The Diego Diaries: Stuff and More Stuff (dd6 659)
=0=Courtroom at the Court House, Autobot City
It was silent as a tomb in the room as Silver stood to do so. "The Prime versus Rockwell of Iacon, Carver of Capital City and Pico of Praxus."
Carbide studied his data pad a moment, then looked at Sherrod and Highrode. "Gentlemen, please proceed. I need to know their pleas."
Highrode stood. He looked strained and so did Sherrod who sat pensively watching the show. "Your honor, our clients wish to plead guilty with caveats. They were impaired by drink and thus, they were less capable of making a good judgment otherwise. They understand the seriousness of what they did and therefore they aren't going to dispute the facts of the case."
Carbide nodded. "Rockwell, Pico and Carver … you pled guilty. Tell me about it."
Rockwell glanced at the others. "I won't lie, your honor. I was drunk and I have a grudge against Ratchet and his family. I didn't think and I did a very bad thing. I'm sorry for it and even though I have no love for Ratchet, I'm ashamed of participating in something so cowardly."
Carbide glanced at the other two.
Pico nodded. "We agree, your honor. We went out to eat and have a drink. We drank too much and allowed ourselves to do something that we wouldn't have done otherwise. I'm sorry I did. I have no criminal record and this makes me ashamed."
"I agree, your honor," Carver said.
The two were younger than Rockwell and looked like they felt the burn deeper than him.
Carbide considered the pleas. "You'd be admitting guilt and bearing responsibility for what the evidence suggests is a very cowardly and despicable act."
The three felt the jibe but nodded.
"We do, sir," Pico said with a drawn expression. The sentences of the other five were apparently striking home.
The audience was filled with tension behind them, their own expressions reflecting their turmoil and it was bleeding over to at least two of the three.
It didn't look like such a good idea in the daylight.
Carbide glanced at Springer. "Commander, please tell me what the evidence shows about this action. I'm aware that the victim is your ada so please, just the cold hard facts." He glanced at Highrode and Sherrod. "I'm having a disclosure of the evidence since they pled guilty. I want the court to hear it and put it on the record. I also believe that everyone here who has a vested interest in these three need to hear it. Do you object?"
Neither did.
"Commander?" Carbide asked.
Springer stood, then glanced around the room. "Commander Ironhide and Commander Ratchet were having dinner and a night out with Optimus Prime and Commander Prowl. They were at the same restaurant where the four had dinner and when Prime's group left there, these three followed them to The King Pin, the bowling alley where they all bowled in different parts of the building. I'm unaware if Ratchet's party knew they were there.
"They then went to a dance club in the Sports District in Retriades where they danced and had drinks. They left after a while to go to the train station for Tyger Pax when Ratchet was separated from the group. He was inebriated and missed the leaving the train with the other three. When they got off Ratchet was left behind.
"It was then that the three grabbed Ratchet, went to the Basilica nearby and once around the side away from the highway, they beat and kicked him senseless. It was only later that he was found and brought to the Medical Center Annex in Tyger Pax. The entire thing was caught on security cameras but for the actual beating which was accomplished in a blind spot. I've put in to Public Works for that to be rectified," Springer said grimly. Then he sat.
"You were following them for some time, to at least two destinations where they were heading indicating that you were aware of your actions to whatever debatable level you wish to make it. You waited until Commander Ratchet was vulnerable, then you took him away and beat him into unconsciousness. He had a broken arm from the encounter. I'm going to ask you if you still plead guilty," Carbide asked as he glanced at the two lawyers.
Sherrod and Highrode both leaned in and had an off line conversation with the three, then glanced at Carbide. "They do. They wish to underscore their regret. I know that might not seem like much but they have it," Sherrod said.
Carbide nodded then considered the situation. "I accept your pleas. You three, Pico, Rockwell and Carver are guilty of assault and battery, conspiracy to willfully harm another and provocation of a Primal Directive. I find you guilty. I have to craft a sentence that's sufficient for the damage you caused and to take all considerations into account by your testimony as well."
