Chapter 6077 Culpability

Chapter 6077 Culpability

The courthouse continued to become filled with angry and indignant noises.

A clear majority of the attendees strongly objected to the decision of letting Taon get away with his heinous deed!

If his crime was deemed accidental in nature, then Taon would only receive a relatively minor punishment all-considered.

Unintentional friendly fire was still a relatively serious mistake, especially if it endangered a fellow Larkinson's life.

However, accidents always took place on the battlefield. The larger the battle and the more chaotic the fighting, the greater the chance of mechs striking other friendly mechs.

In truth, they happened so often that most Larkinsons simply shrugged it off. The damage was usually relatively minor as many living mechs enjoyed plentiful protection nowadays. They could take a lot of hits and still remain intact enough to evacuate to the rear.

However, an accidental strike from a quasi-first-class super-heavy hyper-velocity transphasic gauss cannon at close range far exceeded the scope of typical accidental friendly fire incidents!

That alone turned Taon's crime into a much more serious controversy. The Larkinson soldiers clearly wanted the special tribunal to make an example out of the recently ascended expert pilot!

The chief judge allowed the people in the courthouse to vent their emotions for a dozen or so seconds. Then, she picked up her gavel and slammed it down!

BANG!

The entire chamber instantly fell into silence as hidden devices precisely neutralized the voices of everyone who was not authorized to speak.

"Order, please. Let me continue. When we formed our judgment on Taon Melin-Larkinson's first charge, five of us have judged him innocent, while two have deemed him guilty."

The Larkinsons wondered which of the judges had sided against the majority opinion.

"When we determined the culpability of Venerable Melin-Larkinson's initial charge, we took into account the factors that rationalized his action. First, we recognize that the mission was inadequately conceived and planned. The two expert candidates chosen for this mission were clearly not as prepared to deal with the Emperor Tree as everyone thought. Not enough safeguards and backup plans have been made to prevent or address any instances where the expert candidates unwittingly fell under the sway of the calamity plant that has been codenamed 'the Emperor Tree'. Is it the fault of the accused that he fell victim to the mistakes of his superiors? Not necessarily. Put yourself in his shoes and think whether you could have done any better."

Jannzi provided a well-reasoned argument that successfully cooled some of the heated emotions among the Larkinsons.

At the very least, few clansmen believed they possessed the mental fortitude to resist the unreasonably strong mental manipulation of this dastardly exoplant!

"The commanding officers and the staff officers involved in the planning and the actual execution of the mission have definitely made mistakes." Jannzi continued on with a stern expression. "Although our special tribunal is not tasked with bringing them to account, it is our opinion that they are only guilty of being overconfident. They have allowed their biases against the supposedly 'primitive' and 'ignorant' native flora and fauna of untamed planets to underestimate the threat they can actually pose to our troops. We hope than none of our officers will ever make this mistake again."

"You're not my mother, Jannzi! I am getting there! Sheesh! Anyway, what I want to say is that it is the responsibility of the pilot who commands a gun that can strike at anything to exercise a lot of control over where he is leading his shots. It is better to withhold your fire than to pull the trigger when there is even the slightest of risks of hitting a friendly mech in the back. From the description of the mission, the Zeal obviously pointed his really big gun in the direction of the Elegant Rage. Maybe you Ylvainan artillery pilots have become used to calling for Ylvaine's help to thread the needle and make sure your shots precisely avoid every Larkinson mech and land a precision strike on an enemy unit, but this is really reckless behavior that should no longer be tolerated."

"Such occasions are the exceptions rather than the rule." Jannzi said in order to be fair. "The mech pilots of the Transcendent Punisher mechs generally avoid opening fire at targets that are too close to friendly mechs as the explosion radius of their shells are often considerable."

"I admit that it doesn't happen too often, but when Taon made the Zeal point his huge Devora Cannon in the vague direction of the Elegant Rage, a red flag should have popped in his mind that it is a really bad idea to open fire. According to Taon's own testimony, he recalled that he angled the Zeal's main gun forward and a lot further downwards. It was his fault that he forgot that this was where the Elegant Rage occasionally flew in order to get rid of enemy units that approached from this direction."

That made everyone more thoughtful. Melee mech pilots had a greater tendency to take Venerable Ricklin's side.

Jannzi tried to close this particular argument. "Ultimately, Venerable Melin-Larkinson did not perceive himself to be breaking from established behavior at the time he committed his incident of accidental friendly fire. If he acted in error, then it is because the commanding officers and rule makers of the Larkinson Army have failed to tighten the rules and regulations. We recommend that they correct this circumstance as soon as possible."

Commander Casella Ingvar glowered as Jannzi issued this opinion. The mech commander had indeed neglected the potential for disaster with regards to this issue.

The chief judge finally addressed the second charge.

"Venerable Taon Melin-Larkinson could have ended his culpability shortly after he realized that he made a grave mistake. It is abundantly clear that he recognized shortly after the Elegant Rage had been struck that he had turned himself into a liability on the battlefield. He understood that he had been compromised once. That means he could be compromised again. The best possible decision he could make was to retreat right away. He did not. Instead, he made one of the worst choices by lingering in place and turning himself into a target from a vengeful Larkinson mech pilot."

It was not yet time for the special tribunal to cast their verdict on Lanie's deeds, so the chief judge kept her gaze on Taon.

"An altercation ensued where the Zeal was put at a heavy disadvantage by an Elegant Rage that was empowered by forced resonance. Another miracle occurred where Taon Melin-Larkinson successfully broke through to the rank of expert pilot. Yet it is during this critical process that he committed his second misdeed. He personally confessed that he has killed the living personality that occupied the Zeal, thereby turning his battle partner into an empty shell that no longer holds any independent life. He did so without authorization from a legitimate authority figure of the Larkinson Clan or the consent of the Zeal himself."

The air grew tense as the chief judge was about to announce the special tribunal's answer to Taon's second charge.

"We are of the opinion that Venerable Melin-Larkinson is innocent of the crime of murdering the Zeal in times of battle."

"WHAAAAT!"

This sentence completely exploded the Larkinson Clan!

It was not just the Larkinsons themselves who were indigent at the special tribunal's verdict.

The living mechs and particularly the third order living mechs of the secretive Anima Order especially objected to this judgment!

"THIS IS NOT JUST!" The Everchanger complained!

"ARE WE NOT EQUAL TO HUMANS?!" The Riot roared!

"ORDER!" Jannzi banged her gavel yet again! "Let me finish my explanation!"