Following Thufir, Jack walked into Duke Leto's office.

  "Paul, you are here as well?" Duke Leto asked with a raise of his eyebrow, looking towards Jack with an inquisitive gaze.

  "I heard about the conference call you are about to have with one of the representatives of the Northern Sietches. I was curious about them," Jack naturally responded.

  "Duke Leto, young Paul here made me realize something far too important that we had missed," Thufir spoke not wasting a moment longer.

  "What did we miss?" Leto asked glancing towards Thufir who stepped forward.

  "On the walk here, young Paul casually had mentioned his interest in how the Fremen have managed to survive such a brutal regime of the Harkonnen and their technological research resulting in creating an almost lossless hydration system." Thufir paused for a few moments.

  Duke Leto patiently waited, wanting to hear more of what Thufir was going to say.

  Thufir approached the desk and said, "A people who survived decades of Harkonnen brutality without breaking suggests a military capability the Empire has either underestimated or deliberately suppressed from official records. Their knowledge of the deep desert alone makes them strategically invaluable to any force operating on Arrakis."

  "If treated as equals, they become our most effective fighting force on Arrakis,” Thufir said.

  Duke Leto was silent, lost in thought as he deliberated.

  A few moments passed, and Thufir spoke.

  "The Fremen already have stillsuits, body suits that recycle moisture from breath and sweat with near-perfect efficiency. That technology exists, but we the Atreides nor the broader Imperium have it in a practical deployable form outside of Arrakis," he said.

  Thufir's eyes flashed white for a moment before turning normal.

  "Atreides engineers study and scale stillsuit technology. Right now, stillsuits are handmade by Fremen artisans, slow to produce and limited in supply, We can bring industrial manufacturing capability to mass-produce them.

  The Fremen get more stillsuits faster than they could ever make themselves and we can get suits for our own troops and greater fremen assistance, which dramatically increases our operational range and desert survivability in case of defeat."

  As Duke Leto was going to say something, the communicator lit up.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  Glancing at it, Duke Leto immediately accepted the incoming video transmission.

  A dark-skinned woman appeared behind Duke Leto.

  Her eyes were bluish, a trait shared by the Fremen due to their constant exposure to spice.

  "Greetings Duke Leto," the woman on the other end said.

  "Greetings Arak'Numi, Naib of Sietch Faie, I am pleased that we can meet," Duke Leto said.

  "You are going to be our new rulers, it is normal," Numi responded, her face not betraying a hint of emotion.

  'She is aggressive,' Jack thought to himself glancing at the meeting occurring from the sidelines.

  "Indeed, that does appear to be the case, however I assume our intentions have been communicated effectively through our scout team leader Duncan right?" Duke Leto said.

  "Yes, we have," Numi curtly replied.

  "I am curious to know what the other Sitechies within the Northern territory think?" Duke Leto asked.

  “All off-world rulers say this.”

  “They all bleed us the same,” Numi replied with a short sentence before she stopped talking.

  “Will you tax our water?”

  “Will your soldiers walk our sietches armed?”

  'This is going to be tough,' Leto thought to himself almost letting a sigh slip out.

  "We condemn the Harkonnen's tyranny and have no intentions of being like them, we wish to seek out an equal cooperation with the Northern Sietches. We offer something that may be of great use to you in terms of water," Duke Leto said.

  It was subtle, but Numi seemed to be intrigued about what Leto was going to say.

  A small yet controlled smile appeared on Leto's face when he noticed the subtle changes.

  ...

  The sun shone brightly as Jack was standing outside right beyond the port, observing soldiers boarding ships and taking off.

  "It is finally the day," Jack murmured with a solemn expression, His fingers tightened unconsciously around the railing. He didn't know what the future held for him, and that scared him. His family and all the people within the Atreides House Banner were now counting on him to survive.

  The strong winds blew towards Jack as ships were continuously taking off one after another.

  Glancing towards his right, he saw the vast sea in the far distance. Jack let out a sigh.

  A hint of sadness flashed in his eyes.

  Somewhere beneath his own feelings, Paul's memories ached at the sight of it.

  "Are you ready?" Duke Leto said as he arrived beside Jack.

  He glanced at Jack and softly smiled.

  "You seem scared and sad to leave Caladan," Leto asked.

  "I am sorry I am putting all of you through so much danger and risk," Leto muttered, his eyes seemed weak at this moment, as if years of exhaustion had caught up to him.

  “I chose this path.”

  “You did not.”

  “Remember that,” Leto said as he patted Jack's back.

  "You are going to have to one day take on these responsibilities and burdens Paul, I just hope that I will be able to pass something worth having, to you, If one day you feel like its all too much, dont hesitate to leave it all behind" Leto said as he began walking forward into the docks, seemingly approaching Gurney who was leading the loading up.

  Jack was silent as he watched Leto walk away.

  He felt a burst of emotions within his heart but he chose not to acknowledge them.

  ...

  In the observation deck of the Atreides frigate, Leto, Jessica, Jack, Thufir, and Gurney stood.

  The frigate rose through Caladan’s cloud cover, engines humming low and steady.

  The deep blue planet of Caladan, the place they had called home for decades was slowly drifting further away.

  The blue of Caladan thinned.

  Oceans became streaks.

  Then a glow.

  Then nothing.

  'Now it begins.' Jack thought to himself as they smoothly exited Caladan's atmosphere, the frigate settled into the cavernous hold of the waiting Heighliner. Moments later, space folded in silence, and Caladan vanished.