Julia is around the main office. The organization has gotten over the main shock of the caravan raid but now it's a firefight figuring out insurance, sending a team in to retrieve the remaining goods and get them delivered and trying to brainstorm ideas to protect other trade routes given the Ways no longer being as safe as everyone assumed they were.   She's busy but can spare some time for you in her office.

Blake takes in the business of the BTA, and once they're in Julia's office, he has a seat. "Did you want me to start with the questions? Or would you like to explain to me what that was all about in Strathclyde?"

"While I was with the team investigation out at Strathclyde, we followed some indicators that led us to a small village nearby. There was a disturbance going on between an unidentified woman in a red bodysuit throwing fire spells and a male in armor that goes by Dalt that was smacking the spells off like they were nothing. The woman in question, while completely covered, moved and had the same speech inflections as you. Was that you?"

Julia sighs, looks straight at Blake and says "Blake, that wasn't me. Yeah, she fights like me, probably because she trained me. You do the math. I've been here for days, trying to clean up the mess with the caravan raid, you can check with the staff. Seriously Blake, did you think we wouldn't do our own investigation? Amber has already taken out one of our larger caravans, whether they are admitting to it or not. We need intel on what they are up to."   She pauses a moment, does a little half grin.   "I did tell you it wasn't that different from home. Fancier dresses but people with power are still people with power. The BTA tries to be a little less awful, but we still have to play the game. I tried to be honest with you about what you would find here. I still think it's a step up, literally the center of the world, but it's not unicorns and holo-romances. I know you have one foot in Amber and one foot with us and that's a fucked up place to be. Neither of us are angels and we do want you to meet ... well, what we expect are your relatives, somehow at least, but we want you to do it with your eyes open.   Hopefully you'll decide we're the lesser of two evils."

When Julia explains who the individual was, he relaxes some. "That's actually somewhat of a relief that it wasn't you. Who trained you, and is she working with the BTA? I helped them get away from the scene —" Blake pauses and adds. "Was that us with the second run on the armory in Amber, then?"

"Blake, you've met her. The boss is very, well, hands on when it comes to some things." She shifts position and you suspect there's a lot of backstory here "Jasra isn't perfect, and we've had our differences. But we've worked it out and have a pretty good working relationship. You could to, she's interested in you. Not just as an asset, and you could be an asset, you're not stupid, you know that. But she likes the fresh approach you take to things. It's easy to get lost in the Bridgerton bullshit here."   She pauses, narrows her eyes "You get you represent a disruption to the balance of power here, right? Not to get Mercenary, no one is going to make you do anything you don't want to do, but you understand the stranglehold the Amber royal family has on the Golden Circle, right? I told you we were trade competitors, and that's completely true, but I didn't go into detail on how they manage to stay on top despite putting a lot less effort in. It's not just military strength, we're not too different there, barring extraordinary effort on their part, which they tend not to indulge in like they used to, thankfully. They have a monopoly on access, and they use it ruthlessly."

"She needs to conceal the suit, then. They've linked between the red one and then the black one in Amber."   "The plan is then, what ... demonstrate instability, which calls for the rise of investing in personal security and alternate infrastructure among the Circle. But then what? What is the technology or edge that's going to be offered to the masses as the alternative for the trade paths? If we just smash what's in place now, we're just knocking all these people back into the stone age, — Further into the stone age."

Blake gives a look as if maybe one of them is missing something. "You boss, the red armor bodysuit. Who's the black armor bodysuit one? Because they were very recently spotted robbing the armory."

Julia pauses and gives you a measured look. "Even if we were .... acquiring resources, and I'm not saying we were. That's a far cry from demonstrating instability and 'Smashing what's in place'. It is expected that attempt to level competitive advantages are just a part of doing business." She pauses, clearly contemplates for a moment "What is the source of these questions Blake? Are you asking as a friend, or as a member of Amber's new Scooby Gang? No shade either way, I get you are figuring out your place; but you are asking questions that could create awkward situations for the BTA and I don't want to lie to you."

"It's appreciated." Blake answers. "— I'm asking as a consultant. Grabbing advantages where one can does make sense for a highly competitive market, but the cultural environment of Amber doesn't lightly accept citizen deaths. And the investigation team doesn't suffer from the crushing narcissism that the upper administration has. They work together. They don't hesitate to call in backup."   Blake gets slightly resigned. "The last I'll ask on this is that the group is working on assembling a list of potential locations as a next target, so they can set advance scouts to keep an eye and message out if something happens, trying to enable rapid response. I could either do the research from what's available to me in records, or would the BTA happen to have a shortlist of locations to offer to be observed?"

"We have a list of potential enemy strike positions that are important to us." She emphasizes the "us" with a bit of a smile. "We don't have a list of what Amber would consider important, I mean, we could make some educated guesses (and have) but we don't know everything they know." She visibly muses a bit "As far as simple trade competition, Amber's biggest advantage are the Ways, but no one has figured out a way to damage them, and doing so would do almost as much damage to us as Amber, so it's kind of a lose/lose proposition. Amber doesn't produce much, they tax other trade, so you can't strike at the source. Their biggest point of vulnerability is probably trade mechanics outside of the Ways, so shipping, records facilities, contract negotiation sabotage. And, before you ask, yes we have investigated all three, even taken a punch here and there where we think we can get away with it. Amber has done the same."