Note: Of course, with the resources of the Sol Council, the government could easily have brought the Ishtar Plateau under its rule any time, but the goal was to do so without military intervention. Not only would a military conflict on the surface have been more expensive than it would have been worth, but it would not have served the Council’s goals to have a population under occupation. Instead, they treated the people of the surface as if they were citizens who were engaged in constant, open criminal action–including draft dodging, smuggling, and unlicensed construction. From the perspective of the Sol Council, it was like a penal colony with no warden or guards.