The Mech Touch

6080 Non Compos Mentis

The special tribunal ultimately acquitted Taon of most of his charges!

Despite all of the hard evidence that showed the Zeal attacking the Elegant Rage with deadly intent and despite the expert pilot's own brazen admissions of his various misdeeds, this did not necessarily mean he was in the wrong!

Venerable Jannzi Larkinson, Commander Casella Ingvar and Venerable Vincent Ricklin all looked incredibly conflicted. The troubling case challenged all of their principles and forced them to make decisions that they did not necessarily agree with. They would definitely get haunted by the verdicts they issued on this ignominious day.

Serving as judges was a tough and difficult responsibility, but… they still had to do it. Expert pilots did not shirk their responsibilities. They all knew that they were much better suited to judge their peers. In the strong mech culture of modern human civilization, it was common belief that demigods should not be judged by mortals alone. Only other high-ranking mech pilots understood their own situation best.

As the noises of outrage and indignation continued to spread throughout the entire clan, the judges of the special tribunal all looked like they swallowed a bitter pill.

The most impulsive among the judges decisively stood up and demanded everyone's attention!

"LISTEN!" Venerable Vincent Ricklin demanded everyone's attention. "We really tried, okay? We don't like what Taon has done, and we like his open admissions even less. I would like nothing more than to punch him in the face as far as I am concerned. We don't have any other choice, though. The reason why we decided that his actions should be treated as attempted justifiable homicide is because we cannot expect any other Larkinson to do any better. The only pilot among us who may be able to outfight Lanie while piloting her improved Elegant Rage is Saint Tusa, and even an ace pilot would probably struggle to stay alive when piloting a heavy artillery mech that is way outside his specialization."

The male expert pilot let out an exasperated breath. "This entire screw up could have ended in a good way if either Taon or Lanie backed off first. That would have given the other pilot a chance to step back as well and end this fight. That did not happen. Something called the prisoner's dilemma forced both of them to fight to the death because just one of them backing off would mean he or she would get killed."

This was a problem that was incredibly difficult to solve in a perfect fashion if only one out of the two actors was willing to step back.

"It sucks, but what do you expect them to do? Are they supposed to roll over and let themselves get killed? That is absurd! No one deserves to die like a dog! Self-defense is a real thing, and our clan should never force our mech pilots to commit suicide due to stupid stuff like this. We based our judgment on what we would do if we ended up in the ssituation as Taon. We figured that we would fight back just as hard as him. In no way should you allow yourself to get killed by another Larkinson, especially if you don't deserve it and pose no threat to the clan."

Venerable Jannzi concurred with her male counterpart. "Venerable Vincent Ricklin speaks true. From the moment we donned our red robes and assumed our current responsibilities, we made our decisions based on what is good for the clan, not what is good for Venerable Taon Melin-

Larkinson. The fact that he is acquitted of the most severe charges should not be interpreted as acts of leniency. You should instead interpret them as attempts to be fair and just. We cannot be perfect, but we strive to set the score straight so that we may ultimately improve our clan."

She proceeded to announce the special tribunal's rulings on Taon's other charges, which were quite many. He was definitely guilty of conduct unbecoming a champion and voicing threats of death. His culpability was much more severe because the expert pilot openly and unrepentantly voiced his desire to kill Lanie regardless of the fact that their initial battle had already ended!

There was no excuse for his behavior related to these charges and more, but the special tribunal was forced to dial back Taon's culpability due to two recurring reasons.

"We understand that our clan will most certainly object to the leniency that we have granted to Venerable Melin-Larkinson, but… the defense has made a convincing case that he should be judged less harshly due to the presence of multiple mitigating factors." Jannzi spoke without much emotion.

"First, Venerable Melin-Larkinson acted under extrprovocation. During the entire incident, he has never acted on his own volition. He has made all of his actions in response to the Emperor Tree and Venerable Lanie Larkinson. As we have already explained earlier, self-defense is a legitimate response in most situations and takes precedence over many laws. Even his act of killing his living mech can be excused when he genuinely believes that doing so will give him a greater chance of survival."

Being a bastard… was not a crime.

"Second, the accused has undergone extensive psychological examinations starting from his departure from the field. He has proven to be frank and highly cooperative with us. Aside from letting himself get deceived by the Emperor Tree, he bears no shin the actions he has taken. This has allowed our excellent mental health professionals to develop a detailed understanding of his psyche and mindset. They have diagnosed him with multiple psychotic disorders."

In other words, Taon was certifiably insane.

"Guilt cannot be established, at least fully, if there is a lack of mens rea. When Saint Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson agreed to utilize his Saint Kingdom to interrogate Venerable Taon Melin-

Larkinson, the latter has unambiguously demonstrated an absolute lack of guilt or acknowledgement of wrongdoing. His advancement to expert pilot has… apparently put him in a permanent state of non compos mentis. What he has done is wrong according to us, but in his mind, he believes he is absolutely right. Does that excuse him from every crime? No. We do not intend for him to escape every responsibility, because insanity should never grant anyone a license to kill and destroy."

The chief judge proceeded to announce the special tribunal's rulings on the remaining lesser charges.

All in all, it becincreasingly unlikely that Taon would receive a severe punishment such as execution. Much of his actions could be excused in one way or another.

This realization disappointed a lot of Larkinsons, but… they were no longer of the opinion that the special tribunal cto the wrong conclusions. The reasoning of the judges was simply too sound. If anything, the people should complain to the Larkinson Assembly for not doing a good job at putting together laws that could impose greater punishment onto Taon.

