[M - F03] The M.A.N.T.I.S. High Court

[rodiziorobs]

Location: F03 (Forring)

Tags: Land Vehicle, Military Building

When Supervising Accountant Laszlowe returned to M.A.N.T.I.S. HQ after making a deal with the Zoid slavers, he was met by a special task force who immediately clapped him in irons.

Agent Blond had been sent out to apprehend the data from the Zoids and put a tracer on their ship to follow them. Not returning from the mission, Blond had nevertheless been able to transfer a copy of the data Laszlowe had sold, as well as photographic proof that the Zoid ship was carrying slaves.

The data in question turned out to be a detailed description of all Octan movements and known civilian locations across most of northern Andromeda. In exchange for this information--which the slavers had used to prey on helpless merchants and other civilians in those sectors, as corroborated in Octan documents--the Zoids had been paying Laszlowe handsomely.

Unbeknownst to Laszlowe, his rendezvous with the Zoids had all been recorded by a D.O.R.I.S. (Drone of Really Irritating Surveillance), video evidence which will be shown in court today along with Agent Blond's revelation, on the illuminated panels seen below next to the guard station.

With the overwhelming amount of evidence against Laszlowe--in addition to months of records uncovered this week by M.A.N.T.I.S. auditors--formal charges were brought against Laszlowe for his crimes against humanity, including 18 counts of human trafficking. It will be the Court Recorder's duty to keep minutes of the proceedings. He has not arrived yet, but his booth is shown below, next to the guard station.

The trial has been scheduled for this evening the 20th of Marzn, 3816, at the M.A.N.T.I.S. High Court on Forring.

Delegates from both Octan and Kawashita were invited to be present to witness justice carried out. After all, even if the three corporations squabble or even occasionally fight an all-out war over control of the resources the galaxy holds, no one wants there to be civilian casualties. Also, M.A.N.T.I.S. wants it known that it will not tolerate such atrocities committed under its roof, and will punish to the fullest extent those who perpetrate such crimes.

The judge today will be a member of the Council of Five, and the case would be decided by a nine-member jury. All of the jurors and the judge have yet to arrive.

Jurors' booth

And here are the Octan and Kawashita representatives arriving on their speeders. The attendants will escort them up to the observation deck, where the respective corporations' colors are hung.

The representatives arrive

Octan representatives in their booth

Kawashita representatives in their booth

Here is the accused being led into the chamber as we speak.

The military police maintains a presence on the ground level of the courtroom, should there be any need to enforce order during the course of the trial.

In addition to the human trafficking charges brought against Laszlowe, internal audits revealed he had also embezzled funds from multiple employees of M.A.N.T.I.S., including Scorpio Starstriker, Scientist First Class. M.A.N.T.I.S. agents were trying to decide if there was any connection between these crimes and Starstriker's mysterious disappearance nearly two months earlier. However, at the present time these events appear to be unrelated.

****************

This week's build is based on set 10223, the Kingdoms Joust, a set I wasn't quick enough to get when I came out of my Dark Ages, but I thought would be interesting to adapt into a courtroom. All of the smaller pieces of the MOC correspond to a part of the actual set, except that I couldn't think of any kind of parallel for the jousting list so I omitted it.

Waiting for the judge and jury

More pictures below, C&C welcome!

Defendant's chair

High Court judgement seat

Jurors' booth

Representatives from Kawashita

Representatives from Octan

Money shot of the M.A.N.T.I.S. logo--my best one yet!

Seriously, the M.A.N.T.I.S. logo is probably the coolest of all the corps, but could it be any harder to build?! I mean there are official Octan pieces, and Kawashita takes two pieces--two! Ok, rant over, we're good now

Edited March 21, 2016 by rodiziorobs

[SpacerSteve]

Love this build! I really like the large and small MANTIS logos! The rockwork on the front is really cool too.

Random thought. The little Octan and Kawashita scooters might count for a land vehicle tag.

[VK-318]

Random thought. The little Octan and Kawashita scooters might count for a land vehicle tag.

Oh, yes, completely random. But also true, of course.

This one has both my political support - I love that somebody's bringing these guys to court instead of shooting-first-and-asking-questions-later. But all that aside, this is an absolutely incredible courtroom. I wish it was an official set.

[Big Sal]

Awesome build! Everything about this is great - it's completely recognisable as the joust set, but also works perfectly as a sci-fi court

[Judge mode]

Um, what's the justification for calling a courtroom a military building?

[/Judge mode]

Great work on the logos too!

Edited March 21, 2016 by Big Sal

[rodiziorobs]

Random thought. The little Octan and Kawashita scooters might count for a land vehicle tag.

Oh yeah! Those were the last things I built, so I hadn't even been thinking about it, thanks!

[Judge mode]

Um, what's the justification for calling a courtroom a military building?

[/Judge mode]

There are the two guardposts at the bottom level. Perhaps the entire build is not military, but enough was that I thought the tag applied.

If it doesn't qualify, that's fine.

[StarHawk3]

Great build this week. For a second there I thought you were going to have the octan and kawashita representatives joust from the back of the carts.

[Kodan Black]

Instantly knew which set this was based on. The Mantis logo is the best part, really clever build for it. Great re-purposing from Castle to Sci-fi.

[Junior Shark]

When I saw the first shot of the overall build, I literally LOL'd. In a good way, of course! It was an LOL of happiness. The brick-built Mantis symbols are the bee's (mantis' ?) knees.

[David FNJ]

This is so good! Totally awesome logo, and the layout is perfect.

[Mr Greeble]

I missed this set too. You remade it beautifully, though! I love the M.A.N.T.I.S. logo!

[Andromedas Gates]

The judges awarded you 5 points.