ACT ONE ━━ CHAPTER THREE
We Are the Sardaukar

     EVEN THE POURING RAIN COULD NOT WASH LOVISA OF HER SINS. She hadn't spoken since a boy was killed at her hand and barely showed any signs of life besides the reluctant rise and fall of her chest. Lovisa remained stoic with the other remaining Sardaukar candidates — now inductees — as she knelt on the rough pebbled ground, donned in full Sardaukar armor, facing the central monument that represented the imperial rule. On top of it, the General stood, looking over the army in lieu of its true leader, the Emperor.

Behind the inductees, the failed trainees bled out into a communal basin where women in all black robes submerged bowls to fill. The rejected trainees were hung upside down, their feet and individual wrists tied down in a position mirroring that of an inverted crucifix.

That of a symbol of martyrdom.

It was the least the Sardaukar could do to honor those whose lives were sacrificed for the Emperor, even if not in battle. Their blood would be used to ring in the new generation of warriors, and they would not be forgotten (in theory).

Lovisa thought otherwise. It was necessary that the initiation ceremony occurred during one of the planet's many rain storms, quite hypocritical in Lovisa's opinion since the Sardaukar was theoretically cleansed of their sins only to commit twice as many as they did before. As quickly as the rain poured down would the sacrifices be forgotten. After this short-lived ceremony, their bodies would simply be added to the never-ending graveyard on Salusa Secundus.

With other high-ranking army leaders emitting a low throaty rhythm, the General shouted from his spot, "We are the Sardaukar!" Lovisa eyed the women walking through the rows with their bowls full of spilt blood, tracing a line from the inductees' foreheads down to their glabella.

"The Emperor's Blades!" As the women came closer to Lovisa, she wondered what was in store for her post-induction. Would her identity be exchanged for a soldier? Forced to live out a fate that rendered her as disposable as the person kneeling beside her?

"Those who stand against us fall!" Would Lovisa ever see anyone from Ginaz again? Tauno? Duncan?

Lovisa's thoughts were interrupted as one of the women reached Lovisa's row, beginning at the opposite end. Lovisa watched from the corner of her eye as the woman drew the lines of blood on each of Lovisa's fellow soldiers' foreheads, ultimately reaching the lone female inductee. As instructed, Lovisa stared forward as the woman visibly hesitated at the sight of a girl, before also fulfilling her own assigned duty. The woman dipped her thumb in her bowl before extending her arm towards Lovisa's face, pressing her thumb onto the middle of Lovisa's forehead before slowly dragging it towards the space between her eyebrows.

When the woman retracted her arm, Lovisa knew that this was it. There was no going back to the girl she was before.

"The Emperor commands it!"

Lovisa Koskinen was no longer — now, she was a member of Sardaukar and only a member of the Sardaukar. Assigned with serving the Emperor.

"It is done!"

On cue, all of the inductees rose to their feet as their officers stood before them. No more words were spoken, only the high-ranking members' throat singing echoing in the atmosphere. The General's last few lines repeated in Lovisa's mind, almost against her will. As if she was being hypnotized to internally recite the words:

The Emperor commands it. It is done.

NATURALLY, Lovisa expected the worst when the General called for her during the middle of a meal. Silence rang throughout the large room, which was a rather impressive feat seeing as the room was constructed of total concrete.

Lovisa avoided eye contact with her fellow soldiers as she stood up and silently followed the General out of the room.

When no one was in a close radius, he told her, "The Emperor has requested your presence at his palace." Thoughts began running through Lovisa's head at the mention of the Emperor. She realized that they turned down the hallway that led to the ornithopters. She hadn't done much pilot training since the Sardaukar almost always fought hand-to-hand, but the soldiers were still taught the basics of flying as a precaution.

Nonetheless, Lovisa was too occupied wondering what it was that she, specifically, was requested by the Emperor. She was too deep in thought to realize that the General had walked to the passenger side of the ornithopter instead of the pilot's, and nodded towards it before instructing Lovisa, "You're flying." Lovisa didn't voice the hundred questions on her mind, instead obeying without objection.

She slid into the pilot's seat and buckled the seatbelt over her chest, flipping the respective switches to turn on the engine of the rig. Luckily for her, Lovisa was a natural during the short tenure of her flying courses, but that didn't mean that she was miraculously confident in her abilities operating said vehicle.

"I'll tell you how to get there," the General spoke aloud, "just begin going due east." Per usual, Lovisa obeyed without question or comment, and began flying in the instructed direction. The liftoff was a bit bumpy, the lever controlling the ornithopter's speed being very sensitive, but it wasn't commented on by the General and so Lovisa ignored the mistake altogether.

The ride was silent for most of the duration of the — unexpectedly — short flight aside from the General's blunt directions here and there. When they arrived on Kaitan, he instructed Lovisa to land, the part of the flight that made her the most anxious. She went through her mental checklist of which buttons to push and switches to flip and in what order, and did so impeccably; however, her greatest issue was controlling the ornithopter to achieve a soft landing.

Lovisa's landing was definitely not "soft" to say the least — granted, it wasn't the worst, but it certainly wasn't the best.

Despite various warnings showing up on the controls dashboard indicating that the vessel's speed was too fast for an optimum landing and Lovisa visibly panicking, the General sitting beside her did and said nothing until they finally landed, significantly farther away from the site they were intended to.

