the Mafia out of the docks finally?
-Da Danger Ranger
Or it could be for something completely different. Why piss in your own pot? A war would slow the inflow for both sides. Better to keep the goods coming in and tear up a completely seperate territory - I hear the Vory have been looking into getting in on southern Puyallup, by the military base.
-Smoke
Gee, why on earth would the Vory want access to the Base? Smoke, you're scaring me.
-Pineapple
Good. Fear means you're still alive.
-Smoke
Not for all of us, omae.
-Hamburger

In addition to actually knowing his stuff, Alexi is pretty aggressive when it comes to bringing in the goods. Selling things the Vory bring him doesn't bring much in the way of profit margin, so Alexi likes to hire freelancers to get him high margin items. Sometimes, this can be hijacking a truck, or co-opting a shipment in the sound. Sometimes, it's knocking over another street doc's clinic. Better check the target twice if you take a job from Alexi; you don't want to end up under the knife of someone you screwed over a few months ago.
Sounds like personal experiance?
-Wolf Mother
Alexi's been pretty good to me. Let me work off my debt instead of chopping my parts up and selling them to Tamanous while I was out of things for a while. You can't say that about every chop shop. Doesn't change the fact he's a greedy bastard; but at least he's predictable - if he thinks he can get more out you alive than in pieces, you've got a working relationship.
-Hamburger

No neighborhood tour is complete without mentioning the local watering hole. The only place worth going to in town, in my humble opinion, is The Free World. This bar is the hang out of the area's local anarchist community, and a good place to know if you need a safehouse or a way out of town. The boys and girls around here have a lot of practice in hiding from the authorities.
Too bad the authorities aren't the only people you need to hide from, no?
-Fragcatcher

The attractive woman tending bar is Sheba. If you need access to explosives or weaponry, she knows the people who can hook that up. If you convince her you're legit, she can also get you in touch with the local anarcho-group, Security of the Sixth World. They're the people who have the safehouses, cover id's, alibis, and routes out of town worked out; and if your interests cross, they might be willing to give you an assist.
Flattery only works if you do in person, Hammy.
-Sheba

The Free World is also a place to go do business on the clandestine. There's no fancy backrooms with wi-fi inhibiting paint or white noise generators or any of that other drek you see on the trid around here, mainly because we don't need to hide from each other in the docks. We're a tight community that believe in mutual aid and a life free from corporate tyranny - you won't find any people trying to frag you over around here, as long as you're right with the cause and the community.
I don't even need a reality filter to translate that one. Bullshit ring a bell anyone?
-Eyebite
One thing he didn't mention is that Sheba's boyfriend, Exile, is a good guy to know if you want to get something done in the Sound. Especially when it involves hijacking ships. Haven't heard anything about him lately, anyone know where he's been?
-First Cause
I wonder that sometimes as well. Whatever happened to Exile, Hammy?
-Sheba
No comment.
-Hamburger