"The sentencing of Venerable Taon Melin-Larkinson for his crimes shall take place after we have announced our next rulings." Jannzi eventually spoke as she shifter gaze away from the offending expert pilot. "We would first like to share our opinions on the charges levied against Venerable Lanie Larkinson. This will not take as long as our judgment of her actions are based on the sarguments and legal principles that we have mentioned before."

The female expert pilot in question perked up and straightened her back. She knew that her moment had come. Lanie grew a lot more optimistic about her chances now that she had witnessed Taon practically getting away with both actual and attempted murder.

The special tribunal might not have made decisions that pleased the masses, but it had already proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that it had acted fairly. The 7 judges all took their responsibilities seriously and did not let their emotions dictate all of their decisions.

Many people gained greater faith in the institutions of the Larkinson Clan. At the very least, the Larkinson High Court successfully managed to establish its prestige in the hearts of every clansman!

Jannzi paused for a short moment before she addressed Lanie's charges.

"From the beginning, Lanie Larkinson got struck from behind by the most powerful weapon of a quasi-first-class heavy artillery mech. By all rights, she should have died right then. If the Zeal's imposing Devora Cannon had aimed higher than the Elegant Rage's lower back section, then the cockpit would have been pulverized, leaving no chance for the fragile human body to remain intact in any recognizable form. Multiple mech designers have analyzed this scenaand calculated the numbers. They unanimously agree that any direct hit towards virtually every rear torso section should have been powerful enough to disable the Elegant Rage and end the life of her mech pilot."

Most Larkinsons already had a good guess of where Jannzi was taking this story.

"Venerable Lanie Larkinson's breakthrough is mostly considered a miracle, but we believe that it is a result borne through her own actions and efforts to obtain greater power. This distinction is not important, but what matters is that she has not only managed to preserve her life, but gain enough martial might to defend herself, flee from the battlefield with her life and mech intact and counter kill the culprit responsible for putting her in extrdistress."

The chief judge of the special tribunal slightly lowered her shoulders as if to express her helplessness and disappointment at this situation.

"From the moment of her breakthrough, Venerable Lanie Larkinson's psyche has undergone an extrand permanent change, similar to her counterpart. Our mental health professionals have diagnosed similar psychotic disorders in her. She has becpermanently afflicted by delusions that drastically altered her view of the cosmos and caused her to develop an extrfixation towards Venerable Melin-

That meant that Lanie was bound to obtain greater leniency.

"Combined with the very concrete attempt on her life, she is subject to the smitigating factors that reduce her culpability. Starting from the tof her breakthrough, we have determined that she was not in a good state of mind, and that she was correct in believing that Venerable Melin-

Larkinson continues to pose a threat to her life. However, there is one crucial difference that has given us reason to judge her more severely than her opponent!"

Lanie looked confused. What did she do that made her more guilty than Taon?

The chief judge directed a harsh gaze towards the younger female expert pilot.

"Venerable Lanie Larkinson miraculously managed to repair her Elegant Rage from a nearly broken state to a fully repaired condition. In fact, she has even managed to apply spontaneous ad-hoc upgrades that our own mech designers do not fully understand. What is without doubt was that the improvised repairs and upgrades to her living mech has made her machine better than ever. The question now is whether she is justified in continuing to fight the Zeal to the death."

Jannzi called up the projections of the two mutated mechs yet again.

"According to the expert testimony provided by several mech designers, the Elegant Rage, both the original and the altered version, is a melee mech that is oriented towards speed, maneuverability and excellence in melee combat. Our special tribunal has determined that Venerable Lanie Larkinson is able to fight against the Zeal with greater restraint, especially at close range. Both the Heartsword and the strange thorns on the surface of her mech are weapons that can be used to disable and neutralize the threat posed by a large machine such as the Zeal without needing to kill the pilot. The fact that Venerable Lanie Larkinson sought to kill Venerable Melin-

Larkinson regardless of the alternatives is deplorable."

Lanie began to have a bad feeling about this. Jannzi truly looked pissed as she continued to speak!

"We also recognize that in an environment that is characterized by a high concentration of Solus Gas, all it takes for Venerable Lanie Larkinson and the Elegant Rage to save their lives is to turn around and evacuate from the field of battle. Expert pilot or not, Venerable Melin-Larkinson is unable to target and strike at any mech at a distance surpassing several kilometers. With the mobility demonstrated by the Elegant Rage in her forced resonance state, it should take very little tto cross this distance."

The chief judge angrily glared at the younger expert pilot who still believed that she had done nothing wrong!

"Venerable Lanie Larkinson declined to follow Venerable Joshua Larkinson's instructions. She also declined to make a good faith attempt to de-escalate this situation. Our special tribunal has no choice but to rule her guilty of the charges of disobeying the order of a superior officer as well as attempting to commit voluntary manslaughter! Do take note that both of these crimes are subject to the aforementioned mitigating factors, so her culpability is not as severe as it sounds. Nonetheless, her agency during the incident was undoubtedly greater. She had the power to end the fight right then and there. The fact that she willfully refused to do so is a disappointment!"

Another surge of disbelief and indignation spread from the Larkinsons!

They did not quite understand why Lanie was guilty while Taon got away easy. Did it matter that much that Lanie piloted a different kind of mech?