Day 4 | Afternoon | The Debriefing

[Kannon]

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Hawat chose one of the operations HQs in the vaults under Castle Caladan for the meeting. He was standing by the solido projector, having imbibed some sapho juice to make sure he could be at his mentat's best. There were times he felt his age of almost a dozen decades, having served three dukes. It was not one of those times. He could not afford to feel old.

"I have read your preliminary reports." He began.

[For those loyal to House Atreides.]

[Ambrose Pantazis]

Ambrose stood at attention, which for the time was a feat in itself. The battle had pushed him, not physically in the same way as the others, but certainly mentally. Then he had a chance to not only observe, but to assist the Atreides Suk doctor. It was a rare opportunity that he could not pass on, in spite of his own exhaustion.

His report had been sparse or lengthy, depending on your perspective. Ambrose focused on chronicling the major events without supposition or extraneous details. What they needed in the immediate was an overview of what had taken place the last few days. There would be plenty of time later to dissect and analyze every incident and decision.

"Master Hawat." Some would be tempted to fill the empty space, start off or even guide the conversation, but military discipline and the presence of the Master of Assassins in particular held Ambrose's tongue beyond the respectful greeting and salute he offered.

[Efren Lanville]

Efren similarly stood at attention after he arrived.

There was a great deal that had happened in the past few days... things to address and things to improve on.

Efren waited with soldier-borne patience for the meeting to begin.

[Kannon]

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Paul was there too, having silently blocked Hawat's impulse to make any special greeting. He'd rather think of himself as yet another Atreides to be debriefed. Any special distinction would reinforce the dread that all that had gone wrong with the situation was his responsibility and inadequacy. He didn't fully process that he had killed people. Not in direct combat, but still. His mother wasn't around to guide him through it. He had been schooled into thinking that there was nothing in his life but ever more intense tests and trials, living up to expectations, and here it was another case in which Thufir would offer his unapologetic feedback on how he had performed. He was withdrawn, humble, thinking of Cuyler and Sinsei. Again a boy who for a moment had had to be a man. His father was the Duke and his absence kept filling him with terror only Litany would quiet down. That he had to act in his father's stead for the time being was insufferable.

[Razar Lanville]

Razar had been recovered from his crash landing after evading the dangers of the cartel and jungle just barely. He looked a bit scratched up and worse for wear, with an ever so slight limp from land on his ankle poorly, but was otherwise in good health. He made his way into the room and moved to stand at attention to receive his debrief. He was not certain what to expect, but didn't particularly care because he was alive and the mission went well enough as he understood so far. But he was about to find out the full extent of the the status. He didn't know if he'd be chewed out for how Sinsei was treated, but he also didn't particularly care about that either. If he never saw her again it would be too soon. He simply sorted through the mission data internally and wondered where he might improve his performance. There were a lot of things he could have done better. Regardless of what others thought, he knew he had a lot to improve personally.

[Kannon]

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Fresh out of Yueh's care, Duncan came dressed up as if he was already going on another assignment after the meeting. Whether it was the case or he just wanted it to be the case it was hard to tell, as it usually was with Duncan. He patted shoulders before dropping on a seat before Hawat. It was as he had been on that mission to rescue him. Which was only partially untrue.

"All good, Thufir. Carry on."

[Bernard Martikova]

Having checked on his brother, it was time to meet with the others to hear about the plan's success...assuming it was successful, at least. Duncan was back and alive, not to mention Paul was also looking well.

It was exhausting, though, all that stress of seeing his brother charge in while he did what little he could to help everyone.

To which, he smiled and saluted at everyone before standing there at attention. It was time to deal with the blowback of this mission, including the Imperial woman.

[Kannon]

Roger Lanville was there as well, standing at attention like the others. Duncan Idaho was usually formal only before the Duke or when he really wanted to be. All the others in Atreides service didn't enjoy such special permissions. He and Duncan were old friends, but Roger preferred military matters to maintain their procedural intensity.

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[Kannon]

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"Be seated."

Thufir may have rolled eyes at Duncan if it wasn't a trigger for him to go through advanced computations.

"Your reports agree with the observable outcomes of the mission, with few discrepancies. Dr Yueh has assured me that the injuries Duncan and Young Master Paul have suffered are not serious despite exposure to Tleilaxu drugs and toxins. There was insufficient recon and some disciplinary issues, but they are insignificant in the operational landscape and expected in an irregular force assembled on very short notice. In fact, flexibility in utilising resources at hand was the key to success. The reason why I have asked Lt. Col. Lanville to take this approach shall be explained later but as your presence testifies my computations have proven largely correct in this regard. A major strategic objective was concurrently accomplished with a minimal force and almost no casualties." The old man smiled coyly. "Thank you for proving me right. Thus, we won't dwell too long on dissecting the mission. You have all performed admirably. Lt. Col. Lanville shall take care of promotions, commendations and reassignments. You have also proven that our military modernisation based on combat excellence and tactical leadership is yielding good results and that lessons have been learned from the failures of our northern crackdown on Chaen Marek's organisation."

Everyone felt that was the pleasant part. So what was the difficult one?