As Lovisa switched off the engine with a pounding heart, she attempted to appear calm as she stared forward, putting into use the Sardaukar behavioral techniques to remain calm in stressful situations.

"Well, that was quite shit." Lovisa faced her superior and did everything in her power to restrain herself. He faced her as well, unimpressed, "I'm aware that I could have easily told you what to do, or better yet, have taken control myself. However, when you are in the midst of battle, there will be no one for you to grasp onto like a child, looking to for help. And there may very well be a time where you will need to operate an aircraft on your own."

He shrugged as he opened his door, not having even worn a seatbelt to begin with, "For what it's worth, that was one of the better flights I've had with a new inductee. You're probably the most skilled pilot in your class — " his temporary display of niceties quickly disappeared " — don't repeat that." He jumped onto the ground and beckoned Lovisa over, "C'mon now, we've kept the Emperor waiting for long enough."

At the mention of the Emperor, Lovisa kicked into gear and recomposed herself. She exited the ornithopter and took long strides to assume her position adjacent to the General. When she went to put her helmet on to complete her armor, he shook his head, "There's no need for that. He's asked specifically for you, Lovisa."

The mention of her first name was so jarring that Lovisa's feet ceased moving for a moment, creating a slight limb as she tripped forward. She hadn't heard her first name aloud since she arrived on Salusa Secundus — since she became nothing but yet another Sardaukar candidate with the odds stacked against her. The General gave her a disapproving glance but Lovisa quickly recovered, remaining instep with him for the rest of the way to the Emperor's quarters.

Guards opened the multiple companion sets of doors that led to the high-security area of the palace where the Emperor resided. Unlike the others, this set of double doors appeared to have been crafted from pure gold. The guards opened them upon the arrival of the General and Lovisa, revealing a room fitting for the Emperor, appearing as royal as the man himself.

The Emperor was seated in his extravagant golden throne, a large, pale man standing nearby wearing dark armor. Lovisa and the man made eye contact with one another but she broke it when the General stopped walking and she followed suit alongside him.

The General bowed his head in greeting (which Lovisa mimicked), "Your Majesty."

The Emperor acknowledged his guests, "General. Soldier Koskinen." The Emperor's knowledge of Lovisa's name posed the question of the Emperor's (and the other two men in the room's) intentions. Sardaukar training focused on discarding an individual identity, instead contributing to the overall identity of the Sardaukar, whose sole purpose was to serve the imperial throne. Now, however, both the General and Emperor had spoken Lovisa's name, the very defining trait of said identity that they, combined, were attempting to erase.

When the General and Lovisa straightened their postures, the General went to the opposite side of the Emperor from the unknown man, leaving Lovisa to feel shrunken under the three man's gazes — the Emperor's, specifically, as he spoke directly to her, "Soldier Koskinen, as a previous attendee of the Ginaz School, your skills are far more advanced than others' in the imperial army." Lovisa noticed the General's very subtle shift in position — so subtle that the other men in the room most likely didn't even notice it themselves.

"Likewise, your espionage skills are unrivaled. To fool members of the School themselves into believing your false identity...that is quite a feat in itself." Lovisa nodded in thanks, unsure if she should verbally express her gratitude. "I'm unsure if you are aware," the Emperor continued, "but I have decreed that House Atreides take control over Arrakis and its spice production..." he glanced over towards the other man in the room, "...from House Harkonnen." Lovisa presumed he was a member of said house. The Emperor nodded to this man, as if permitting him to speak, "Rabban."

The man — Rabban — received his cue and began speaking, addressing Lovisa as well, "However, Harkonnen intends to take back what is rightfully ours through force." Lovisa looked towards the Emperor for a reaction, but saw none, as if he already knew.

He already knew.

"You are to travel to Arrakis," the Emperor spoke again, "and assimilate into the community. Atreides will be arriving in a few days' time, during which you will act as their closest confidant on the foreign planet. You will give us periodic updates and will be asked to help advise when you believe it is the most opportune time to strike. When they finally get comfortable, when they least expect it.

"The people of Arrakis believe that the son of the Duke is their savior. Their messiah. And you, too, must behave the same."

"The Fremen are our biggest threat," Rabban added. "Despite their limited resources, they appear to continue to be able to hold their own in battle. While the combined forces of Harkonnen and the Sardaukar greatly outweigh that of the Fremen, all threats must be eradicated. You will be asked to observe them as well, to learn their tactics, to memorize their strategies..." Lovisa stayed still, digesting the new information.

The Emperor cleared his throat, "It is crucial for you to be unsuspected. If you are found out, I am certain you can piece together your inevitable fate." Lovisa blinked, her way of communicating that she understood.

"When the time comes," the General said, contributing to the conversation for the first time, "you will don the armor of Harkonnen with your fellow Sardaukar, and you will put your training to use in favor of Harkonnen. In favor of the Emperor." Lovisa glanced between the three men, their own sights unwavering from her face.

The Emperor asked, "Understand, Soldier Koskinen?"

Lovisa responded as she was trained to, bowing her head before reciting, "The Emperor commands it." She slowly returned her head to eye level,

"It is done."

woot woot we're getting closer to actual dune movie events!! ik i said i hated writing pre-dune things but i actually loved writing this chapter. i watched a yt video called "we are the sardaukar" which was basically just a montage of sardaukar scenes from the movie and it included the ceremony mentioned at the beginning of the chapter which i thought was so interesting

+ i love lovisa. she can do no wrong. go little badass go