章 11: Chapter 6b-The Noose Tightens!
Chapter 6b
~At the beginning of Dune 1~
DUKE LETO ATREDIES-The Duke of Arrakis
House Atredies had officially completed its move from Caladan to Arrakis as the last of the ships landed on the desert planet, signaling a new beginning for the House of Atriedes.
Caldan had been home to their house for twenty-six generations, yet no longer would the House of Atreides call the planet his home. Now, this desert wasteland was their home, and Leto already missed the air of Caladan.
Arrakis was a challenging planet, its environment unsuitable for life, with its sweltering air and frequent storms.
Of the two settlements they had chosen to settle down on Arrakeen, the city was evaluated to be a better fortress defensibly by Hwatt, though it was less luxurious and comfortable than the settlement of Cartagar on the other side, where Harkonnen's had once lived.
House Atreides and its men worked quickly to secure the settlement so they could continue with spice production, an endeavour extremely vital to their survival. The revenue of many Houses of the Imperium depended on the CHOAM company profits, which were highly linked to Spice production.
House Atreides's survival depended heavily on the support of these Houses, whose support he intended to use after thwarting the Harkonen attempt as he would take the case to the Landsraad Council.
"So, have you made any sense of Idaho's message?" he questioned as he found himself sitting alone with his war master, Gurney Halleck once more.
The burley man nodded.
"I thought much about it, scouring all the records and rumors, and I believe I have an idea of whom the message was from," Gurney replied as he opened a holographic screen and a video file.
"I was able to retrieve this clip after scavenging through the Harkonen security drives," he began as he played the video.
It was from a camera in the city, and he watched as a Harkonen guard unit made their rounds of the city, but it suddenly happened.
It all began with a simple explosion, basking the area in the smoke.
And then a figure blurred through the dust cloud, as sounds of screams and gunfire filled the area, yet the sounds ended quickly, and all that remained of the Harkonen soldiers once the dust settled was only unmoving bodies.
The screen vanished as he turned towards Gurney.
"The Harkonens wiped away every second of security footage when they were leaving. After a lot of hard work, I was able to scavenge this."
"This is the Kazab," he confirmed, and Gurney nodded.
"Indeed, he moved as a blur, using some foreign technology to move through the cloud so swiftly," Gurney added as he brought up the video and showed the moving blur in slow motion; the quality was poor, and he could barely make out the figure, yet it was human nonetheless.
"You believe the demand was from him," he questioned, and Gurney nodded.
"I do," Gurney agreed, and Leto leaned back as he contemplated this piece of information. He had suspected so, but this more or less confirmed his suspicion.
"According to Duncan, this Kazab is a Freman but works independently of the others. He is described as a freedom fighter. He has considerable numbers under his command and has years of experience fighting the Harkonens. He could be a very useful ally in this fight," he reasoned out, and Gurney nodded.
"I believe so as well. I have never seen someone move through the air as he did; he is fast and deadly, but there is one problem," Gurney added, and Leto had seen it as well.
"Freedom fighter," he confirmed, and Gurney nodded.
"Yes, he could easily turn on us as he did on the Harkonnen's. Allying with him now against the Harkonens would result in handing him substantial information about our men and operations here on Arrakis, causing us problems in the long term," Gurney had a point. Allying with this, Kazab was a double-edged knife, one that could hurt them just as much as it could their enemies.
"Still, he initiated the contact. So, that means he is at least interested in talking to us," Leto pointed out.
"Bring me that smuggler you spoke of, the one who had a contact with this Kazab.. Bring him to me and I shall see what our next step will be," he ordered.
"As you say, Sire," Gurney said as he saluted.
"And what of Duncan? Has there been any contact with him?" Hurney shook his head.
"No, the storms have hobbled our communication. The last message we received from him was that he was coming back to us with a leader of the Fremen. I believe he should be here by tomorrow," Gurney replied, and he nodded.
"Good," he said. Leaving his home had been tiring, and preparing for the Harkonen treachery had been quite draining for him.
And just as he thought of relaxing, a soldier rushed into the room as alarm bells rang in his head.
"My lord. My lord. We have an emergency," the soldier began as he felt dread rise in his gut.
"There was an assassination attempt on young master, a hunter seeker tried to kill him," and Gurney sprang to his feet at those words much like him.
"What? How could that happen?" Gurney screamed as he would have if he had not.
"We do not know, but the young master was able to destroy it before it could get to him," the soldier informed him.
"It's a hunter-seekr, so the operator must still be in teh castle, Gurney. Find him," he ordered as his loyal war master nodded and rushed out of the room.
"And you," he said to the soldier.
"Summon Hwatt, tell him of this, and tell him to run a full sweep of the castle."
.
.
.
"My lord, I am sorry for my failure. You will have my resignation..."
"What good will your resignation do me, Hwatt?" Leto chided his Mentat. Though he was angry at the man, this was not the time to show it, for the man was even angrier at himself.
"But my lord, I failed," he insisted, and Leto raised his hand, stopping him as he looked the Mentat in the eye.
Thufir Hwatt was one of the most accomplished Mentats in the Imperium. He had served three generations of his family, and Leto would not deprive his son of such an accomplished and loyal aide.
"This was all Harkonen treachery. To be able to target Paul like this shows that they may have an informant in our midst, find it Hwatt, and bring them to justice. That shall be retribution enough," he ordered, and the man's back straightened as he nodded.
"I shall leave no stone unturned to find this traitor," Thufir said with devotion as he saluted him, emptying his solar.
As soon as he did, he felt his shoulders drop as he leaned back in his chair, reaching for the ducal ring on his finger. He began to twist it, feeling the burden of everything on his shoulders.
"Should I call for Dr. Yueh?" a smooth voice cut through the air, a voice that had once entrapped his soul.
"No, I am fine," he disagreed as Jessica walked behind him and slowly touched his head with her delicate fingers, pressing on it so gently that he felt the pain in it vanish.
"You have been restless, my Duke. You need to relax," she said as he reached for her hand. The gentle warmth, softness, and familiarity of it calmed him down.
"They just attacked my son, and now I know that we have a traitor in our midst; I cannot relax, my dear Jessica," he told her, and her face shifted at the mention of the attack on Paul.
She told him, "Hwatt is a competent man. This was a mistake, one he will not repeat," and he knew that.
Hwatt loved his family, loved Paul, and would leave no stone unturned for his safety after a lapse in judgment like that.
"I can feel it, Jessica," he began speaking out the thoughts he had never ever mentioned to anyone before, and the tone of his voice must have held something more as he felt her still as he continued.
"The noose, I can feel it grow tighter and tighter," he said, seeing her expression turn to one of sadness and hurt as she looked him in the eye.
"We could have denied the order and vanished into the edge of the galaxy," she recommended as she had previously, and he shook his head.
"We are the House of Atreides. There is no call we do not answer, and I am the Duke of this House. The people of this house depend on me. I cannot abandon them," he said with some heat.
"But you do know that this is a trap, one set by the Emperor himself, where the Harkonens are but the tools," she said, and he was quiet. Of course, he knew that, and he also knew of the why.
The Emperor had no male heirs, and his cousin, Leto, shared Royal blood; as the Emperor aged, many turned to him, supporting him, joining him, and presenting him as a threat to the Emperor's future.
"Tell me, Jessica," he began as he looked her in the eye.
"What do you think...." he began tiredly.
"...is there any hope?" the words stilled her, and her stoic expression crumpled for a second, showing him a face full of worry and sadness before the mask went back up, as her lips thinned and she replied.
"There is always hope," yet her words were not as encouraging as he had wished.
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