Piranha mites



Pirahna mites were an invention of Omnius he devised during the siege of Corrin.

He sent missiles containing "dumb" programming (not depended on gelcircuitry) so they would pass through the scrambler field satellite network. The missiles landed on Rossak and Salusa Secundus.

The missiles were pre-programmed to assemble a temporary ever-expanding construction facility along with hovering artificial insects, the mites. These were pre-programmed to attack any human form, and gather metal resources so that they would meet the construction sites' needs. No soldier or weapon could approach them. Thousands died on Salusa Secundus, and eight such stations were constructed.

On Rossak, children and men crowded into safe chambers. Ticia Cenva and her companions, with Norma Cenva, managed to withstand the attack. They raised crackling winds with their minds, sending forth small blasts of telekinetic power like a mental hurricane. Clusters of the mechanical mites were scattered, then pulverized in the air. Then, joining their efforts together, the Sorceresses blasted the factory cylinder itself, imploding its mechanisms into a thick lump.

In Zimia, Abulurd Harkonnen was the first to notice that the mites had purely optical target recognition, as well as that the mites assimilate metallic objects for their factories, never organic.

Along with Supreme Bashar Vorian Atreides, they devised a plan, to approach one of the sites disguised as shapeless lumps, covered with organic tents, carrying plasma howitzers with caustic liquids assisted with suspensors.

When they approached, they flushed caustic liquid, spraying a stream of corrosive chemicals. The whipping flames and oozing acid caused immediate damage to the manufacturing devices: metals melted, circuitry and fabrication components corroded and broke. Abulurd directed the stream into the yawning gullet of the fabrication chute. Within moments, the mobile factory groaned and collapsed in on itself, a fuming cauldron of oozing, melting materials.

When the power sources were down, the piranha mites fell down useless in a few hours. Vorian promoted Abulurd to full rank of bashar, fourth grade.

Appearances

 * Dune: The Battle of Corrin