Chapter 281 – Supporting a Puppet, Absorbing the Sisterhood! The Spacing Guild!
After calmly evaluating the characteristics and technological landscape of the Dune universe, as well as the layout of its major powers and the difficulty of unification, Li Ang had already formulated a rough plan along with his next strategic objectives.
First and foremost, what the Megacorp needed to do was support a native puppet faction from the Dune universe. It didn't matter which noble house it was—as long as they were willing to cooperate with the Megacorp, that was good enough.
This was the same tactic Li Ang had used in the Halo universe, where he first turned the Elites of the Covenant and brought them under his command. If you wanted locals to lead the way, they obviously had to be locals themselves.
Only then could he break through the universe piece by piece and eventually unify the entire Dune setting.
The second step was to take control of the Bene Gesserit—this group of scheming women.
Since the true Divine Emperor had already arrived in this universe, there was no more need for the Sisterhood to play their little game of artificially breeding a "Messiah" and inflating their value with mystical nonsense.
Time for a full layoff and career change!
At that point, Li Ang would personally select a few promising members from the Sisterhood to form his... secretarial team.
Their daily responsibilities would include in-depth research into the various functions of spice, and of course, offering some private lessons in supernatural abilities—such as prescience, the Voice, and other high-tier powers.
Of course, the Bene Gesserit as an organization wouldn't be disbanded. Instead, they'd be repurposed into a covert network serving the Megacorp, acting as its eyes and ears throughout the Dune Empire.
After thinking it over, Li Ang summoned AI Loki and instructed him to immediately call in his core executive team for a meeting at the Night City headquarters.
"[Understood!]"
Responding to Li Ang's order, AI Loki promptly sent out meeting requests to the heads of each department and dispatched shuttles to pick up the attendees.
After issuing the command, Li Ang didn't head to the conference room immediately. Instead, he continued standing by the floor-to-ceiling window, carefully reviewing the overall plan in his mind.
In truth, the mission to unify the Dune universe wasn't especially complex or difficult. But this operation would be a true test of Li Ang's micromanagement skills.
After all, in the Dune universe, humanity had long since become the dominant species of the galaxy. Civil wars and battles could result in casualties in the tens or hundreds of billions.
This implied that the human empire of Dune likely had a population in the trillions.
With such an immense population, managing it alone would burn through an absurd number of low-level administrative personnel.
That's why the Megacorp absolutely couldn't rely on its original corporate system to govern such a vast empire. Li Ang would need to ascend—literally—as the Divine Emperor!
There was no way around it. Everyone here believed in a messiah. If he didn't crown himself emperor, and the Megacorp ended up being labeled as heretical, it would be a disaster.
If trillions of people declared war on the Megacorp, even if he could steamroll through them, the cost in resources and logistics would be astronomical.
Without delay, Li Ang once again gave AI Loki a command—connect him to Song Zhaomei via video. He needed to discuss the coronation plan with the head of the Megacorp's Strategic Department!
…
…
Half a month later.
Inside a large operations conference room at the Multiverse Base Headquarters.
Ever since Morgan Blackhand had taken on the role of planetary governor in Universe 004 (Halo), the position of Operations Director had been left vacant.
Fortunately, the current operation wasn't considered too difficult, so Li Ang appointed Solomon Reed to fill in as temporary mission commander, tasked with overseeing the unification of the Dune universe.
Naturally, as the Megacorp's acting CEO, Li Ang would always oversee the unification of any newly accessed universe from headquarters.
This time was no exception.
Seated at the far end of the conference room, Li Ang and a group of officers stared at Reed and the holographic screen displaying a wealth of intel.
Wearing his usual heavy expression with a faint hint of suffering, Reed glanced over the assembled officers.
Then, using the holographic projector behind him, he pulled up images and footage and began to speak in a solemn tone:
"Gentlemen, Universe 005 has now been opened. Its codename is Dune. However, the environment revealed by the Stargate is a pitch-black void in deep space."
