After assessing the reconnaissance information obtained by Hiih Resser’s scoutship, the joint Harkonnen-Moritani assault force descended into the skies of Caladan. Beast Rabban was surrounded by firepower, but he still felt nervous.

He flew his own ship at the vanguard of the cobbled-together fleet, ostensibly leading the charge, though he wisely hung close to the heavy assault vessel piloted by the Grumman Swordmaster, Resser. Viscount Moritani commanded the foremost troop carrier, ready to secure Caladan from the ground, terrorize the villagers, and lock down control of the Atreides cities. They intended to stop Duke Leto from ever setting foot on the planet again.

As he flew down through the clouds, ready for the adrenaline rush of destruction, Rabban wondered how House Harkonnen and House Moritani would divide the spoils of this conquest for “joint occupation.” His barrel stomach twisted with a knot of queasiness. The Baron would have demanded the lion’s share of benefits from this operation.

Rabban grasped the controls of his attack ship with sweaty fingers, remembering when he had secretly fired upon the two Tleilaxu transports within a Heighliner hold, attempting a too-subtle blow against the untrained young Duke Leto Atreides. Personally, Rabban preferred to be more overt than that.

If Caladan was truly as exposed as Resser’s scoutship suggested, then this whole operation would be over within an hour. The Harkonnen heir couldn’t believe Duke Atreides would have made such an error in judgment, even for only a few days. But his uncle had often said that a good leader must constantly remain on the lookout for mistakes and be prepared to exploit them at a moment’s notice.

The attackers would take control of the Castle and city as well as the spaceport and adjacent military base. By maintaining their hold on a few key places, the Grumman-Harkonnen forces could quickly secure their conquest and then prepare to ambush any Atreides forces returning home. In addition, Giedi Prime and Grumman were prepared to send full-scale reinforcements, once this preliminary operation was completed.

But Rabban worried about long-term political repercussions: a Landsraad protest by Duke Leto might be followed by joint military operations and/or sanctions and embargoes. It could be a dicey situation, and Rabban hoped he hadn’t made another bad decision.

En route, before they had launched their forces, Hundro Moritani had sat on the command bridge of his troop carrier, dismissing the concerns. “The Duke doesn’t even have an heir. If our position here is secure, who other than the Atreides would risk challenging us? Who would bother?” Rabban detected the ragged edge of madness in the Viscount’s tone, and in the fiery glimmer behind his eyes.

Swordmaster Resser broke in over the comchannel, “All ships are prepared to proceed with the attack. It is your lead, Lord Rabban.”

Drawing a deep breath of the cockpit’s reprocessed air, Rabban dropped through the blanket of mist. The ships followed him like a stampede of deadly animals, ready to trample anything that got in their way.

“We have the coordinates for Cala City,” Resser said. “It should be appearing in front of us momentarily.”

“Damn this cloud cover.” Rabban leaned forward to squint through the cockpit window. When the obscuring mist finally cleared, he could see the bay and the ocean, the rocky cliffs holding tall Castle Caladan… and the large city, spaceport, and military base beyond.

Then cries of surprise and confusion erupted across the comchannels. Below, in the ocean surrounding Cala City, Rabban saw dozens— no, hundreds!— of battleships on the water, and floating defensive platforms that moved across the waves in a mobile fortress. “It’s a gigantic fleet!”

“Those ships were not there yesterday,” Swordmaster Resser said. “They must have been moved in overnight to defend the Castle.”

“But on the water?” The Viscount could not believe what he was seeing. “Why would Leto disperse such important firepower on the water? That hasn’t been done for… centuries.”

“This is a trap!” Rabban cried.

Just then, Thufir Hawat called in every single warship that had accompanied his escort of relief carriers to Beakkal. The armed air-and-space vessels zoomed over the Castle parapets, then split up and circled around, performing aerial maneuvers in an intimidating show of strength. Dozens of hangar doors in the military base slowly opened, implying that many more attack craft had not yet been launched.

“Leto Atreides lured us here!” Rabban pounded the control panel. “He wants to crush us and subject our Houses to Landsraad punishment.”

Cursing the Viscount for talking him into this ill-advised assault, Rabban yanked his controls and sent his vanguard vessel streaking back into the clouds. Over the comchannel he gave orders for all Harkonnen vessels to break off the attack. “Retreat. Now— before our ships are identified.”

From his command bridge, Viscount Moritani shouted orders that the Grumman soldiers should strike anyway. But in the lead, Hiih Resser concurred with Rabban. Choosing not to hear the orders of the Viscount, he issued instructions for his ships to pull out and rendezvous in orbit.

Below, the floating fortresses on the water and the highly maneuverable battleships began to raise big guns toward the targets in the sky. It seemed obvious that alarms had been sounded, that the defensive forces were ready to retaliate.

Rabban flew faster, praying that he could get out of this situation before he caused further humiliation and damage to House Harkonnen. The last time he had made such a mistake, the Baron had exiled him to miserable Lankiveil for a full year. He didn’t want to imagine what his punishment would be this time.

The fleet would reconvene on the dark side of the planet and then head out of the system, hoping that they could meet with the next inbound Heighliner. Rabban knew that was the only way he could save his own skin.

Standing out on the rocky point by the lighthouse statues, Thufir Hawat directed the maneuvers from a portable comconsole. He instructed his few airships to make another aggressive overflight for good measure. But the disguised attackers were already on the run, surprised and embarrassed.

He wondered who they were. None of the enemy ships had been hit, so no wreckage had been left behind. It would have been preferable to defeat them in a military engagement and take evidence, but he had done everything possible under nearly impossible circumstances.

From history, Thufir knew this tactic had been used during the Butlerian Jihad and before. Such a trick could not be used often— perhaps not again in the near future— but it had served its purpose for now.

He looked up at the clouds and watched the last of the would-be invaders disappear. They probably assumed Atreides forces intended to pursue them, but the Mentat didn’t dare leave Caladan undefended again….

The next day, after receiving confirmation that the intruders had boarded a Heighliner and left the system for good, Thufir Hawat called in the scattered fishing boats in the waters around the Castle. He thanked the captains for their service and instructed them to return all hologenerators to the Atreides armories, before resuming their fishing runs.