God's Dogs Book 2

On the fifth day comes God in the form of an Almighty Conqueror; this time it’s jealousy that will unseat the soul, and he will be born into the Asura-Loka, a world of fierce warrior-deities (or demons).

Kevin Williams (on the Bardo-Thodol)

When there was a large death toll and the whole team was involved, they all met for a joint meditation to visit the bardo realm and help all those souls on their journey through the afterlife.

They met up in their training room, sat cross-legged in a circle on the mat, and dropped into a fairly deep meditative state. After a few minutes, they emerged in the bardo realm, the unique initial waypoint for the soul after death.

The transition space was the same across species, but the decorations changed to meet the culture and beliefs of each individual species. This battle was with an unknown species, but the team called their souls in. Through the force of their combined intent, which acted like a kind of psychic gravity, the souls of those they killed in combat gathered around them.

There were about fifty of them – squat, thick-limbed humanoids, with a stoic presence.

Usually in these group meditations, Quinn took the lead, but he didn’t know what to say to these aliens. He turned to Pax and gestured for him to lead. Pax extended his hand to River, who took it, and they faced the silent crowd.

Pax used his empathic abilities to feel the mood of the crowd and then he spoke to them, “You are dead. Your physical existence is over. This is the sorting room of the afterlife. We are here to help you with this transition.”

The announcement set the group to complaining about their fate, disbelieving it. It was clamorous and accompanied by stomping feet.

Around them, light swirled in a kaleidoscope of confusion. Monsters emerged and changed form. Images of long-dead relatives appeared and morphed into demons or gods. Chaotic emotions surged in the souls of the newly dead, and they all struggled for some reference point, some way to orient themselves. It would be to no avail.

River spoke over the clamor, “You are children of the Creator. Find the Creator’s Light within you!”

The crowd paused at that declaration, and one voice shouted back, “Where is our reward for dying in battle?”

“If that is what you want, you will find it soon enough,” River shot back. “In this space you can forego conflict and find peace in the non-dual state. To do so, you must find the Light within you.”

The crowd didn’t like that answer and began bickering among themselves, pushing and shoving, and yelling at River.

Then the scene changed. A benevolent mother-father deity that looked like them spoke gently, offering them peace, but they uniformly rejected that archetype. Even more grotesque monsters appeared, flying through them, around them, and shrieking at them.

Other benevolent deities arrived, followed by terrifying monsters. All the while, the Coyotes kept yelling, “Hold to the Light!”

As the group descended through the bardos, the asura realm finally manifested. It was a battlefield. All of them lurched into motion to join the battle.

The Coyotes stood helpless as the asura realm claimed every last soul. Eventually, Quinn said, “I think we’re done here.”

They released the bardos and drifted back to their bodies and just sat for a while to process their own reactions to what happened. At length, they fully returned to the consensus reality.

“Well, that was depressing,” Pax offered.

Quinn said, “I’ve seen this before with religious terrorists. They don’t get the paradise they were promised, and they end up stuck in the asura realm.”

“And now we’ve made this race our enemies,” Moss observed.

“They attacked us,” River countered. “I think they already saw us as enemies.”

Then she added, “But why?”

Quinn shrugged. “My guess is they were hired by someone that doesn’t want us to join the Galactic Congress.”

“At least,” Pax continued the thought, “not as independents.”

“So it could be a race that wants us in their patronage network,” Moss said, “or a race that is trying to maintain a tradition of patronage that we threaten.”

“Do we have to join these people?” Pax wondered.

“I don’t know,” Quinn sighed. “We do know, from our previous interactions with them, they are a hide-bound lot.”

Raina waited for them at the mess hall. The team showed up late for lunch, so they were stuck with soup and sandwiches. She hugged each of them in turn before they all sat at a table.

“That was scary,” she murmured as they began eating. “The captain gave us access to your helmet feeds. We watched the whole thing. You were outnumbered by hundreds.”

“You saw the battle?” River queried.

“Yes. It was horrible.” Raina stopped and looked at each of them before continuing, “But you moved through them like, I don’t know, like focused predators. Single-minded, inexorable, eliminating anything in your path to achieve your goal. And you saved us all. But it was horrible and frightening to watch.”

Quinn covered her hand with his and said, “The only thing more horrible would have been to let them win. We stand between you and that evil.”

“I know, Quinn,” she sighed and put her other hand on top of his. “I know, and I appreciate it. It’s just hard to witness. I am advanced enough in my tulku training so that I could see all those Lights just blink out. I could see and feel them die.”