"With no established ground base, we were forced to send an advance fleet to scout and survey the surrounding area."
Reed gave a brief summary of the Megacorp's actions over the past several days.
Ever since Li Ang opened the Stargate leading into the Dune universe, the Megacorp's vanguard had been searching for a nearby habitable planet that could serve as a temporary forward base.
Such a base would be crucial for troop deployment and the construction of ships, weapons, and other logistical infrastructure.
Unfortunately, they hadn't found a single suitable planet. The surrounding star systems were barren and desolate.
This left many members of the advance team feeling baffled and confused—where exactly had the Stargate dropped them? Was this really a universe with a human civilization? Why wasn't there a single soul in sight?
Fortunately, it wasn't long before they discovered a lone vessel. The current mission was to take control of that "wild ship."
As Reed finished speaking, he switched the holographic screen to a live feed of the Stargate area.
Just recently, one of the Megacorp's recon drones had picked up the presence of a spaceship. To capture a prisoner and get intel, they had dispatched a wanderer-class Dreadnought to intercept it.
Now, under the pull of the dreadnought's powerful gravity field, the ship was slowly being reeled in.
Through the visual feed, Reed and the others could clearly see the terrified expressions of the humans inside the ship's windows.
They were clearly overwhelmed by the situation, tense and afraid they'd run into space pirates.
Judging by its appearance, the ship was clearly of human origin, though it looked crude and somewhat outdated.
At this point, the dreadnought had already broadcast a message:
[This is the LA Universal Megacorp. Please comply with our instructions. Do not attempt any pointless resistance.]
[We will now perform a sterilization procedure on your ship. Do not engage or we will take necessary enforcement measures.]
[…]
After delivering a strict warning, the ship indeed shut down its engines and remained stationary, allowing itself to be drawn in.
Clearly, the ship's captain was a smart one, recognizing how bad their odds were. Rather than fight a losing battle, it was wiser to cooperate—for now—and see what the other side wanted.
Rebelling would only bring needless casualties.
So, they shut down their engine and waited to see what the Megacorp would do next.
Once sterilization was complete and the drones withdrew, the next step was simple: drag the crew out and start asking questions.
"Bring them in. The boss wants to speak with them."
Reed issued the order via the FTL communications system to the dreadnought commander.
[Yes, sir!]
At his command, the dreadnought's pilot maneuvered the gravity field to draw the vessel into its hangar bay and deployed Spartan troops to secure the crew.
However, the ship's hatch remained firmly shut. Despite the order, there was no response—no movement at all.
Then a voice came through:
"This is the Spacing Guild. Who are you people? Which House do you belong to? How dare you intercept a Guild vessel?! Who gave you this order?!"
The moment those words—"Spacing Guild"—reached Li Ang's ears, a flood of related intel surged into his mind.
---
The so-called Spacing Guild is actually the organization that controls all major spacecraft and the lifeline of galactic transportation within the Dune universe.
Its main shareholders are divided into three major factions: first, the Emperor of Dune; second, the various powerful noble houses; and third, the internal faction of the Spacing Guild itself.
These three forces cooperate— the Guild provides the technology and equipment, the Emperor and noble houses contribute money and manpower, and together they profit.
However, this alliance isn't always as unified as it seems. Some noble houses have even clashed violently with the Guild.
That's why, when faced with a sudden hijacking by the Megacorp, the Guild crew suspected it was an ambush by one of those houses.
After all, there were precedents for such things.
In response to the Guild's suspicion, Reed immediately used a comms device to make a promise:
"We have no intention of harming you. We just want to talk. Please cease all resistance and exit the ship immediately."
"Otherwise, we will resort to force and drag you out ourselves!"
Half a month earlier, Li Ang had already briefed the Megacorp's top executives on the technological level of the Dune universe.
In terms of weapons technology, Dune's forces didn't even pose a threat—not just to the Megacorp, but possibly not even to the native humans of Universe 003: Edge of Tomorrow.
