Chapter 29 (Just repeating a statement often)

Venport Holdings gifts advanced diagnostic equipment to the Suk hospital on Parmentier, which the Suks accept without probing its forbidden complexity. Departing, Josef Venport visits his great-grandmother Norma Cenva on the Navigator deck and proudly reports acquiring Nalgan Shipping through intermediaries, adding a hundred ships to his fleet and enabling him to reroute service away from Butlerian worlds.

Norma warns that more Navigators will be needed and obliquely references a future Spacing Guild before refocusing her prescience and executing a foldspace transition. Josef vows to defeat the Butlerians and predicts Manford Torondo will require new scapegoats to maintain control, while Norma cautions her visions lack detail and reiterates the dire stakes if fanaticism prevails.

Josef plans to refit the new Nalgan vessels with armaments on Kolhar but first travels to Salusa Secundus to address the Landsraad. Assessing the fragmented assembly and relying on dossiers compiled by his Mentats, he decries fanaticism and announces the Nalgan acquisition, the cessation of routes to pledge worlds, and an exclusive alliance with Combined Mercantiles making VenHold the sole distributor of Arrakis melange.

As outrage erupts, Emperor Salvador objects, but Josef counters by offering free transport to the Corrino family while insisting he will not support enemies who destroyed his Thonaris shipyard, attempted to assassinate him, and fueled the deadly Zimia riots. With Roderick Corrino grieving and Reverend Mother Dorotea whispering counsels, Salvador hesitates.

Pressing his advantage, Josef urges the Emperor to command Manford to halt incitement and make reparations, framing VenHold’s embargo as justified self-defense. Observing Salvador’s weakness, Josef privately questions the Emperor’s relevance, signaling his readiness to escalate beyond polite politics in the escalating struggle over the Imperium’s future.