Freeze frame.
Brad, inside a falling van, is probably going to die.
The five other people in the van with him will probably die too.
Not if he can help it.
Quicker than lightning he reaches down to the ground for his keys. He throws them at the back door in one fluid motion. The keyring explodes, flinging the back doors open. He sees the cliff falling past and in that nanosecond he decides to leap for it. He runs up the van floor and hurls himself into the darkness. He impacts, and almost rebounds, but he digs his fingers into the rock. Electrical energy fuses him to the cliff wall.
The van hits the valley floor with a hideous crunch. Metal screeches, and he can hear screaming. He can hear people screaming, metal shrieking, wind howling, and a repulsorlift humming. By force of will he holds himself to the cliff, its rocky surface yielding to his clutching fingers.
He feels a surface against his feet. He looks down and sees that he is standing atop the wing of his craft. He lets go of the cliff face, and walks towards the hatch.
He enters the B-wing and massages his temples. Grabbing the flight controls, he guides the B-wing into the night.
He activates his comm. "Base, Ten. We have a Trace, Spielberg, Blasted. Repeat: Trace, Spielberg, Blasted. Require a 51 at this location and surrounding area. Out."
He tries to forget that five innocent people just lost their lives because of him.
His hands are tingling. It's happened again. The power. It's emerging. Why hadn't it done so earlier, before the van had gone over the cliff? He might have been able to save those lives.
He thinks he sees something. A blue haze. It crispens, and he's staring into the eyes of the old blue man. The old blue man is sitting in midair outside of the cockpit, looking at him through the transparisteel canopy.
"It had nothing to do with us, this time."
"I did this?" Brad asks. "I did this," he says again, more confidently.
"But why then, and not earlier? You did not try. But it was for the best."
"For the best?!" Brad yells. "I just killed five innocent people!"
"You did not kill them. They died from injuries sustained when they drove over the cliff. It was not you who killed them."
"They flew over the cliff because of events I set in motion. I know what I've done."
"Their lives were ended as soon as they met you. Had they lived, your life, and many others, would be forfeit. The greater good demanded their deaths."
It was one thing to talk about the greater good when the lesser evil was the killing of an evil man. Another when innocent lives were on the bargaining table.
"They did not ask to be messed up in Operation Arrakis. They had no idea about the alien influence in their world. The police were just doing their jobs! The prisoners weren't even convicted felons! They had families!"
The old man simply looks at him. "When did you start caring about that?"
The words chill him to the bone. He makes a minor course adjustment. "I didn't realise you were looking for a soulless killer. If you were, you've got the wrong man."
"We didn't, but maybe we have now." A second and third ghost appear. "We were mistaken, you are not the one we seek any longer. Something happened. You've begun to care."
"I keep better company now."
The second one speaks. "It is too late. We cannot take the power back. He has tapped into it of his own accord."
The third: "A great tragedy. Once more we must seek the one who can restore us."
The first looks Brad in the eyes. They lock gazes, and sparks leap from their eyes as their wills engage. "We are through with you. You do not willingly accept the burden we have placed on you. You are not capable of sustaining our mission."
Brad smiles. "I have the power, and I'll use it to help people. I'll not be a party to murder any longer."
Davin Porsek looks up from his tasteless prison meal. Three blue ghosts have appeared in his cell. How... odd.
"You, Davin Porsek, son of the late Thraawn. We find you worthy." Energy fills him, flooding through his body, bursting from his pores.
"You will restore us, and you will do it over the corpse of the unworthy one."