Behind them, Periodic and a large group of family and friends, many of them from the 45 members of their refugee group that did time at the quarry for their actions in the migration sat with concern, fear and loathing on their faces. It was incredibly tense in the room as Springer and Drift stood, then walked quietly to the door in the back to lean against the wall. Anything could happen from the signs the families were giving off in their energetic auras.
Just in case was a good idea.
"You caused gross bodily harm and you did it together. You could have killed Commander Ratchet and left orphans behind. You hurt him when he was deeply vulnerable and left him to be found, or not by whoever might have had reason to go to that side of the building, a place not often frequented. You pushed the Prime's directive to the point where an honor fight is nearly possible because make no mistake … this is about System entitlement and your unwillingness to accept that its over. Even the words of Primus don't seem to have moved you very far.
"Pico, I sentence you to 10 decaorns in the prison. You will also serve 10 decaorns on probation when you get out. Carver, I sentence you to the same. You have no record so far and you seem to have some modicum of shame or perhaps a dawning sense of realization that this was stupid and cowardly.
"Rockwell, you have a record. You were put into the prison already for entitlement issues in the migration that brought you here. You've already gone onto the record by your actions then and prison didn't seem to help you change your ways. Therefore, I'm going to sentence you to 15 decaorns in the prison and 15 decaorns probation when you serve it. Any actions in the prison that are against the rules will extend your sentence. I'm also remanding you three into counseling for your anger and entitlement issues. You made this happen by your own decisions. Now you must discharge your debt to your victim and to the peace of the nation." Carbide glanced at the bailiff. "Take them away please."
Periodic stood, his expression one of astonishment. "That's … that's 150 orns!"
"It is," Carbide said. "A mild sentence in view of what he did. This is his second offense. He knew what he was doing and he did it. Now he has to pay his debt in the prison's general population. Take them."
The bailiff gripped Carver's arm and got them moving as security watched the astonished group in the audience as the three walked out.
It was silent a moment, then Periodic turned to the others. No one said a thing for a moment, then an elder turned to Carbide. "May I speak?" he asked.
"You may but I caution you on your conduct here. This is a court of law and I won't allow its dignity to be trifled with," Carbide said.
The elder nodded. "I would like to say that the three were impaired and their judgment lacking. Is there any other way to repay the debt without prison? The three have work and families. Surely there's another way?"
Carbide considered the elder who looked slightly familiar as so many of the upper crust did given their access to media and a very public highlife in the past. "You ask for mercy when they had none for their victim. What they did was majestic in the level of cowardice they showed Commander Ratchet. Its a miracle that we're not holding an arraignment for murder."
The group absorbed that comment, feeling it clearly but they stared at Carbide with expectation anyway.
Carbide glanced at Prime. :I'm open to anything that advances the peace, Lord Optimus. I stand by my sentences but if you have wisdom I'd welcome it. Something tells me that this group won't be mollified easily and might act on it:
Prime nodded to him then glanced at Ironhide. :I hope and imagine you have some kind of Praxian custom that you can find to deal with an alternative sentence that will not allow them to escalate this situation. We need to nip this in the bud for all of them before they make it worse:
Ironhide looked at Prime then grinned slightly. :Do you doubt me?:
Prime managed a ghost of a grin then glanced at Carbide. "I would like Commander Ironhide to address this situation with perhaps an alternative solution."
Ironhide who called in a few reinforcements rose to stand. As he did the three were brought back in by the bailiff at Carbide's call. The group watching was wary but there was an air of hopefulness about them as they saw their puzzled miscreants walk back into the room to stand on the white line. As they gathered, the door to the corridor opened as the sound of a bridge winding down in the hallway outside followed several big mechs who walked in. They were Hard Drive, Steiner, Sun, 'Jack, Raptor and Delphi who had bridged in together from Cybertron. They spotted Ironhide, then halted together.
"You called?" Sun asked with a grin.
