Chapter 19
BARON VLADIMIR HARKONNEN
"The shields are down," remarked Pieter, and he smirked as he raised his hand.
"Then let the attack commence," and with his command, the end of House Atreides as they knew it began as ships began to descend one by one, taking to the Arrakeen skies as the assault on the city began.
He could see the progress of the attack from the various screens displayed right infront of him, and he saw panic and turmoil spread through the Atreides rank and file as their ships destroyed laid waste to their weapons giving them little time to regroup.
"Hahahaha," he laughed as he watched his men slaughter the Atreides men, and just as the Atreides regrouped the Saradukar joined the attack and broke them.
It was mayhem and the Atreides were being pushed back, their chain of command hampered by the explosions.
And then he felt his own frigate move as they entered teh Araakeen skies as well, hence completing their mobilization.
"It is time for me to leave now, Baron," Piter added as he gave him a bow.
"I want the Duke alive. Incapacitated but alive," he reminded his bloodthirsty, Spice-addicted Mentat.
"Only then you may claim the spoils as you wish. Do not disappoint me, Piter," he chided and his Mentat smiled cruelly.
"I will not fail you, my Baron," and with that, he left, leaving him alone with his servants to enjoy the doom of the Atreides.
They were putting up a fight, or at least trying to put up a fight, yet they were outnumbered and in disarray, and the less he said about the Saradukar's cruelty, the better.
Even looking at them slaughtering unit after unit of Atreides men as if they were but mad beasts made a shiver run down his spine, yet he laughed. Laughed as he saw the of Atreides drawing near with every passing second.
"AHahahaha," and then it happened.
BOOOM!
A massive explosion rocked the city behind him, and the lights of the room went off, as he fell down on the seat with a heavy thud.
"AGHH!" he grunted in pain, his legs too weak to carry his weight because of that damned Bene Gesserit curse.
"What is going on?" he questioned in a raspy tone as he pushed himself up.
The lights began to flicker on, and he felt his suspenser orb activate once more.
"I WANT ANSWERS!" he screamed, as a soldier entered the room and knelt
"My lord, whatever that was, it eradicated our primary generators. We are running on emergency power at the moment. We will have to make an emergency landing!" and he felt a shiver run down his spine.
This was not part of the plan.
What was going on.
Was this a doing of the Atreides? Had the Emperor betrayed them.
And then he saw one of the screens infront of him light up, making him frown as he found himself staring at an all too familiar figure.
"YOU!" he snarled in rage as a million thoughts ran through his head.
"Hello there, Baron!"
"KAZAABBB!"
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SHISHAKLI
The wind pushed back her hair, yet over the years she had learnt enough that for her to better use Inzal's little contraption it was better for her to keep her hair rather on the short side for better vision during their tyrists through the skies.
Though her short hair was doing her little good as she blurred through the city, pressurized gas guzzling from behind her in a neat stream as she followed the lead of Inzal, who tore through enemies as if cutting through butter.
His movements had been refined to perfection, his actions unhindered by the lack of light around them, for he did not need his eyes to see. Any enemies missed by him would soon enough fall to her blades as they sped through the city like demons, and the Atreides soldiers had been shocked at first, yet when they had continued to ignore them and attack only teh Harkonnen soldiers, they began to ignore them as they took this opportunity to regroup.
Explosions and screams filled the city as she tore through a couple of Harkonnen soldiers, her movements fast enough that no blood splattered on her clothes, as Inzal's voice rang out.
"There," he said as he pointed towards one of the top floors of the castle, and she immediately pulled on her hooks before redirecting, already knowing what this meant.
She did not miss how several Harkonnens soldiers were entering the keep through the massive hole in the wall, and she clicked her tongue hoping that they would not be too late.
Inzal seemed to have the same worries as herself as she felt him speed up, taking nearly a vertical path as he ran along the wall of the keep, right under the enemy soldiers who did not see him coming and were cut down in an instant as he jumped in the center of the group of three and spun around cutting their heads off.
"ARGH!" they screamed as their lifeless bodies were down, forcing her to avoid them as she whizzed past them and jumped into the castle itself.
There, she found Inzal standing over half a dozen enemy soldier corpses, his blade pinning two of them to the ground.
