Chapter 9a-Plot within Plot within Plot!

Chapter 9a

~Four years before the start of DUNE 1~

BARON VLADIMIR HARKONEN

In life, one was rarely ever given what he may wish. To obtain one's desires, and one's purpose, one should take action, good or bad, legal or illegal, subtle or overt. The action of all kinds was the secret to obtaining one's desires.

And it was this action that had gotten him and his house where they stood today, House Harkonen stood today more powerful, wealthy and influential than it ever had since the day of its inception.

Years and years had been spent by him to get his House this glory, bribes, treachery, murder. He had used every trick, every avenue, every action to put House Harkonen at teh forefront of Landsraad for his ambition.

Yet it had never been enough, for as he rose, he found his House always eclipsed by the two entities he loathed with all his heart.

House Atredies and House Corrino, for all the prosperity enjoyed by his House, the two Houses still loomed over them, with their histories, wealth, influence, and armies. And he could not stand it, the ever lasting feud with House Atreides fuelled his rage, for the fabled House stood in his eventual desire for the throne for House Harkonen.

The Emperor had ruled for many years and been married for over two decades, yet he had yet to have a son of his own; the legacy of his House threatened, with only daughters to inherit his line. In that vacuum, House Atreides grew powerful, Duke Leto Atreides' Bene Gesserit concubine giving him a son. At the same time, the Duke still remained unmarried himself, leaving open a chance for an alliance.

The Landsraad circled around the Duke, believing the future of the Imperial to lie with the Atreides's eagle rather than the Corrino lion. House Atreides also wielded substantial armies; his men were fiercely loyal to their Duke, and there were rumors that the Duke had had a special legion trained by his war master that rivaled the Emperor's Sardukar.

Though there was a simple solution, it all spelled danger for the Royal House. The Emperor had a daughter, and the Duke had a son. The conflict could be resolved with a simple union, yet the emperor was a jealous man.

And jealous men rarely liked to look up.

"Another attack, Rabban," he spoke. The curse of that accursed witch immobilized him, disfiguring him beyond recognition as his body fattened and grew beyond normal.

His nephew, the wasteful and discardable one, knelt below him as he sat on his throne on Arrakis, eyes locked onto the screen infront of him as he glanced at the picture of the man that had wreaked havoc across their operations.

"You were careless," he admonished Rabban, his useless and witless nephew.

"I am sorry, Baron, but it will not happen again. But we were able to gain a better picture of the intruder, and you were right," Rabban spoke as he pointed towards the insignia flushed into this intruder's jacket.

A pair of wings interposed on one another.

"Those wings have to be an Atreides symbol. House Atredies is behind the attacks; we must take this to the Landsraad," he said enthusiastically. His explanation was simple—too simple.

He had noticed the symbol first, embroidered into the back of the jacket. It was as if the man was daring them to see it. And no House other than the wretched Atreides had a creature with wings as their sigil.

It was simple. And that was why he knew it not to be the truth.

"We will not be taking this to the Landsraad," he spoke as Rabban's eyes narrowed, his fists balling up in rage.

"WHY!" his nephew shouted, showing himself inferior to Feyd again. He truly was the lesser one.

'How naive,' he thought. How could he not see it for what it was?

"Are you questioning me, Rabban?" he said with emphasis, and his idiot nephew shut up. Enraged and furious as he may be, he knew that Baron would not spare him.

"Leave us," he ordered with a wave of his hand. Though reluctant, he still complied and left the room, leaving him alone with his Mentat, Piter De Vries.

The tall, cunning assassin eyed as Baron turned towards him.

"Do you believe him to be right?" he questioned as Piter smiled and, with a raised brow, replied in his slimy tone.

"He made a plausible case, the wings and the House Atreides sigil are quite easy to connect," Piter added and the Baron frowned as he replied.

"But he is wrong," he concluded with certainty.

"That he is, whatever one may say of the Duke Leto, this is not his way of doing things. The Atreides pride themselves in their notions of honor and duty, he would not lower himself to this level," Piter reached the same conclusion as him.

Indeed, this was not the Duke's doing. For if it was, a simple case could be brought against the Duke in the Landsraad, and if the pawns were placed appropriately, he may be chastised and rebuked, maybe even punished.

"Yet someone made the painstaking effort of making us think that this might have been teh Duke's doing, trying to use us to do their own dirty work," Baron scoffed, as if that would ever work.

"So you already have a suspicion on just who might be behind this?" Piter questioned with a smile, and Baron rubbed his head.

"Do not speak as if you have not reached the same conclusion?" he thundered as he reached for teh button on his chair's arm.

"Activate silence!" he ordered, and though they were alone, teh words that were about to be exchanged were dangerous, and he would not like them ever to be shared or associated with him.

The cone of silence activated, isolating the sounds around him and his Mentat Piter.

"So much caution, Baron," Piter spoke, and Baron glared at the bloodthirsty and spice-addicted Mentat.

"Do you believe it unwarranted?" he questioned, and the Mentat shook his head.

"No, not with what we suspect," he agreed, and Baron nodded, and there was silence, both of them cautious and hesitant to say the words for teh fear of waking up one day with a Sardukar blade pressed to their necks. Though right now, the Sardukar blade inched closer to another throat, the throat of his nemesis, the Duke Leto.

'Did he know? Did the Duke know that he had been marked by their dear Emperor?' he thought as he looked once more at the intruder, a Sardukar in disguise, he believed.

"It seems our Emperor has decided to contain his precious cousin?" he broke the silence as Piter smiled.

"Wrong as he was, you could follow your nephew's word and take this to the Landsraad. If our suspicion is right, the Emperor shall find the Duke guilty, and his influence would lessen as the Houses will see their profits from CHOAM threatened," Piter added, and Baron shook his head.

"What would a little reprimand do for me?" he asked dismissively. The Atreides were their mortal enemies, their feud going beyond generations, and the Harkonen's hunger and honor would only be restored by the complete eradication of their rival House—nothing short.

"The Emperor wished to use us, use our blades to do his dirty work. But he shall find our blades sheathed, at least until a suitable prize is offered," the Baron ordered, and what prince shall he demand?

"And what prize shall that be?" Piter questioned, a glint in his eyes.

"If we are ever to wield our blades, then it shall only be for teh complete eradication of the Atreides and nothing less. And I believe if we let the years pass, and the Duke's influence continues to grow, our dear Emperor may reach the same conclusion," he concluded.

"Your intellect sometimes surprises even me, Baron," Piter chuckled, and he was not impressed by the Mentat.

"But could you bear the losses? Already, these attacks have cost us plenty," Piter mentioned, and he shrugged.

"The losses will be worth it. Tell Rabban to prioritize Spice production over everything. Infrastructure and materials are dispensable, but the Spice production must not lessen. That shall be answer enough for the Emperor," he replied as Piter bowed.

"And use some other means to bribe some smaller Houses to the Atreide's side. Let our Emepror's jealousy grow even more as he sees the Duke's influence rise even more," he ordered, and the Mentat chuckled.

"Only you, my Baron, could ever devise such a plan. It shall be done," and with that, his Mentat walked away as Baron thought of just how long the Piter's usefulness would last and when he would have to venture into the galaxy for a new Mentat.

After all, he had little use for useless things.

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