DUNE-A False Haderach (OC X Shishakli) (OC x Alia)

Part 16

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 the 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 in 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, the useless and witless nephew of his.

"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.