Dead Star Dockyards

The courtroom was awash with expressions of shock and awe. The Justice, the jury and even the Enforcers were in a state of absolute bewilderment. Did Donovan just admit to attempting murder? Really? After all that interruption?

"A-HA! He ADMITTED to it! He's a murderer!" Rishtahn, naturally, immediately felt the rush of victory in his veins as he registered Donovan's blunder. How could the jury possibly be convinced of his innocence now that he had said that? It was impossible!

"Settle down! Settle down!" Justice Kurpask took a little bit longer than Rishtahn to recover from his shock, his sluggishness making it that much harder for him to regain control over the court. "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, please take your seats." Already a good majority of the jury had walked across the stands to sit behind Rishtahn. One short sentence was all it took for their opinions on the matter to shift.

"Will we be moving to the argumentation phase now?" Of course, Donovan didn't so much as bat an eye. He had been expecting this. He had been planning for this. 

"Argumentation? Argumentation? How could you possibly try to argue that you didn't attempt to murder me after that admission!?"

"Because I never attempted to murder you."

A wave of confusion could be heard rippling across the room. 

"Continue to argumentation." The Librarian instructed the Justice from above. "This case is not finished."

"A-as you say. While it is true that this new information does appear to incriminate Lord Strauss, we must still give him the opportunity to prove his innocence."

"But he admitted to it!"

"Lord Rishtahn." The enforcers had stepped towards his camp, the gentlemen representing him raising a hand to keep him from going any further. 

Donovan, on the other hand, did not so much as raise an eyebrow. He said nothing in his defense, nor did he say anything to aggravate the opposition. Many in the jury appeared to interpret Donovan's silence as further incrimination, though the more skeptical among them suspected he was simply waiting his turn. After all, he had demonstrated an unusually strict adherence to the rules thus far, why would that stop now?

They were right, of course. Donovan was just following process, adhering to the court rules laid out for him by the Arboreal Maiden to the letter. For that matter, he also knew he wasn't guilty. Well, it might be more correct to say that nobody could prove that he was guilty. He knew which 'buttons' to press in order to get out of this whole mess, a sort of code that would make it impossible for the case to continue. It didn't involve the Librarian or the Arboreal Maiden, though they would be useful if he had miscalculated, misunderstood, or just bungled his argument.

"So . . . I suppose the prosecution is first to make an argument?"

"We believe that the defendant has already made enough of a case for us, your honor. We will await our chance for a counter-argument."

"Very well. Lord Strauss, you may . . . you may argue in your defense." Justice Kurpask was not entirely sure if he should allow this to continue in the first place. It was looking more and more like a waste of time.

- - - - -

"Thank you, your honor." Donovan accepted the opportunity to defend himself exactly as the Scholar had told him to, stepping onto the stone dais in the center of the room. "I will begin my defense by once again asking the Justice which crime I am accused of."

"HA!"

"Lord Rishtahn."

"Sorry."

Donovan watched as he Justice Kurpask kept an eye on Rishtahn for a few seconds, maintaining a deadpan expression. "I assume you wish to have me state this information for the sake of the jury, correct?"

"That would be the case, your honor."

"Very well. The crime you stand accused of is attempted murder."

"What evidence suggests that the defense has any standing to make such an accusation?" Donovan did not let the scoffing and expressions of surprise get to him, they were irrelevant. Sure he might look stupid now, but he had confidence he would be vindicated at the end. There were some worries about the Justice's reaction to his follow-up though.

"Um, you are aware you just admitted to attempting to murder the prosecution, are you not?"

Bingo, Donovan had him. Justice Kurpask wasn't quite sure if he really had attempted to kill Rishtahn, even if he appeared confident that Donovan had told the truth. "I never admitted to such a thing."

". . . are you implying that you lied before the court?"

"No sir. I never admitted that I attempted to murder the prosecution, only that I attempted to kill him." He sounded crazy, positively insane, yet he had already won. That is, he had already won if the Head Enforcer had as tight of the grasp on the law as the Scholar had informed him they did.

"You . . . are you unwell?"

"No sir, I am perfectly lucid. I will even say it for you once more, write it down if you must. I never attempted to murder the prosecution, I only attempted to kill him." Repeat it once, repeat it a thousand times, he would keep doing so until the Justice at the very least gave his argumentation credence.

"Those are the same thing."

"I assure you, your honor, they are not."

The room descended into a tense silence for a few minutes, broken on occasion by Rishtahn's snickering. Justice Kurpask's raised eyebrow seemed to suggest that he wished for Donovan to continue, something he refused to do. Making a move here would be a mistake, somebody else had to say something first.

