Chapter 296: Baron Harkonnen Goes All-In! A Decisive Strike!
Arrakis — Atreides Family Base
In the dead of night, cloaked in darkness and silence, Dr. Wellington Yueh stealthily slipped past the headquarters of the Atreides stronghold.
As a top graduate of the Suk School, Yueh was renowned for his exceptional medical skills. Moreover, he had undergone the institution's conditioning—essentially a form of deep mental imprinting—guaranteeing absolute loyalty to his designated employer.
Thus, Dr. Yueh had long served as the Atreides family's personal physician, specifically attending to Duke Leto and his household.
Given his stellar competence and supposedly unshakable loyalty, Duke Leto had always placed great trust in Yueh.
But recently, Song Zhaomei—the director of the Universal Megacorp had explicitly named Yueh as a traitor and warned Duke Leto to be on guard.
That's why, on this silent night when he should've been resting, Duke Leto appeared in the headquarters' surveillance room, his gaze icy as he watched Yueh move stealthily through the compound.
> "So, Dr. Yueh really has betrayed House Atreides."
Staring at the surveillance feed, Leto couldn't help but shake his head, regretful of Yueh's foolish choice.
In truth, he'd long suspected Yueh's behavior and had learned through covert investigations that Yueh's wife, Wanna, had been kidnapped by House Harkonnen.
Originally, Leto had hoped Yueh would come clean, in which case he was willing to personally negotiate with House Harkonnen.
After all, the rivalry between the two houses had always stemmed from conflicting interests rather than deep-seated hatred. It wasn't so much enmity as simple unwillingness to see the other house prosper.
But now, with the Universal Megacorp intervening, the entire distribution of power within the Dune Empire would be reshuffled.
It went without saying that the corporate giant would claim the lion's share. As for Houses Atreides and Harkonnen—two of the few remaining great houses—their slices of the pie would likely be roughly equivalent.
Moreover, to balance the power of imperial families, the megacorp was almost certainly planning to prop up a new "House Atreides" to counter the old bloodline.
If House Harkonnen had even a shred of foresight, they'd already be scrambling to curry favor with the megacorp, groveling for forgiveness and pledging loyalty. And if they did, their treatment wouldn't be bad at all.
Duke Leto, being a brilliant political mind, saw all of this with crystal clarity.
He didn't believe the feud between the Atreides and Harkonnen houses was fated to be irreconcilable.
Quite the opposite—he'd rather see House Harkonnen survive than be destroyed by the megacorp, since the alternative might mean watching a new noble house rise in its place under corporate backing. That would be far worse.
In the upcoming interstellar war, the only faction truly fated for annihilation was the Corrino royal family.
This wasn't about moral high ground—it was purely a matter of the megacorp's strategic interests.
After all, both the Corrino dynasty and House Harkonnen were guilty of endless atrocities. Even the Atreides family, when examined closely, was far from spotless.
In such a turbulent yet unmistakably defined political landscape, Dr. Yueh had backed the wrong side—allying himself with House Harkonnen, which would discard him the moment he lost his usefulness.
Watching this betrayal unfold, Paul Atreides could hardly believe his eyes. He furrowed his brows and muttered:
> "Isn't Dr. Yueh a Suk doctor who's undergone conditioning? How could he break free of it and betray the family?"
Paul had always had a favorable impression of Yueh. After every grueling training session, it was Yueh who helped him recover from exhaustion.
To see such a trusted and familiar household retainer commit betrayal—it stung.
As Paul spoke, Yueh successfully infiltrated the main control room and disabled the planetary shielding system protecting Arrakis.
With the shield down, troops from the Corrino Empire and House Harkonnen could now launch a surprise assault on the Atreides forces stationed here.
A night raid—regardless of era or setting—was a devastating military tactic. At best, it caught the enemy off guard and weakened their forces. At worst, it could trigger panic and cause a complete rout.
> "Dr. Yueh's wife Wanna is a Bene Gesserit,"
Hawat suddenly chimed in, revealing the true motive behind Yueh's betrayal:
> "It's possible Wanna used her voice to wipe the Suk conditioning."
The so-called "conditioning" given to Suk doctors was essentially a mental seal implanted after graduation, meant to ensure 100% loyalty and prevent betrayal.
But for the Bene Gesserit, who specialized in voice-based mind control, such conditioning was child's play. With a few carefully chosen words, they could easily "reprogram" someone's mind.
While it wasn't certain that Wanna herself broke Yueh's conditioning, there was no doubt the Bene Gesserit were behind it.
> "The Bene Gesserit won't be smug for much longer,"
Leto said coldly. He, too, had realized their involvement.
But according to Song Zhaomei, the megacorp had already formulated its stance on the Bene Gesserit.
Barring any surprises, the Bene Gesserit were likely to be forcibly assimilated and restructured as a subsidiary of the megacorp.
And that would be a blessing.
After all, the Bene Gesserit had risen to power as little more than a glorified matchmaking agency, specializing in "custom-tailored" wives for noble heirs.
