Loose ends and a new front

November 27th

I got a message from Bonnie back on Monday. She had been able to sound out the Feminists on the student council, well, at least five of the six. I forwarded the list to Francy and told her to distribute the girls among all missionaries by who was the most competent to deal with them. Their task was to subdue all five, maybe even all six, by the end of the week.

Dorothy and her girls had managed to make an app that was as secure as we could arguably make it at the moment, we ran everything on private servers, as far away from any oversight as a normal civilian could. The warning cameras had also been installed on the road to my home and I had advised Francy to station at least one missionary at my home during the daytime, just in case my aunt was going to show up alone.

Bonnie had also let us know how the college plans to respond publicly, which is why I was having a conversation with Becca. "So far nothing unexpected" she said bluntly "we always expected them to sue the student council over this issue. With Your changed plans, we have to hope that there will be enough grumbling inside the administration to weaken their position.

The fact that they've announced an 'internal audit' into possibly sexist hiring practices could mean just about anything at this stage. From a mere publicity stunt, over trying to spot weak points for the trial ahead of time, to an earnest attempt at fixing the worst gender inequalities at our college. I'm afraid we'll have to wait and see, Supreme Master. But don't be afraid of asking our members in the college administration what they know."

And so I did. Dorothy's messaging app had perfectly integrated member information, allowing me to message all college administrative staff under my control simultaneously without much effort. While we waited for responses, I struck up a conversation with Becca "So, how has college been the past few weeks?"

Becca jolted up "Oh right, I forgot to tell You, Illuminating One. I have a shoot starting tomorrow and it's going all through the weekend. I've been busy learning lines and directions. I sadly won't be able to make it to the meeting on Saturday."

"Oh, that sounds awesome, what is it about?" I asked.

Picking up on my only mild curiosity, Becca gave me a short explanation "It's supposed to be a final project for all of us. I'll still have classes after this, there just aren't enough student films being shot that can count as a final project. It's a spy movie and I'll play the female lead and I'll be graded on my acting. We also have a director, a person for set design, a VFX guy, a cutter, the whole thing. It's all their final project too."

"So you're gonna play an elegant spy lady?" I asked with slightly more curiosity.

"More or less. The plot isn't anything too special if you've ever seen a spy thriller before. If you want, I can probably get a sexy shot or two of me to send to You" she suggested.

"Sure, why not" I answered, as we heard the notification jingle on my phone multiple times. I decided to check what the administrative girls wrote. One of the HR girls wrote 'We're asked if any faculty ever seemed to have a gender bias and we were reminded to decide hiring people just based on their qualifications and how well they'd fit into the team.' The other girls broadly confirmed that the college wanted to cover its tracks by eliminating egregious or obvious examples.

Becca, who had seen the messages from over my shoulder, chimed in "Urgh, this sucks. They're just trying to bury the story as fast as possible so they can win the lawsuit quietly. They don't wanna be known as the college that fought female equality, so they're just making sure the worst parts are gone and scrubbed away to ensure that nosy journalists won't be able to find shit."

"Isn't there anything we can do about this?" I asked Becca.

She had to think for a solid minute, before she finally found a solution "Hm, so... if we wanted to get our hands a little dirty, we certainly could do something, but I can't guarantee success, Supreme Master. We'd need to contact a reputable journalist from outside the college and let them contact previously rejected female applicants. But given that we're trying to make a story, we'd either need that journalist under our control or an obvious example, and the hiring decision has to be recent enough to be relevant. We'd also need the administrative staff to have made a show of united resistance to the dean beforehand to make it plausible how hiring information may have leaked.

I want You to think about this carefully, Exalted One. In the worst case, we'd have to sacrifice a woman inside the administration's HR department. Maybe I'm just too afraid, but I think we're too early to make such a risky move."

I felt that her concerns made a lot of sense. I asked the HR girls whether they could find women being rejected despite being well-qualified in recent years. I explained my plan to Becca "We're going with the plan to expose obvious instances of sexism. If we can find some women getting rejected for no good reason, all we need to do is contact them anonymously on social media and try to stir up drama within and outside the college."

"On campus, it could also strengthen the Feminists' cause or at least paralyze their opposition. If we actually manage to find anything" Becca added.

While the HR girls were busy searching through hiring records, we heard from the two most important girls of the admin staff. The chief fundraiser informed us that the private donors would largely stay regardless of outcome, but demanded to keep the story low profile. The woman on the board of directors offered to read a statement in the next meeting expressing her opinion that the college hadn't done enough for women's equality, a noticeable shift in her stance on social issues raised by the student council before.

The HR ladies came back to us with a list of 11 rejects, and a further 25 rejected due to poor team compatibility despite significantly better qualifications. Becca and I decided to do background checks on these women and decided to consider 9 of these women for further contact, before deciding on the one most likely to get mad in public about this, she happened to be a highly successful professor at an Ivy League college now.

Now it was time to wait for her response and the response of the college at being confronted with loosely organized criticism. Before Becca left, I wanted to talk to her some more "Be honest, what do you think of me?"

"Wow, uhm... That's a loaded question, Illuminated One. I do honestly see You as a wonderful entity that helps me guide my life, but I assume that's not the answer You were looking for, were You?" she asked in order to answer my question. She continued after I shook my head "I've honestly never put much thought into how I feel about You outside of Your role in the cult. I think You are quite a headstrong and dedicated person on a so far highly successful mission. I do genuinely feel honored that I can assist You in Your endeavors and have a use to You, Supreme Master. I might not always suggest what You choose to do in the end, but I've always got the feeling that You've taken my suggestions into consideration. Considering that I'm just a woman who needs someone like You in my life to live it well, that's all I can seriously ask for."

Me: "You're right in that take your input seriously, Becca. You're detailed, thorough, you reason well and you are just the right level of cut-throat that's necessary to seize opportunities for my cult. I genuinely appreciate your cold-hearted analyses."

Becca began to tear up a little "Are You sure, master? Am I not just a bad sister who tells You to use them as sacrificial pawns every now and then?"

Me: "And what do those sisters of yours want? Empathy or my success?"

Becca: "I... Uh..."

Me: "You know the answer to that Becca. But you don't need to worry. I'm not willing to sacrifice my girls that much. I've usually concluded that the risks you highlight were too great. I need someone who thinks only with her brain and not her heart, just to show me what's possible."

Becca: "Well, uhm... that's great, master. I was always a little bit worried about how You might think of me and how I talk about my sisters. But You wanted my advice, so I kept giving it..."

Me: "Don't worry about it. If I had a problem with it, I would've said something. But Becca, I'm curious... You've told me all the way back that You were curious what makes women join a sex cult and willingly serve a man who has many other women to please him. Have You found Your answer yet, Becca?"

Becca: "I don't know if this is my final answer, but for me it's obedience and faith. I believe in You and Your powers to guide me, Illuminating One. It's just that simple."

With a friendly smile, Becca left the room.