Emperor of the Universe: The Battle for Arrakis

Concerning the Sisterhood

In my sleep, I begin to see what I had not, the past and present are so clear, yet the future remains elusive to my sight. What glimpses I see only leads to the requirement for deductions and assumptions. I see not of the Kwisatz Haderach, but rather of a different tale, a different destiny. What is clear to me, is that no matter what, for the Bene Gesserit to grow its power, to achieve this new destiny, it requires the death of the Emperor.  

- The Journals of the Reverend Mother Cassandra

The Heighliner lay high above the planet of Arrakis, there lay its silent imposition upon the planet, its image casting a great shadow upon the desert planet where one could see nothing but great seas of sands and dunes. Yet, this nominal death world held great importance to the Imperium, it was a quintessetial point of the Emperor's, Guild's and the Bene Gesserit's powers, for within that sea of dunes lay the greatest treasure to the Imperium. 

"Tell me what you have seen." The Lady said, dressed in the garb of the Bene Gesserit. The young woman being interogatted looked into her eyes, there lay evidence of centuries, nay, millenia of experience. She had seen things which others could not, knew of past, present and future, if not to a limited extent. In what one may expect from a woman equal in age to her, beauty and elegance, one would see the burden of life upon this woman.

"My dreams showed thousands upon thousands of scenarios, each bearing some terrible loss which must be incurred by the Imperium. It showed me that the death of the Emperor was necessary for the next step in our plans."

"You do such foolish things." The older woman replied, her voice somewhat coarse and elderly. 

"For the good of the Sisterhood." 

"And what did you achieve dear Sister." The older one scowled, "calamity, uncertainty and unpredictability! The Emperor is dead at your hands! It is a wonder why I do not kill you as you are right now."

"That is required for the next step."

"Should word get out that it was a Bene Gesserit sister who killed the Emperor then we shall be shunned from the Great Houses and much so in the Landsraad. Armies would be mobilised against us and then what shall you do when Guild Heighliners bearing legions of Imperial Sardaukar emerge high above Chapterhouse. We may be able to bring down empires in the shadows, but we are limited in the light"

"That was why I made use I'das Poison, anyone who even touches the Emperor's lifeless corpse shall be killed, any one who so dares go near his corpse shall suffocate and drown in his own fluids. No form of investigation may be able to take place, even the dart to which I delivered the poison shall never be found. I have taken every precaution, not even the Imperial Truthsayers shall know of the true culprit."

"And why is..." Her reply was halted as she realised what this sister had done. She has drank the Water of Life, she has undergone the Spice Agony! She has become a Reverend Mother! A wild and renegade Reverend Mother at that!

"There is but two ways in which we can go now Reverend Mother. The first is that you kill me at this instant with that Gom Jabbar you are so fond of. Or, second, I shall tell you of my visions, and you shall listen with intent."

"Silence!" There came the sudden invocation of a skill usually employed by the Bene Gesserit. The Voice, the intonations and pitch of a Sister's voice is altered in order to make the recipient's body obey the Sister's instructions to the disagreement of the recipient. It took years of training for a Sister to perfect such a skill and years more to resist it yet the woman found her body spasing and twitching, her mouth desperately attempting to mumble out a few words of defiance.

"I may possess Other Memory," The Reverend Mother said,"But I have never experienced an occassion such as this."

She leaned towards the younger sister, "Tell me."