Ironhide nodded. "I've been asked to give an alternative to the sentence that Judge Carbide just gave these three slaggers who beat Ratchet up the other night."
The group glanced at the three standing in the front of the room and the temperature dropped like a rock. Everyone of them glanced at each other as the three stared at Carbide.
Hard Drive stepped closer. "You were given a sentence from the judge for your actions. Correct?" he asked.
The elder who started this nodded. "I've asked for an alternative to prison."
"They deserve prison," Hard Drive said. "Beating up a person who can't fight back is cowardly. Maybe a period of time in the company of really dangerous mechs is warranted."
"They've requested an alternative. I'm not against it. I don't expect that the gathered family members will accept with good grace and the necessary shame the punishment I gave to these mechs without make a continuing issue of it," Carbide said nodding to the three who looked wary and concerned.
Sherrod and Highrode were conversing off line with Prime and Delphi so they sat where they were to wait what might come to pass. No one wanted this to carry on past this hearing but no one in the room was fooled that it might not.
Hardie nodded then glanced at his brothers, Steiner and Delphi. They chatted a moment off line, then Hardie stepped closer. "Appa, do you surrender your concerns and conduct to me as arbitrator of this matter? Do you give your oath of honor to abide by my decision?"
The elder glanced around, then nodded. There was a murmur but given he was senior here among them they had to abide by his oath. "I do."
Hardie nodded. "Very well. I would like to submit a plan, your honor, to take these three on as a project."
A gasp from the crowd was quashed by a glance from the elder.
Carbide who was watching nodded. "Please outline the plan, General."
"It's a part of our cultural practice as Praxians that when a disturbance in the body is created by the behavior of individuals who don't seem willing or able to change and grow that we take them on as a project. They report to us every orn, do what we tell them to do and do it with good grace and dispatch. I'm posing as a committee that my two brothers, Ironhide and Blackjack the Elder, my son, Raptor, my bond, Delphi and my grandson, Blackjack the Younger hold the writ of the project until it reaches completion to our unanimous agreement."
"And how long will that take?" the elder asked gravely.
"As long as it takes, Appa," Hardie said. "It might take a short time or a long one. It depends upon the project. I, Hard Drive, senior Praxian Elite in the colony and perhaps anywhere else do hereby claim and collect to my discretion and that of the committee these three mechs. So say I."
It was silent as a tomb for a moment, then Carbide who was working to conceal his amusement nodded. He looked at the three. "I'm adding a caveat. If you fail to do your part in this procedure you fall forfeit to me and you will serve the entire sentence that I've ordered, all 15 decaorns in the prison and 15 for probation. I will put that into abeyance and await the findings of the committee as to the disposition of this case. You fail them and what they're going to do at your own peril." He glanced at Hardie. "Your writ will be expected then."
Hardie nodded. "I will send it to you today."
Carbide glanced at the elder. "Appa, you've pledged your personal honor to this agreement. Make sure that the group you belong to understands the personal insult and consequences to you if this continues beyond this moment."
The elder nodded, then bowed slightly. "I will, your honor."
Carbide glanced at Sherrod and Highrode. "Gentlemen? Anything more?"
They glanced at each other then shrugged. "They're contracted by the power of their elder. We have no discretion here."
"Very well," Carbide said. "I turn them over to you, General. You will fill them in on the special restrictions on them as per this arrangement?" Carbide was Praxian as well.
Hardie grinned, then nodded. "We will." He looked at the three. "You three. You will come with me now and you will do everything that I tell you. Do you understand?"
The three stared at Hard Drive then their family and friends who looked shocked but were silent. They nodded, then slowly walked down the aisle to the big mechs.
Hardie nodded to everyone, then walked out the door. The three followed him as directed by Sun, then the rest followed Sun.
A bridge sounded, then Periodic ran for the door. By the time he reached the hallway, everyone was already gone. To where, he didn't know.
=0=TBC 5-12-19 edited 5-18-19