"Well, if you aren't going to elaborate, I will assume that your argumentation is over. Please leave the stand." Donovan did not even give the impression that he would move, eliciting a groan from Kurpask. "Ugh, I really didn't want to have to do this. Enforcers, please remove the defendant from the stand so he may be judged."

Donovan watched three of the Enforcers approach him, more likely coming in from behind, as he awaited his response.

"The Defendant's argumentation stands. Enforcers, return to your posts." Donovan did not need to see him speak to know that the voice belonged to the Head Enforcer. "Justice Kurpask, I suggest you take the Defendant's interrogation seriously. You are the one being argued against here."

From what Donovan had read, the additional advice given to Justice Kurpask by the Head Enforcer was not allowed, but he would not raise a fuss here about legal issues. If he wanted to push the case along, so be it. 

"What?" Kurpask looked around the room in bewilderment as the Enforcer's obediently returned to their posts. "What do you mean by that?"

"Engage in the debate, Kurpask." A voice from above, the Librarian, admonishing Justice Kurpask for failing in his duties. Donovan allowed himself a slight smile, feeling his meaning to be clear.

". . . very well then. Um, you posit that you have not attempted murder, would you please explain your case?"

"As you wish." Donovan turned to the side and began to pace on the stand. He had been 'at attention' for a while now, so the opportunity to stretch his legs was welcome. "What constitutes murder?"

"What?!"

"Answer the question." Donovan wasn't going to give anybody the chance to derail this debate, least of all Justice Kurpask.

"Seriously?" Donovan responded with a cold glare. "Fine, murder is the killing of another person."

"So a soldier who kills a foreign combatant is a murderer? That's a pretty harsh stance to take, isn't it? How many nobles do you think that makes murderers of?"

"That isn't what I mea-"

"Then the action you have described does not constitute murder. Please, your honor, define murder." 

"Uh, then murder is the killing of another person outside of a wartime setting."

"Does that make accidental killings murder then? Say someone loses control over their mount and tramples an innocent bystander, are they a murderer? What if something is unknowingly dropped out of a window and breaks someone's skull? Are those people murderers?"

"No, of course not. We aren't so heartless as to-"

"Then you have not adequately defined murder. Please, your honor, define murder."

"The intentional killing of another person outside of a wartime setting."

"Executioners?"

"Er, the intentional killing of another person outside of war and executions."

"What of the Enforcers, surely they are forced into situations."

"The intentional killing of another person outside of permitted scenarios?" Donovan had him. Used to an environment utterly lacking in prosecuted murder charges, the Justices did not appear to have studied up on how different types of death were qualified. "Look, murder is murder, okay? It's not that difficult."

"A naïve assessment. Murder may indeed be murder, however that means that what isn't murder isn't murder. So, I will ask you again. What. Is. Murder?"

Donovan stopped in the middle of the dais, staring directly into Justice Kurpask's eyes. The courtroom was dead silent now, not even Rishtahn was snickering. Donovan had the patience to wait for a response, but he could not wait forever. Three or four minutes were all he could afford the floundering Justice, who seemed desperate for those above to make a statement.

"You know what, I'll help you out. To the best of my understanding, murder is defined as the premeditated and unlawful killing of another person. This means that attempted murder is the attempt to kill another in a premeditated and unlawful way. Do these definitions satisfy the authority in the room?"

"The definition the Defendant sets forth is commensurate with the word of the Arboreal Maiden." The Head Enforcer supported Donovan's definition, the case could continue according to plan.

"Very well, even under that definition what you have done still counts as murder."

"I'm afraid not, your honor. See, there are a few important aspects of that definition. Setting aside the 'killing' and 'another person' parts, it would be a futile act to debate those, the 'premeditated' and 'unlawful' conditions must be achieved in order for the action to constitute murder."

"You intended to kill him and acted against the law in doing so!" Justice Kurpask was growing irritated. All this playing around with words that didn't really matter was starting to irritate him. 

"Did I intend to kill him? Yes. Did I have plans to kill him? Also yes. However it would be wrong to claim that I did so outside of the law."

"Oh, really? You're going to claim you had a legal basis for making an attempt on the prosecution's life?"

Donovan stopped in place, somewhere left of center, and righted himself. He turned his face toward Rishtahn, bestowing upon him a truly malicious smile before facing the judge and nodding. 

"What could possibly give you that idea!?"

"Simple, he struck first."

"WHAT?!"

"Yes, it's true. He was the first to strike. I was not the first to be struck either. As mentioned previously, that buffoon first attacked my brother and fiancé before I arrived. Then when I approached him he attempted to slap me. BOTH of these actions constitute criminal assault, and the laws of the Sanctum permit judicial immunity to those who attempt to stop those criminals in action regardless of damages incurred."

