Never underestimate the capacity of a plant to learn something new from a dinosaur.
Bud is getting a crash course in how to fight a war all on his own. At the same time, the needs of his homeworld and the Imperium distract him from the goal of finding where the Rawtenuga entered the core galaxy from.
Being Thorn's heir has both positive and negative aspects to it, and as the war with the Rawtenuga keeps getting bigger, so do the demands from the civilian side of his life. The Imperium's eternal problem is not having enough ships to fight both the wars it now has. And civilians also want new ships.
But as Bud's life gets more complicated, the Imperator starts pushing him to fill in the gaps. Jon knows what Bud's been up to, approves of what he's doing, but has no idea of the scope of it.
No-one does.
But does Bud really know what he's doing?
And should a lowly Commander be getting this much responsibility, even if he is Commander Spacemage?