Start of week 91: Conversations With A Cult Hunter

Shortly after returning from the mission, Karishma set about formulating another email to Darya.

TO:  DDemeter@firstlife.wdn
FROM:  K_Pillai@Eroz.wdn

Re:  Cult of Machina Investigation

Hello again Ms Demeter.  Sorry to bother you once more, but I just wanted to let you know that the mission I emailed you about went quite well, despite turning out to be far more hazardous than initially expected.

Also, you asked me to inform you immediately if the word Altruism came up.  Well, I have some good news; we managed to get into reasonably non-hostile communication with some of the cultists, and it turns out that this Altruism is a highly respected member of the cult among many of their cells, and has supplied them (including the ones we spoke with) with a great deal of their equipment.  You will be pleased to hear that we were able to leave peacefully after this, without causing unnecessary casualties, since this particular cell appeared to be quite cooperative.

It has been a pleasure communicating with you, and thank you very much for your help in this matter!  I hope that we will be able to speak again in the future.

Yours faithfully,
Karishma Pillai

TO:  K_Pillai@Eroz.wdn
FROM:  DDemeter@firstlife.wdn

Re:Re:  Cult of Machina Investigation

Agent Pillai,

I wish to meet you in person as soon as possible. Please name a time and place.

The email sent, Darya leaned back in her chair, and stared at the ceiling. She felt sick, and she her hands involuntary clawed into their trigger holding position. Behind her, the door opened, and she jumped and spun around, relaxing when she saw who stood in the doorway.

"You ok, Dar'?" asked Natasha, her older sister, leaning on the door frame for support. Darya hurriedly tried to shut down the computer, but her sister's eyes scanned over the email before she had a chance. "Oh Dar'." Natasha walked forward and placed her hands on her sister's shoulders, before pulling the agent into a hug. Darya felt her fingers relax from their firing positions, and she awkwardly put her arms back around Natasha, and wondered what exactly it was she wanted, after all these years of Altruism's shadow looming.

Karishma stared at the reply in surprise; this very sudden change of attitude from Darya was slightly disconcerting, and made her wonder if there was more going on here than at first glance.

TO:  DDemeter@firstlife.wdn
FROM:  K_Pillai@Eroz.wdn

Alright, agent Demeter, I would be delighted to meet with you.  Would you be willing to meet me at the main Lunas colony teleport station in two days time?  With your consent, I can arrange with the station for your transport to and from the Moon.  If this is unacceptable, then please advise me as to a preferred meeting place.

I very much look forward to meeting you in person!

Yours sincerely,
Karishma Pillai

Darya sent back a confirmation email, and two days later, as arranged, she was standing outside the Lunas Colony Teleport Station. It felt somewhat strange to be back in the clothes she wore in her Oracle days; her reinforced trenchcoat hung loosely over her holstered EMP rifle, and her hair, recently worn loose, pulled back up in its ponytail. Cybernetics she hadn't had any need to keep on gave her alerts via her internal AI as she scanned the lobby to the station, her scarred face marking her out. She felt far more like the cult hunter, Darya Demeter, than she had for a long time.

But was the cult hunter in her needed? Was even Darya Demeter needed? Somewhere inside her head, for the first time in eighteen years, Darya Baranova stirred.

Several threat warnings winked angrily at Darya as a heavily augmented Indian woman strolled into the lobby, looking around eagerly and quite obvioulsy searching for someone.  Suddenly, she seemed to pause, staring straight at Darya for several seconds before breaking into a satisfied smile and beginning to make her way purposefully towards the cult hunter.  She was dressed in a slightly baggy, black set of short-sleeved overalls, and a pair of heavy-looking black work boots.  As she got closer, Darya could see that her skin up to her neck was criss-crossed with what looked like tattooed lines of circuitry, except that they appeared to occasionally shift almost imperceptably, as if her skin were cycling slowly through several different patterns.  When she was almost stood next to Darya, a flap of material on the Indian woman's thigh seemed to lift slightly, as though something small but invisible was emerging from inside her leg, and her jaw worked silently as though issuing orders via smeaker.  Next moment, the woman was extending one of her hands in greeting, smiling pleasently, while offerring a datapad to Darya with the other.  "Ms Demeter?  I'm Karishma.  It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person!"

Darya was so focused on the threat notifications she didn't notice the movement of fabric on the other woman's thigh.* She reached out, and took the datapad from Karishma. "Likewise." she said, nodding her head slightly. She adjusted her stance, letting the coat fall away from the other side revealing the plasma rifle holstered there. "Do you have a place we can talk privately?" she asked, getting right down to business.

*((OOC: And once again Darya meets someone and critically botches her perception based check. At least Karishma hopefully doesn't have a crush on her like Ace did.))

Karishma left her hand out for a few more seconds before retracting it; the other woman did not seem interested in pleasentries.  With a significant look at Darya, she replied, "Yes, if necessary.  First though, could you please read the file on that datapad I just gave you; I think that we might find it useful.  Will that be private enough for what you wish to speak with me about?"  After a slight pause, she added, "Nice gun, by the way."

The datapad in question, upon examination, displayed a frequency for a private smeaker channel.

Darya took the datapad and noted the frequency. "This should do fine." she said, pinging Karishma on the frequency to ensure she was there. "It's a speciality of mine." she said, patting her EMP rifle with one hand. "Comes in handy sometimes."

Over smeaker, she added "My apologies for sounding blunt, but I have been pursuing Altruism for a long time. A very long time."


Now that Karishma was in front of Darya, the telepath could clearly see the long scar going down her face from her forehead, around her left eye to her cheek.

"That's perfectly understandable Ms Demeter; we're not exactly here to chat about the weather after all."  Karishma turned slightly away from Darya and casually glanced around the lobby at other new arrivals.  "Care to walk with me while we discuss this matter, or would you prefer that we stay here?" she asked, indicating some nearby seats.  "By the way, I've taken the liberty of sending up a hornet drone to keep an eye out for anyone being a little too nosey; can never be too careful, I think."  As she smeakered this, Karishma gently patted her thigh from where the drone had emerged a short time previously.

"Let's go for a walk. I haven't seen Lunas for a while." Replied Darya, stepping out towards the exit of the building. "Not since...well, before I left I suppose."

Privately, she added "Good idea." Not mentioning how if someone was hacking their smeakers, a hornet drone likely wouldn't help. "So what have you found?"

Even over smeaker she sounded...not so much eager, but there was an edge to her tone. Longing, perhaps?