While noble houses traditionally relied on strategic marriages to secure alliances and preserve bloodlines, the Bene Gesserit had one major trump card—voice control, and a network of handpicked, stunningly beautiful women with exceptional skills.
Who'd want to marry some homely girl from the neighboring noble family when you could have a gorgeous, highly trained Bene Gesserit wife?
It was common knowledge: genetic beauty distribution was hardly fair. The children of the upper class weren't necessarily good-looking. Quite a few were downright unfortunate in the looks department.
So why sacrifice your personal happiness and sexual satisfaction for the sake of a political marriage with a spoiled and gluttonous noblewoman, when you could just choose the perfect wife from the Bene Gesserit?
The demand was there, and the Bene Gesserit had the supply. Under this natural supply-and-demand cycle, their organization flourished—rapidly growing into a force the Empire could no longer ignore.
Over time, Bene Gesserit members infiltrated every elite layer of the galaxy: Navigators, Suk doctors, Mentats...
Among the elite, not marrying a Bene Gesserit woman almost made you an outsider.
> "Smoke only the Arrakis-brand spice cigarettes. Marry only from the Bene Gesserit."
That became the silent consensus.
But the High Mother—who oversaw the Bene Gesserit—hadn't focused on improving the quality of their "products." Instead, she prioritized building networks, forging ties, and manipulating the succession lines of every great house.
She decreed that only heirs bearing Bene Gesserit blood were fit to inherit. Any "bastards" from other women were to be eliminated.
As a result, nearly every noble family in the Empire now had some Bene Gesserit blood mixed in their lineage.
Through this grand-scale intermarriage strategy, the Bene Gesserit were well on their way to reaching the top of the power pyramid—and nothing could be done to stop it. It was a blatant, long-term scheme no one could unravel.
Power is preserved through inheritance. Without descendants, a bloodline dies—and power inevitably passes to the lower classes. That could never be allowed.
Fortunately, with the megacorp's arrival, this tangled and deeply rooted situation would be forcibly reset.
By helping the noble houses eradicate the Bene Gesserit from their entrenched positions, the megacorp would be performing a great service.
If they were forced to take action themselves, very few families could actually bring themselves to raise a hand against the Sisterhood.
After all, members of the Sisterhood were often their own wives, or revered grandmothers, and in some cases, even noblewomen from the great houses had joined the Sisterhood.
And who could truly bear to strike their own wife, mother, or daughter? In such situations, the only way to ensure a wife's unwavering loyalty was to completely sever her ties with her "maiden family" — the Sisterhood.
Whoosh—!
As the shielding energy field deactivated, Dr. Yue let out a heavy and anxious gasp. His heart was pounding with apprehension.
On one hand, Dr. Yue was fully aware that his actions had violated the professional ethics upheld by Suk Medical School. His betrayal of his former patron would make him a disgrace in the eyes of the academy.
But for the sake of his wife, Wana, he felt he had no other choice. This left Dr. Yue tormented by guilt.
On the other hand, he had yet to see the Harkonnen forces or the Sardaukar of House Corrino take advantage of the opportunity to storm into Arrakis and attack the Atreides garrison.
According to the plan, once he shut down the shielding field, it was supposed to be the cue for the Harkonnen and Corrino troops to make their move.
But in reality, nothing had changed — Dr. Yue had shut down the field for nothing.
This only made his anxiety intensify.
His reason for betraying House Atreides had been based on his belief that Duke Leto couldn't possibly withstand the combined onslaught of the Corrino Empire and House Harkonnen.
That was why he had taken such a huge risk to defect to the opposing side and willingly become an insider traitor.
It was true that there had been a lot of recent rumors about Universal Corporation's support for House Atreides, but very few people actually knew the full truth behind it.
Although Dr. Yue served as a vassal to House Atreides, his status was clearly far below trusted advisors like Thufir Hawat, so he didn't know much about the Corporation's involvement.
Had he known that House Atreides was under the protection of the Universal Corporation, Dr. Yue would never have turned on Duke Leto. But one wrong step had led to a cascade of irreversible errors.
Now, there was no going back.
In fact, the moment Dr. Yue deactivated the shielding field, Harkonnen troops had already begun their assault on Arrakis.
However, due to years of arrogance and being used to fighting weak, defenseless civilians, the Harkonnen forces had become a bunch of hollow blowhards — tough only in appearance.
With such poor combat readiness, they had no choice but to spend extra money to have the Spacing Guild's mercenary forces take the lead.
But even before they could reach low orbit around Arrakis, the Guild's fleet was intercepted by the forces of the Universal Megacorporation.
The current defensive strength of Arrakis had transformed completely from what it once was.
AI-controlled drones now patrolled every inch of the Arrakis system, and every move made by House Harkonnen or the Corrino Empire was clearly visible.
Not even the slightest movement could escape the Corporation's surveillance systems.
BOOM!!
