Override
Minor
The Chancellor, Her Noble Potency, Empress Override. The Glorious Victor over Everyone Else On the Track
Shut up and drive
Posts: 476
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Post by Override on Jul 4, 2011 20:52:14 GMT -5
OOC: This thread is only open to those who are on the Jury for Hook's trial.
After the closing arguments have been made, the jury file into a separate room so that they may discuss their verdict. Among them is Override. She listened carefully to everything that was said, but when it is all said and done, she simply throws herself down into her chair and announces, without pre-amble, "Well, I think he's guilty. You guys?"
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Post by Sentinel Prime on Jul 5, 2011 19:37:05 GMT -5
Sentinel Prime has been serious, boring, and possibly a bit cantankerous during the whole ordeal. In other words, he's been Sentinel Prime. He has no real attachment to this particular case, which is doubtless why he was selected. Sure, he hates Decepticons, because that is the thing to do in his position, but Hook was captured by Optimus Prime, and making Optimus Prime look bad is thing Sentinel Prime tends to do, so if Optimus Prime captured an innocent Decepticon...
...but Sentinel Prime doesn't really have a problem with Optimus anymore. Because he can't. Because the prosecutor broke his head.
He wouldn't be on the jury if they knew that, but then, Elita-1 wouldn't be the prosecutor if they knew that, because she'd be in the brig.
So the thing to do is just to try to... see justice done, which is hard for him, because justice isn't quantifiable. Sentinel Prime can't pour out a measure of justice and do it as a shot off someone's hood. Maybe some of the talks he's had with Botanica will be useful?
Sentinel Prime sighs and admits, "I don't even know if this trial we're having is legit. I mean, we don't know the relative time-frames between realities. What if Hook's already been captured and put on trial in his home reality? We could be putting him in double jeopardy. But assuming that the trial is legit, since we're having it... Hook may be an officer here, but he hasn't done anything... horrible here, as enemy soldiers go. Everything that he did in his home reality, he did under Scrapper's command, and Scrapper was under Megatron's command. I'm not sure the responsibility lies with him."
Just like it was Optimus's fault they went to Archa Seven, even though it was Sentinel Prime's idea. Optimus was the senior cadet. Rank carries with it certain responsibilities.
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Swoop
Cadet
Knight of the Obsolete Aircraft
It's always the quiet ones.
Posts: 105
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Post by Swoop on Jul 5, 2011 22:09:47 GMT -5
Swoop does not want to be here. This whole affair bores him when it isn't confusing him. However, none of that has ever gotten anyone out of jury duty before, so here he is.
"If him Hook bad robot who do bad stuff like her Prosecution say he did, us jury have to find him Hook guilty. But if him Hook not do bad stuff, us jury have to find him Hook not guilty, even if him still bad robot" the Dinobot says slowly, as though to make sure he's got it straight. He looks around the room for confirmation.
"Me Swoop think him Hook guilty," he adds quietly.
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Post by Clipper on Jul 20, 2011 20:29:52 GMT -5
Clipper worries her lower lip a little, consulting the notes she's taken - it's a habit - before squaring off against Sentinel.
"Even if he was following someone's orders, even if he wasn't in command, that doesn't excuse him from what he did, himself," she declares, her shoulders a little stiff. Telling off Holi and his Patrol is one thing, but Sentinel is an Officer, and much more adult, and is experienced with a lot more things, and... well... he's just a bit intimidating. At least, he is to a young girl.
"If he knew he was doing something bad, and he did it anyway, it doesn't matter if he was under orders. He chose to obey the orders and do something bad, rather than stand up and do what was right. Orders are nothing more than an excuse to hide behind."
She finishes in a rush, and sits back down - when had she stood up, anyway - again, adding very quietly, "I think he's guilty, and I'm scared to think what he could do to another city if we let him go."
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Post by Jasper Stoneham on Jul 20, 2011 21:04:16 GMT -5
Well now. Jetfire's perhaps a bit more "peer" here than anyone else could be for Hook, something he's all too aware of as he hobbles to a seat and drops down into it.
"Basically," he muses as he rests his cane across his lap, one axe blade flicking out with a schnickt, "we're trying him for being a Decepticon, aye?" He carefully drags one blunt fingertip along the axe blade, cleaning under a joint. "More'n that, we're trying him for being an unrepentant 'Con. If t'was just the first, well, I'd be sharin' that stand, y'know."
He looks up, slumping back in his seat to kick his feet up onto the table, a few bolts shaking loose to drop to the surface where they roll about. "Been there. Cities, lass? Aye, cities. 'Cons, don't stop at cities, though. Heard the evidence. Heard the evidence and I've been there." He pauses for a long moment.
"Guilty."
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Override
Minor
The Chancellor, Her Noble Potency, Empress Override. The Glorious Victor over Everyone Else On the Track
Shut up and drive
Posts: 476
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Post by Override on Jul 26, 2011 21:10:30 GMT -5
Override scratches her chin and tilts her head, looking generally towards the ceiling. "I'm pretty sure when you're doing things like destroying planets and tearing down cities, you don't get to hide behind, like, someone else's command," she observes.
