Midnight Part Two

Prisoner Processing
Ohmen
Judecca

Watop Retwin eyed his captive while gently stroking one of his montrals. The first moments were always his favorite. The first moments and then everything that followed really. This was his calling, the art of interrogation and here, he made the rules. He took in the captive’s features. He was just a boy really, a foolish one at that. He had been captured as he rushed one of the New Dawn’s outposts near the palace. A brave foolish boy. Watop liked that, he knew it would make what was coming more fun than those who were already broken.

Watop reached up and tugged on the boy’s messy white hair. Kylex tried to pull away, but couldn’t. With no other actions before him, Kylex spat directly in Watop’s face. Watop released Kylex’s hair and stepped back to wipe the saliva from his face.

“Bold and defiant. Good. I also see you are no stranger to pain,” Watop said, gesturing to Kylex’s scars and cybernetic arm. “But I promise you, what you endured at the hands of your Mandalorians brethren will be a pleasant memory by the time I have finished with you.”

Kylex strained again against his restraints. “Look are you just going to talk me to death, or are we going to get this party started?” he quipped. Watop smiled and took a satisfied deep breath. He knew this would be a fun one to play with. And by the time he was done, he would know everything about the Palatinaeans’ plan to stop his lord. And when this conflict was resolved, Lord Fallax was sure to reward him with many new playthings.

“Party,” Watop repeated the word contemplating it. “Yes, I like that. We shall party,” he continued menacingly. He pulled a blood stained tool from his belt, one of dozens. “Party, party, party,” he whispered with a smile. He paused, tool a mere inch away from Kylex’s face. Both been turned their heads toward the door. There was a muffled sound of yelling from outside.

Then came the earth shaking explosion, which was quickly followed by the alarm system. Before Kylex could process what exactly was going on, the door to the room shot open. Dek Ironius lept into the room Westar-34 held tightly as he pivoted to check his corners. Watop Retwin had already vanished through the back wall of the room, tool from his belt dropped without a care to the ground.

“Kylex?” Dek asked in surprise. “We thought you were dead!” The Commander holstered his weapon and began to fiddle with Kylex’s restraints.

“Nope, was just here to party, which you interrupted thankfully,” Kylex said as he stepped away from his restraints.

“Look, just because you are a Knight now, doesn’t mean you should charge in alone like that. We aren’t going to stop the New Dawn if everyone is looking for some thrilling heroics,” Dek chastised as he motioned for Kylex to follow him out of the room. There were still others here who needed to be freed. Then they had some New Dawn to kill.

Throne Room
Imperial Palace

The vast openness of the throne room was filled by a large holo-projection of the entire city of Ohmen. Darth Fallax sat lounging casually on the throne, left leg kicked up over an armrest. While his posture indicated a bored and relaxed demeanor, his body was still tight and coiled ready to strike. His eyes were fixed on the map projection. Pulsing blue dots illuminated where his own people were. They had a widespread, controlling the whole city. But those weren’t the dots that held his attention.

Red dots flashed at locations where his own people were now in active engagement against the Palatinaeans. Green dots flashed at the last known locations of other Palatinaeans who had eluded the New Dawn. These were the markers that Fallax’s eyes darted between.

Once, millennia ago, this system was one of the dozens Fallax had controlled. He had methodically pressed the expansion of his Empire with a careful eye. Every victory he had was a major one, overwhelming his opponents. He was a master of tactics and combat, and it was his ability to judge and read an enemy was what had helped forge his rule.

Yet here he sat, unable to remotely understand what the Palatinaeans were hoping to accomplish in their movements. There was no order, no rhyme, no reason, no plan as to how they struck. Fallax was left wondering what were the distractions and what were the real targets.

“My lord,” Sadon said as he knelt before the throne. Fallax snapped his eyes away from the map and to his most trusted disciple. Fallax gave a slight wave of his hand, and Sadon stood, then continued.

“Watop has sent word. Prisoner processing was just hit. He ran as it happened, and we lost the Palatinaeans that had been captured for interrogation.”

Fallax slammed a fist down on the armrest of the throne.

“The coward. When he arrives make sure he knows his is not to flee before the Palatinaeans again. He will stay and do his job, or he will learn the secrets I have withheld from his training.”

