Chapter 305 The Fremen's Homecoming! The End of Integration! Assassination!

"I will contact Director Song now and ask her to leave a group of Fremen as family guards for our Atreides family."

Hawat understood Duke Leto's inner worries, but at the same time, he also knew that this was definitely not that easy to do.

Although the Fremen may not be of much use to the Universal Corporation in terms of practical effects, in political terms, these Fremen are still of some value.

After all, the marketing method of the Sisterhood to the Fremen is to say that this is a legion that serves the "savior" and the new Galactic Emperor.

This can be simply understood as whoever the Fremen follow will be the emperor of the Galactic Empire!

The Atreides family is just the leader among many families, and it is not the emperor's turn. Logically speaking, Leto is not qualified to have this army.

Otherwise, it would be an usurpation!

So even if the Universal Corporation severely rejected the Atreides family's request, it was reasonable.

Hawat, who knew the reason, reminded Leto: "My Lord Duke, you have to be mentally prepared for this matter in advance. The Giant Enterprise may not agree to our request."

Hawat stood from the perspective of a military commander. Although the Fremen had no obvious advantages over the battleships and cannons of the Giant Enterprise, they were a very high-quality source of soldiers.

First of all, the Fremen lived in a wild land, and the harsh living environment created their strong physique and tenacious fighting will.

With the genetic modification technology of the Giant Enterprise, with a little tinkering, these people will become more powerful Spartan warriors or Astartes warriors.

More importantly, the Fremen's minds are still very "simple". The witches of the Sisterhood fooled them and believed everything they said.

This characteristic may be regarded as a lack of mind in society, but in the army, it is a combat weapon that absolutely obeys orders!

It's a pity that the ownership of this fighting tribe belongs to the Universal Giant Enterprise, and their Atreides family has no right to command the Fremen.

But even so, Hawat still thought that asking Song Zhaomei for some Fremen as family guards should not be considered a difficult request.

After all, the reason given by the Atreides family was very reasonable, and a super civilization like the Giant Enterprise would most likely nod in agreement to such a trivial request.

"Go, leave this matter to you."

Leto patted Hawat on the shoulder. He was just trying to test the attitude of the Giant Enterprise. If the other party was unwilling to give, then he could only admit defeat.

"Yes!"

After the voice fell, Hawat immediately turned around and returned to the Atreides family's residence, ready to contact Song Zhaomei to discuss the matter in detail.

Half an hour later, in an inner hall somewhere in the residence, a thin but strong masked woman quietly lurked in the dark of the inner hall.

She was the sisterhood assassin sent by the Virgin Helen-Anya!

After the Virgin Helen and Emperor Shaddam reached an alliance, the Sisterhood immediately launched a series of actions.

They went around whispering in the ears of various families, and sent Anya, a senior assassin of the Sisterhood, to carry out the assassination mission.

As the expeditionary corps of the Universal Corporation was ready, and the families were more inclined to support the Atreides Family.

This forced the Virgin Helen to urge the assassins to act as soon as possible and kill the senior members of the Atreides Family.

Originally, the Sisterhood had planted Lady Jessica as a nail in the Atreides Family, but unfortunately, a married woman is like spilled water.

Jessica betrayed her mother's family, the Sisterhood, and chose the path of raising a husband and children.

Now the Sisterhood can only go through untold hardships to insert Anya into the Atreides to carry out this assassination.

This is the only chance for the Sisterhood, and it cannot be lost!

"Director Song, I'll leave the matter of the Fremen to you. I hope His Majesty the Emperor can give us an answer as soon as possible."

At this time, a sound came from the corridor of the inner hall, and a steady sound of footsteps was constantly approaching the inner hall.

Anya's gloomy eyes flickered. She could tell that the person who spoke was the Mentat of the Atreides family, Duffy Hawat.

If Hawat could be stabbed to death, the Atreides family would also cause chaos, which would be considered the completion of her assassination mission.

Thinking of this, Anya took the initiative to hold her breath and patiently waited for the two to approach, ready to kill them at any time.

In the empty outer corridor, Song Zhaomei and Hawat walked side by side. They were discussing the issue of the ownership of the Fremen.

As Hawat expected, the Universal Corporation did not really care about the Fremen, but it still attached great importance to the political significance.

In many cases, the issue of principle is equivalent to actual interests, and even a little bit of fly meat cannot be easily given up.

So on the issue of the ownership of the Fremen, Song Zhaomei can even directly make the decision for Leon, that is, not a single Fremen can be given to the Atreides family!

"Mr. Duffy, regarding the issue of the Fremen, our attitude is that we will not give them to any family power. Every Fremen will be a department employee of a giant company."

"In addition, the issue of the Fremen's affiliation involves a more sensitive area. I think keeping them will bring unnecessary trouble to the Atreides family."

Song Zhaomei stated her attitude very straightforwardly and directly rejected the other party's request.

In fact, from the perspective of the Universal Corporation, there is no need to discuss this issue at all.

When it comes to the legitimacy of the Divine Emperor's regime, the boss Li Ang will definitely not give in.

