Dark Hunter's resolution.
Chapter 53: Ga'drak war trials, solidarity together.
May 26th 2902
Vae'rakin, Ga'drak capital city.
With two weeks having passed since Sha'krii's speech, heralding the end of the war, the reconstruction had really gotten underway. Across the Alliance and UIP, rebuilding destroyed infrastructure and compensating the families of lost lives had begun, but it would be many, many years before the wounds had healed enough to be missed.
In the two weeks since her speech, Sha'krii had taken in upon herself to hold off an official coronation until the war trials, and post war negotiations and peace terms had been settled.
A week ago, in a rapid display of organization and cooperation, agreements on arms and fleet limitations on both sides were enacted. The Treaty of Ga'drak covered a wide range of limits on certain military hardware, but for the most part both factions were intending on downsizing after the war anyway.
The main effect the treaty had on military was actually on the Alliance's head, concerning the Dreadnoughts. As an agreement, to equalize the playing field, 2 Dreadnoughts were handed over to the UIP for their fleets, whilst the Alliance agreed to keep only 2 in active service themselves.
Incidentally, the same 2 dreadnoughts kept by the Alliance had been the two in orbit around Tarihhis on the day of the bomb's detonation outside the city, having been shut down to avoid being hacked by Tyrania's lackeys.
All other 3 remaining Dreadnoughts were decommissioned, though the NKI were forced to return the Dreadnought they'd pirated to Alliance custody as part of non-prosecution terms. Naturally, Raxler removed his programming from the Dreadnought before it was handed over, and had downloaded into a robust, more robotic looking form. Now, Raxler no longer resembled Alex, but was metal skinned, and didn't bother with organic tissue disguise for now.
Of the decommissioned dreadnoughts, 3 in total [2 were destroyed in combat], 1 was to be scrapped for materials, whist the second was to act as a makeshift central Alliance HQ, until Konurich station was fully operational again under joint Alliance and Decepticon repairs.
The third and final non-military dreadnought would have an interesting fate. It would be stripped of all but essential defence weapons, and converted into a joint Alliance/UIP deep space exploration vessel. With unprecedented range, and plenty of room for exploration vehicles/supplies/extra fuel, it was perfect for acting as a central ship for any future deep space exploration after the war. The joint UIP/Alliance factor would promote cooperation.
But for now, today, there were still the trials of notable individuals accused of war crimes, and in need of being tried in a martial court.
Following is a list of prominent figures called up to face charges in Ga'drak war trials, Alliance associated. UIP trials o Ki'ristalis to be carried out 2 weeks later on their own allies.
NKI activity orders not to be included in trials, unless personal choices caused criminal activity with full intention.
Former KI members to be given pardons.
Name: Je'rol
Species: Sril'sask, male.
Crimes: Multiple murders, torture, unwarranted executions, 2 cases of eating killed sentient being prior to imprisonment in Ral'craz maximum security prison. Escaping Ral'craz.
Innocence factors: Indentured into KI against free will, psychological profile indicates insanity by underground gladiator years, and was a Varya operation remote biological shock trooper. Apparently instinctive awareness of bomb Decepticon insurgents allowed preparations for uprising in secret. Defended key personnel [see subject: KI human clone Lexa] during rogue Decepticon uprising on Konurich station.
Sentence: Cleared of all charges, but to be placed under a psychological watch for next 12 years to monitor possible relapse into previous tendencies and help with mental recovery.
Name: Moko'tel
Species: Predator [Yaut'ja], male.
Crimes: Illegal medicine/biochemical weapon tests [UIP years, CLEARED]. Escaping Ralcraz.
Innocence factors: Escorting bomb to safe extraction point with Decepticon Soundwave [CLEARED].
Sentence: Cleared of all charges, provided that any formulas for new biochemical solutions/weapons are handed over to Alliance defence sector.
Name: Xale
Species: Human [KI program clone], male.