Sadon bowed, unphased by the threat. Each of the Disciples needed reminders as this now and again. It also wasn’t the first time Watop had disappeared from a fight. The Togruta liked his enemies restrained and helpless. Straightening up again, Sadon stayed where he stood. Fallax cocked his head.

“And?”

“A team of Palatinaeans managed to break in and obtain copies of our encryption keys and security protocols. Zidane is working on changing them all, but it will take some time for it to be pushed to all our of systems. Until then, the damage they might be able to cause could be catastrophic.

Fallax stood, rage flowing out of his body, cracking the marble floor beneath his feet.

“Merkak is already in pursuit with his best special forces team. They are cornering them,” Sadon continued pointing to one of the flashing red dots on the holomap.

Unregistered Safe House
Ohmen

“We are fweced,” Mune said uncharacteristically blunt. He peered cautiously out the window, still breathing deeply. They had been pursued for over six city blocks, New Dawn nipping at their heels. The alley way they found themselves was a dead end, but luckily it was a alley well known to Lexiconus, who had created his own safe house here incase the members of Imperium came looking for his blood someday. But it was just a matter of time before the New Dawn reached this building.

“There is an escape tunnel back here,” Lexiconus said as he pushed a bookcase out of the way. Several of the others in the group looked up briefly and went back to rearming themselves with the supplies that had been stashed in the house.

“They will just follow it. We can’t keep running like this. We need to get these protocols out and used to break the New Dawn’s systems before they can change them. This game of cat and mouse needs to end,” Mune retorted. He stepped slowly back from the window, voice dropping to a whisper. The New Dawn had just come into view, and were preparing to breach the door of the building across the street.

“I will hold them here,” Sparky spoke up still attempting to catch his breath. The Chiss made eye contact with both Mune and Lexiconus. They all knew what was unsaid in that statement.

“Help me activate these charges and give me the detonator. I will hold them off as long as I can, then blow this place to hell. It will give you the time you need to get away,” Sparky continued. Mune gritted his teeth.

“No. We can’t,” the Rollmaster began to protest. Sparky held up a hand cutting him short.

“You can and you will. There is no time to debate this. We have to move quickly,” The Chiss said firmly. “This is war, and the Empire’s survival depends on our victory. Make this count.”

Outside, Merkak swore to himself before barking orders to his men. They came racing out of the building, Palatinaeans still illusive. There were only three buildings left in the alley way, one of them would have the Palatinaeans. But every minute they wasted on the wrong buildings, was another minute the Palatinaeans had to regroup and prepare.

His strike team formed up and prepared to kick down the door of the next building. The Sullustan gave the command, and they breached the building. Instantly, the sound of blaster fire rang out, followed by several grenade detonations. This was the one, the Palatinaeans were found.

Merkak nodded happily as his men filed into the building. The frantic sound of blaster fire continued. He knew it wouldn’t take long for his men to kill the Palatinaeans and began to approach the building. Within minutes he would be on his way back to the palace with the datadisks. The blaster fire slowed, then stopped. Merkak smiled and picked up his pace.

The smile didn’t last long, as the building then blew. Merkak was sent flying back, smacking into the wall of the building opposite. He fell limply to the ground, dazed. Blood began to pour down from his forehead, and smoked filled his lungs. Ears ringing, he coughed and attempted to get to his feet. His men were gone, killed in the blast of the building.

The Palatinaeans emerged from the tunnel several blocks away. The blast from the explosion had shaken them, echoing down the tunnel. Mune paused for a moment as they cautiously ventured out into the open once again. He looked back up toward where they had come from. Black smoke now billowed toward the sky. The deadman’s trigger they had wired had done its job, just as Sparky had done his. He had held off the New Dawn.

Major Sparky von Wagglehorn the Third had held his ground. Major Sparky von Wagglehorn the Third had saved their lives. Major Sparky von Wagglehorn the Third would be remembered as a hero of the Empire, yet another casualty in this war against the New Dawn.

The fiction is also available on the forums

Intel: The Order of the New Dawn

Darth Fallax: Darth Fallax is an ancient Sith Lord and the head of the Order of the New Dawn. He is currently in control of Xen’Mordin’s body, using it as a host for his spirit. This has trapped Xen inside his own mind in a state of perpetual agony.