A brilliant burst of light lit up the void as one of the Spacing Guild's assault ships was blown apart by a long-range laser cannon from the Corporation's fleet.
From the planet's surface, it looked like nothing more than a faint starlight — but that single shot sent a powerful warning to the rest of the Harkonnen forces.
> [Report: Our landing forces can't breach the enemy's defenses. They're equipped with long-range heavy laser cannons!]
Aboard a command dreadnought hovering over Arrakis's northern satellite, Baron Harkonnen listened to the report from the front lines and nodded without concern.
"I knew House Atreides had prepared for this. Looks like they've been scheming around Arrakis and the spice trade all along!"
Brimming with overconfidence, the Baron personally assumed command of the front-line forces and declared, "With the meager forces Atreides has, they won't last long."
"Everyone follow my command — attack their fleet first! Take out those oversized battleships, then we'll move in on the surface of Arrakis!"
Baron Harkonnen was fully aware of the weaknesses of those massive warships. Sacrificing a few dozen small ships to crash into them and cause explosions would be enough to cripple them.
Victory was within their grasp.
At his command, the front-line Harkonnen troops switched strategies, launching suicide attacks against the Corporation's fleet.
But to the Harkonnen's dismay, the Corporation's fleet had impenetrable defenses. Their interception systems allowed no ship to get even remotely close.
Most of the Harkonnen ships were shot down by long-range laser fire just a few kilometers into their charge.
A few managed to push through the deadly web of fire — only to be met by dense clusters of close-in defense cannons!
Every standard expeditionary ship in the Corporation's fleet came equipped with powerful short-range and long-range weapons systems.
A closer look revealed that every warship in the Corporation's fleet was surrounded by swarms of missile pods.
With precision-targeting AI, it was pure suicide for any Harkonnen ship to even attempt an approach.
But now that this interstellar war had broken out, retreat was no longer an option — even if it meant throwing themselves into a meat grinder.
And yet, all their efforts were in vain. One by one, Harkonnen ships were reduced to flaming wrecks, vanishing into the void of space.
At this point, only the Harkonnen troops were actively being sent in as cannon fodder. The Sardaukar forces of House Corrino had yet to move, looking every bit like opportunists waiting to swoop in and steal the kill.
Baron Harkonnen was fully aware of what was going on: Emperor Shaddam wanted the Harkonnens and Atreides to fight each other to the death, so his elite forces could sweep in and claim the spoils.
As much as the Baron hated Shaddam's manipulative tactics, he had no choice but to bear it.
So long as House Atreides existed, House Harkonnen had no hope of becoming the dominant force in the Landsraad — let alone rising to prominence.
It irritated the Baron to no end, but he had no rebuttal. Without the Corrino Empire's support, this war never would've started.
After all, House Atreides was a leading power within the Landsraad. The Harkonnens would never have dared openly defy them without imperial backing.
Otherwise, the other houses would've joined forces with Atreides to crush them.
But now, under the imperial banner of "righteous conquest," the other noble houses were content to sit back and watch. No one dared to act rashly. This was House Harkonnen's golden opportunity to annihilate House Atreides.
What's more, Baron Harkonnen had invested heavily in this campaign — renting ships and troops from the Guild, rallying his household guard — betting everything on this one battle.
If he didn't crush House Atreides tonight, if he failed to kill Duke Leto, then House Harkonnen's fate would be bankruptcy, decline, and possibly extinction.
The rise or fall of the family would be decided in this single battle.
> [Report! The enemy fleet is fully equipped with energy shields.]
At last, the Harkonnen's massive suicide assault gained some traction.
A few ships finally breached the layers of suppressive fire and launched a volley of missiles toward the Corporation's fleet.
Most of the missiles were intercepted by close-in defense systems, but a few managed to strike the energy shields of the target warships.
Seeing the enemy fleet using Holtzman Shields, the Harkonnen soldiers grew ecstatic.
If they could trigger a Holtzman nuclear reaction upon impact, the ships would explode into a heap of scrap metal in no time.
> [Full barrage! Blow the Atreides ships to pieces!]
With Baron Harkonnen's order, long-range energy cannons began bombarding the Corporation's fleet.
Blinding beams of energy pierced through the dark void, like spears of light plunging into the depths of an ocean.
By all logic, the Holtzman Shields should've triggered subatomic nuclear reactions under such intense bombardment — resulting in massive explosions.
But the expected nuclear chain reactions never came. The fleet stood firm, revealing no weakness whatsoever.
The sight left everyone baffled.
Baron Harkonnen assumed it was a matter of insufficient firepower, so he ordered the Corrino forces to join the attack.
Triggering a Holtzman nuclear reaction would obliterate even the largest of ships.
Yet neither the Harkonnen nor the Corrino commanders realized: the shields protecting the Corporation's fleet weren't Holtzman Shields at all.
After more than ten waves of relentless bombardment, Baron Harkonnen finally sensed something was wrong.
They couldn't break through.
Every assault had been in vain — all their efforts amounted to nothing.
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