Crimes: Unwarranted counts of murder on KI assignments, assisting in sabotage of Varya operation.
Innocence factors: KI program clone nature makes Xale not guilty of crimes he was bred to not have moral conflict over, and mental instability due to implanted memories for learning purposes.
Sentence: Cleared of all charges, granted full Alliance citizenship. [Psychological exams annually for 10 years mandatory however].
Name: Lexa
Species: Human [KI program clone], female.
Crimes:: Unwarranted counts of murder on KI assignments, assisting in sabotage of Varya operation.
Innocence factors: : KI program clone nature makes Lexa not guilty of crimes he was bred to not have moral conflict over, and mental instability due to implanted memories for learning purposes. [note that Lexa has displayed greater mental stability than KI human clone Xale]. Instrumental in maintaining Konurich station during rogue Decepticon attack.
Sentence: Cleared of all charges, granted full Alliance citizenship. [Psychological exams annually for 10 years mandatory however].
Name: Kirth
Species: Leg'hrul, male
Crimes: Insubordination, desertion, creation of rogue faction to oppose Alliance [NKI]. Organizing raids, making deals with known Underworld Guild members for aforementioned rogue faction.
Innocence factors: Rogue faction of NKI responsible for organizing operations to reveal Oro'naze as instigator of war. NKI operations proved more popular with Alliance than the Alliance operations at time.
Sentence: 7 years indentured service in Alliance military, same rank as prior to desertion. 7 year ban on promotions, and will be required to assist in negotiating in Alliance/UIP peace talks/rebuilding efforts due to better standing among UIP.
Name: La'kias
Species: Kro'nogri, male.
Crimes: Insubordination, desertion, creation of rogue faction to oppose Alliance [NKI]. Organizing raids, making deals with known Underworld Guild members for aforementioned rogue faction.
Innocence factors: Rogue faction of NKI responsible for organizing operations to reveal Oro'naze as instigator of war. NKI operations proved more popular with Alliance than the Alliance operations at time.
Sentence: 7 years indentured service in Alliance military, same rank as prior to desertion. 7 year ban on promotions, and will be required to assist in negotiating in Alliance/UIP peace talks/rebuilding efforts due to better standing among UIP.
Simultaneous cases at request of Queen Sha'krii [unofficial, not yet coronated].
Name: Kal'sik
Species: Kro'nogri, male [extensive cybernetic enhancements, numerous neurological enhancement components removed due to no longer necessary role of commanding Dreadnoughts].
Crimes: Excessive force on skirmishes involving Dreadnought attacks. Unauthorized installation of neural upgrades to better control Dreadnought fleet directly, and execution of Alliance personnel to preserve information [see Prof. Misara section], making deals with UIP personnel without informing Alliance High Command or royal council. Risking Eru'lindi city during bomb crisis with an infiltration team insertion for intelligence gathering. [see Ke'ranes contingent section].
Innocence factors: Excessive force led to strategic success in majority of circumstances, only defeats being in face of unanticipated superior force [see NKI Dreadnought section: New Cybertron documentation]. Kal'sik was collaborating with Zoran for information to facilitate Varya operations, unaware of Zoran's [Oro'naze section ref.] own past doings, and his profiteering and overtly pessimistic views concerning possible UIP/Alliance peace 16 years ago. Kal'sik's orders were to infiltrate and not interfere, like many media personnel had done already. Knowledge of all entries into city by Decepticon Soundwave allowed Je'rol to capture them for sport, and to give a public display to be deported off world, and avoid Decepticon insurgent Tyrania's suspicions.
Sentence: Undecided.
Name: Alex Damien [AKA Alex 'Hunter'] [Subject A76]
Species: Human clone, male [note, clone body is a clone of a previous clone of original Alex Damien] [See neural memory/personality upload/transfer documentation].