Sadon Teraah: Sadon Teraah is Darth Fallax’s right hand man and most loyal disciple. He is never far from his master’s beck and call.

Aeshi Yamamura: Aeshi Yamamura is a Twi’lek who has been trained from infancy to be a skilled warrior and assassin.

Zidane Thorne: Zidane Thorne is a Zabrak with a lifetime of tinkering experience, and is the New Dawn’s current head of technological warfare.

Danni Spar: Danni Spar is a Zeltron who was captured by the New Dawn. Having grown up on Corellia, and with a natural Force connection, she was inducted into the Order and now oversees their entire mechanical operations.

Desric Teroler: Desric Teroler is a Duros and the head of indoctrination for the New Dawn. His methods have been questioned by the other Disciples, but they do not argue about his effective results.

Kadryn Teroler: Kadryn Teroler is the lead recruiter for the New Dawn. She works closely with her mentally unstable husband, Desric, to bring in new members to the order and keep them loyal.

Watop Retwin: Watop Retwin is the Order’s accountant, responsible for maintaining the substantial wealth the New Dawn have accrued over the centuries.

Rylla Varga: Rylla Varga is a Falleen and the Order’s head of intelligence. She keeps a watchful eye on the Cocytus system using the Empire’s resources for any possible threats.

Merkak Quintrel: Merkak Quintrel is a Sullustan and combat trainer for the New Dawn. He is responsible for all new recruits reaching the required expectations of combat readiness.

Haera Jakil: Haera Jakil is the New Dawn’s Kaleesh head of medicine. The extensive and brutal training New Order recruits receive have left her and her medical team highly efficent in triage and emergency treatment.

Groznik Sudime: Groznik Sudime is the New Dawn’s top pilot and space combat tactician. A Lasat, many expect him to be brute strength, but his large frame hides a sharp and quick mind.

Erin Telana: Erin Telana is the oldest of the Disciples. She has dedicated her life to the study and recording of Fallax’s reign.

Status Board:

This will be updated once the Phase One competitions are judged with the status of the various Disciples.

Intel: The Operations

For your enjoyment, I have put together a Spotify Playlist with a wide mix of theme associated music.

Midnight is the parent competition for this event. Points will be awarded for participation, placement, and a factor of difficulty of the competition itself will be applied. All currently running competitions for Midnight will be accessible through this link.

For the specific prompts please subscribe to the competition. Remember some competitions are timed based and will be noted in the competition details in bold. You can expect several most sets of competitions to open up as we go along this month, and some more epic fiction to accompany them!

Remember Placement gives points out through 10th place AND for participation! Even if you think you are not good at a certain event type, you can still earn a lot of points just by participating and placing in the top ten!

Event Long (Ends Midnight January 2nd)

Epic Fiction: The epic fiction competition is a level 3 competition.

Run-on: The run-on is a level 3 competition. There are two different run-on threads, and you may participate in one of them. Please read the opening prompt for both before making your choice of which one you would like to participate in. These can be found in these threads:

• Trial of the Body
  
• Trial of the Soul
  

Battle Plan: The battle plan competition is a level 3 competition. This competition can be done individually or on teams of up to 4 people. There are two possible scenarios that you may pick from.

Multimedia: The multimedia competition is a level 3 competition. This can be done individually or on teams of up to 4 people.

Phase One (Ends Midnight December 19th)

Fiction: The phase one fiction is a level 2 event.

Gaming: The phase one gaming is a level 2 event.

Graphics: The phase one graphics is a level 2 event.

Poetry: The phase one poetry is a level 2 event.

Trivia: The phase one trivia is a level 1 event.

Word Search: The phase one word search is a level 1 event.

Phase Two (Ends Midnight December 26th)

Fiction: The phase two fiction is a level 2 event.

Gaming: The phase two gaming is a level 2 event.

Graphics: The phase two graphics is a level 2 event.

Poetry: The phase two poetry is a level 2 event.

Trivia: The phase two trivia is a level 1 timed event.

Comic: The phase two comic is a level 1 event.

Phase Two of Midnight has begun!

tl;dr

• Watop Retwin entertains a guest
• Kylex learns the value of teamwork
• Fallax questions Scholae Palatinae’s tactics
• Important New Dawn files are stolen
• Sparky von Wagglehorn III makes the ultimate sacrifice

For the Empire!