Wait. The argument the Khanid are making is that the holder houses have not been supplying patrol ships to keep Covenant forces and other undesireables away. And the Imperial Navy is thinly stretched and having to fill in the gaps.
I was under the impression that following Uriam Kador’s attack on the Federation, that Empress Jamyl had confiscated the Kador Fleet and more tightly enforced the Heideran Edict that forbid anyone other than the Imperial Navy to maintain a standing fleet of warships.
Has Empress Catiz rescinded that edict, and now even relatively low ranking Holders are permitted, even expected, to maintain substantial naval forces separate from the Imperial Navy command ?
If the Imperial Navy is having its domestic commitments reduced, then with no reduction in the size of the fleet, it frees them up for actions against… whom ? The Drifters ?