The Mech Touch

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.

The primary goal of this spectacle was to send a powerful message and deter any similar behavior from his other Larkinsons!

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 circumstances, 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.

At this point, the biomech designer finally recognized his own reality. His dreams of being able to explain himself and convince others to inherit his goals was dashed. His muted lips quivered.

"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.

Yet Ves remained completely unmoved. Not a single measure of sympathy ever emerged in his heart. Traitors didn't deserve the courtesy of speaking, and the risk of spreading poisonous thoughts was still a great concern.

Even so, Ves still granted Dr. Redmont a measure of kindness.

He stretched out his arm. "Nitaa, blade, please."

Nitaa took out her foldable sword that was made of Unending alloy and Breyer alloy and handed it over to Ves.

With the Larkinson Mandate in one hand and a sword in another, Ves felt as if he had become the incarnation of justice. He even felt like channeling an aspect of Lufa at the moment, but he didn't want to blank his own emotions.

He wanted to enjoy this supreme moment! Screwing people over and executing them while enjoying the total support of the audience was too much fun! There was no way he wanted to ruin this great moment by depriving him of his emotional satisfaction!

He started to understand why tyrants and dictators were so fond of executions. Being able to decide upon the life and death of other people was such a powerful rush that it could even be more addicting than stimulants!

A part of him hoped that some other traitor might pop up so that he could repeat this spectacle and hold the life and death of another guilty convict in his hands!

Ves quietly coughed. As much as he wanted to bask in this wonderful moment, he still had a job to do. He was not supposed to look obscene while enacting justice.

"Ahem. As the patriarch of the Larkinson Clan, I shall represent the will of our people by wielding the blade that will end the traitor's life. The method of execution is death by decapitation. Even though traitors do not deserve it, our honor calls for us to deliver a quick, clean and humane death. Drawing out the execution in order to make it more painful to Dr. Redmont might satisfy our baser instincts, but such depravity will only corrupt us all. Our only requirement is to uphold the law."

He raised Nitaa's unfolded sword. As a weapon that he had personally crafted by hand, he was very familiar with its weight and balance.

To be honest, the weapon was a little too long for him to wield with a single hand, but his enhanced strength was still formidable enough to keep his grip solid.

He looked into Nigel Redmont's eyes one last time. The older man's tear-streaked eyes finally showed true acceptance. He appreciated the mercy of a quick end.

Ves swung the sword in a quick, smooth motion.

Though he knew nothing about swordsmanship, he had already practised this motion prior to the trial. He knew exactly how he needed to move his arm and how much force he needed to apply.

The sharp blade that was made out of near-indestructible Unending alloy was already sharp enough to cut through metal. Bone presented less of a problem and Ves applied just enough strength to complete the cut straight away!

A dismembered head soared away from the rest of the body and quickly fell onto the surface of the podium like a half-deflated ball. The ugly squelch sound made this execution feel more real to Ves and everyone.

Lots of blood spewed from the neck. None of it sprayed on Ves or anyone else, fortunately. Another hidden antigrav module made sure the splatters were confined in a small invisible box.

Ves handed over the slightly blood-stained sword back to Nitaa and turned his back to the corpse. He had no concern for this loser anymore.

"Our clan is a sovereign organization that is based on laws." He explained as he made his ending statement. "Properly speaking, we are not a state, but that does not mean we allow room for everyone to act as they wish. We are all in this together, and that means that we must seek to decide and act in harmony with each other. What Dr. Redmont did was so far out of line with the rest of our clan that he could not have met another end."

If any Larkinson did not see it this way at first, they sure did now after what had happened!

Ves gestured to Venerable Tusa. "One of the judges has made a great point about the trust and responsibility that we extend to you all. We do not restrict everything that you can do. We don't want that either. We want each of you to have enough choices on how you wish to live your life within our clan. Yet for all of our tolerance for different beliefs and ways of life, we can only tolerate so much."

He sighed and looked into the air. "Our clan offers enough freedom to satisfy everyone. Yet that does not mean that we have room for all of your selfishness. I really don't care about what beliefs or customs that you might hold. We recruit from many different places so we are quite aware that some of you hold thoughts that run counter to the rest of our clan. You may think whatever you want, but be careful how you act. As our other judge has stated, we have set clear laws and rules on what is permissible. As long as your selfish desires bump against our laws or the rights of clansmen, your ending will not be any better."

After driving home this point, he formally ended the tribunal.

Now that the show was over, the crowd slowly dispersed while speaking with each other in low tones.

The two expert pilots disappeared quickly as they did not wish to be around others any longer than they had to. Bots flew in to dismantle the podium and clean up the mess.

Ves walked back to one of the workshops of the biomech production complex while being followed by Lucky and his honor guard.

Once he reached the entrance, only his cat and Nitaa were allowed to go any further.

Ves made sure to lock the entrance before heading further inside. He entered a secure room reserved for experiments and faced its only occupant.

"I'm… not dead…" Nigel Redmont spoke while touching his neck. Not a single sign marred his skin! "I.. didn't die. While I am grateful at the fact that I'm still alive, why did you spare me, Mr. Larkinson?"

Ves smirked in response. "I just feel you deserve a little mercy."