"That's preposterous! Your honor you can't allow this to-"

"You lost all standing to debate the facts of the case the instant you agreed with the Defendant on them. Lord Strauss, you may continue."

"Thank you your honor. Anyways, as I was saying, the idiot who has come forth with claims that I attempted to murder him was very clearly in the process of assaulting those close to me, admitting as much himself. I hereby accuse the prosecution of criminal assault."

"NO! You can't do that!"

"The Defendant's accusation is sustained." Justice Kurpask shut down Lord Rishtahn before he could make more of a fuss. "Even if the prosecution was in the process of assaulting you, how can you justify going that far."

"Your honor, excuse me for sounding rude, but have you ever killed someone?" This was the important part. The case was already his in the eyes of the Jury, most of whom had once more returned to his side, he just couldn't allow for any loose ends that might incriminate him in the future. "It's fine if you don't answer that."

"No, no. I want to see where this is going. I have not killed someone."

"Very well then, do you know how easy it is for someone to die?"

"I cannot say that I do."

"Well, let's just say that it can be really easy, and also really hard. As you can see he has survived those injuries, however I think we have all heard about someone who died from something as simple as tripping, correct?" Murmurs from behind suggested that the jurors were having conversations amongst themselves. "Well, with that in mind, can you say that just knocking someone down is enough to prevent someone from hurting and potentially killing someone you love?"

The Justice remained silent. As much as he wished to speak on the subject, this was purely a matter of opinion. Donovan could work with the silence though.

"I am not someone who likes to take chances, your honor. I do not have the luxury. The death of my fiancé may as well mean the death of my self, and so I will do anything, anything, to remove threats to her health and safety. I cannot discount the possibility that a man who went so far as to assault her once could possibly try to do it again, as we have seen here he has acted maliciously towards me when it is clear that he was in the wrong. The only method at my disposal to make sure that he never threatens her again is to kill him."

- - - - -

Donovan lacked the ability to control a courtroom, and there was no way that he could speak as eloquently as his significant other, but he had won. It was a total mess, but the majority of the jurors agreed with him. Donovan was innocent, and Rishtahn would be forced to pay for his crime. Considering that the Librarian was only expecting Donovan to eke out an innocent verdict, this was cause for celebration!

Or at least it should be.

Instead the Librarian found herself presiding over a heated debate between the Prime Justices who had borne witness to the trial.

"Should he even be allowed to do such a thing? To bring a counter-accusation against his prosecutor?"

"It proved to be an important part of his defense."

"That it did, however I believe it may be unfair to the prosecution. Shouldn't a redressing of facts take place in a separate case?"

"Perhaps, but if they are so ignorant of their own crimes that they would raise charges against their victims do they really deserve that liberty?"

"I would say that our status as a neutral party requires that we provide every suspect the same trial process, however I cannot deny that our duty is to enforce justice. If this happens to be a good way to get that job done, then we cannot discount the potential."

"No, no we must stick to the word of the Arboreal Maiden. If she says that this is a valid process then it must remain."

"The Arboreal Maiden has tasked us with the creation of a better and more robust system, we can't afford to have our thinking restrained by the current laws."

"While I agree with that statement, we must also understand that the laws we currently have exist for a reason. I believe that boy was proof enough of that."

"Indeed. While I cannot exactly say I am comfortable letting someone so willing to take another's life off the hook that easily, it is impossible for me to deny his innocence. I only wish his argumentation was a little more. . ."

"Put together?"

"Yes, yes. He seemed sloppy. Did you all feel the same?"

"Let's be honest, that entire situation was a bit of a mess. I do agree that he could have handled it far better though."

"""Hmm."""

All of them had gathered around the table by this point, the Librarian sitting at the head. She welcomed the civility in their discussions, an aspect of their social dynamic not shared amongst those scholars in the Sanctum's libraries. Heated debates usually ended in curses and verbal arguments, which could be fun to hear about but were annoying to work around. 

"Well if you gentlemen have approached a lull in your discussion, what do you say to meeting him?" She had received a message from the Scholar that they were waiting outside the door, she just needed to invite them in.

"May we?" "I imagine he would be quite annoyed at this point." "Are you sure that is okay?"

"I'm going to say yes to all of those." Donovan had opened the door without the Librarian's instruction, barging in and sitting down on the chair in the corner. 

"You could have waited for me to invite you in."

"I've already been detained for over ten hours today, well, yesterday at this point, and it's going to take me at least another two to get back. As some of you might be able to understand, I'm a little bit eager to get back home." Donovan did not even give the Librarian the courtesy of a greeting, not that she cared.