Crimes: Piracy of Alliance vessels [1 Battleship class, 2 Cruiser class, 4 Destroyer class, 4 Corvette class]. Sabotage and destruction of a prototype Dreadnought and damaging surrounding escort cruisers [5], killing approximately 23,000. Organizing sabotage of Varya operations [enslaved into project during infiltration exposure]. Assisting in piracy of Alliance Dreadnought [see Xathana shipyard KI attack]. Aggressively attacking Alliance forces when call for ceasefire from Kal'sik called, after executing Decepticon Tyrania.
Authorized creation of:
1 Unauthorized advanced AI unit [see subject: Raxler]
1 Unauthorized experimental advanced AI, utilizing combination of synthetic tissue and cybernetics for large organic creature appearance, and more of an emotionally inflected processing unit, instead of a mostly logic driven core [se subject: Aru'san]
Innocence factors: Confirmed mental instability due to neural transfer, most recently a panic attack triggered stat of paranoia concerning his identity, whether he really is who he is known as brought back [twice], or just a clone with implanted memories [see subjects Xale and Lexa, and KI agent cloning program] that thinks he is someone else returned. Theft of fleet over Mars was inspired by lack of trust of any side in the war, and desire to set up his own operations for defensive reasons. During later stages of Decepticon insurgency, Alex suffered a severe panic attack, and out of fear of Kal'sik by past encounters, attacks on Alliance troops were part of intended suicidal assault in conjunction with mass shifter overuse. Actions can be attributed to acute, violent mental instability.
Sentence: Undecided [note, decision must be brief, as subject's life expectancy was reduced by own overuse of radioactive equipment [see mass/density shifter equipment files]. 5 days until catastrophic organ failure.]
May 26th 2902
Vae'rakin, Ga'drak capital city, Ministry of Justice building, central courtroom.
Early morning, 6 hours into joint trial of Alex and Kal'sik
Like with most of the war trials going on, the evidence had been accumulated during the course of the war, and already analysed. So certainty here was more of a given than with a criminal case outside of war.
As the prosecution ministers brought up yet another argument for the death penalty for Alex for his rebellious crimes against the Alliance, which his body was technically property of, he found himself uncaring on any level.
After all, his life expectancy was now about 4 and a half days, give or take a few hours. His medication would make him function normally, until his organs starting shutting down quickly over the span of a handful of hours, estimates at 2 hours from beginning of organ failure to death.
Off to his left, with a pair of security guards seated right behind them with stun rifles ready, Kal'sik held no discernible emotion as he wracked his mind over how to get off himself, and Alex at the Prince's request to help him, with the lightest deserved punishment.
Despite both of their 'innocence factor' rosters giving them some benefit in a war tribunal, things weren't exactly looking good.
Nearby, at the back of the courtroom, 2 technicians oversaw the recording of the hearing. For historical records, and releasing abridged versions to the public a day after the hearing was finished in order to inspire trust, both the Alliance and UIP made sure to accurately record all the war tribunal cases, regardless of the sentencing.
A quick look around had confirmed to Kal'sik that none of Alex's NKI friends or allies were among the crowd, nor were any of his military allies/supporters. It was a principle that in war tribunals, there was already sufficient evidence of deeds to accurately determine innocence or guilt. Unlike civilian sector criminal trials, where witnesses and fraud were more rampant in both the Alliance and UIP.
Now came the part Kal'sik had been prepared for, but he didn't know if Alex had prepared at all. His expression gave nothing away, his scarred facial features showing no detected emotional response to the trial at all, looking bored if anything.
As the tribunal minister rose from his seat, he announced for the hearing room audience:
"Now that all gathered evidence has been presented and analysed, the accused parties will now present their own cases for their actions."
As per regulations, and the UIP sharing similar regulations, the defendants could make their case known. Again, differing from civilian court cases, there were no lawyers here.
Standing up tall, Kal'sik spoke calmly: "Minister, I'll volunteer to present my case first."
The speaker for the tribunal rang out on the intercom: "The tribunal recognises Grand Admiral Kal'sik."
