Dune: The Machine Crusade (99 page)

186 More Jipol purges across the League. People become more paranoid about finding machine spies in their midst. Serena Butler gives passionate speeches from her protective isolation in the City of Introspection.

185 Xavier Harkonnen and Vorian Atreides both promoted to rank of Primero in the Army of the Jihad.

184 Thinking machines begin to target Unallied Planets, seeing them as easier conquests. No Jihad forces are there to stop them, and the small populations are insufficient to resist Omnius. Three Unallied Planets are conquered, used as bases of operations for the expansion of the Synchronized Worlds.

182 While Norma Cenva continues to be obsessed with her foldspace equations and works alone, Savant Tio Holtzman hires many more young and eager assistants in order to tap them for ideas; they are thrilled with the opportunity to work with the great scientist.

181 Two more Unallied Planets— Tyndall and Bellos— fall to machine domination. Each world has a very small population of traders, miners, and farmers, and the Jihad Council is unable to understand why Omnius would bother with such places. Then Primero Atreides sees the pattern, that each of these planets is being used as an anchor point, surrounding the League Worlds like a net, drawing closer for a full-fledged coordinated attack.

179 With the support of Xavier Harkonnen, Vorian Atreides proposes that the Army of the Jihad must devote its resources and military strength to defending the Unallied Planets as well as League Worlds. At first the Jihad Council resists this, but Primero Atreides shows tactical projections of how Omnius is moving, the pattern by which he is taking strategic star systems on the fringe. The thinking machines will have bases from which they can launch massive strikes against Salusa Secundus and other key League Worlds. Iblis Ginjo sees the proposal as a chance to expand League territory.

178 Unallied World of Tyndall, recently captured by Omnius, is freed by a massive and unexpected Jihad counterstrike. The coordinated battle is led by both Primeros Atreides and Harkonnen. Vergyl Tantor distinguishes himself in battle and receives two medals, which he sends home to his wife and three children.

177 Omnius forces are detected on the Unallied World of IV Anbus, the likely next conquest in the overall entrapment plan. The Army of the Jihad dispatches a large force to defend the primarily Zenshiite planet.