Navigators of Dune

Norma Cenva swam in the orange gas inside her tank, showing agitation. “My prescience is flawed—I did not see the attack coming. Now its shock waves clamor in my mind. My Navigators … so many harmed or killed! We must protect spice operations on Arrakis. The Emperor will seek to seize them.”

As Roderick understood the magnitude of the VenHold setback, he would indeed move against the defensive forces on the desert planet. That was what Salvador had tried to do in the first place, and he had died in the attempt.

He nodded grimly. “You are correct, Grandmother. Without spice, and without our Navigators, I could never rebuild Venport Holdings.” He turned to Draigo. “Mentat, tally our remaining assets, and determine how much more we can spare to protect Arrakis. Send what we can to guard the spice—everything that is not absolutely vital to our survival here. I will not let him have the melange. So long as we don’t lose Arrakis, I can make VenHold strong again.”

“Protect my Navigators,” Norma said from her tank. “Protect the spice.”

The Mentat offered his assessment. “I propose we send half of our functional warships to stand firm at Arrakis.”

“Won’t that leave Denali vulnerable?”

“We will still keep fifty ships here, but the secrecy of this installation is its greatest shield.”

He nodded. “Yes, that’s the best move.”

The Directeur had always recognized that business itself was a war. He had fought many commercial battles and vanquished countless opponents. Now, with the faintest of smiles, he remembered capturing the Thonaris Shipyards from his shipping rival Celestial Transport.

Now Josef had sustained one massive defeat after another. Was he to blame? Was it due to his own hubris, his own extreme pride? His financial assets had been stolen by the Emperor, and Norma herself had blocked an easy victory at Salusa Secundus in a failed attempt to save the spice bank on Arrakis. Even so, Josef had agreed to do as the Emperor asked, destroying the Butlerian savages, only to lose even more in the process when the Imperial forces turned against him.

Now that he had time to reflect, Josef saw how he’d been the Emperor’s pawn. Roderick had cleverly pitted Venport Holdings against the Butlerians, letting them tear each other apart, which left House Corrino as the true victor. He needed only to finish off whatever remained after the battle of Lampadas.

Trying to look at the situation objectively—which was not at all easy under the circumstances—Josef could almost admire the man’s adept planning and execution. But this was not over, not yet.

Nevertheless, he still felt unsettling concerns, and his mind kept imagining ways that Roderick could still harm him. Denali was secure, hidden, and protected—but even so.…

“No one knows of this planet’s existence,” Josef said. “But we can’t be too confident. Admiral Harte has access to the wreckage of VenHold ships lost in Lampadas orbit. The Emperor’s experts could comb through them, scour the foldspace records, study the automated logs, our security measures.” He locked gazes with the Mentat. “Somewhere among all those clues, what if he discovers the location of Denali?”

Draigo remained silent as his sophisticated thought processes churned through the available data. “The Emperor does have Mentats of his own.” Finally, he nodded. “That is a valid concern, Directeur. We should prepare for the worst. It is short of a certainty, but the Emperor’s forces may still be coming.”

Uneasy, Josef issued orders for all personnel to repair his remaining ships, salvaging weapons systems, rebuilding Holtzman engines and shields. He had to get ready for his next move … as soon as he figured out what that would be.

* * *

THE DENALI SCIENTISTS were stunned to hear about the defeat of all the cymeks and the deaths of Ptolemy and Noffe. In an emergency meeting, Josef summoned his lead researchers so they could inventory the defenses available, should Denali be attacked. The Tlulaxa researchers, who had done such an excellent job growing a biological body for Erasmus, were pleased with the breakthroughs they had achieved over the years, but could offer nothing on a scale that might stand against an Imperial assault of the planet.

Josef assigned Draigo to manage the scientists and inventory the projects under way in the research domes. Except for a handful of patrol machines left behind, the cymek army had been destroyed, and the Directeur’s instructions were to focus only on the projects with the best destructive potential.

The Emperor might well be coming.

Denali’s recent efforts had been devoted to developing and building the Navigator cymeks—a brute-force army designed to combat the primitive Butlerians on Lampadas, not to fight a well-organized Imperial space fleet. Now, the research teams scrambled to find a way to protect this facility. On another occasion, Josef would have been glad to see them so motivated. This time, however, it was desperation, and he didn’t like the feeling.