Taking a breath, Kal'sik summoned his courage and summarised his actions and reasons: "My actions don't require an explanation. I made choices in an effort to accelerate the war's end and secure an Alliance overwhelming victory. The setbacks I encountered were mostly through events most strategists wouldn't be able to predict, some of which were orchestrated by Alex here."
Lingering his eyes on the human briefly, he saw no emotional response still.
"Because of my father's anarchist history, I wanted to prove myself different. However, I won't deny that many of my actions were too excessive, but I only ask for you to see that I was trying to fulfil my orders and end the war as efficiently as possible for the Alliance. My crimes are really all the same, a product of excessive, blind loyalty."
Noticing the surprised looks on the faces of the jury and judge, he remembered that he had to account for crimes he actually knew he'd done. Pausing, Kal'sik carried on a bit more reservedly:
"There are two crimes in particular however, that I wish to address, which aren't excused by my excessive loyalty. First, the upgrades I had Professor Misara help me install into my body, many of which have been removed for peacetime as dreadnoughts are decommissioned. I knew that my failure at the Xathana shipyard battle would warrant my execution by Alliance military policy at the time, and I was enraged over many things. The denial of resources we could have used to better fight the attackers, as my superior officer, late Admiral Kha'ralan, decided, along with other admirals, because of the failure of the Varya operation. Then, the death of Admiral Kha'ralan made me commanding officer, and I decided to use the Dreadnoughts as they were designed for. That was something I elected to do then, to actually use these tools of force instead of having them built to wave about."
"But, with the theft of a Dreadnought, and the death of an Admiral, someone was going to pay, so in an attempt to salvage the Dreadnoughts quickly, and in an act of cowardice, and seeing the need to boost the AI core of a Dreadnought and others to get them in operation more efficiently, I ordered Professor Misara to alter my brain with implants to collaborate with the AI's of the Dreadnoughts. I thought that it would ease the discomfort of AI's controlling such large warships, as there would be an organic at the helm with a great sense of Alliance loyalty."
"Professor Misara's execution was to ensure no information of the upgrade leaked, as him being alive would have compromised a top secret project, in the way of my upgrades and how quickly the Dreadnoughts were brought online as a result. I followed Alliance protocol, and the execution of mentally unstable or unsound individuals was called for in regards to maintaining the secrecy of the exact details of the procedure. To safeguard suspicions of potential hacking programs left by the attackers, his death was made to look like a suicide by use of dark matter manipulation of his body."
"He was unwilling, as was expected. Had Alliance protocol not called for his termination, then of course I would've spared him. But he was mentally disturbed by the procedures he aided in carrying out, and posed a security threat at the time. I request the military and government to look into perhaps easing that regulation somewhat, so others can avoid doing what I had to."
The court eyed Kal'sik with varying emotions. Disdain, understanding, bitterness, but to Kal'sik's trained eyes he saw no signs of pure anger. The sort of anger that would arise from a non truthful response. He had been within regulations then, and as such, they couldn't convict him for that.
"My next of two accusations I'll address is the mishandling of the infiltration team sent into Eru'lindi city. I specifically requested to Ke'ranes to keep her team hidden, and to observe only. Media infiltrators had already been allowed in, but my team was captured for one reason. The lead Decepticon, Soundwave, had been tracking all entrants into the city, and the Sril'sask, Je'rol, hunted them with that data. The failure was unavoidable, as there wasn't any way to account for that individual rounding up the squad and executing them. I am however thankful that he proved his worth in forewarning of the rogue decepticon outbreak, and hold no personal ill against him."
"That is all. I'll accept whatever sentence you give me."
Kal'sik sat down, knowing he'd given the best possible defence he could. And, judging by the looks of the court, he would likely get off lighter than he'd feared.
The court's eyes turned to the scarred human, and the judge ordered:
"The court recognizes the human, Alex Damien, to present his case for self defence in light of his charges."
