Immense bulbous shapes towered around Norma Cenva, a veritable city of her imagination coming to life as the spacefolders were modified or constructed from scratch. Infused with a massive military work force, substantial League funding, and a new sense of urgency from the rejuvenated Jihad, work at the Kolhar shipyards proceeded at a breathtaking pace. Norma’s dream was becoming a reality.

The shipyards stretched for more than a thousand kilometers in each direction, a bustling manufacturing facility laid out on a colossal grid that covered the once-marshy plains of Kolhar. Work areas were connected by high-speed suspensor trams, with white capsules speeding along unseen tracks.

Even so, Norma had never felt so lost and empty. She stood beside her intense, eight-year-old son Adrien in the shadow of one of the colossal vessels, with tears streaming down her lovely face. The Jihad officer waited uncomfortably in front of her, grim from the news he had brought.

I saw this in my vision. I knew I would never see Aurelius again.

Norma needed to set her personal concerns aside now. It was much too late to regret how little time she had actually spent with her husband, and how many years she had lost of her own life due to the war. She had a great deal of work to do, trying to solve the dangerous navigation problems. Otherwise, many jihad is and mercenaries would die.

I must make my other, grand vision come true as well.

So far, thirty-seven military spacecraft had been retrofitted or built from scratch. Another fifty-three were under construction and would soon be finished. The towering frameworks, in various stages of completion, were black, draped with gold-and-silver League banners. A jungle of suspensor scaffolds and work barges floated in the air around each ship.

Even though they had commandeered the entire fleet of VenKee space-folders, Jihad military authorities were still allowing VenKee Enterprises to ship considerable amounts of merchandise on a standby basis. Luckily, there had been no devastating accidents so far, but it was only a matter of time.

Those successful cargo runs had been going on for months now, keeping the VenKee cash flow going… and also allowing shipments of melange to continue to the many nobles who had become dependent on their daily spice. Because Parliamentary representatives demanded increased supplies of melange, it was possible that the Army of the Jihad would allow VenKee to keep a few space-folding ships to serve them, based on the “urgent needs” of the League. In the meantime, Norma had also dispatched dozens of standard slow-speed commercial vessels to continue the flow of necessary materials.

Thanks to the concessions that Aurelius had negotiated, VenKee Enterprises would survive. Perhaps even thrive eventually. But their luck had to hold….

Norma wiped her tears away, but more replaced them. It was such a human reaction. She was accustomed to burying herself in her work, which enabled her to escape the mundane interactions and petty conflicts of personal relationships, business, and politics. Now though her copious mind could envision journeys across a folded universe, she could not escape a terrible personal reality.

“A League investigation team gathered evidence at the asteroid impact site on Ginaz,” the officer said, his voice filled with sadness. Norma did not even know his name. “Tens of thousands are dead in the archipelago, many of them talented mercenaries. I don’t expect we will ever learn precisely what took place.”

Norma had no doubt of the veracity of the news. A cool wind from the plains blew the officer’s dark hair over his forehead, almost into his eyes. He cleared his throat. “We’ve found some evidence of a concerted cymek attack in the asteroid field. Your husband and your mother were scheduled to be in the vicinity.”

“I already know what happened to them,” Norma said. “I saw it in a… prescient vision. I believe you will find it fits with the evidence you have.” She explained what she had witnessed after her heavy spice consumption.

Fighting back her emotions, Norma shook her head at the terrible waste. Two incredibly talented people were gone. Adrien was just old enough to understand. In silence, the boy stood close to his mother.

Gazing at her son, Norma saw a thinner, younger version of Aurelius, immersed in an ocean of grief. She set her jaw. “We must work even harder now. You and I, Adrien, are the ones who will maintain your father’s legacy.”

“I know, Mother. The big ships.” The boy drew closer and reached up to put his arm around her waist. He had the potential to be as brilliant as she was, and as capable with business matters as his father.

Norma nodded. “We will form a powerful trading company to use those ships. We must think of the future.”