Chapter 3b

DUKE LETO ATREIDES

Leto sat in his council room dressed in full ceremonial garb as the castle prepared for the arrival of the official herald.

The herald of our doom.

Many thought of them becoming the Duke of Arrakis as the Emperor's gift. Yet they were blind to the machinations of it all, and Leto was many things, and the blind was not one of them.

It was a death sentence. A sentencing that had come from the Emperor himself, and he was terrified of imagining just how much the man would involve himself in it, for he had already picked a side and it was not Leto's.

So, he must prepare as much as he can, using every resource he can to face this challenge. He is walking into a trap, one set by a cunning and ruthless enemy, and it will take everything he has and much more to just survive.

It was one reason he had given Hawat's report on this so-called 'Kazab' and Fremen to his warmaster, Gurney Halleck, a man who shared his hate of the Harkonens and was perhaps the most sound military mind in the whole Empire.

He had a keen sight, seeing beyond the usual veils and limitations of men to see things that nearly all would miss. And it was because of that keen eye he had given him the report, with hope that he could uncover something that they all had missed.

And if the slight upturn in his lips was any indication, the man had seen something.

"So what have you found?" Leto moved straight to the point, there, and his war master raised a brow.

"You are nearly gloating, so get on with it. Tell me what you found," he answered the question before it had even left the man's mouth.

"You seem to be inheriting some of Lady Jessica's abilities," Gurney complained as he tapped the screen, and a map of Arrakis appeared alongside several charts and numbers.

"But you were right; I think I have some measure of this man called Kazab," he began, and Leto narrowed his eyes and gave his Warmaster his full attention.

"Kazab is far more dangerous and interesting than we first thought. From what I was able to piece together, he is not a simple Fremen. He does not hunt for spice or revenge like the other smugglers and Fremen, respectively; he hunts for something else," he added as he brought up numbers.

"He hunts for equipment," Leto saw the pattern. It was easy to see but only if one knew to look. It was an easy thing to ignore.

"And water," Gurney added as he brought up another chart.

"His hunts have no pattern, unlike the regular Fremen raids from a decade ago, and even today if one were to look closely, one can see that while he may assist the Fremen in their raids, he has men and crew of his own that carry out attacks with much more precision and effectiveness," he said and Leto frowned as he realised that this was it.

And Gurney had realized this as well.

"You think he has an army, a well-trained force," he confirmed, and Gurney nodded.

"I do, and not just that," his war master began as he brought up an ally.

"The precision of his attacks tells us that his intelligence network runs deep as well. Despite the many shifts in schedule, he was able to find and attack his target in a highly effective way," Gurney added.

Gurney was right; Harkonenes were brash, cruel, and had no honor. Yet they were not stupid. They had tried to change patrols and flight schedules, yet nothing had worked. Attacks had happened and succeeded despite everything.

"Why haven't the Harkonens complained about this," he questioned, puzzled. He glanced towards Gurney, who was looking at him with a complex expression.

"Because they have been led to believe that this Kazab is an agent of either the Crown or..."

"...the Atreides," he finished, realizing the brilliance of the plan.

The Harkonen pride would never allow them to speak of an Atreides victory over them, even in complaint. They would be even more cautious about what would happen if it were the Crown behind these attacks, and by complaining about them, they would walk into the Emperor's trap.

The emperor may have aligned himself with the Harkonens, yet Leto knew that he bore them little love.

A part of him was angry that his own House's name was being used like this, but he could appreciate the ingenuity of it, and he was in a forgiving mood for it was being used against teh Harkonens.

"And what of the Spice lost? These attacks must cause some distress to the Guild as well. What has stopped them from raising it with the Emperor," he questioned, and though Spice was not the main target of this Kazab, he did steal quite a bit of it from the Harkonens, yet its price had only shifted minutely over the years.

"Because he has been bribing the guild with it," and Leto was surprised by it.

He had already suspected that the Fremen were bribing the guild with spice to not fly satellites in their skies, though he would never be able to confirm it for he did not have enough time and the guild was a highly secretive organization, one he did not wish to make an enemy out of.

But this was more interesting.

"He steals steel from the Harkonens and gives it to them, maybe even at a lower cost. That way, the guild has no motivation to petition the Landsraad. They make more profit this way," he finished, impressed by this man's cunning.

He leaned back as he rubbed, held his ducal ring, and thought of all he had just heard. It had been wise of him to give Hawat's report to Gurney, but the man had wrung much out of them.

"If we are to survive this, we must make an ally of this Kazab, whoever he is. He seems to share our hate for the Harkonenes, but that may not be enough. We must learn of what he wants so we may bargain with him, and we must do all that post haste," he concluded, and Gurney nodded.

"I concur, sire." Agreed, his Warmaster.

"Have Duncan try and locate the man. Given his prowess, I believe only he may be able to make contact with these men," Let added, and Gurney accepted, yet he did not miss the hesitation on his face. The man was

"What is it, Gurney? You are holding something back," he questioned, for there was no time to hold back and hesitate.

"I know you dislike and distrust smugglers, and I share that sentiment, but I have come into contact with a man who claims to have seen this Kazab fight," Leto says, surprised by those words. That could be instrumental.

"Can we trust him?" he questioned, for you could hardly ever trust these men, and that was what fuelled his dislike for them, for they had no honor.

"As much as we can a smuggler, but with Lady Jessica's aid, we could," Leto said, surprised by his War master's thinking even though he should not have been. The man was highly resourceful, and with Jessica's aid, they could separate falsehoods from the truth with ease.

"Contact him discreetly. We will meet with this man once we land in Arrakis," he ordered, and Gurney nodded with full attention.

"As you command, sire."

And with that, their discussion came to an end as they both left the room to welcome the Emperor's herald.

Days later, the military command centre of the Legionnaires would receive an interesting message from none other than Duncan, Idaho.

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