Sheev stared at the data pad lying on the floor. What had just happened? It must be some prank pulled on him by another student in the dorm. Maybe there was a hover receiver attached to it somewhere and someone was controlling it from outside his dorm room. He tentatively stepped over, paused, and then picked the pad off the floor. Examining it, he found no devices attached to it at all. Still…., he turned and quickly stepped out of his dorm room and into the adjacent hallway. Glancing up and down the hallway he saw no one. Empty. He stepped back inside his room. Still holding the pad, he walked back to his desk and set it back down.
Could it still have been a prank and I just couldn't catch the culprit in time? he was not one for friends. They would just get in the way of his ambitions. Acquaintances were all he really had, and they were mostly those who could help him gain entrance into his desired political life. He looked at the pad. Could I have made it move simply by thinking about it? He'd heard about the extraordinary powers and abilities of the Jedi. He'd even studied the role the Jedi played in keeping peace and order in the Republic. But he'd never seen a Jedi in action before. Could I have Jedi powers? He had felt something when the pad moved. But something like this had never happened to him before. Besides, everything he'd ever heard about Jedi suggested they had such abilities even as children and were identified when very young by the Jedi. They were then trained by the Jedi from a very young age. This had not happened to him. Impossible. Whatever had happened, he was no Force user. He felt his cheek where the pad had left its mark. This was going to bruise for sure by tomorrow. Hopefully, no one would notice. Taking a deep breath and running his hands through his sandy colored hair he shook his head as if trying to clear it from its confusion. He decided to forget the whole thing and try to sleep. He had another busy week ahead of him and he needed his rest.
Finals arrived without any further incident. Sheev's final reports and tests all came back with glowing results, except one. He had received a very poor grade for his final paper in which he'd written his opinion of the perfect form of government. A dictatorship. While he personally was perfectly willing to work within the confines of the current political system in place, he felt there was too much room for error and delays. Delays could cost lives and resources if debates continued for too long. A dictatorship would be cleaner and more efficient. He reviewed the critical remarks his teacher had written as explanation for his poor grade. He needed high marks to secure a good position within the capital to climb the ranks. How dare this man criticize him so harshly and give such a poor grade.
After all, I had merely pointed out the logical errors within the current system of government and suggested a different system that would be much improved, he thought. Sheev left the Naboo University campus and headed for some nearby woods to walk off some of his building anger. However, the more he thought about his lowered chance in gaining a good political position, the angrier he became.
"Tyranny." That was the word his teacher had used.
"Leaves the people vulnerable to corrupt and dangerous leadership without hope of change."
Nonsense! He thought. He imagined himself in such a position. He would be a wise and dedicated leader. Surrounded by trees, singing birds, and feeling the gentle wind, Sheev could not be comforted. Clenching and unclenching his fists, his anger deepened. Finally, he let out a yell that made the birds fly away in panic. The ground rumbled beneath his feet. Trees began to snap in half and fall to the ground all around him. Rocks broke apart. All the while he finished releasing his anger, not caring, barely noticing the damage he was inflicting all around him.
Finally, Sheev stood up from the split rock beneath him. The sky was turning dark, but he could still clearly see the damage that had occurred. Trees and tree limbs lay strewn across the forest floor. There was no longer any doubt left in his mind. I caused all this. He thought. In his powerful rage he'd felt the trees snap like twigs.
What am I going to do? What if something like this happens again? Everyone will think I'm a monster. Sheev knew he would become a figure to be feared, not admired or given the position of power that he longed to hold. I must learn how to control this developing power and fast. I need a teacher. He thought frantically. But who? The Jedi would never dream of teaching someone like me. I'm far too old, in my early twenties. They only accept young children. I must find someone else, somebody more desperate. He'd heard about other force users that had been rejected by the Jedi for one reason or another. Perhaps one of them could teach him. He jumped off the rock and ran to his dorm room in haste. He had to find a teacher!
Sheev spent hours scouring the holonets, searching for a powerful Force user who'd be willing to take on an apprentice. There were plenty of disenchanted Force users who publicly criticized the Jedi's narrow-minded vision and their highly selective criteria for deciding who was to be trained as a Jedi. However, no one with abilities even coming close to his could be found. Becoming discouraged, Sheev stumbled across one site that claimed to have contacts with a powerful Force user whose location was kept top secret. If one is found worthy, this "Dark One" may be willing to train you as a new apprentice. To learn the location of the "Dark One," as this site so claimed, one must go in person, for security reasons, to a planet in the Outer Rim known as Haboth. There a man known only as Kabor must be contacted. Sheev considered this. It would take time to reach Haboth. A couple days in fact. It would mean leaving his classes and studies. The new term had just begun. However, if it meant controlling and even harnessing these new-found abilities, it could be worth risking the trip.