His eyes, though, were focused on the person standing infront of him, huffing and bleeding, grasping a dagger in one hand and glaring at Inzal.
"Hello there, cousin," Inzal spoke as he lowered his mask, and she saw the young ducal heir's eyes widen.
"You," he said, and it was only then she noticed the body of a person lying behind him, a person she immediately recognized to be the mother of the young duke as Inzal plucked out his blades and swung them to wipe off the blood from them.
WHIZZZ!
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INZAL KAZAB CORRINO
Inzal threw his blade behind him without a glance and felt the flicker of light he had felt earlier dissipate as the soldier tried to sneak behind himself, and Shishakli was killed in an instant.
"Huh," Shishakli's head whipped behind her, and she gasped as she saw the Harkonnen soldier behind her falling to his knees as Inzal pulled back his blade with a pull of his hand.
"Check her," he asked Shishakli. She walked past him and Paul, who eased up as he looked him in the eye.
"Cousin?" he confirmed, sounding a bit perplexed.
"Didn't Lady Jessica tell you?" he confirmed, sounding a bit hurt as he shook his head.
"We are related in more than one way," Inzal cleared up as he tapped the young Duke on the shoulder.
"She has been poisoned by a paralytic of sorts, but she is out of danger," Shishakli told him, much to his relief.
"Good," he said. Just then, the door opened as he had expected it to, and a familiar face, clad in full Atreides armor, walked in. He perked up immediately upon seeing Shishali and him, and seeing her close to Lady Jessica, he blurred towards her and swung his blade at her.
Yet Inzal was much faster and made to intercept, deflecting the punch so that Duncan Indaho found his sword embedded into the ground as Inzal blocked his punch.
"Calm down, Ser Duncan, I come in peace," he told him as he stared the most skilled warrior of the Atreides in the eye.
"Duncan!" Paul called out, and he felt the man ease up. Paul raised a hand.
"They are allies," he told the man whose eyes narrowed before he pulled himself back.
"My lord! We are under attack, the Harkonnens and the Saradukar are attacking and have somehow shut down all primary power..."
"Actually, that second part was our doing," Inzal cut in with a smile.
"That blast," Paul caught on as he took out teh broken EMP generator, he had given to Lady Jessica.
"You call yourself our allies, yet you sabotage us like that!" Duncan roared in rage.
"Ahh, but you see my dear knight, you are not the only one without power," Inzal elaborated as he stepped beyond the man, eyes perking up as he felt and heard men approach them.
"Paul, have the Atreides army move out of the city. My men are out there with ornithopters and other equipment ready to move you and your men to safety. Leave this city to me," he said as he glanced back at teh ducal heir, who had a conflicted look on his face.
"But this is our city...." he muttered as his fists balled up.
"...we cannot just abandon it...and I cannot make such a decision without my fathe..."
"Paul," he called out as he took out his blades.
"Trust me, if not for my actions, then for the fact that your mother did. I told you, didn't I? We are related in more than one way. That signal you used signaled the formation of an alliance between my people and House Atreides. I will not abandon you, your family, or your people," he assured the young ducal heir, who nodded after a second.
"But we need to find our father..."
"You do not need to worry about that," he said as the doors to the room slid open once more, and he found himself face to face with about a dozen Harkonnen soldiers, being led by a man he had sought to meet for a long time.
"You!" the man gasped, his thin, lean figure stilling as his gaze landed on him.
"Duke!" Duncan gasped as he saw the duke being carried by the Harkonnen soldiers, yet Inzal was not concerned with the Duke or the Harkonnen soldiers that had begun to surround him.
No, his gaze was locked onto the man infront of him. The man who was responsible for the death of Queen Anirul Corrino, his mother.
"Do you have any idea how long I have wished to meet you, Piter?" and his bloodlust must have seeped out, for he saw the Mentat still as he took out a pair of daggers from his belt and got into a stance.
"What are you doing here, Kazab? I thought we had no more quarrels!"
"Ohh, we have quite a quarrel, Piter de Vires. After all, you killed someone quite dear to me," Inzal said as he pushed up his mask.
"I have killed many a people. You will have to be more specific," he taunted.
"My mother..."Inzal answered sharply.