Pax said, “It’s why we meet those souls in the bardos. We are the agents of their death. It is for us to midwife them through their transitions.”

“How did that go?”

“Not well,” River demurred. “They are all stuck in the asura realm.”

Raina nodded. “A warrior race.”

“Well, I wouldn’t grant them that distinction,” Moss deferred. “Militaristic, mercenary, terrorist, or even xenophobic. Warriors have a sense of honor. The goal of that ambush was wanton killing. There’s no honor in that.”

“Who would want to do that to us?” Raina asked in surprise.

“Yeah,” Moss snickered. “Who would want that?”

Quinn went on, “I think our diplomats have some questions that need answers.”

Technically, Coyotes were agents of Penglai’s Foreign Service. After the late lunch, Quinn headed to the suite for the diplomatic staff. The lead diplomat was Siri Hari Singh, a pleasant looking young man with a kind face. He ushered Quinn into his small office.

“I have our after action report,” Quinn told him as he sat across a small table from the young diplomat. “It does include our trip to the bardos because of what we found there.”

Quinn handed him a data cube, and Singh said, “They are a mercenary race and not members of the Congress. I found that out at the refueling station.”

“Who hired them?”

“We don’t know, but we do intend to find out.”

“Have you determined what role you want us to play in that investigation?”

Singh sat back in his chair. “No. I’m not an ambassador, Quinn. I’m, at best, a consul. We were assigned to this mission as an after-thought. You would know better than I on how to proceed.”

“What orders did you get from Penglai?”

“Pretty much, ‘Figure it out.’ They will try to set up high level talks to see what they can get, but they gave us no specific instructions.”

Quinn half-smiled. “We have a blank check.”

“It would seem so,” Singh smiled back.

“Well, I won’t be surprised if we get stopped at the next refueling station for some kind of interrogation.”

“We are preparing to do the interrogating,” Singh asserted.

Quinn chuckled at that before saying, “And we’ll do what we can behind the scenes.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Singh said and stood. “By the way, the captain let us watch the battle.”

“I heard.”

“I don’t think many people have witnessed Coyotes in battle. It had a terrifying beauty to it.”

Quinn nodded his head once and left. He headed for the bridge next.

Since the ship was in hyperspace, the bridge crew was minimal. All there was to do was monitor ship systems. However, the captain was there.

She noticed Quinn’s arrival and stood. “Mr. Toyo, you have the con. Quinn, we can retire to my ready room.”

The ready room was dominated by a holo-table with a few chairs and a fold-down bunk attached to the far wall.

“What’s on your mind?” Williams asked as she sat.

“The feed from our helmets, captain.”

She nodded at the rebuke in Quinn’s tone; then she began, “We were facing two options. Either we were all dead, or your team would pull off a miracle and save us. I felt the crew and passengers needed to know what their fate might be. Besides, watching those feeds kept them from panic.”

“Well, I can’t fault your logic, captain, but it does create a problem. Our operations are classified for a reason.”

“I knew that. None of it was recorded. All embedded A.I.s were ordered not to record it. The ship A.I. did not record it.” She smiled then and said, “Although, there will be stories.”

“We can handle stories,” Quinn allowed. “Thanks for making sure there is no record of that action.”

“I’m not sure anyone outside of Penglai would believe it anyway,” Williams went on. “I know the bridge crew was astounded. They were watching it and couldn’t believe it while it was happening. And all of them are combat veterans.”

“We have unique training,” was Quinn’s weak reply.

“You also saved our asses,” Williams retorted. “I’ve sent a formal report to the Foreign Service commending your team, and you have my gratitude and that of the crew and passengers.”

“Thank you, captain, and you know it’s not over.”

“We reach the next fueling station in ten days,” she said. “My crew will be ready for the security of the ship. I suppose you’ll be on the station looking for answers.”

“Probably. We don’t have an operational plan as yet.”

“We’ll keep the ship and the passengers safe,” she assured him.

When they broke out of hyper at the second refueling station, an escort corvette hailed the ship.

Quinn, who was at his place on the bridge, wondered why they weren’t met by a corvette at their last stop. It was an indication the ambush was a detailed plan that somehow involved planetary security. Had they not been ahead of schedule, or the second ship been late getting on station, it would have been a different outcome.

The ship canceled General Quarters and rigged for the four-hour trip to the fueling station, a space station just inside the hyper-limit. Once there, they docked at one of the fueling platforms. After that evolution completed, a group requested permission to board.