A few seconds passed, but to the court's shock, the human didn't budge. His face had merely narrowed into a slight scowl.
"Alex Damien, stand to present your defence!" The judge reinforced, louder than he normally had to speak.
He still said nothing. Off to the side, Kal'sik simply stared in shock at the human's audacity. Behind the human, troopers marched forwards and wrenched him to a standing position.
"Alex Damien, if you wish to defend yourself in court, you'll cooperate."
"I'm don't believe I'm the one on trial. I don't believe Alex Damien is who I am."
The court was simply stunned, and aggravated whispers and cries of outrage sounded. The judge, scowling through his bristling feathered face, snarled his retort:
"Whatever you're name is, your DNA signature matches the identity of the one accused of these crimes. Present your defence now!"
"Of course my DNA will bloody well match it! I'm a clone of a clone of the original Alex Damien!"
"PRESENT YOUR DEFENCE!" The judge roared, losing his cool, something he had almost never done before.
"MY DEFENCE IS THAT MY ACTIONS ALTERED THE WAR TO END IN RELATIVE PEACE! I won't argue technicalities of previously stolen, NOW RETURNED KI/Alliance ships and equipment! I've had my victory for this life, and I damn well will savour it for what little time I've got left!"
"If you keep behaving like this, your sentence will only get worse human!"
"MAKING IT WORSE!? I've got about 5 fucking days to live your pretentious courthouse parrot! SO GO AHEAD, ORDER MY EXECUTION IF YOU DARE!"
Alex's outburst had silenced the courtroom, and he didn't stop there, and continued: "If I were you, I'd be careful not to execute me. I was instrumental in revealing Oro'naze, in hijacking his bomb plot and safeguarding it from Megatron's asinine granddaughter. I'm criticised because I get things done, but if you want to know something, its this. Your stupid KI division indoctrinated me under alternate execution, and its by the things I did in it that I rebelled! And the rest is history! I interrupted Varya and stopped a permanent end to any potential peace, as no UIP power would agree to peace if 2 homeworlds were lost! I helped start up the NKI, and equalize the playing field with the Alliance, giving hope to its own subjugated citizens and the UIP! I clawed my way out of Ral'craz prison with others, all to set in motion the plan to reveal the true culprit of this whole stupid war!"
"So go ahead. But if I'm executed, punished for doing what needed to be done to give sanity back to both sides, then expect a large backlash from one of more sides. I have sympathetic hordes in the Alliance and UIP, I've checked. And on top of it all, the Kro'nogri monarchy was rightfully restored because of my actions in revealing Oro'naze's plots and stopping Tyrania's actions with the bomb."
Sitting down in his seat, Alex summarised briefly: "Do what you want with me, I don't care. I'm done. I'm technically Alliance property, as this body was created with tech that has to be returned."
The human glared at the soldiers as he sat, the pair of them not trying to hoist him up again. The court absorbed his exclamations, but he could already sense a growing response waiting to happen.
The judge's eyes visibly narrowed, but he restrained his anger as he moved onto the things that Alex hadn't addressed explicitly:
"Ignoring that callous response, I'll ask you to issue your statement for the creation of not one, but TWO illegal, fully fledged Artificial Intelligences with the same Alliance technology your stole with those ships."
In the centre of the courtroom, twin 3D holograms were presented of two figures. One was human shaped, but had a metallic, skeletal body, and cycling modes showed a compatible human skin disguise form. It resembled Alex in its skinned mode.
The second resembled a mythical beast, 4 legged, 2 wings, a long neck and tail, with a reptilian head on the neck's end. Internal shots showed a small back hidden cockpit, complex synthetic flesh and cybernetics and an array of mass generators, hidden flight boosters and weapons hard points, most notably a molten metal mass accelerator hidden in the mouth.
Standing by the holograms, a military analyst ran down the data on the two subjects.
