The judge sat at his desk, heading the large unoriginal court room, traditional. He was a judge with passionate rectitude and believed everyone deserved the right to a fair trial. As part of his tenure, he read over the accused statement. He wanted to evince, just to be sure everything was clear. The man before him was accused of a mighty, pricey, theft. Probably one worth a penalty of death. He was part of a small unknown group of mercenaries. They were forcefully quartering themselves in the house of a civilian. However the more the judge read the more he felt this was a group of rebels trying to constrain the spread of government power. They were in a country without naturalization, obviously.

Sitting back in the silence of the courtroom awaiting his choice he thought, ‘is this really a case lacking magnanimity?’ He wasn’t so sure this mercenary in front of him was at fault in character like the mercenary that went through to perfidy his comrade. How to redress? Prudence was the nickname of his career. He finished reading the last line of the charges,

“… and for the endeavor to assassinate a government official.”

The case was all on him and the morality of these charges. The official listed was known by the lower class civilians for his tyranny. Didn’t the people have the unalienable rights to fight back? The poor oppressed can’t just conjure such large scale change. Everyone in the government these days had some form of consanguinity, which doesn’t help with the ‘exaggerated’ corruption. Now here was a man being denounced for striving for a better life!

The judge shook his head. He started to feel like one of the mercenaries himself. Desposition had to stop.

With that the judge stood and acquiesced. He would assent to what outrage the government would bring upon him, he could take the heat. Raising his mallet he yelled,

“All charges of accused are dismissed.”

and brought his instrument down with a closing bang.