"This is the city hall! You can't just act how you please in here!" their leader boldly declared, eliciting the same reaction as the governor's stammering, namely another sigh and eyeroll.

Tera was clearly not playing games and took back control of the situation with one word. "Kneel."

It wasn't a command so much as an unassailable order, though the word alone wasn't enough. Tera exerted a pressure far greater than in the lobby, though it didn't feel much worse to Beth, as she concentrated far more of it on the security. It was as if a mountain had been smacked into each of their backs, the four security guards slamming into the ground with only one managing to catch himself, though it wasn't the guard who had tried to reprimand Tera.

"Now, what was I saying? Oh yes, let's finish off this little farce," Tera resumed, glaring at the governor. "Who appointed you to this post, kiddo?"

"Don't answer that," Jane immediately snapped. Tera glared at her for a second before raising her cane and poking at her. Nothing seemed to happen, as Jane didn't go flying about the room, nor explode or anything that Beth thought might result from an attack from Tera. It became clear as the woman opened her mouth and started trying to give more instructions to the governor; her jaw was working, working overtime, in fact, but nothing was coming out. She realized this after a few moments and grasped at her own throat and mouth, trying to talk again before scrabbling her hands across her mouth and giving Tera a horrified look.

"Now, kiddo, who put you in this post?" Tera demanded again, the governor wilting further under her glare.

"High Lord Orten," she said quietly, almost in a whisper.

"Orten? That old cretin? Since when does he have the power to dispense a governorship?" Tera asked with a single perfectly arched brow.

"It was a special dispensation. As his position as a manager of interstellar trade for the empire, he can make so many appointments as special dispensations," the governor explained quietly, head lowered and eyes staring at the edge of her desk.

"And they selected you for this honor? Honestly, the Redwing Empire was never particularly impressive, but this is almost mind-boggling," Tera scoffed.

"Please! I need this!" The governor suddenly found her fire, looking up and leaning forward while clutching her hands together in front of her chest. Jane didn't like the governor's renewed energy if her struggles to speak and wild hand wave were any indication, but Tera stopped that with a small wave of her cane. The governor continued, "I was nobody! Just a low-level functionary that barely passed the governmental exam. But then High Lord Orten selected me. Me! Do you know what kind of opportunity this is? All my hard work is paying off!"

Tera sighed again, Vallenna shook her head slightly in regret, and Beth practically had her face buried in both hands. Tera spelled the situation out quite clearly, "You're a patsy, girl. As some people would call it, a useful idiot. You know just enough to keep your head down and rubber stamp things that shouldn't be given the OK. You were put in a position you weren't ready for, to do a job you didn't understand, for people you didn't know. You are a marionette dancing to others' strings."

"Please," the governor whispered, pleading with them. Tera ignored her, releasing Jane from her spell and pinning the woman to the ground with a glare. "Speak, fool! What is the endgame?"

Jane still tried to resist, but another wave of crushing pressure pinned her far more surely than Tera's steely gaze. The woman deflated while appearing to age by ten years, finally understanding that nothing she could do or say would save her from this unstoppable force. "Orten wasn't happy with the revenues. He also suspected that Magdwyn would be leaving soon, so he set up the new governor to be someone we could work through, around, or just run over to get our way."

"Magdwyn was the recent Ascended that was here, yes?" Tera asked with a slightly quirked brow.

"Yes," Jane replied with a sigh. "After they left, we had pretty much free rein. There wasn't anyone strong enough to stop us, nor were we doing anything that was, on the surface, illegal, so we immediately started exerting pressure and increasing taxes. Orten wasn't satisfied with how much many of the secondary and fringe colonies had been generating in the recent couple decades, so he was determined to put people in place to squeeze every copper he could get out of them."

"Your confession is noted," Tera said coldly, causing Jane and the governor both to shudder. The whole time, she had never let up suppressing the security team, though Beth no longer felt her oppressive might crushing down on them, just showing that the old matron had many wily ways about her. Surprisingly, Tera turned to her then and said, "Get your little boss on the phone, kiddo. She'll handle the cleanup on this, and it won't be pretty."

