The Mech Touch novel Chapter 2865

Chapter 2865 - A Little Mercy

Ves quietly thanked his luck that the ’judges’ hadn’t diverged on their verdict. Both Jannzi and Tusa declared Nigel Redmont guilty, which meant that the clan was spared from an awkward situation where its expert pilots publicly disagreed on a very contentious issue!

While he maintained a fair amount of confidence that Jannzi and Tusa would have no sympathy for Redmont, he did not dare to assume the guilty verdict was already set in stone. Expert pilots tended to think differently from other people and some of their thoughts could be quite extreme!

Fortunately, everything went according to plan so far. With Dr. Redmont subjected to a strong silencing field that not only neutralized his voice, but also scrambled his lips, he was completely deprived of the opportunity to disrupt the proceedings!

Ves learned from his own past. Back when the Ylvainans subjected him to a tribunal, their greatest mistake was to give him an opportunity to speak. By allowing him to address his words to the entire population of the Ylvaine Protectorate, he completely hijacked public opinion and set events into motion that did not go in the favor of his enemies!

While Ves didn’t believe that the traitor could talk his way out of a guilty verdict, who knew what nonsense he might spew.

The extreme ideas of delusional fanatics were like poison. They harmed anyone else who listened to them. Unless the listeners possessed a grounded mindset or good critical thinking skills, it was very easy to get ’infected’ by faulty or even outright misleading arguments!

Since Ves himself took advantage of this phenomenon many times, there was no way he would allow any enemy the chance to turn the tables on him! The ridiculous notion of biomech purity was such a harmful concept to the Larkinson Clan that it had to be nipped from the bud before it could be allowed to spread.

The only person allowed to spread dubious arguments in his clan was himself!

Of course, he couldn’t outright admit this, so he had to dress up his words in order to maintain support.

Ves stepped forward again, drawing everyone’s attention.

"Two of our most principled and honorable Larkinsons have spoken." He calmly spoke. "They have issued a unanimous verdict. I hereby declare that Doctor Nigel Redmont-Larkinson is guilty of high treason against the Larkinson Clan."

This was the expected verdict. Yet the ceremony around it and the gravity of the situation made it sound a lot more serious than it was.

In fact, it was stupid to expect any other outcome. Declaring Dr. Redmont innocent would not only make a mockery of the clan laws, but also lead to widespread confusion!

No matter what technicality or trick that Dr. Redmont or anyone else were able to employ in order to squeeze out a different verdict, Ves would never allow this formative moment to be derailed!

Fortunately, Ves did not have to enact any of the contingency plans he prepared against these unexpected occasions. The tribunal proceeded without any surprises and the speeches guided public opinion in the right direction.

He was quite sure that other former Lifers had received a profound lesson on what would happen to them if they harmed the clan.

Being declared guilty was not a sufficient blow in itself. Ves knew that plenty of self-righteous nutcases were willing to accept punishment as long as they succeeded in pulling off their dangerous schemes.

What Ves had done was to drag them in public and exposed all of their shortcomings! He held the trial in a way that turned everyone’s opinion against the suspect. The judges, who happened to be influential expert pilots, personally led this process, thereby ensuring that the suspect would never be on the right side!

Under these circ.u.mstances, any pet causes that the extremists might hold would become so discredited amongst the Larkinsons that they would die without receiving any recognition!

As a creator, Ves knew very well that everyone craved recognition. Martyrs only succeeded when others approved and supported their actions. It was a lot harder for them to go through with their destructive acts if everyone and their mother believed they were evil!

From Dr. Redmont’s constant struggling and desperate mouth movements, it was evident that he did not envision his end to proceed in such a poor fashion. Did the biomech purist think that the Larkinson Clan would grant him any mercy?

"The crime of high treason is not yet well-defined in our laws." Ves admitted to the crowd. "We have based many of our initial and rudimentary laws on the rulebook of the Bright Republic. Yet what little we have is sufficient enough to uphold justice in this case. Dr. Redmont received the verdict he deserved, and for that he shall receive the only punishment for clansmen convicted of high treason."

He stepped closer to the guilty prisoner until he was just an arm’s length away. Lucky quietly followed behind Ves, curious at what was about to ensue.

Ves stared straight into the eyes of Dr. Redmont.

"It’s too late to show remorse, traitor." Ves hissed.

Tears began to fall from Redmont’s face. The Lifer didn’t want to die like this. His eyes pleaded towards Ves. He still wanted to have his final say.

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