 In "A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows", Dominic Flandry first (effectively) lobotomizes his own son and then bombards the home planet of the Chereionite race to do his duty and prop up the Terran Empire.Such actions affect their characters in different ways, and dealing with the repercussions of having done the "right" (but unpleasant) thing is often the major focus of his short stories.The general lesson seems to be that guilt is the penalty for action.