So when it came to the civilization of the Dune universe, Reed had absolutely no reason to hold back.
Seeing the Guild crew refuse to cooperate and continue hiding inside, Reed had no choice but to order the Spartan soldiers to forcibly breach the ship's hatch.
Faced with heavily armed, superhuman Spartans, the Guild crew instantly gave in. They surrendered with their hands raised and, under the direction of Megacorp forces, disembarked obediently.
"Calm down—we are with the Spacing Guild! If you intentionally attack Guild personnel, we will blacklist you immediately and revoke your shipping privileges!"
Clearly, the Guild captain hadn't grasped the situation yet and still assumed these Megacorp soldiers were private troops from some noble house.
But when they got a good look at the Spartans' advanced power armor, a flicker of shock and confusion appeared in their eyes.
Which noble house had soldiers like these? They'd never seen anything like them.
Meanwhile, inside the dreadnought, Megacorp's research staff quickly took over the Guild ship and began examining its systems and structure.
As for Dune's technology—there was actually quite a bit of it. Instant communication, foldspace travel, defensive shield systems—none of it was weak when examined closely. The only real shortfall was in weaponry, where Dune's human civilization was pitifully lacking. Throw a Reaper civilization in there and they'd be slaughtered in seconds.
Let alone something like the Covenant from Halo.
While the front-line Megacorp troops were disinfecting and counting the Guild crew, Li Ang 's thoughts drifted back to the broader structure of Dune's political forces.
In the Dune universe, after the suppression war between humans and AI, the human leader Butler emerged triumphant. He parlayed his success into massive political capital for his descendants.
Cashing in on that capital, Butler established himself as the Galactic Emperor, and his family eventually evolved into what became known as House Corrino.
The current Imperial family.
As rulers of the Imperium, House Corrino's influence reached every corner of Dune's power structure.
For example, the Spacing Guild's largest shareholder was none other than the Imperial family.
Backed by their elite Sardaukar troops, House Corrino's dominance was at its peak—they could amass wealth to fund their army while lording over other noble houses.
In response to the Emperor's high-handedness, Houses Atreides and Harkonnen—both of which had also participated in the anti-AI war—led other houses to form the Landsraad Council.
This council functioned as a political assembly with legislative and decision-making powers—clearly aimed at checking the Emperor's authority.
Thus, every Corrino Emperor had to master a crucial political skill: manipulating infighting within the Landsraad so that the houses would wear each other down, allowing the Imperial family to reap the benefits.
Of course, beyond the high-profile conflicts among the Emperor and the noble houses, the Dune universe also featured various "artisan" factions who were quite fond of basking in attention—always showing up at the right time to make their presence known.
These "artisans" relied entirely on advanced technology and the mystical spice.
For instance, the human computers known as Mentats, and the so-called "Suk Doctors"—masters of psychological healing, capable of eliminating all negative emotions or thoughts and absolutely loyal to their employers.
Yes, "Suk Doctor" isn't a title for a single person, but a designation for an entire specialized group.
All Suk Doctors were graduates of the Suk School, trained in medical science, and easily identified by a unique diamond tattoo on their foreheads.
Besides these two groups, there were also members of a sisterhood capable of implanting subliminal suggestions through voice—effectively manipulating others via vocal influence.
These women were known as the Bene Gesserit.
"Voice manipulation…"
Thinking about the Bene Gesserit's abilities, Li Ang couldn't help but suspect they were essentially a cult of manipulative con artists running a psychological scam.
After all, they could use mental conditioning to steer the behavior and decisions of those in power, bending them to their will.
In truth, the entire story arc of the Dune universe—featuring the Emperor, House Atreides, House Harkonnen, the Spacing Guild, and the Bene Gesserit—was secretly orchestrated by the highest echelons of the Bene Gesserit.
Their influence and infiltration persisted all the way to the end of the Dune saga.
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