"You mean the Hall Master?" Beth asked, just for confirmation.

"Exactly!" Tera responded, smacking the ground with her cane to create the sound of a small explosion.

Beth contacted the Hall then, taking several minutes to go through procedures before she was put through to the Hall Master. "This had better be good, Miss Beth. While I encourage an open door policy with our Silver and higher members, I don't encourage them to randomly call out of the blue."

"Uh, how does me maybe arresting the planetary governor for fraud and extortion rank on that open door policy sheet?" Beth asked in response.

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"You WHAT?!" Cass bellowed across the line, causing Beth to wince. "Where are you right now?!"

"In the city hall. Governor's office," Beth replied, finding the line disconnected before she could get out more. As with all calls, she had spoken sub-vocally, not actually saying the words aloud, so everyone in the room hadn't the foggiest what had just happened. "I think she'll be here soon."

Soon was right, as less than a minute later Cass burst through the doors, being trailed by several senior members of the CRA and two government officials. They stormed into the office with quite a bit of bluster but even Cass was brought up short upon seeing Tera standing in the center of the room, commanding the space while turning a frosty look on Cass. The Hall Master stopped short, giving the old matron a bow before looking around at the relative lack of devastation when her eyes finally settled on Beth.

"Explain!" she barked.

"Relax, kiddo," Tera cut in. "I got curious after hearing my granddaughter report on the situation as explained by this young woman and decided to come have a little peek. It looks like old Orten has been playing a little fast and loose."

"Orten. Dammit," Cass sighed, rubbing her eyes before signaling the senior members behind her, all of which, it turned out, were at least Platinum Emblems. A single one of them swept up the four that had been acting as the governor's security team while another took the governor into custody. A third moved in and started securing equipment and computing substrate, grabbing everything in the office and making it disappear.

"This office is currently under remand of the Combat Ranking Association!" Cass declared forcefully. "The CRA will be conducting a full audit and investigation of these matters. Any related party needs to report to the main Hall here in the capital for a full debrief."

Cass then turned to Tera and said, much more politely, "Ma'am, if you wouldn't mind coming to my office at some point in the next week, I'd like just a few words from you on the matter."

"Of course, kiddo, that won't be a problem," Tera nodded sagely before turning and walking out the door, the crisp clicking of her cane on the marble floors echoing down the hallway.

"And you," Cass said, turning to glare at Beth, a bit surprised as her anger washed over the girl and failed to find purchase. "I expect you in my office in fifteen minutes. Now get out of here."

Beth just shrugged and said, "Sure."

She then left the governor's office with Blood and Vallenna, the two reporters having taken both video footage as well as copious notes now trailing the three. Rell and Itharion had stayed to discuss matters with the Hall Master and Enforcers that she had brought, though Beth was sure they would be in touch later. The reporters were clearly interested in a juicy story, but also clearly had respected the Hall Master's wishes for all non-related personnel to scram. Beth led the walk back to the Hall, looking around at the city's hustle and bustle as they walked while Blood and Vallenna conversed quietly behind her. It only took a handful of minutes for them to reach the Hall moving at a sedate pace, and Beth ignored the counters to move back down the hallway and to the elevators. She led the way, up the elevator and down the hallway, arriving at the Hall Master's office, finding the door unlocked. She let them in, sure the Hall Master wouldn't mind, what with her open-door policy and all.

They waited about twenty minutes for the Hall Master to show up, Blood and Vallenna talking quietly while the reporters looked on and reviewed their notes. The Hall Master swept in when she arrived, giving them a quick glare before sitting behind her desk and focusing on work for a few minutes. She signaled for them to wait before she tackled that paperwork, getting up after fifteen minutes and joining them in her sitting area, giving them another quick glare before subsiding back.

"So," she started calmly. "You want to explain?"

"Nah, not really feelin' it," Beth said with a shrug, which got a frown and a quiet curse from the Hall Master.

"I hope you didn't have any other plans. The paperwork for this is going to take months, and you'll be handling much of it," Cass said grumpily.

