Star Wars_ I, Jedi - Michael A. Stackpole [64]
“Impossible for him to move them, no, not at all.” I heard doubt in Brakiss’ voice. “I don’t know that I believe Master Skywalker could create a temple like that, however.”
I laughed. “Have you forgotten, ‘size matters not?’ ”
“I haven’t forgotten it at all, but that’s not my point.” Brakiss snapped a dead branch from a Massassi sapling and broke himself off a forty-centimeter length of it. “Master Skywalker might have the power, but he’s a farm boy from some desiccated, silicon ball. He would be incapable of creating such a work of vision and elegance.”
As Brakiss spoke he waved the stick through the air. Kam and I exchanged secret smiles behind his back, then Kam cleared his voice. “So you don’t think Master Skywalker could learn to create something like that?”
“Certainly he could, but it would take him forever.”
“I see.” I narrowed my eyes. “And the crystal cone, could he create one of those?”
Brakiss’ shoulders twitched through a shrug. “I don’t know, but I would love to try. I think that crystal was incredible. I’d hesitate to call it a work of art because it was unsettling.” He turned around, his eyes ablaze. “Imagine having the power to be able to create such a thing.”
“Wouldn’t want it.” Kam shook his head. “I didn’t like the crystal at all.”
“Yes, but imagine the power to make something like it, something you would like. Using the Force to create a work that would endure for so long.” Brakiss laughed aloud and spun as if dancing to some music neither Kam nor I could hear. “It would be fantastic.”
I gave him a hard cold look, but he didn’t notice. “The lure of that sort of power can be seductive, but it’s not easy to come by.”
“Unless you resort to the dark side.” Kam hunched his shoulders forward. “I know what it is like, and as exhilarating as it can be, it leaves you hollow. Better to work for the true Force than settle for its shadow.”
“Yes, but think of what you can do with that power.” Brakiss thrust his stick up toward the sky. “A Jedi Master with enough power could have reached up from here and have torn the heart out of the Death Star. Wouldn’t have mattered if he was using the dark side, he would have done a good thing.”
I reached out and grabbed the back of Brakiss’ neck. “Wait just one minute. What you’re saying is that the ends justify the means for attaining them, and that’s just plain wrong. It’s as wrong as anything because it allows you to rationalize away any behavior as good. Sure, let’s murder this criminal because we know he’s killed folks in the past, or probably will kill them in the future. Or let’s destroy this planet because we know, someday, it will slam into that planet. So what if folks on the planet we destroy die—they would have died anyway, and with our way the folks on the other world are saved.”
Brakiss spun and nearly slashed my face with his stick. Fortunately for me I’d had forewarning about the arc of his arm and ducked beneath it. A momentary mask of anger slipped over his face, but it almost immediately dissolved into shock and remorse. “Keiran, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, Brakiss. No blood, no report.”
Kam came around and draped an arm rather heavily over Brakiss’ shoulders. “What Keiran’s telling you is right, kid. People start telling themselves they’re amassing power for this goal or that, and they convince themselves that it’s a good thing. Then when they get enough they find circumstances have changed. They find they need more power or they need to wield this power in ways they didn’t expect before. An opponent who won’t listen to reason becomes a bug to be squashed instead of a friend who just needs to be convinced. Power comes to poison those who hoard it. They assume others want their power, will resort to any means to get it, and that frees folks up to retaliate in any way they can.”
I nodded. “And there’s no good that comes from evil. Your example of someone using dark-side power to destroy the Death Star is fine until you ask why he would do that. Is it for his own good, and that of his people? If so, how will he