Navigators of Dune

The commander of the color guard separated from the rest of the troops and stepped in front of the Emperor, maintaining a long salute, while the two flag bearers spun their scarlet-and-gold Corrino banners. The battered Butlerian survivors looked on without enthusiasm. The air reeked of smoke, dust, and blood.

Roderick returned the salute with a brief, concise motion, as did Admiral Harte. When the color guard performance was concluded, the Admiral led him into the devastated city. Imperial soldiers helped the survivors put out the last few fires and spray down the powdery toxic residue from the poison clouds spewed by cymek walkers.

The main effort was to gather and bury the bodies, for the corpses outnumbered the living by a wide margin. The wrecked cymeks were motionless, giant mechanical monsters defeated by the sheer force and fanaticism of countless martyrs.

The Emperor felt a chill go down his back as he grasped just how many Butlerians had given their lives here. His momentary sympathy for the victims was tempered by the realization of how much unbridled power the movement had wielded. These people had killed Nantha, and had used atomics, despite the strict prohibitions in the Imperium. Manford surely would have turned against him before long.

Yes, it was good they were defeated.

The Emperor and the Admiral reached the site where the Butlerian leader had died, and the smashed cymek walker that had killed him now looked like a slain dragon. The surviving fanatics had been building a haphazard shrine from the rubble, but without guidance. Roderick could sense their despair, but also their remaining fervor, which made him uneasy.

Manford had always talked about the power of a martyr, and if at all possible the Emperor had no intention of letting the man become one. What was next, yet another statue erected next to Nantha’s? He vowed to quench this spark before it became a flame, to ensure that the Butlerians remained broken.

Dirt- and soot-smeared, Anari Idaho moved away from the growing cairn of rubble being laid at the shrine site. The Imperial soldiers demanded that she surrender her sword in the presence of the Emperor, but she stiffened, obviously insulted. “I am a Swordmaster of Ginaz. I have never relinquished my weapon before, not even in the Imperial presence.”

“But you will today,” Admiral Harte insisted.

After a long, grudging standoff, she handed her sword to an Imperial soldier, then faced Roderick proudly, as if she were his equal. “Sire, after such a tragedy, our followers are pleased that you have come to commemorate the fall of our blessed leader. Manford faced the demons that haunt all of us, and in the end his noble fight destroyed him. But not his memory.”

Roderick frowned at her statement and attitude. “Manford died, as did a great many here on Lampadas, and my next priority is to mete out justice against Directeur Venport.” Upon her look of satisfaction, he continued in a much more stern voice, “But I did not come here to mark the death of Leader Torondo. I came to impose order and to accept the formal disbanding of your movement.”

Anari rocked back at the unexpected response. Anger flashed in her eyes. “Surrender, Sire? But we have always fought on your side—on the side of humanity.”

“The Butlerians changed that when they used forbidden atomics to destroy Kolhar. That alone carries a sentence of death under Imperial law. Manford is no longer alive to face the war crimes tribunal I intend to hold on Salusa Secundus, but his followers have committed many crimes against humanity.”

Anari trembled with rage, and the Imperial soldiers tensed, ready to shoot down the Swordmaster if she made a move against him. “Crimes against humanity, Sire? Our every action was for the welfare of humanity, to save the human soul from the temptation of thinking machines.”

“And for the sake of humanity, we must strengthen the Imperium. Because these people have suffered so severely, I will forego the need for a formal surrender ceremony from you, but know this: I will never allow the Butlerians to become an unruly mob again. The last of you will remain here on Lampadas, and will be watched closely.”

Roderick gestured to Admiral Harte, and they continued the inspection, leaving Anari behind at a makeshift shrine the Emperor would order destroyed, and then find a way to keep people from restoring it.

Swordmasters had always been honorable, and Anari Idaho had been flawlessly loyal to her master. Perhaps Roderick should send her off to Ginaz, where she could continue to serve, but cause no further trouble.

The Butlerian capital was a wasteland, and Roderick could only imagine the fierce battle that had occurred here. He shuddered to think of the power of that mob. The growing shrine around Manford’s death site made him uneasy, and he would take action to stop it quickly.