God's Dogs
Chapter 18

The society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools.

Thucydides

The flight back to Penglai was two days. Satya’s crew worked on repairs. Quinn’s people completed their after action reports then met up in the training room.

River sat next to Linda on the sparring mat. “You haven’t learned how we complete missions that include loss of life.”

“Some kind of memorial service?”

“You could say that,” River sighed. “What do you know about Tibetan Buddhism?”

“Monks, meditation,” Linda shrugged.

“The Tibetan Book of the Dead?”

Linda shook her head.

“The Tibetan monks studied death and rebirth. Over the centuries they mapped the journey of the soul after death into a new incarnation.”

“Okay,” Linda said with a frown. She knew of the Celtic belief in Summerland, but this was new.

River pushed on. “After death, the soul enters what they call the bardos. The soul faces challenges there that lead to one of the hells, the Buddha lands, or their next incarnation.”

Moss interjected, “She’s giving you the simple version. You’ll get a lengthy education on this.”

“Why?”

“Because,” Quinn explained, “we’re going into the bardos to help the people we killed.”

Linda looked at each of them to see if they were serious.

Pax told her, “We’ll take you with us, but you only need to observe the process.”

“But why? They are enemies.”

“Misguided children of the Universe,” Moss corrected her.

“You can’t hate,” Pax said. “You can’t kill for anger or revenge. You kill because it must be done – cold-blooded, precise, and sure. Then you care for them afterwards.”

Linda shook her head. “I don’t see why.”

River said, “To keep our hearts pure.”

Linda thought about that for a moment before asking, “What about Benji?”

Quinn answered, “Rand’s crew took care of Benji.”

River elaborated, "Their team will return to the monastery after this, and there will be a month long mourning ritual. We take our losses seriously, Linda, and deal with them in a way that helps the soul of our team mates move onto their next incarnation with as much support as we can provide."

Then they settled in a circle so that River and Pax could be in physical contact with Linda. They breathed their way into a deep and focused meditation. They emerged together in the bardos.

They were holding the intention to meet up with those they killed, and like a kind of psychic gravity, their shared intent drew the confused souls of marines and sailors to gather around them.

Quinn spoke, “You probably know you are dead. We’re here to guide you though this place.”

Linda was in the meditation with them. She could feel the strangeness of the bardos, the fear and confusion of the dead Empire troops. She could also feel the calm confidence of the team as they led the souls toward the Light, encouraging them to stay focused, giving them choices as each option arose.

Linda found it comforting. These faces would not haunt her dreams. She heard stories from veterans. War stripped a person down to savagery. Once the war was over, the horror of what they had done hit with full force. Nightmares were the least of their problems.

As they guided those they killed through the bardos, though, Linda felt her remorse, regret, and guilt slowly evaporate. When they left the final few who made it to the end, she felt a sense of accomplishment.

They ended the meditation and sat in silence for a while. Linda spoke first. “That was different. Comforting in a strange way.”

Pax answered her, “Compassion for others begins with self-compassion. Our souls and their souls are healed and comforted with that ritual.”

Moss added, “And it keeps us sane.”

That made Linda smile. “I’m not sure we fit the definition of sane people, given what we do for a living.”

River chuckled, and Pax joined in.

When they arrived at Penglai, the Satya docked at the military shipyard for repairs. The yard boss told Captain John the ship would be laid up for about a month.

The team and the crew traveled back to the monastery for a debrief with Master Lu. Once that was complete Lu told them the ambush on the Empire fleet in deep space was successful.

Then the crew disbursed for liberty to their homes. The team settled into the monastic routine, which included the month long mourning ritual for Benji at the beginning of each day. Linda rejoined the fifth year cadets to continue her training.

Linda’s life was one of periodic change. Both her mother and father were military. Every couple of years, they moved to a new duty station, and Linda lost friends and found new ones at the next base she would call home. Since the structure of the military was uniform, she came to feel that any base or station post was home. Potential friends were everywhere.

She was outgoing anyway, and as an only child outnumbered by adults at home, she craved contact with her peers. She joined sports teams, debate teams, student government, and she organized study groups with other students.

Her dad was an officer in logistics and was a quiet, meticulous man. He tended to indulge his daughter. Mom was the disciplinarian, but she was also more spontaneous. She lacked the ambition of her older sister, Leah, and was content with a final posting as XO of an engineer battalion. She was due to retire as Linda completed the Academy and began her career.