[Razar Lanville]

Razar payed close attention to the wording and verbiage used by Thufir, but couldn't glean anything other than the simple facts presented outside of his existing understanding. He was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. It sounded like this was as much an experimental mission as much as an actual operation, which would lead to potential employment of similar tactics. Razar suspected his own performance likely showed a rigidness that wasn't entirely in line with what they were trying to accomplish, which probably shouldn't be too surprising since he was an instructor for many years and beat the book into the heads of recruits.

He was far more relaxed and freeform with his own personal tactical decisions than he had been with others orders. In his mind, rules and regulations kept soldiers alive and safe. He suspected he was not the fit they were looking for in active combat missions in this format. He would not be put off if that was the sentiment, because it's what he would do in Thufir's position. Most of the others showed far more flexibility than himself and he knew it. By Razar's own estimation, he felt he was the one that potentially held the mission back the most, and he would not personally change a thing he'd done, since had always intended to protect the operation and those under his command. It was how he learned to lead as an instructor. You protect the recruits. You protect the soldiers. He would need to have his training supplemented if they wanted to remove that tendency from him.

But he awaited the eventual judgement of his own performance he knew would likely come eventually. It didn't hurt his feelings.

[Kannon]

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Hawat looked at Paul, from whom he received a confirming nod.

"Our Duke in absentia has given me a permission to introduce you to the underlying causes of this assignment. Since the Duke left Caladan on his mission, we have been under a threat of an orbital attack. Our enemies have invested considerable resources to infiltrate our planet, ones we couldn't match without compromising our external defences. I computed this was the trap set on us. So far there has been no verifiable proof of coordination between the Harkonnen and the activities of the Chaen Marek's cartel, but either has been feeding on our vulnerabilities created by another. The Cala City bombings have encouraged the Harkonnen. Apparently, the Baron has dared his nephews into a competition who could hurt as most. The mite that destroyed our moonfish operations was Rabban's move, likely on advice from Piter de Vries. Before his departure to the Southern Continent, there had been several assassination attempts on Paul, one by a renegade Ginaz. All thwarted as you can see, but also now traceable back to Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen. Since then I have been operating under the assumption that we are in an undeclared War of Assassins. I asked Duncan to spirit the Ducal heir away on some pretence to an unlikely spot..."

"Yep." Duncan interceded.

"...so that I could finally commit more of my agents to the purge of the city. It has been fruitful to the point of my current confidence in the broader picture I am presenting. It also gave us hints that the cartel's new activities can be hidden in the interior of the Southern Continent. I informed Lt. Col. Lanville of the circumstance and wanted to evacuate Duncan and Paul but at that point both were incommunicado from the now identified environmental reasons. Their run-in with the cartel that resulted in Idaho's capture was a black swan event I had failed to sufficiently approximate. For that, I am at my Duke's disposal."

"Oh come on, Thufir." Duncan interceded again.

Meanwhile, Paul studied the reactions of those in the room.

[Bernard Martikova]

Go figure, there was more going on than was expected. Maybe that meant the cute Imperial girl was here for more than she said she was, which he sort of assumed from the start until her father was captured, but these sort of games were a bit beyond his headspace.

Bern just simply smile and nodded along with the explanation until he was called upon.

[Efren Lanville]

Efren nodded at the end of the explanation. His mind turned to his people.

“Do we know to what extent the enemy may still have a presence in that theater?”

[Ambrose Pantazis]

While Hawat laid out the threat against House Atreides, Ambrose was an open book. It wasn't a surprise that others had set their sights on Atreides. There was an abundance of greed and envy amongst the other houses and Atreides was on the rise. Those who didn't have such a charismatic and competent Duke to lead them had no recourse but to work from the shadows, knowing their fate if they openly declared kanly.

A sneer came across his face at the mention of House Harkonnen. Of course it was those filthy dogs. The key word from Hawat's summary was attempt. Although the Harkonnens could pay the hefty cost of these operations from their rich spice profits, solaris didn't buy success. All they accomplished was to bring the ire of his Duke, who would certainly retaliate in grand fashion. "Beware the seeds you sow and the crops you reap. Do not curse God for the punishment you inflict upon yourself."

Ambrose was finding more and more wisdom in the old OCB these days. Perhaps he should pick it up and give it another read through.

[Razar Lanville]

Razar accepted the information gathered and shared. He tried to process it and said finally, "So is Atreides going to cite their attacks and formally respond with a declared War of Assassins to make it more difficult for them to use their resources freely and bring in eager players?"

[Kannon]

"The Muadh should be safe for now from further depredations, Sergeant Lanville." Hawat answered the question within the question. "After our sweep there should be minimal or none. There are further reasons why I can say this with confidence, and they are connected to why we won't declare Kanly just yet, without resigning our objectives."

Hawat took a sip. Of water, this time. His mouth was running too dry with too much speaking.