Although Li Ang did not directly say who the Fremen belonged to, Song Zhaomei, as a subordinate, was still perceptive. The leader was most afraid of this kind of "unclear right and wrong" thorny issue.

What if someone uses the Fremen issue to attack the Atreides family for deliberate rebellion, how should the Universal Corporation deal with it?

So if you can avoid getting involved in such small issues as much as possible, don't get involved. Besides, the Fremen are indeed suitable as a good source of soldiers.

At most, these people can fight all over the galaxy with inhaled spices. As long as they receive some reasonable genetic modification, their physical strength will definitely be awesome.

In the future, the Market Development Department will definitely build a Fremen Corps around the Fremen as an elite unit of the giant company.

Therefore, none of these people can be given to the Atreides family.

"If the Duke is worried that the Atreides family will face challenges from other families, please tell him that he doesn't have to worry."

After clearly rejecting Hawat's request, Song Zhaomei gave her own opinion and plan around Leto's concerns.

That is, the Universal Corporation provides clones, clone soldiers, and corresponding weapons and equipment for the Atreides family.

As family guards, these arms are actually better than training Fremen in terms of function and cost.

In fact, after the major families of the Galactic Empire join the Universal Trade Circle, the weapons and equipment and warships of the Atreides family will definitely be greatly upgraded.

In this case, pure human resources are actually not very useful. Jobs such as guards can be completely served by AI robots and clones.

The task of the Universal Corporation in the 005 "Dune" universe is to win over all the families and establish a "Silk Road" across multiple universes.

And the role of these families is the members of the Chamber of Commerce, responsible for contacting the civilized species of each universe and transporting the goods and commodities of the giant enterprise to the entire universe.

Buy and sell giant kaiju beasts from the Pacific Rim universe, rent scary quantum soldiers from the Netherworld, sell spices from the Dune universe, and give away fun halo arrays for free...

Under the arrangement of the Universal Corporation, the weapons and equipment and troop strength of these families will only be stronger than they are now, and the Atreides family, as the head of the Chamber of Commerce, will definitely not need to rely on the Fremen to protect themselves.

Regarding this, the giant company has already considered it for them.

"Mr. Duffy, we fully understand the situation of the Atreides family, and we are confident that we can solve the problem for you, so please trust our decision-making arrangements."

Song Zhaomei promised Hawat.

She could understand Duke Leto's worries. After all, the old duke has been playing tricks in the empire for a lifetime, and his mind is full of twists and turns.

Facing the empire's pattern that has long been changed, it is normal that he can't change his thinking for a while.

After listening to Song Zhaomei's explanation, Hawat suddenly realized how wrong his previous thoughts were.

Fortunately, they didn't really get this Fremen, otherwise it would be like burying a huge mine for the Atreides family.

Since the Universal Corporation has arranged all this, Hawat will not say anything more.

Now the Fremen's affiliation issue has been perfectly resolved, and only the final integration task remains.

Before this, Hawat was still quite worried about the progress of the integration of the Corporation, after all, the minions of the Corino royal family, the Sadoka Legion, were defeated.

But as the final winner of the holy war ten thousand years ago, the royal family may have kept some AI technology in private.

If the dog emperor Saddam breaks the jar and releases the ancient AI, it may bring some unexpected troubles to other families and the Corporation.

But now, after Hawat has seen the two expeditionary corps of the Corporation and its strong technological strength, he has regained a lot of confidence in the integration war.

After all, no matter how powerful the ancient AI is, it will take time to develop. Facing the giant enterprise that has already achieved "perfection" in the field of AI, the royal family's low-grade yellow-level AI skills are really not up to par.

"Okay, Mr. Duffy, just send me here." Song Zhaomei stopped at the corner of the corridor before entering the inner hall.

She shook hands with Hawat and said with a smile: "I will rest in the room for one night and set off to return to the flagship tomorrow. At that time, you and Duke Leto will not have to send me off again."

At this moment, Song Zhaomei has received Leon's transfer order. If nothing unexpected happens, she will most likely be the interstellar governor of the 005 "Dune" universe.

And Arrakis will also serve as her governor's mansion. At that time, Song Zhaomei will replace all the personnel here with internal employees of the giant enterprise, and clear out all the idle people.

Seeing this, Hawat smiled and nodded: "Then I will represent the Duke and wish you a smooth sailing!"

Song Zhaomei chuckled, and just as she was about to turn around and walk into the inner hall, her latest Qilusi artificial eye suddenly scanned a human thermal image.

There was a suspicious figure hiding in the corner of the inner hall, and it seemed that he was holding some kind of miniature hidden weapon in his hand. At that moment, Song Zhaomei immediately realized that there was an assassin here!

At this time, Hawat also noticed Song Zhaomei's suddenly gloomy face. He thought he had said something wrong and accidentally angered the other party.

But the next second, Song Zhaomei remained silent, turned her head and gestured to Hawat, indicating that there was an assassin there.

