Once he got back to the Prism Palace, he and Yazra'h would present a bold proposal to their father. The two of them had conceived an excellent idea for rebuilding the wounded Ildiran Empire, and he was sure the Mage-Imperator would approve. Zan'nh was, after all, a military commander, not an administrator or manager. He was better suited to charging into battle.

Zan'nh stepped into the flagship's command nucleus, surveying the activity all around. The engineer Tabitha Huck moved from station to station studying imagers, activating comm systems, and impatiently issuing orders to Ildiran workers - all of whom, on the Adar's explicit instructions, obeyed her as if she spoke holy law.

Tabitha was a member of Sullivan Gold's cloud-harvester crew from Qronha 3. The crew, held under house arrest on Ildira to prevent them from divulging the Mage-Imperator's plans with the hydrogues, had been indignant, yet when the Adar desperately needed innovation - not a strong suit for any Ildiran - he had' called upon the humans, and they had agreed to help.

To repair and reconstruct Solar Navy ships, new industrial complexes had been placed in orbit. There Ildiran kiths worked together - labourers, miners, engineers - all cooperating perfectly. But traditional Ildiran approaches were not sufficient to allow swift recovery from this disaster. Once again, the humans showed them a new way.

Tabitha looked harried as she juggled progress reports, lists of resource allotments, and team distribution schedules. She was what Sullivan described as a 'Type A' personality, a woman who worked best when she was frantically busy with innumerable projects, and who applied herself to each one with the same expectation of high quality. Right now Tabitha was exactly the sort of person the Solar Navy needed.

With a smirk at the traditional datascreens, she commented to no one in particular, 'This Ildiran technology is so primitive, it's like working with stone knives and bearskins.' She wiped sweat from her forehead and heaved a long sigh before she turned to Zan'nh. 'We need more workers, Adar. We need more processed metals. We need to have more components manufactured. We need--'

'You will have everything you need.' This seemed to mollify her somewhat.

'Good, because I don't see how you expect me to get this job done any other way.'

A haggard Sullivan Gold arrived in the command nucleus. Giving a cursory nod to Zan'nh, he hurried to Tabitha. 'Did you solve the supply chain?'

'Which supply chain? I'm dealing with seventy-five of them right now.'

Zan'nh interrupted, 'State how we may assist you, and I will make it happen.'

'Well, Adar, for starters, your people could take a bit more initiative.' Tabitha gave a little snort. 'Sure, they follow instructions and work hard - no question about that - but I have to tell them everything. Sometimes a leader needs people to come up with creative solutions to problems.'

'That is why we brought you here.'