Midnight Part Three

Throne Room
Imperial Palace
Judecca

The pair of soldiers silently and carefully lay the bodies of the two disciples before their lord. Darth Fallax’s face was stone, unmoving as he took in the mangled corpses of Desric and Kadryn Teroler. The husband and wife had always been an odd pair, Duros and Human. But they had also ushered in one of the largest influxes of loyal followers Fallax had ever seen. Their efforts were why after hundreds of years he had finally been able to confidently move forward on his plans. The two soldiers who had brought the bodies in bowed deeply and swiftly attempted to back away from their lord.

Without removing his eyes from his fallen disciples, Fallax shot his open hand forward, sending the two men flying across the length of the throne room. Their bodies made a sickening crunch as they impacted against the far wall. Several servants quickly made their way over to clean up, glad the soldiers’ armor and bodysuits had contained most of resulting mess.

Forced to take in what Fallax was doing and witnessing, Xen’Mordin was barely able to make out exactly what it was Fallax was looking at. His ability to recognize the two disciples only came from guesswork, due to the waves of hate and rage that was racing through Fallax at that moment. The physical world was all but a distant memory for him. Xen’s world was the one Fallax shaped for him within his mind. Even then, that too was beginning to blur.

“I almost hope you find the strength to last to the end,” Fallax said, once again mentally projecting himself as standing over Xen’s writhing body. Xen’Mordin couldn’t even roll onto his back to look up at the Sith Lord. He continued to twitch and spasm in agony, but even without looking at Fallax he knew the meaning of the Sith Lord’s statement.

“I would very much enjoy forcing you to see me torture and kill all those you led. The people you actually cared about, even as you used them to falsely inflate your own feelings of worth. When this is done, everything you built, everything you’ve spent your whole life working towards will be tormented and twisted into what I wish.”

Fallax paused and gave Xen’Mordin a light kick, rolling the Consul onto his back.

“But I don’t think you have much longer. Too weak to even witness what is to come.”

Xen’Mordin managed to raise his head slightly and locked his eyes on Fallax. “Fwec you. Those two were just the start. I might not stop you, but they will,” he said defiantly. For a brief moment the pain lessened, and Xen’Mordin felt some strength return to him. Then he was falling into the black void.

Teyr Judecca

“Stay close!” Jen Menade chided her two children. They giggled, but slowed allowing their mother to catch up. It was a beautiful and quiet day. Even the cold winter winds had lessened, taunting the population to venture from their homes and enjoy the day without rushing from building to building.

Jen caught up with her kids who promptly took speeding off again. Jen sighed and began to call them back again, but they stopped, distracted by sweets in a shop window. Jen debated about possibly buying them a small treat, despite them not having eaten lunch yet. Had Jen known about the forces that were at war this very moment, she would have taken her children in her arms and ran. But Jen, and all the other civilians of Teyr were blissfully unaware.

They were about to learn however.

It was the confused shouting that alerted Jen that something was wrong. She turned to look back down the street. A mass of people were slowly coming up it, directed toward the central plaza of the city. Behind them a wall of helmeted faceless soldiers, decked out in riot gear, were ushering the people forward. Jen grabbed her childrens’ hands.

“Don’t let go,” she said urgently. She tried to pull them down a side alley, away from the people and soldiers. As they left the alley onto the neighboring street, they walked straight into another group of people being forced toward the plaza. Unable to get away, Jen and her two children, were also forced to the central plaza.

By the time they reached the plaza, it was already packed full of people, with more being jammed inside. High above them, a platform floated calmly, reflecting the brilliant light of Imperius down upon the crowd. Around the plaza giant screens and speakers had been set up.

As the minutes ticked by, Jen and her children were forced further and further into the plaza. It was as if the soldiers were forcing the entire city there. The noise in the plaza was incredible, every citizen yelling, crying out at the lack of space and the forced assembly. At long last there was a crackle as the speakers came to life, and a live feed of the floating platform appeared on the screens. The broadcast was being forced upon every available screen in the entire system. An important announcement.

Jen didn’t recognize the man on the screen, but thought he looked important and official. His clean and pressed white clothing gave him an air of superiority to the mass of people he floated above. She tightened her grip on her children’s hands.