"...or as you would know her, the Queen Anirul Corrino."
He saw Duncan and Paul gasp at those words, and Piter de Vires' eyes widened in shock.
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Chapter 20
PITER D'VIRES
Kazab was an enemy unlike any faced by the Baron, and as his Mentat, it came to him to either dispose of or protect the Baron against such enemies. A task in which he had failed.
The Baron had suspected the infamous freedom fighter to be an agent of the Padishah Emperor, one set to discredit the House Atreides. He had wished to leverage that by denying the Emperor a chance to chastise the Atreides, trying to force his hand into a full blown attack.
Yet that did not mean. He did not wish the threat of the so-called freedom fighter neutralized, a task which had proven itself to be more difficult than they had imagined. The strange contraption used by him had allowed Kazab to fly through their cities at speeds unimaginable, and in the desert he walked into and through thick and heavy storms as if they meant nothing to him.
They had thought him to be a very well-trained Saradukar, one of the elites specifically trained for this mission.
Yet it seems they had been wrong.
"You lie," he replied coldly, even as he took out his daggers, his mind refusing to believe the wild statement of the enemy that had alluded him to this day.
"Ohh, but it is not Piter," he replied, and though, unlike the Bene Gesserit, Mentats had little affinity to probe out the truth, he was beginning to realize that his words might not be false.
And if they were true, then many things would come into question.
"Then why would your mother..." suddenly, it clicked as his eyes landed on Lady Jessica, and he wet his lips.
"Ohhh, so that is what it is," he realized that this probably had something to do with their rather secretive sisterhood, and he smiled as he imagined what the Baron would make out of this information.
"Truth or not, it seems I must deliver you the Baron alive," he replied as he spun his daggers in his hand and ordered the men to surround him.
"The future is about to become very exciting," he said as the men surrounded him and raised their guns.
"I thought you were going to take me alive," Kazab teased as he pulled up his mask. Finally, he realized that his eyes were not the deep green they had always thought them to be. No, they were blue, a bright blue. His hair was different as well, a striking silvery or whitish color that quite matched the colorings of the Royal House.
"I just need your mouth, I could easily make do with an absent limb or two," and with that his eyes tightened.
"Atta..." but before the words had truly left his mouth, he saw Inzal blur from his position and it was only through sheer instincts that he raised his dagger enough to block the blade coming for his neck.
CHINK!
Metal slides on metal as that damned Duncan Idaho slew two of the men, but he had little time to focus on him as he felt pain ripple through him and saw his other blade piercing his side.
He tried to cut his head, yet he lowered himself even as other soldiers descended upon him, and Piter reached for his sword, trying to pin him down. But he he saw him click and felt the weight behind his blade disappear as he jumped up.
"It is over, Piter," and with that, he suddenly spun as he came crashing down again. The heads of the other soldiers were cut clean off, and he felt a blade pierce through him as he felt his arms grow weak and limp.
"GUGHH!" he vomited out blood as his daggers fell to the ground, and his body fell to the ground as Kazab stood over him, looking down at him imperiously with those blue orbs of his.
"Do not worry, though," Kazab spoke as he heard the other soldiers die, and he felt the Baron's plan unravel in front of him.
"Your Baron shall be joining you soon enough," and with that, Kazab raised his foot and brought it down as Piter's vision became dark.
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INZAL KAZAB CORRINO
Inzal was not fond of letting himself become emotional. The constant abuse of his powers and the sheer amount of responsibility resting on his shoulders meant that he had to make cold, hard decisions at a moment's notice.
Yet as he stared at the crushed head of Piter de Vires, a small sense of elation and relief ran through him at having completed his revenge. His feelings about his mother were complicated. Anirul Corrino had done little for him, yet he could not deny that she and Lady Jessica were the reason he was alive to this day. Lackluster they may be, but their actions had given him a life.
And for that, he held a soft corner for them.
And so, years ago, when in a Spice trance, he had felt his mother's signature vanish from the galaxy, a pang of sadness rippled through him. Her own consciousness buried deep in the sea of consciousnesses in his mind had riled up at that, emerging as nothing more than a small whisper.
'I am sorry.'
And on that day, he vowed to exact his revenge, and now, it was half complete.
