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

Part 54

Chapter 44

~15 years Later~

LADY MARGOT FENRING

It had been fifteen years since Inzal Kazab Corrino had taken control of the Imperium inheriting his father's throne and taking absolute majority in the CHOAM company, and the Imperium, and ever since his ascension a great war had ravaged the galaxy.

The Emperor's rage against the conspirators who had tried to kill him had been uncoolable flame, and any and all interventions and attempts to dissuade him from absolute annihilation of the Ixians and Bene Tleilaxu had failed.

Armed with the power of the Saradukar, the Fremen, and an absolute monopoly on Spice production had allowed the Emperor to thwart time-tested and powerful institutions like the Been Tleilaxu and the Ixians. And though they had held on for fifteen years, with every passing day, it was becoming more and more evident that they could do so no longer and that soon enough, the war would end, and Bene Tleilaxu and the Ixians would cease to exist.

And with them any and all who could ever hope to stand against an emperor.

The Guild had tried to intervene, trying to use their monopoly as navigators to dissuade the Emperor, to settle down his rage, and yet rather than bowing down, the Emperor had retaliated, using his absolute majority in the Imperium to lift the ban on the manufacturing of Holter engines, engines that did not require the Guild's services as navigators.

There had been an uproar, and yet the Emperor was simply too powerful—and they could only watch as the guild's monopoly slowly crumbled. Any attempt on the part of the guild to help the Ixians and the Bene Tleilaxu would be seen by the Emperor, his powers allowing him to see beyond the Halls of his castle on Arrakis, where the Fremen now lived freely, with hundreds if not thousands of ships making regular trip to the planet to bring food and water, to the otherwise barren sandy hell hole.

And so, the Guild could scarcely overstep, for any action against the Emperor saw their supply of Spice lessened, as the Emperor began to make his own fleet, one which did not require the services of Navigators.

The Bene Gesserit were also helpless, and the order had lost all favor with the Great Houses because of the Great Kanli that had ended in the demise of one Paul Atreides, and with the last remnants of House Harkonnen also blaming them for their destruction, the Been Gesserit were now pariahs in a world which they once ruled from the shadows.

With each passing day the Royal House grew more powerful, and the world slipped away from their hands, and now it was a consensus that if things remained the same, all of them—The Bene Geserit, the Guild, the Bene Tleilaxu, the Ixians—each and every one of them would lose everything.

And that had brought her here, to Kaladan. To the place where it had all begun. The ancient and stories seat of House Atreides, the second most powerful House in the realm. Even after the betrayal of Paul Atreides, and his subsequent death, the relationship between House Corrino and House Atredies had remained steadfast, their alliance would continue to hold especially with the young Lady Alia taking control of the House from her mother a few years ago.

Alia Atredies, an abomination, a child born with memories of their ancestors. He shared origins with their Emperor, made them both kindred spirits, and she, unlike her mother, was a steadfast supporter of the Emperor. It was rumored that this was the reason she had ousted her as the Duchess, who was more agonistic to the Emperor's clear power grab.

And as her ship landed on the dreary planet, where it rained more than it did not, she was greeted by one Thufir Hwatt. The Duke's mentat had retired alongside the ex-Duchess Lady Jessica, who, alongside her paralysed husband, had taken residence in the ancient castle of House Atreides, one which had often acted as a vacation home for the stories noble House in the past.