1. Plans Within Plans

"It was nice to meet you, Fayl, but I have to go now."

Rook spots Sina and Marya heading for the door and does the same, keeping his eyes and ears open for threats.

Marcus returns to the limocar, still parked outside of the Parato. He makes his way up the steps, but stops upon seeing Sina and Marya exiting the place and Hural interrogating the mercenaries. He places a hand on the hilt of his sword, ready to draw it should the situation deteriorate.

Inside the Parato Parlor
The attack ceases as quickly as it began, and those inside are quickly either leaving out the back, or settling into their chairs. The hosts bring about free drinks to try and lure the custom to stay, and that convinces a few more.

Sina smiles at Marya, "I'm fortunate to have you. Come lead the way, I was expecting a courier with information about the-- about an interest of mine that I want to share. I'm looking for a man who carries a hilted dagger, the emblem of House Bakhtiar."

A looming bouncer approaches Hural the mercenaries at the front door, and takes in the mentat with the blade. "Any violence, and I'll feed you to a worm, got it?" His bluster is heartfelt, as if he has a chance against three armed men. "That one dead? He goes outside."

When Marya tells Sina about the mercenary with the blade she's looking for, she says to the merc, "You're with us," and leads him into the limocar. Hural doesn't believe that the mercenaries mean any harm for Sina Heslin. I'm fact, only the one pointed out seems to know who she is, the other merely backup.

The mercenary says to the other surviving one, "Get him back to the others. I'll catch up with you later. Spill water in my name for him, will you?"

Fayl says to Rook, "I'll be here!" as he stalks away.

A few minutes later, in the limocarSina sits between Marya and Marcus, with Hural, Rook and the mercenary sitting across. The man takes off his blade (still in it's sheathe and hands it across to Marcus. To Sina, he lowers his head and says, "Great lady, I am Isaac Fumor. I bring news from the White Ghost. The man you seek is Kendon Ordway. He is one of the few who know the way to the smuggler's den. He'll take a bribe, lady."

The limocar pulls into the street, making haste before the City Guard arrive. "Take us to my estate," Sina orders the driver kindly.

To the rest of you, she says, "I had not expected a simple courier to be attacked. What do we know of the attackers who chased Mr. Fumor?"

Rook knows that the White Ghost are part criminal gang, part mercenary band. They mostly take jobs from other sublegal outfits. They are usually found in a place called Sandstorm Cantina on the edge of the slums

Marcus relays what he has observed and deduced. "My lady, while the attackers were dressed as Fremen, they were not them. For one, even if they could afford them, Fremen would not use lasguns. It is not their way. Second, the attackers did not carry themselves like Fremen. They moved with a regular cadence as off-worlders do. Fremen are taught from birth to avoid a regular gait for it attracts the sandworms. These attackers were surely from a rival house."

"We'll drop you off after my colleagues ask you more questions."

The mercenary says, "I can offer that they looked like Fremen and attacked without warning just outside. I think they were waiting for me. I'll need to investigate how this could have been."

"A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct" thinks Marya to herself.

"And this feels like it may be a beginning to me..."

"Until I know more of Sina's plans and motives, I can only make rough guesses at what needs to be balanced here. For now I'm best off just watching and listening..."

And so Marya calmly sits back, trying to get a sense for Sina's intentions, and for dissonance between what people are saying and what their body language indicate they are thinking and feeling.

"Marcus speaks wisdom," Hural says. "These attackers were surely not Fremen, but they wanted us to think so, or otherwise wanted to blend in until their strike. This was calculated, Lady Sina."

She considers and then tells the mercenary, Isaac Fumor of the White Ghost, to stay connected with Rook. "Anything you need to tell me, you can tell my spymaster. Good work, Isaac, and I look forward to when you can join us full time. For now, you are most valuable where you are."

She passes him some solari, a fair bit it seems, and he leaves when they limocar stops at the side of the road.