Billy McIntyre was more than a passing fancy back then. The team got that right. He was a year older, solid, predictable, emotionally available, and good looking. Linda pushed herself to be noncommittal around him — just a friend in the small world of officer kids going to school, but she wondered what it might be like to have a committed relationship with someone like him.

She knew better than to pursue that idea. Relationships were for those that completed their required military duties and embarked on their adult careers. For Linda, that was the Academy, and for Billy McIntyre, it was Marshal’s training, the equivalent of a bachelor’s in police science. They were both at the beginnings of their respective careers.

As was usual for new marines, Linda alternated between a field posting and a staff posting. Officers came from the ranks in Amazonia’s military. Once Linda reached sergeant, she would have the choice of continuing as an NCO or attend OCS and an officer track.

That choice was now moot as she was committed to Coyote training.

At the monastery, her classes were a mix of classroom, practical application, and mentoring. Two weeks after the mission, Master Chin called her in.

The office was suitably sparse. Some tapestries on white plascrete walls, a large L-shaped wooden desk with a computer station on the short side, book cases with a variety of books, mismatched chairs and sofas scattered about the ample space in front of the desk, but the view of the mountains through the far window was impressive.

“Sit,” Chin smiled and indicated a sofa. He drew up a chair facing her.

“I hear you’ve been to the bardos,” Chin began.

She nodded. “And I’m reading up on it now.”

“When we combined Earth’s esoteric knowledge here, the Tibetan contribution was most intriguing to the others. None of them had studied life after death.”

“It’s intriguing,” she smiled.

“But that’s not why I asked you here,” he said. “Your background, especially your posting at the Senate, leads me to think you have a good read on the political situation.”

“How so?”

“How would you characterize the League’s preparation for war?”

“The transition from a peacetime military to a wartime military is a confusing process.”

“A diplomatic answer,” he chided. “What do you really think?”

“Officers gain rank in peacetime through political means; in wartime, because of competence.”

“So the current military leaders are not necessarily good fighters.”

“You could say that,” Linda allowed, wondering where this was going.

“It seems each new generation faced with war must make the same mistakes in order to successfully wage war.”

“Agreed. Military history is filled with examples. The sooner a person in command realizes a fighter is needed to organize the fight, the better their chances are.”

“Do we have that?” Chin wondered.

“Not according to my aunt.”

Chin smiled. “She is a gracious, capable woman. Who would she like as overall commander of League forces?”

Linda finally caught the drift and answered, “For space battles, she likes Commodore Raymond Schultz.”

“None of the admirals?”

“As you said, they are more political than strategic planners. Although, Admiral Weston is the one who raised Schultz to commodore.”

“And for ground forces?”

“That’s trickier, since ground forces are levies from the planets. It’s a mixed bag of good, mediocre, and poorly trained troops. Senator Morrison would favor one of our generals to oversee a ground campaign. Not sure who, though.”

“Amazonia is noted for its soldiers, to be sure,” Chin agreed.

Feeling uneasy about that comment, Linda added, “No one knows much about Penglai’s soldiers.”

“We wouldn’t want overall command,” Chin said. “It’s too distracting to deal with the politics involved.”

“Sir?”

Chin took a breath and said, “When the Empire falls, there will be a free-for-all in Empire space. There will be a similar scramble in League space as greed takes over. Each world will want its share of the spoils of war.”

“I see,” Linda said with a frown on her face. “What will Penglai do?”

“Officially, nothing. Our Coyote teams, though, will try to encourage Empire worlds to pass referendums consistent with League principles. Those that do may be spared from our worlds looting their worlds.”

Linda’s eyes widened as she fully understood Chin’s reasoning. “That’s why you’re expanding the Coyote program to include us. You need to – what – double or triple the number of Coyote teams.”

“At least double,” Chin said. “But what I need from you is to hand carry a proposal to your aunt. We need a resolution passed in the Senate now, before the Empire is defeated, that the worlds passing the referendum will be safe from us looting them.”

“Makes sense,” Linda said. “The Senate would probably see it as good propaganda, as victory isn’t certain.”

“Rather than seeing the downside that it would curb their greed.”

Linda chuckled. “You are a better student of history and human nature than many realize.”

Chin grinned back. “One must know oneself to transcend the self.”

“When do you want me to go?”

“As soon as you finish the module you’re working on. Two weeks?”

She nodded back. “That’s the schedule.”

“Satya should be repaired by then. Quinn’s team will accompany you.”