“People of the Cocytus Empire. I come to you today here in the beautiful city of Teyr to issue a warning. There are those who would call this system, this empire as theirs. They run about your streets, thinking they are untouchable. They hid in the masses of your cities hoping to be left undiscovered as they work to dismantle everything the Empire is.” Sadon Teraah said. He paused. Jen jumped as the soldiers fired a few warning shots into the air, silencing the entire plaza.

“To them I would say, they fight a losing battle. They are an embarrassment to this great Empire. But this message isn’t for them. It is for you,” Sadon continued, pointing his finger directly into the holocam. Jen felt a chill go up her spine. There was something very wrong about this.

“People of the Empire. The fate of the Empire rests on you. Help us find these terrorists, these monsters. They walk among you. Help us stop them so the Empire can once again prosper. Fail… And well this will be the fate that awaits you.” Sadon flourish dramatically raising his arms into the air, gesturing to the crowd. The holocam shot further into the air, panning to the packed plaza.

Then the blaster fire started, followed quickly by the screaming of a city being exterminated. The people pushed and shoved against each other to get get away, but there was no place to go. The soldiers had the entire plaza surrounded. Jen tried to pull her children to her, sweaty hands losing grip on Franc, her youngest. She tried to retake his hand, but he was already lost among the crowd frantically trying to get away.

She picked up Raquel and held her, trying to push her way through the crowd. But it was no use. She looked at the screen, the bodies already piling across the entire plaza. The soldiers weren’t stopping. And they didn’t, not until every last man, woman and child there was lying dead on the plaza floor.

Emperor’s Quarters Imperial Palace

Fallax shot straight up from his bed. His head was ringing, body shaking. Haera quickly came running to his side, offering a gentle hand to lower him back into a laying down position.

“Slowly, we are running some diagnostics.” She said softly. Fallax let out a groan and closed his eyes, hoping to shut out the spinning world around him.

“You collapsed,” she continued. Fallax nodded his head. The corruption was taking its toll.

“Where are we on treating it?” he asked. Haera gave him a reassuring smile.

“We have something new actually. It won’t cure it or stop it, but it will help. There are… side effects however,” Haera said. She paused, letting Fallax gather his thoughts.

“Is it worse than this body dying?” He probed, opening his eyes and locking them on the medic.

“Well, it will be painful.” Haera explained. Fallax laughed.

“This is pain. As long as it keeps this body alive until a permanent solution can be found.”

“It will be a different pain,” she continued gently. She then slammed a four inch long syringe into Fallax’s chest, and injected its contents directly into his heart.

Fallax screamed, screamed like Xen’Mordin had been screaming in his head. The medical equipment shook, screens shattering. Haera pulled the needle out and stepped back, while Fallax screamed and spasmed before her. Finally he was still, limp and calm. Haera remained motionless as well, eyes fixed on her master.

When Fallax finally did move again, the whole palace shook. Shook so violently that Haera wouldn’t have been surprised if it was the entirety of Judecca that was shaking, violently heaving to and fro. The shaking ended, and Fallax stood, body once again strong, blackness visibly pumping through all his veins. He stormed over to Haera and grabbed her by the neck pinning her against the wall. She let out pained gurgle as he choked her.

After a moment his grip slackened, and she took as big of a breath as she could, lungs starving for air. Fallax’s body was trembling still, almost as if it was pulsing with energy.

“Get back to work,” He finally spat out, letting her go. She fell to her knees and massaged her throat.

“Yes, my lord,” she finally said after several seconds of uncontrollable coughing.

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!

Phase One Events are ending in the next 24 hours!

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 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 Three (Ends Midnight January 2nd)

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

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

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

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

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

Flash Game: The phase three flash game is a level 1 event.

Phase Three of Midnight has begun! Remember you have about ~24 hours to get your phase 1 submissions finished and submitted.

tl;dr
* Desric and Kadryn Teroler are the first Disciples down
* Xen’Mordin suffers more
* Fallax Collapses
* RIP Civilians of Teyr
* Fallax’s corruption is stalled

For the Empire!