Chapter 29
Ship Time: 2 May 2268 AD – Mission Day 1648
Local Time: 23 April 10195 AG
The sky was just lightening as the 'thopter landed. The pilot fully retracted the wings as a ground crew quickly attached a tug to the aircraft and began to tow it into a storage cavern within the Cave of Birds. Once the 'thopter was inside, the cavern was closed. The pilot climbed out of his seat and opened the door allowing his single passenger to exit.
Chani climbed down from the aircraft and stretched her tired limbs. Her luggage was handed to her by one of the ground crew. She thanked the man and began to make her way to her mate's chamber. A Fedaykin commando took her bag and escorted her through the winding passages. A few days ago Jessica had sent a message to her to come as quickly as possible as something had happened to Paul-Muad'Dib. A few minutes later she arrived at Paul's chamber to find him seated on the floor before a low table eating his breakfast. His mother, the Sayyadina Jessica, Stilgar and Gurney Halleck sat at the table eating with him.
"Paul," she asked puzzled over the situation.
"Please sit down, my love," he replied without answering. "All is as it should be." The Fedaykin withdrew after leaving her luggage on the floor. "We'll explain everything," Jessica added.
An hour later, Chani her stomach full and her mind at rest over seeing he mate restored to health, yet angry at him for his foolish stunt with the Water of Life, stood next to him in a chamber set aside as a conference room, on the other side of Paul stood his mother, Stilgar, and Halleck.
A whistle filled the room as a party from the Polo beamed into the room. Chani's jaw hung slack in shock at the almost magical appearance of the Starfleet officers.
"Good morning," Captain Garibaldi began. "You have met Dr. Maxwell and Lt. Sotar." Paul stepped forward and shook the captain's hand.
"Welcome, Captain, gentlemen," Paul replied. Dr. Maxwell quickly scanned Paul with his tricorder.
"It appears that you have made a full recovery," he reported.
"Yes," Paul answered. "I appreciate the effort you made to come here to help." Paul held out his hand and Chani quickly joined him and took his hand. "This is the mother of my son, Chani. You already have met Stilgar and Gurney."
"It is nice to meet you, Miss Chani," Garibaldi said. "Hello again," he greeted the others. Chani replied with a slight smile, still speechless.
"Captain," Paul began. "The reason I asked to meet again with you is to discuss the upcoming arrival of the Guild Heighliners carrying Imperial and House forces."
"Are you so sure that they will be here soon," Garibaldi asked.
"Yes, they will be here today. They would be here now if not for your ship being in orbit. If I am to legitimize my rule over Arrakis as the Atreides Duke I must confront their forces without outside interference. The political and military results of this confrontation must be acceptable to the rest of the Empire and to the Guild."
"We would not interfere with their landings," Garibaldi said. "We have a policy of non-interference that I am sure you are aware of."
"I am aware of that and I am asking you to abide by that policy."
"Certainly," Garibaldi replied. "We do offer ourselves as a neutral party in the hopes that a negotiated settlement can be made. Also, the protection of non-combatants is a concern to us, both culturally and legally."
"Blessed are the peacemakers," Halleck interjected, quoting from the Orange-Catholic Bible, "their countenance will outshine all others."
"The correct quotation is 'Blessed are the peacemakers," Sotar replied, "for they will be called sons of God,' Matthew 5:9."
Halleck blinked a couple times. Never in his life had anyone attempted to correct one of his quotations. Then Jessica stepped in to help him. "You are both correct," she said. "Gurney's quote is from the Orange-Catholic Bible while Sotar's is from the Original Bible."
"Captain," Paul began, taking command of the conversation again. "I appreciate your offer, but I do not think that the Guild, Emperor, or the Harkonnens would accept your services at negotiators. Nor can I accept as my personal feud with the Harkonnens needs to come to its proper conclusion. They have caused too much pain and suffering to my family; they have killed my father. I would see justice done."
"I see," Garibaldi simply said.
"Your concern for the wellbeing of non-combatants," Paul went on, "is an ethical imperative which we can afford as it solidifies our support among the rest of the inhabitants of Arrakis and will also look good to the Landsraad. You will not find the Fremen at the cause of any abuse of non-combatants. You may find the actions of the Sardaukar to be not so ethical."
"Hmm," Garibaldi intoned as he considered Paul's summary of the Sardaukar. "Thank you for your support on this issue," he finally replied. "I'll return to my ship and take her out of orbit, allowing the Imperial forces to arrive. I will be contacting them after they arrive to offer them the same services that I just offered to you."
"Like I said, I do not think that they will accept your offer, but go ahead and try. Thank you for coming down, Captain," Paul said.
"You're welcome," Garibaldi replied while reaching for his communicator. "Garibaldi to Polo," he called, "three to beam up." A moment later the Starfleet party beamed back to their ship.
Interlude
A few days ago the Guild Navigators, with their limited prescience, had detected the Polo in orbit over Arrakis. This had caused great consternation among the navigators. They had learned their lesson over Caladan and they did not want to suffer any further loss of ships or of their collective pride. Further looks into the near future showed that the Marco Polo would leave orbit, but remain nearby. They also showed the unopposed landings of the embarked troops, but they could not see past that point. There were too many blind spots in their vision, particularly about any upcoming battles and about the Fremen leader, Muad'Dib. They informed the Emperor of the presence of the Polo over Arrakis and he quickly lost his temper.
"What," he had bellowed. "The Marco Polo is where?" His face had turned a bright shade of crimson which was not hard to do as he was red-haired with the accompanying pale complexion. "Why in hell are they at Arrakis now," he had asked in an apoplectic rage.
The Navigators quickly explained the rest of their vision. The Emperor calmed down realizing that the timetable would only be set back a day and that the Outsiders would not immediately intervene in his operation. He too had learned his lesson over Caladan.
A short time after returning to the Polo, Garibaldi ordered the ship moved to the L1 point between Arrakis and its outer moon. Not long after that, the Guild fleet arrived. Garibaldi contacted the Imperial and Guild fleet and informed them that the Polo was in the area acting as observers for the Federation and would not take part in the conflict brewing below. He gave them his offer as a neutral third party to host negotiations, but was immediately rebuffed and told to stay out of Imperial and Guild affairs. Garibaldi then told them the he would act if, during the conflict, non-combatants were being attacked or abused.
The Imperial and Harkonnen forces began their landings while the forces of the other major and minor houses remained aboard the Heighliners. The Imperial and Harkonnen forces established their ground base on the plains south of the city of Arrakeen just north of the Shield Wall.
The next day, the Imperial forces began construction of a portable, metallic building to house the Emperor, his retinue, and his Sardaukar soldiers. Garibaldi ordered detailed scans of the building. He was quite impressed with both its size and extensive use of shape-metal alloys in its construction. All five legions of Sardaukar were barracked within the portable building.
The Sardaukar, released from their immediate duties, then made their presence felt in Arrakeen. They immediately began to intimidate the locals resulting in bar brawls, assaults, rapes and a couple of murders, but no major riots broke out. Garibaldi was ready to stun any attacking Sardaukar force from space should a major pogrom had been launched against the city.
Meanwhile, Paul and the Fremen leadership began assembling their troops from all over the planet. Many sandworms were exhausted from the nightly troop movements. Soon all the pieces would be in place for the final confrontation between the Atreides led Fremen and the Imperial and Harkonnen legions.
