So I started to read Spells and Chrome and then started to read the short story Caliban, then saw it was about Dirk Montgomery. I recognized that name and knew he was the leading man of 2XS. So I stopped reading Spells and Chrome and bought a used copy of 2XS to familiarize myself with the adventures of Dirk Montgomery.
Anyway, I just recently went back to Spells and Chrome and totally forgot the reason why I stopped reading it. Then I saw it was about Dirk Montgomery and thought, "oh this is going to be great." And to be fair, Caliban was a pretty good read. But the problem enters that Dirk Montgomery mentions Naomi Takahashi, who clearly died in 2XS while she was attacked by a spirit in an elevator. So I thought, maybe she faked her own death and edited the footage. But Dirk says she's still his Lone Star contact. I slightly question if someone that has gone into hiding would still be working for the same mega corp, but to be fair, Naomi didn't have a good reason to leave the Star, but did have a pretty good reason to go into hiding.
But, I think she's actually dead. Buddy would have probably have noticed if the footage was edited, since you know...she's one of the best around.
Dirk also strangely thinks he doesn't have any cyber, when he clearly has a cyberarm which he got at the end of 2XS. This leads me to the belief that either this person is not Dirk Montgomery or that Dirk's memories were altered. My assumption is that Kazuma used psychotropic conditioning to make Dirk think that Naomi is still alive. After all, why would he be a Knight Errant agent if his aunt is Lone Star. He'd have a much easier time getting in to the Star than into the Pawns. On top of which, he's an elf, Dirk said it himself; he didn't think they were actually related, and I don't think they are. It was clearly a lie that Kazuma put in Dirk's brain so that he would have leverage over Dirk and sucker him into help investigate his sister's disappearance as well as to keep his technomantic secret safe.
That or I'm reading too much into it and its just a blatantly obvious error. But I prefer the idea that it ties in to a larger conspiracy. This is Shadowrun after all.