She looks at Jetfire and her brows furrow. "I don't think we're trying him for being a Decepticon, specifically, unless you think trying to destroy inhabited planets is an inherent 'Con trait. In which case, sure." She shrugs.
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Post by Sentinel Prime on Jul 27, 2011 20:13:47 GMT -5
Sentinel Prime scares little girls. Well, that's about how this day is going.
What they say bothers him, that if one does something bad enough, it does not matter if one was following orders. He's not on trial, but he can't help but think back to his first court martial. Optimus took the fall because he was the senior cadet, but if Sentinel Prime follows the logic here, it should have been him. It should have been him in a dead end career, doing space bridge maintenance.
There's another thing that bugs him, though, and he points it out, "Should we blame him for acts he may have had no choice in doing?"
Because if Sentinel Prime gets in trouble over what Elita-1 did to his head, he wants an out. He wants everything to be Not His Fault because he's not running a proper set of emotional defaults.
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Swoop
Cadet
Knight of the Obsolete Aircraft
It's always the quiet ones.
Posts: 105
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Post by Swoop on Jul 28, 2011 16:25:59 GMT -5
Swoop looks at Sentinel Prime. He remembers that guy! That guy is kind of a jerk. He raises a valid point though. "Um . . ." the Dinobot starts, unsure how to phrase his thoughts. "Like, you giant chin robot mean, if some scary person hurt him Hook if him Hook not do what they want? That happened to me Swoop- me Swoop's friend once. Him Swoop's friend had to do bad thing."
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Override
Minor
The Chancellor, Her Noble Potency, Empress Override. The Glorious Victor over Everyone Else On the Track
Shut up and drive
Posts: 476
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Post by Override on Aug 1, 2011 21:27:44 GMT -5
OOC: Skipping multiple people due to time-out.
"Well, if he didn't have any choice, then what?" Override asks. "I mean, if his will got taken away or something, then we should fix it, right? Which is really what this comes down to. Do we have the right to try and fix it?" She shakes her head. "I mean, okay, I get that we're asking does the guy who replaced the old Hook have any less right to live than the old Hook, right? But, you know... when the guy who replaced the old Hook does things like destroy cities or planets or something, I kind of think the answer is... yes."
She looks at Swoop. "That is... that's called duress. But I don't think that's quite the same thing. It's like... if instead of hurting your friend, that other person just... made your friend into a different person that wanted to do what the other guy said." She holds up her hands, palms up, in a sort of exaggerated shrug.
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Post by Sentinel Prime on Aug 1, 2011 22:00:21 GMT -5
Sentinel Prime remembers being violently schooled by Swoop and his cohorts. Speaking of school, is Swoop attending that now? Surely Kup will make sure that Swoop learns it is completely inappropriate to call his comrades things like 'giant chin robot'?
Wait, no, this is Kup. So Kup is out there somewhere, laughing.
"Yeah, whatever, needlechin," Sentinel Prime mutters sullenly.
Do they have the right to try and fix it? But... Hook doesn't want to be fixed. Like Sentinel Prime doesn't want to be fixed. The thought that someone might force him vaguely terrifies him, as does this sympathy for the Fallen that he's feeling.
Sentinel Prime slumps a bit into the table. He knows the rules. His wants don't matter. So he just points out, "We don't decide the sentence. We just decide if he's guilty or not."
Would Optimus decide in favour of death? From what Sentinel Prime's heard... Optimus just might, which also bothers him. But it's not even Sentinel prime's place to think about this sort of thing. Just follow the laws, Sentinel Prime. That's what he does,
"And I... suppose he's guilty."
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Swoop
Cadet
Knight of the Obsolete Aircraft
It's always the quiet ones.
Posts: 105
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Post by Swoop on Aug 2, 2011 17:58:43 GMT -5
Swoop nods along to Override's explanation. As near as he can tell, she's saying Hook is more like Meltdown's fusion creatures than the Dinobots when they were forced to do his bidding.
He shifts in his chair. All this thinking is unpleasant work. "Him Hook still guilty, then, if him not duress."
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Override
Minor
The Chancellor, Her Noble Potency, Empress Override. The Glorious Victor over Everyone Else On the Track
Shut up and drive
Posts: 476
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Post by Override on Aug 8, 2011 22:08:51 GMT -5
OOC: Gah! Sorry about this one, guys.
Override studies Sentinel for a moment, lips twisted into a puzzled frown. Then she shrugs and stands up.
"Well, all right, then. Sounds like we've got a unanimous decision. Time to return the verdict and wait for sentencing."
This isn't even the first time she's been part of deciding someone's face, and she's pretty casual about it. Even now, the Velocitronian doesn't have much patience for just sitting and waiting. They've got an answer, it's time to go.
OOC: Leaving this thread open for a final round of posts, but I'll be locking it in a couple of days. Verdict is guilty, sentenced to an attempt to revert his programming to what it had been before Megatron got to it.
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