Navigators of Dune

Snowflakes settled on the attentive Sisters. The Reverend Mothers and Sorceresses could ignore the cold and the wet, but some of the Acolytes struggled against their increasing discomfort. Valya had no sympathy for them; they would have to learn, or die.

“Your training will not be entirely mental and philosophical. I have developed new fighting techniques, which I’ve taught to many Sisters already. They will now train you. You will all be expected to master those skills.” We will never be weak again, she silently vowed, not individually nor collectively. Filled with determination, she remembered how they had been scattered from Rossak by Emperor Salvador and the antitechnology fanatics.

Sister Ullora, one of the Reverend Mothers recently recalled from the Imperial Court, brushed snow from her hood. “Considering the weather, Mother Superior, perhaps this is a day better spent inside with other forms of instruction? Politics? Economics? Memorizing the Azhar Book?” She frowned at the blowing snow. “Some of the Acolytes are suffering.”

Valya did not conceal her annoyance. Ullora had been far too loyal to Dorotea and had publicly disparaged Raquella and her “ragtag women” at the new school. Valya’s reply was withering. “Combat is neither a courtly dance nor a pleasant, springtime conversation.” She added just a hint of her new Voice control. “You will fight when I command it.”

Ullora flinched, paled, and seemed to shrivel physically. She looked down in shame. The rest of the women showed their faith in Valya. Yes, she had them well in hand. As Mother Superior, she had to be firm with them. “Training may be harsh, but the rewards are worth the effort. We in the Sisterhood are the elite of all women, together as one, closer than any other friendship or loyalty. As individuals, many of you are already deadly warriors. Side by side, we are even stronger.”

Several Sisters began to applaud, but Valya dismissed the distraction, wanting no empty cheers. An icy wind cut across the grassy area, and she saw Acolytes securing their robes tightly around their bodies, while others stood still and endured. Snow fell harder now.

“Our Sisters may be assigned to noble houses, but they remain loyal to us and gather intimate information which we can use. The greatest power is the unseen and unexpected power.” She heard a murmur of concurrence in the assemblage, saw heads nodding.

“Our focus shall also include powerful business interests, traders, philosophers. Our influence must spread to backwater planets, where we can use indoctrination and conversion methods. Passive or uneducated populations will be swayed most easily.”

Cold wind whistled through the voice-amplification system. From control decks, the huddled male technicians adjusted the electronics, so that her words remained powerful and clear.

“We will dispatch specialized Sisters as missionaries to such planets to plant seeds of superstition that can protect the future of the Sisterhood. Because beliefs among such people are often more powerful than knowledge, we will observe their fears and folktales and thus guide them so that they—unknowingly—begin to think and believe along lines that are useful to us.”

By now, with the heavy snow collecting on the ground, even the Reverend Mothers struggled not to shiver. It was a useful observation. In addition to the many regimes of intellectual and psychological study, each Sister should know how to control every nuance of her body, including her core temperature. Cold such as this should be no more than an inconvenience. Valya noted which ones seemed most able to endure the discomfort and decided to choose them as the women best suited for the challenging work on primitive worlds. They would be the first such missionaries.

All the pieces would fit together, wheels within wheels within wheels. Yes, the Sisters would become so much more than Raquella had ever imagined! The Sisterhood had been whipped too often, had served others too often. The new Mother Superior would insist that they be active, not passive. To outsiders, they would continue to look subservient and useful, but internally they would have their own powerful agenda. Valya’s agenda.

We will be invisible, but still strong. We will have the power, not the glory.

She would create a harsher, edgier Sisterhood of women willing to use any tool or weapon they possessed—mental skills, ruthless combat methods, even seduction and manipulation. And the Sisterhood would become an extension of her personal goals for House Harkonnen. As the order advanced, so too would her Great House … and the historical injustices committed against her family would be reversed.