"I'll file a report, but I'm not doing months of paperwork," Beth returned with a scoff. "I have plenty of other stuff on my plate."

"This is what you get when you make a mess," Cass said with a humorless laugh.

"Now, hang on," Beth said, sitting forward with a frown. "I did plenty more than what was required. I'm still a fucking Silver Emblem, for crying out loud, and I helped uncover a series of fraudulent and extortionist action by the damn planetary governor. I didn't have a mission for this, I didn't have a job for this, and, quite frankly, it's not my responsibility. I also am not a Gold Emblem; I haven't taken any long-term assignments for patrol or law enforcement. I uncovered the problem and pointed it out; I'll take my brownie points and leave now."

"You…fine," Cass sighed, seeming to deflate slightly. "But, I expect your report on the scenario to be detailed. Now, I need the three of you to explain to me the gist of the situation, from your point of view, so I have all the perspectives."

Beth, Blood, and Vallenna spent the next thirty minutes going over everything, mainly because Beth and Blood explained the beginning of the whole situation, from the time Mortaine had contracted them up to the present. Beth, cleverly enough, also recorded their explanations, meaning she could transcribe a big chunk of it later to fill out the body of their report. Once Cas had asked a dozen follow-up questions and was sure she had gotten everything from them that they knew, she dismissed them, kicking them out of her office.

"Well, that wasn't fun," Beth said with a sigh as they walked down the hallway to the elevators.

"After action reports usually aren't," said Val primly. "But, they're highly necessary."

"Yeah, just annoying," Beth grumbled. "I can't believe she wanted us to run point on this. We're goddamn Silvers."

"Well, if you make the mess, people will want you to clean it up," Val responded calmly.

"Not my mess," Beth huffed. "It was that stupid governor's mess, we just exposed it. Anyway, enough of that bullshit, at least we have tomorrow to look forward to."

"Tomorrow?" Val asked, arching a single brow slightly in what Beth now realized was a mimic, likely subconscious, of her Honored Ancestor.

"We're hitting the auction up tomorrow," Beth replied with a grin. "Should be a good time, especially since we've got some stuff up for sale."

"And which auction is this?" Val asked.

"The Seven Lights Trading Firm's monthly auction," Beth replied with a grin before flashing her token. "I just so happen to be an Emerald Token."

One of the reporters almost choked at that, the three girls turning to him with raised brows. He held up a hand while he focused on getting his breathing back under control before giving a quick apology for the interruption. Val then turned to Beth and asked, "Would you mind if I accompanied you tomorrow?"

"If you're bringing reporters with you, then yes, I would mind," Beth replied with another quick glance at the two reporters.

"I'm sure I can slip away for an hour or two," Val responded with a grin, Beth noting the crestfallen looks on the reporters’ faces. She couldn't care less, however, as she had never signed up to be followed around by reporters, and the less random people she had snooping on her business, the better.

"What time shall we meet?" Val asked then, making Beth think for a moment.

"The auction's not 'til noon, so let's meet up at eleven? Here, if that's alright?" she asked, a little unsure.

"That sounds perfectly reasonable," Val replied with a nod. "I will see you both then."

With that, the young kresnik swept from the lobby, the two reporters trailing after her. Beth and Blood returned to their room, already having had enough excitement for one day. Beth also wanted to spend some time studying, as she had just recently learned the importance of understanding materials and their properties. The various books that Alex and Selene had recommended were massive, Beth realizing after paging through the first one that even the basic primers were essentially giant encyclopedias containing reams of data. Though, one of the first things the first chapter in the basic primer explained was that many resources had numerous different versions and types that could make it quite hard to identify even common resources, which was another reason why study was so important. A skilled appraiser could figure out even a very rare resource just from a glance, though it took decades, if not centuries, of practical experience to get to that point.

When Beth was finished reviewing the material later that night she turned in for bed, actually using the bed in the suite for a change. Blood joined her, laying back-to-back as they fell asleep, Beth having a few odds dreams of winning big bids in an auction. It wasn't more than a handful of hours later they were up and getting prepped, though they had a few hours to spare before Vallenna would show up, giving them a little time to continue their studying from last night.