He took out a small transmitter probe from his pocket and let it fly as he turned toward the others in the room.
"Shishakli, you know what to do next," he ordered, and he nodded.
"I will be," and he could see Paul and Duncan looking at him with a thousand questions.
"You are the Emperor's son," Paul gasped out as he stepped back.
"I am," he answered. There was no need to lie anymore.
"How?" Duncan Idaho gasped out, surprised by the revelation," and his gaze landed on Lady Jessica's limp form as he felt the transmitter's signal connect with all receivers in the area.
"She will be able to answer all your questions. But you need to get you and your men out of here. I have my men waiting for you in the desert. Leave the city discreetly. Shishakli shall lead you," he ordered, and after some hesitation, the young ducal heir nodded.
Inzal saw the transmitter's light turn green, and he turned to face the camera and looked straight into it. Just like that, he closed his eyes as he sighed, and then, with the practise of years, pushed his powers to the limits as he felt the fruit of his labor over the past two years show.
Across Arrakis, thousands upon thousands of little pods rose into the skies. Pods that had been placed by him and Shishakli with painstaking effort would formulate the last part of his elaborate plan.
He felt them power up, as each pod began to connect with the other, and he saw a countdown begin to flash over his screen.
~60 seconds~
He could keep the Baron entertained for that long, and so fighting through the pain, he opened his eyes and smiled into the camera which was now transmitting to all screens on the Baron's big ship.
"Hello there, Baron." And he could feel the man's rage even with no screen.
"I believe it is time we had a little heart-to-heart after all. I have just kinda destroyed your plan of eradicating the Atreides." With that, the drone's camera moved as it focused on the bloody remains of the Harkonen soldiers around him before focusing on the most important body.
The body of his Mentat.
0000
BARON VLADIMIR HARKONNEN
The baron felt his whole plan collapse the moment he laid his eyes on the bloody remains of his Mentat, a mental tasked with recovering the body of the Duke.
He had made a miscalculation along the way at some point, a miscalculation that had cost him everything. This plan, one which he had spent years making was going up in smoke infront of his eyes.
He recognized the training room inside the castle.
And turned to one of his servants.
"Have a message sent to our men. Have them converge on the training room inside the castle. Kazab is there!" he ordered.
"Baron, the transmission.."
"MAKE IT HAPPEN!" he shouted as that damned Kazab continued.
"But do not worry so much, Baron. You will soon be joining your precious Mentat," Kazab continued, and for the first time, he noticed that his hair and eyes were different.
His eyes, as he had expected, were a bright blue, gleaming in the dark, though what was most striking was his hair. Even while covered with Harkonnen's blood, he could make out the silver looks drenched in caked blood.
"...Corrino..." he gasped out as he felt a shiver run down his spine. He felt that the man could stare at him and look at him through the camera.
"Get the ship in the sky!" he ordered.
"But Lord Baron the engines are down, we...."
"I said get it flying!" he screamed as he threw the food tray at the servant, and it cut into his head, and he fell down as blood burst from his head.
"GET IT FLYING!"
"And if you are thinking of getting away, then I am afraid we might have a little problem...." the man cut in, and Baron felt dread grasp his heart as he saw that man smile.
With that, he saw him click a finger and frowned, yet suddenly he heard an electric buzzing sound and looked out the window to his side as he saw a blue sphere form around up in the skies.
And he recognized it to be a shield. Yet from what he could see, it had ended as it continued to envelop the Arrakis skies.
"...because that is no longer an option." That damned cretin continued as Baron felt fear entrench him, as sweat dripped down his face.
"I am coming for you, Baron. I am coming..." With a small laugh, he disappeared from the screens, leaving behind a sweating and perplexed Baron.
0000
As the transmission shut down, Inzal felt his senses pick up all of the enemy forces converging toward his location. He stepped forward and looked at the swarm of enemies surrounding the building.
He put up his mask and cloak before reaching for a button on his computer.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Explosions once more rocked the city, this time destroying what little secondary power stations there were. Others basked the area around the building into a thick black smoke as screams of soldiers filled the air.
He closed his eyes as he stepped forward and let the gravity take his body.
"Let us end this!"
For in this darkness, where eyes were blind, he saw more than anyone else.
0000
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