"We can reconstruct a picture from the evidence recovered by the sweep, your reports and results of some initial interrogations. Why Bene Tleilax, our old enemy who for years have sought ways to enact vengeance on us for dislodging them from Ix, might have been key for the cultivation of ailar and cloaking technologies, they are now hamstrung by a Guild blockade of the Thalim system for reasons the Guild has never shared with us. I have calculated the cost of establishing what we dismantled to amount to 93 million solaris. They couldn't have financed it on their own, and they didn't. We can identify the investment as originating from House Londine. Its chief administrator called Rodundi was reported visiting the operations at least a few times. For those of you less versed in the politics of the Imperium, I will mention that its leader, Rajiv Londine, presiding over a financial and real estate emporium steered from his vacation world of Cuarte, earned a gadfly reputation in the Landsraad for his frequent diatribes against the Emperor, but he felt impune because of holding a seat in the CHOAM Board of Directors. Until recently, Houses Londine, Tull, Verdun and Uchan had been deeply entrenched on the Board. That financial cabal had a tacit support from the Aru family presiding over CHOAM to amass wealth. And then, few months ago, the Emperor mandated the extermination of House Verdun by his Sardaukar on charges of treason by participation in the Noble Commonwealth conspiracy, and the freed-up seat was claimed by House Mutelli, to what Atreides support was instrumental."

Thufir paused to sip water again.

"House Verdun had spurned us before that when the Duke had been testing the prospect of a marital bond between Young Master Paul and Junu Verdun. Later, Rajiv Londine tried to convince the Duke into marrying his daughter, Vikka, but those negotiations were suspended because the Duke didn't want to get into the war of words and webs of intrigue between the Padishah Emperor and House Londine. This alone I would consider an insufficient reason for Londine involvement in restarting ailar production, the CHOAM seat issue being slightly likelier. Nor do I calculate that, for all their wealth, they could have afforded investing 93 million in the high-risk, high-reward drug operation. They must have had partners with wide illicit distribution networks that would guarantee quick return on investment, and we don't know who those partners are, and what else they can bring against us. What we do know is that the cartel mercenaries have been mostly recruited from House Uchan, even with a couple former Moritani in between. We can make conjectures of Harkonnen involvement based on that, but I don't estimate the probability of that as more than low. Another explanation is that it is the Noble Commonwealth itself has decided to put our House into an impossible, 'betray or be broken' situation."

Thufir turned to Razar.

"To advance the answer, we can't declare Kanly on House Londine. Because there is no longer any House Londine. Two days ago the heighliner brought the news that the Sardaukar exterminated all elites and the majority of population of Cuarte, on the same charges as levied against House Verdun. They went on to deliver the same fate to Houses Mumford and Vok, also deemed Noble Commonwealth sympathisers. It appears the Padishah Emperor has sent the Sardaukar on a killing spree, based on some actionable intelligence he has acquired. He must know that without proof of their treason he can bring forth, his arbitrary destruction of Great Houses may lead to a full rebellion of the Landsraad."

Somehow, Thufir's expression didn't look like it was an improvement for the Atreides.

[Razar Lanville]

It was certainly surprising news to Razar, but he didn't show it. This was part of the issue of trying to keep up with a mentat. You simply can't if you aren't one, so it's no use worrying about being surprised when they reveal truths you don't know... you'd be surprised all day. It always felt like you were an immeasurable number of steps behind.

But he was thankful for the fact that they had thufir none-the-less so he bowed his head in thanks for the clarification. Kanly wasn't his idea of a good time anyway. More like an unpleasant necessity of their societal structure.

[Efren Lanville]

Efren's back straightened ever so slightly at the revealing of his promotion. He was pleased with the news that the Muadh were most likely relatively safe for the time being and listened intently to the complex political situation they apparently found themselves in.

It felt as if someone was trying to paint them into a corner... a dangerous prospect... Every Atreides knew the danger of a cornered bull. This time, they were the bull.

[Kannon]

Thufir decided it was time. He couldn't give them all the details anyway.

"Second-level approximation: Caladan is on the list of worlds the Sardaukar are going to attack. We can put up a fight, but every interstellar conflict is won with money the Guild must be paid for military transport. And the Imperial navy and troops travel free of charge. We will be overwhelmed."

He paused, because once it got out of his mind, it acquired new status.

"The Duke is on a bold mission to get us out of this lopsided gambit with the Noble Commonwealth, the nature of which may however be misconstrued by the Emperor. A secret envoy was sent to Kaitain with a solido projection of the Duke's own words implanted in his body to provide Shaddam IV with necessary disclosures. But that envoy never reached Kaitain. We have just learnt that he was captured by the Harkonnen en route and is held on Lankiveil. That envoy is Gurney Halleck."

Hawat steeled his jaw.

"If Rabban has allowed Piter de Vries to take part in the torturing, he must have found the message and twisted the knowledge within it against us. We have to reach the Emperor before his henchmen reach us. But we can't come empty-handed. We have to retrieve Halleck. We only know of this because he has somehow managed to send us an SOS through automated relays. I am launching a surgical surprise strike on Lankiveil. The heighliner our force will be on arrives and departs tomorrow."

[Efren Lanville]

The whirl of surprising and… concerning news hit Efren and caused his eyebrows to tighten.

There was nothing for him to add or question, however, so he waited for what was sure to be his orders in the short future.