"Subjects in order, codenames RAXLER and ARU'SAN. The first is a full fledged, logic engine based AI, with limited emotional capacity and high capacity hacking abilities. The second used a combination of cybertronian level nanotech to enhance synthetic tissue symbiosis with enhancing cybernetics, hence the organic appearence. The AI is formed from a synthetic grey matter and neural matrix quantum core, giving it somewhat more limited hacking abilities, but a greater displayed degree of emotional capacity."
The judge turned to Alex, and surmised: "These AIs are illegally manufactured, and not tested by Alliance regulations. Alliance AI regulations state that confiscation for a thorough inspection of potential dangers with the existence of these AIs, and decommissioning them if it is deemed best for security."
The judge suddenly noticed that Alex's face had changed, more shocked and fretting now. Across the courtroom, he addressed the human whilst the court, jury, Kal'sik and staff watched:
"The fact that you cooperated with them for so long stands to reason that you have a great deal of insight into their behaviour patterns. How will these machines respond? Will they cooperate?"
"You're mistaken. I haven't interacted very much with any of those two in a while, not since the New Cybertron battle, with the exception of Aru'san in Eru'lindi city briefly. For all I know, and its within their capacities, they may not have the same behaviour patterns as I once knew them by. They had the capability to alter their own programming if they saw fit."
The court was aghast, as self reprogramming AI was almost a sin in terms of regulations. Alex continued: "And don't call them machines. They are sentient, like you and I. They may think differently from organics on levels, but the capacity to freely think makes them equal to us. I can say this however; Raxler will cooperate, right up until he deduces that the intent to terminate him is imminent. Same with Aru'san. They will cooperate, until they need to protect themselves, just like any organic would."
"But please, if you have any shred of mercy, as we should show in peacetime, don't terminate them. I authorised their creation, so don't harm them for what they are. They want a peaceful life, both of them. Don't punish them, punish me. I refuse to take punishment for what I did to end the war, but if taking some punishment in what time I have left will save their two lives, then I won't resist."
"Please your honour. I'm disposable, I've not got long left. But don't harm them. I'll admit to destroying more than I created, but among what I created they are the greatest things among them. Show mercy, PLEASE."
Alex's last word, unlike his violent outburst in regards to his own crimes in accelerating the war's end, was shaky and saddened. A complete polar opposite to his own self defence.
The Judge regarded the human with steady eyes, and as a short recess was called, he stood up to collect his thoughts. In Alliance military tribunals, the Judge sat in with the Jury, for greater collaboration on the mountains of evidence and testimonies presented.
For Alex, he'd never felt lower in his life, but the pain in his chest wasn't from the near to failure organs the medication was keeping working. Fear for his living synthetic offspring, the two things he had an unaltered caring bond with, had consumed him. In his selfishness and mental state of uncaring about his fate, he'd forgotten how some of his allies would be unfairly judged just for being what they were.
But he'd made his case as best as he wanted. Aside from ensuring the two synthegics were equally tried, nothing mattered to him anymore. He didn't care about anything other than him having secured one victory in the war that could never, ever be soiled by a failure, and he wanted to ensure his synthetic children would be able to witness it themselves.
Synthetics, Cyber organisms and organics all rejoiced in peacetime, a universal trait.
More to come soon.
As usual, I really would appreciate reviews, especially considering this story is nearly complete: Up to Chapter 60 at most.
I'll get to the war's end, the aftermath, Alex/Raxler/Aru'san's fate, as I've covered all the others. I'll also give ending mini parts to show the general direction other characters will likely head down, and purposefully leave open ends for interpretation or future writing.
There won't be a big story like this or the prior 3, but I'll leave it open ended enough to possibly return for post war, mid-war or even pre war short stories, at requests or my own fancy.
My next big ambition for writing, as I've said before, is in a category that I feel will be much more frequently visited.
But more importantly, its a storyline I feel has potential for some unexplored parts of a particularly well visited franchise.
