Soleil was feeling up to speed on the elements of her current trajectory coming from this side of the Imperium-wide conflagration that she knew was taking place. The boil of activity was observable in the sequence of events – the way they followed each other, and grew off the previous into the next. The accrual of experiences was producing a wholeness of perspective that wasn’t coming into being upon her whims for her personal edification. Now, after all that, the initiative was hers and she was in home territory, with means, assistance, and protection.

The most effective thing she could do was amplify her gains to the benefit of her peoples. The connections she had forged, the crucial information – she had conceptual cabinets of items that could stem the flow of disaster. They needed to land in the right places, at the right times – which she could ascertain upon learning the greater series of current events beyond her purview, now that she was no longer immersed in a separate struggle for understanding.

Considering everything she’d learned, all of this was unlikely to effect the better course if she simply brought it to authority. That was especially so considering the role of the current Imperial authority – her father – in the creation of the problems in conflict. That could amount to very little.

She sent out thought feelers for the touchpoints in her network that might be trustworthy without prompting or assurance, direct unaided contacts that could serve as platforms or jumping-off points; appropriate beginning stations. Visualizing the flattened-enfolded Greater Dymaxion star map, the Princess illuminated it with her hotspots and directionalities.