Yeah, the free folk here can be a real asset for us, and we also have a % of void pop, I mean, not void born, but we do have orbital assets both in the belt and what not so we can offer them some accommodation within the Empire and yet allow them to be their own thing.
Plus, the faster we have JumpShips, the faster we can start liberating worlds from the dracs
Though given the timeframe, I only caught up recently and haven't read most of the non story posts (or even the omakes) but... have the Succession wars gone different from canon or is the interpretation different in particular? I ask because the drac's seem to have production of their own on all levels, which I find it a tad strange for the time period and the distance from the Combine itself (when did the backstabbu folks left Combine space? BTW)