When the car goes on, to the rest of you, she asks, "Come, each of you, your counsel. I have plans and it is time to stop playing the indolent rich girl. First, I still want to establish a market to rival Arrakeen's grand bazaar. This will involve more intrigue and outright warfare than any offworlder might otherwise imagine. It's a solid cover for my true goals and if I only achieve it, it will be a legacy worthy of the title granted to my family by Elrood IX.

But my true goal is to continue my mother's work. I want to corner the spice smuggling market. That of course, will be even more dangerous. I'll tell you why we need that much spice shortly, but I want your impressions on this afternoon's events. "

Marcus takes a breath before speaking about his impressions. "It would appear that Mr. Fumor has a spy in his organization, and that spy works for a house that doesn't wish you to succeed, my lady."

Rook allows the others to speak before he adds his own contribution to the conversation.

"My lady, the White Ghost is a criminal gang. They often hire themselves out for mercenary work, all of which is generally illegal. They can be found most of the time on the outskirts of the slums at a place called Sandstorm Cantina."

Hural looks off into the distance, calculating the odds of each possibility.

Sina listens to each of you and then says, "Keep all of that in mind. I will require your judgement. But first, a story." She retrieves a bottle of water from the limocar stores, a luxury to just have water when you want it, and gestures for the rest of you to help yourself. After gulping back a mouthful, she seals it and holds it with both hands.

"The emperor attempted to fabricate spice. Fearing the harsh reaction of the Guild and CHOAM for undermining the universe's economy, he did this in secret. Richese and under them my grandparents began secretive experiments. We extracted the essence of melange from spice, obtaining the rawest product we could from Richese spice harvesters. Until that great house lost it's way. Elrood IX handed Arakis to the Harknonnen as siridar fief, and elevated my family in exchange that we could continue to improve our processes and develop a synthetic alternative." She holds up a hand, as if forestalling any questions.

"No, Baron Harkonnen did not know our true purpose, only that we were researching refinement processes vital to the Empire. Our plans failed. The essense of melange is unreproducible. However, in the experiments, we have perfected the refinement of spice. We have not shared that with the siridar, but we do export a small quantity to Corrino for the royal families personal use. Without results, public results, the Harkonnen lose patience for our presence, and Shaddam IV can not support us indefinitely without results, at least not without risking the universe finding out about our experiments. He is complicit and would spend the rest of his existence in a pain amplifier."

She sips more water.

"House Heslin will refine and export large quantities of spice to the highest bidders across the universe. We will not grow so bold as to threaten Harkonnen profits, but we will carve out our own place aside from the emperor's shame. With this act, we will free ourselves and Shaddam from the shadow of Elrood's gambit, and elevate ourselves. I need you to assist me in making this happen."

"So, my Lady, it seems to me that we need to show results - just not those that belie the true successes of House Heslin. Anything short of that would lead to the withdrawal of support from the emperor, and a swallowing of our great House by the Harkonnens."

What Sina says here is not news for Marya. As one of Sina's close advisors, Marya has already been called on to give support, insight, and to help planning around these spice-mining and refining activities.

And during this, Marya could see the strength and depth of Sina's drive to elevate House Heslin - and her intention to leverage their spice-related activities to do this. However, Marya is still somewhat surprised by the huge scope of Sina's vision for this promotion of her House.

"With this vision, if you are able to make this happen, my Lady, we may see House Heslin elevated up to the status of House Major. And I am sure we all recognise that such a path is not free of significant obstacles.

We will need to either conceal our project from House Harkonnen, or find some way to coerce them to allow us to carry it out despite their knowledge of it.

We will need a larger base of operations - somewhere to store the mining vehicles, machinery, the processing plants needed to deliver on the increased output. And this will require careful concealment from many competing and opposing interests - not least the Spacing Guild.

And we will need to find a way of working alongside, or taking over, the work of existing small-time smuggling operations here on Arrakis. As part of that, building relations with the Fremen - who we know to be involved in smuggling activities - can be important.

I'm sure there are many other pieces at play in this game - but these are the first that catch my attention.

Starting to take over control and influence of existing mining operations seems like one of the important first steps to me."