THE LARGEST ENTERTAINMENT hall in town had a crowded bar adjacent to an elegant restaurant, from which patrons could watch the gaming floor through large plaz windows. Vor took a seat where he had a view of people arriving, while Willem went off in a dark mood to join his date.
Vor positioned himself where he could watch the entrances, and perked up when his estranged family arrived, his two sons and their spouses, his grandchildren. All of them were strangers to him. He made no move to reveal himself and join them, just sat in wistful, longing isolation, hoping distance and his beard would conceal who he was.
He sipped a glass of local white wine, watched them laughing and talking, celebrating Clar’s birthday. He tried to read their lips, imagine their conversations. Not that much time had passed since he’d last seen Clar, who was tall and had the hawklike Atreides nose, while Oren looked more like their mother, Mariella. Vor let out a silent sigh.
No one took notice of the quiet stranger at the bar, absorbed in his drink. Vor noted several small children he hadn’t seen before — including a pair of baby girls. He wanted to swing them around in the air and make them laugh, wanted to hug his grown children … wanted life to be normal again, even ordinary.
After a long moment, he looked away and wiped his eyes. Out on the gaming floor, he saw Willem and the pretty brunette playing a battle game with chips and dice, with two armies lined up against each other on a large table. The young man and his date were laughing, but Vor could tell that he remained wary and vigilant, glancing around every few seconds.
Vor watched his family for another half hour before slipping out a side door and walking back to the ranch alone, letting Willem have the time he wanted.
Tomorrow, they would be off to avenge Orry.
16
For centuries, the Venports have seen and seized opportunities. We built large spacecraft — first for military purposes, then for commercial transport. We developed shields and foldspace engines. We commercialized the spice industry.
After all we have accomplished and all the adversity we’ve overcome, I have no interest in hearing your complaints about the inconveniences of this desert environment.
Kolhar might have been a fortress, but while Josef was preoccupied with defending his headquarters, Arrakis had degenerated into a lawless, dangerous world where various parties fought to control spice production and distribution. The turmoil was causing him to lose business here daily, and that angered him.
He would have to direct more battle-ready ships to Arrakis to ensure that the spice operations did not slip out of VenHold control. The Venport family had spent a great deal of time, money, and blood here, turning the desert world into a highly lucrative holding. Melange came from this world … spice … and only from here. He did not intend to let Imperial interlopers and black-market parasites take it from him.
Norma Cenva navigated the vessel through foldspace to Arrakis and arrived flawlessly in close orbit around the planet. A disarray of unmarked trading ships cluttered the orbital lanes: blockade runners and smugglers who seized loads of melange, fled on uncharted paths, and then delivered the contraband spice to hungry customer planets because VenHold’s own operations had been disrupted.
Emperor Salvador had also placed Imperial troops here in an inept and unsuccessful attempt to take over the planet; a substantial force remained on Arrakis, establishing their own contract spice operations, but those ships, soldiers, and workers were outnumbered, more of a nuisance than a threat. They had the Emperor’s authorization, but not the might to back it up.
The new Emperor had kept his troops in place on Arrakis, but he had neither the additional fleet nor reliable foldspace carriers to impose real control. A handful of Imperial guardian ships remained behind to maintain order as best they could, but the small force could not govern an entire unruly planet. If Josef hadn’t diverted so much of his fleet to defend Kolhar, he could have wiped them out entirely.
Nevertheless, Josef’s Combined Mercantiles operations on Arrakis were more than enough to thwart the Imperial troops stationed there, and his people were holding their own. There had been skirmishes in the desert against Imperial patrols, flash point struggles that had not erupted into outright war, because neither side dared allow that to happen.
Eventually, Josef would have to expend the effort to oust them, or else consolidate their resources under his own VenHold operations. That would likely provoke Roderick even more, but Josef couldn’t ignore what was happening here.
He scowled as he saw the surprising number of ships in orbit. With Venport Holdings declared an outlaw company, these parasites were stealing spice—his spice! How much influence and profit was he losing for each day that this nonsense continued?
Although his own small spacefolder had formidable VenHold weapons, it was still only one ship, and he could not single-handedly chase off all these interlopers, much less the Imperial forces. Not today.
“I can at least make a point, though,” he muttered.
When he noticed two small smuggler ships racing away, Josef activated his weapons systems and opened fire without warning. One vessel exploded on the first blast, and the second took evasive action, but Josef shot it out of space as well, leaving a cloud of debris. Satisfied, he nodded to Norma in her tank. “Let the rest of them see that.” Already some of the other small traders in orbit were scattering, but he had no doubt they would sneak back before long.
Emerging from the other side of the desert planet, two Imperial warships approached, attracted by the weapons fire. Although Josef guessed that he outgunned those large ships as well, he suspected it would be a close fight. Not today. Instead, he told Norma to evade them, and they raced over to the night side of Arrakis, where his personal shuttle could drop out of the hold. He had business to do at the headquarters of Combined Mercantiles. Norma would eventually join him, but she could transport herself by folding space with her mind.
As his initial move, Josef intended to create a large spice stockpile, which would provide stability in the melange markets, and then he could devote his efforts to mopping up these operations and chasing away the Imperial interlopers. Maybe that would be the leverage he needed to reach some sort of peace with Roderick Corrino. Restored spice trade would be best for the Imperium, by far.
But if the new Emperor proved to be intractable, Josef might have to take the throne himself, however reluctantly. That was by far the least desirable solution, though. If he seized the Imperial rulership, that would, no doubt, cause countless headaches and bring him very few genuine rewards. Still, “Emperor Josef Venport” had a nice ring to it.…
Flying his shuttle down to Arrakis City, he had to remain alert for local traffic that flew in unregulated patterns. No one gave him guidance for landing in the spaceport, so he chose his own spot and set down without incident. When he disembarked, his first breath of the bitterly arid air scoured his throat and lungs.
Because water was so extraordinarily expensive on this planet, locals fitted themselves with desert survival suits and moisture-reclamation units, but Josef hated those things and refused to wear one. He was not flaunting his wealth and power — he just disliked the inconvenience.
As he made his way to the Combined Mercantiles headquarters he studied the city with its insulated shops, moisture-sealed doors, window coverings to shade from the raging sun. Ragged, dust-covered people moved through the streets with their heads down. Arrakis City had degenerated substantially since his last time here. That would have to change. So many things to take care of once he secured his operations.…