The warm rays of sunlight penetrated the well-lit dining room.

  Jack was eating a sandwich at this moment while Jessica was sitting opposite him.

  He didn't glance at her, just focused on eating his food, but Jessica was far too perceptive not to have noticed "Paul's" unusual behaviour nowadays.

  Her hands moved as she grabbed the jug of water and seamlessly poured it into two glasses near her.

  "Paul, do you want some water?" Jessica asked, her eyes narrowed.

  "I am not really thirsty," Jack replied.

  "I understand... but, I insist you take the water," Jessica said.

  Jack glanced at the glass and then at Jessica.

  "If you insist," Jack muttered as he stopped eating and his eyes focused on Jessica.

  'I've got this,' he thought to himself as he recalled the process to use The voice.

  Taking a deep breath, Jack opened his mouth.

  His words left his mouth but seemed beyond the frequency of normal human speech.

  "Give it to me." The vibrating voice reached Jessica's ears.

  Jessica's Eyes glazed for just a moment, her hand slightly shifted towards the glass before Jessica quickly regained control of herself.

  'I still can't properly use The Voice like Paul could,' Jack thought to himself.

  “You are forcing it, and your modulation was unfocused,” Jessica said.

  "Maybe I don't want to use it properly," Jack shrugged as he picked up his sandwich off the plate.

  "Paul. You are avoiding discipline,” she said softly, her eyes firmly staring at Jack.

  Jack's eyes glanced at her for a moment, his mind turning.

  "Mother, I have a question," Jack slowly said as he put the sandwich on the table.

  "What is it?"

  “Would you still choose House Atreides if they stood against your orders?” Paul muttered.

  Jessica's eyes flickered subtly, "You speak of orders as if you understand them and the weight of responsibilities,” Jessica calmly replied.

  Standing off the table, she stared at Jack and spoke calmly, "I believe you must have been asked to attend the council meeting. We should begin making our way to it," She said.

  ...

  The council chamber was already occupied when Jack entered.

  Glancing around, Jack saw a large map of Arrakis behind Leto who was currently seated in the head seat of the long table going through some papers.

  Jessica was sitting to the closest right of Leto, while Thufir was opposite her.

  Gurney was seated at the table beside Thufir, his arms folded.

  Duke Leto glanced up from the papers and saw Jack enter.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  "Ah, you are here Paul, have a seat," Duke Leto said as he pointed to the seat besides Jessica.

  Jack moved silently and sat on the chair as Duke Leto took off his reading glasses.

  A moment of silence stretched as Duke Leto prepared himself.

  "Now that we are all here, we can begin," Duke Leto said as he put down his folded reading glass on the papers in front of him.

  "We will depart for Arrakis in 3 days," He said, glancing at everybody on the table, "So let's not waste a moment, “Thufir. Your report.” Duke Leto said pointing at Thufir.

  "Yes, my Duke," Thufir said as he stood up.

  "Not long after the Signing ceremony, Duke Leto had asked me to perform an in-depth investigation on our staff. A few days ago we captured three external intelligences within various departments, one belonging to the Emperor and two from The Harkonens."

  "What departments?" Gurney's eyebrows creased as he leaned in and asked.

  "Internal Resources, Aerospace Defence Division, External Defences."

  Gurney leaned back in his chair, his eyes lingering on Thufir, "What information has been compromised?"

  Thufir's eyes turned white for a moment before they reverted to normal. "We have carried out investigations on these individuals. Information so far exchanged is not relevant to Arrakis, just military movement reports. No further irregularities detected within those divisions."

  “Meaning we have not yet found them all. Other departments are still vulnerable,” Gurney gritted his teeth. Branches such as Aerospace Defence Division and External Defences were his responsibilities after all.

  "We do not have the time to launch a deep enough investigation," Duke Leto said with a sigh.

  Jessica glanced at Leto for a moment before her eyes shifted towards Gurney.

  “Divide the branches further.

  Fragment responsibilities.

  No single unit should hold complete operational clarity, alone, the tasks would not make sense, but put the fragmented groups together, and the individual tasks will make sense, but infiltration is not deep enough within our ranks to accomplish complete movement reports," Jessica stated.

  "Lady Jessica is wise indeed," Gurney said, slightly bowing his head.

  "Gurney, how is the army's readiness?" Duke Leto asked.

  "The Army and its various divisions have been getting ready, but I must ask Duke Leto, why do I get the feeling that these preparations are not as simple as moving to Arrakis?" Gurney asked, his eyes staying on Leto, waiting for an answer.

  Duke Leto fell silent for a moment.

  His eyes shifted as he glanced at Paul for a moment.

  'So it's happening,' Jack prepared himself.

  "Before I answer that, we should receive the update Captain Duncan has regarding the early expedition mission to Arrakis."

  The projector behind Duke Leto changed, the map of Arrakis vanished and was replaced by Duncan sitting on a red dune.

  "Captain Duncan, what's the update?" Duke Leto spoke as his chair turned to face the screen.

  "Greetings, everybody," he said with a smile.

  As his eyes glanced around the room, they lit up when they landed on Jack.

  "Hey Paul!" Duncan waved hello.

  Jack smiled and waved back.

  "Captain Duncan" Gurney grunted.

  "Oh yeah, my bad," Duncan chuckled a little.

  "So far, the Northern sietches are receptive towards speaking of trade however the Southern tribes are resistant. They distrust off-worlders, they are zealots, they have something in common, they speak of past Harkonnen brutality with equal amounts of hatred.

  They will not tolerate interference with water stores. I have made concessions so far, promising no tax on their water stores to the Northern sietches.

  They are strategically a more valuable group of people to work together with, they are much closer to us in comparison to the Southern tribes, and their familiarity with the terrains surrounding Arrakeen has been a great help, they are willing to have a formal meeting once you have arrived at Arrakis, Duke Leto." Duncan said.

  "We have also mapped out several safe escape routes, shelter positions which can be transformed into sub bases, reserves large enough to contain mass amounts of resources and a thorough list of all available machines for gathering spice, all done with the cooperation of the Northern sietches," Duncan concluded his report.

  "Very well done Duncan. Thank you for the report," Duke Leto said as he turned his chair around to face the table.

  "Oh, there is one more thing," Duncan said, causing everybody to look at the monitor again.

  "Both the Northern sietches and Southern tribes have been very adamant on finding out information on young lord Paul. There has been a rumour that somehow spread that Paul is their messiah, this was also a major point they wanted to know about, but so far, I have steered clear from such discussions," Duncan said.

  'Nice one Duncan!' Jack almost let a smile slip, 'It's best to set the conversation tone with them from the start.'

  Silence descended in the hall.

  Jessica glanced at Paul for a second, her face unchanged, yet her eyes glinted with understanding.

  Thufir's eye flashed white, while Leto sat there in silence for a few moments.

  Gurney looked at Duncan confused, only for a moment however, his mind was occupied with Duncan's report regarding escape routes, shelter positions and reserves.

  His mind raced through possibilities for a few moments before he glanced at Duke Leto.

  "Duke Leto... is there a possibility you are preparing for war on Arrakis?" Gurney asked