Zufa Cenva chose her most talented student to be Rossak’s first weapon against the cymeks on Giedi Prime. Strong and dedicated, the Sorceress Heoma appeared more than ready to answer the call.
From her cliff city on Rossak, Zufa coordinated the operation with the League Armada. The chief Sorceress bit her lower lip and blinked stinging tears of pride from her eyes.
Serena Butler’s unexpected and ill-advised mission provided the necessary impetus to galvanize the Armada into an offensive. Amidst the arguing and saber-rattling, Xavier Harkonnen had put forth a well-integrated operational plan for the attack. Then he had convinced his commanding officer to let him spearhead the strike. Now, high over Rossak, the battle group of ballista battleships and javelin destroyers was ready to depart from the orbital stations.
The initial retaliation against the machine invaders must be a dramatic and complete victory, much more than a localized fight. Each planet affected the others, like the links of a chain. Tercero Harkonnen would lead an Armada battle group, carrying Tio Holtzman’s brand new field-portable scramblers to knock out key robotic installations.
A Sorceress, though, must deal with the cymeks, whose human brains would be unaffected by the scrambler pulse. Eager for the opportunity, Heoma had accepted her role without hesitation.
She was a lean young woman, twenty-three years old, with ivory-white hair, almond eyes, and a plain-featured face that belied the strength and turmoil within her powerful mind. But Zufa knew more than just this woman’s mental skills; she knew Heoma as a dear person, a daughter like she wished she’d had herself. Heoma was the eldest of five sisters; three of the others had already been indoctrinated as Sorceress trainees.
Zufa stood before her top protégé and placed her hands on Heoma’s bony shoulders. “You understand how much rides on this. I know you will not disappoint me, or humanity.”
“I will achieve everything you expect of me,” Heoma promised. “Perhaps even more.”
Zufa’s heart swelled. As the straight-backed Heoma boarded the shuttle, the chief Sorceress called after her, “You won’t be alone. We all ride on your wings.”
During the final preparations, with stern words and a hard expression, Zufa had spoken to the strongest Rossak men, chastising them for their inability to play a useful part in the crucial fight. Simply because they were impotent telepathically did not preclude their participation in other ways. The assault on Giedi Prime needed their help as well. With her flinty gaze, the statuesque Sorceress had shamed six of them into accompanying Heoma as bodyguards.
The Rossak men brought their personal supplies of stimulants and mind-numbing painkillers, provided by Aurelius Venport. They had undergone rigorous weapons training and learned powerful hand-to-hand combat techniques. When the time came, they would become fanatic warriors, charging into battle with no concern for their own survival, with no goal but to enable the Sorceress weapon to get close enough to the cymeks. Venport had prepared the drugs carefully, creating a cocktail that would keep the men functional through the worst horrors.
As she watched the shuttle ascend in a silvery arc to the waiting javelins and ballistas, Zufa’s thoughts were in turmoil, full of regret and anticipation. She tried to wall those emotions behind a shield of confidence and a vow of duty.
Aurelius Venport came to stand silently beside her, as if he too was at a loss for words. The man was perceptive enough to pick up on Zufa’s sadness at seeing her prize student depart. “It’ll be all right.”
“No it won’t. But she will succeed.”
Venport looked at her with a warm understanding that penetrated Zufa’s prickly demeanor. “I know you wish you could have been the first weapon yourself, my dear. Heoma is certainly talented, but you are unquestionably more skilled than anyone. Just remember that you’re still recovering from your miscarriage, and that weakness might have jeopardized the mission.”
“And I am bound by the higher responsibility of training others.” Zufa watched the shuttle disappear into the thin clouds. “I have no choice but to remain here and do what I can.”
“Funny. I was thinking the same thing about my own work.”
Recalling the gullible male bodyguards, the Sorceress studied her mate with undisguised scorn. His patrician eyes were incisive, clear of corrupting drugs, but his independent attitude grated on her. “Why did you not volunteer to join the operation, Aurelius? Or is it not in you to do something selfless, beyond your perception of yourself?”
“I am a patriot in my own way.” Venport returned her expression with a wry smile. “But I never expect you to see it.”
She had no response for that, and the two of them continued to stare blankly at the sky long after the shuttle had reached the stations in orbit.