In an instant, Hawat's face turned pale, but his strong psychological quality made him restrain his cry. He really couldn't believe that there would be an assassin here.

You know, this station is the core area of ​​the Atreides family. The people who stay here are all the trusted guards of Duke Leto.

Even the most ordinary servants were brought from Caladan!

But the assassin can still sneak in, which is enough to show how strong the other party's infiltration ability is.

Hawat knew without thinking that this must be a killer sent by the Sisterhood.

"By the way, Director Song."

Hawat, who had a bright mind, quickly thought of a countermeasure. He had a solemn look on his face, but his voice was quite gentle:

"You haven't had the Atreides family dinner yet, I want the Duke to host you and invite you to an Atreides dinner. It won't take you too long, just one hour."

"I don't know what you think."

As the head of the internal affairs and military affairs of the Atreides family, Hawat is top-notch in both IQ and psychological quality, and he immediately thought of a countermeasure.

After speaking, Hawat paused again and added: "When the family dinner is over, Duke Leto will definitely send you back in person to show his hospitality!"

Hawat knew that as an important senior member of the Atreides family, if he turned around and left at this time, the assassin inside would definitely rush out and forcibly assassinate himself and Song Zhaomei.

In order to appease this assassin, he could only throw out the more important Duke Leto and divert the other party's attention to Leto.

After all, compared to himself, the assassins of the sisterhood would rather kill Duke Leto directly, so that the Atreides family would be leaderless and the Atreides would fall into chaos and disputes.

After listening to Hawat's proposal, Song Zhaomei smiled with satisfaction, nodded and responded: "Okay, I believe that the family dinner prepared by Duke Leto will not disappoint me."

Song Zhaomei's double entendre made Hawat wipe the cold sweat from his forehead, and he replied firmly: "Yes!"

After the voice fell, the two of them turned back along the corridor. Of course, Song Zhaomei's attention was always behind her, guarding against the assassins who might rush out of the inner hall at any time.

And Anya, who was hiding in the dark of the inner hall, decided to stay put for the time being after weighing her own thoughts, and continued to wait patiently for Duke Leto who was about to return.

As Hawat expected, Duke Leto was the primary target of the assassins of the sisterhood. As long as there was a little chance, they would prioritize Leto.

After all, once Hawat was assassinated, it would inevitably cause an uproar in the Atreides family. Leto, who was on guard, would definitely not let the Sisterhood assassinate him again so easily.

However, what Anya never expected was that all this was just a trick by Hawat to lure the enemy.

Anya waited for a long time in the dark of the inner hall, but what she finally waited for was not Duke Leto, but an elite Atreides guard led by Duncan!

They surrounded the inner hall quickly and caught Anya hiding in the dark.

Although Anya, as a senior member of the Sisterhood, controls a powerful sound control power, her sound control power is not as exquisite as that of the Virgin Helen, and can only be used on a single unit.

Therefore, facing the elite Atreides guards, Anya had no power to fight back.

During this period, Anya, who failed in the assassination mission, tried to bite the poison hidden in her teeth, but the experienced Duncan took out the contents of her teeth at the first time.

In the end, the assassination plan led by the Virgin Helen was completely declared a failure.

In the dark and damp dungeon, Duncan personally took the field as an interrogator, forcing Anya to reveal the mastermind behind the scenes and the whereabouts of her accomplices.

Of course, according to the practice of the Atreides family, before the formal interrogation, the prisoner must first be given a taste of pain, which is considered a killing stick for the criminal.

When the whip covered with thorns and barbs, dipped in cold salt water, was whipped on Anya's body, every crisp sound of the hit would make Anya scream in pain.

This punishment method of beating and disinfecting at the same time made Anya almost faint from the pain. It was not until Duncan saw that the time was almost up that he asked people to stop.

There was no way. With the crime committed by Anya, let alone whipping, even if she was executed on the spot, she deserved it, but letting her die so easily was too easy for her.

Immediately, Duncan waved his hand again and asked the guard to take out the ointment to apply to Anya. This secret ointment from the Atreides family can quickly repair the damaged wounds of the human body and accelerate the healing of flesh and blood.

But the corresponding price is that after applying this ointment, the patient will feel pain and itching in the wound, as if being bitten by countless ants.

After a while, Anya was gasping for air in the pain of the healing wound, tears and snot flowed out, and even her teeth were trembling.

After finally waiting for the effect of the medicine to end, the wound healed a little, but Duncan whipped it again, and Anya's wound was torn again.

After such a cycle of torture, Anya's body soon rotted beyond recognition, and her mental state was on the verge of collapse.

Seeing that the situation was almost settled, Duncan asked Anya to tell him the mastermind behind the scenes and who her accomplices were.

Anya, who had been tortured for a long time, could not bear Duncan's whipping and told him everything she knew.

From the assassination mission assigned to her by the Virgin Helen to other people planted in the Atreides family, as well as their names and positions, Duncan was informed of everything.

Although the members of the sisterhood have received professional training and have strong willpower, few people can persist in the face of long and endless pain and torture.