Bale

Thanks for the compliments. I'm glad you enjoyed it. As for the ROTJ scenes, that was kind of the point, to emphasize that the Force sees the past and the future.

Title: Meditations With The Dark Side Author: Bale Timeframe: ESB Genre: Missing Scene Description: Vader in his meditation chamber just before the Imperials come out of hyperspace and arrive at Hoth. Timeframe: ESB Meditations with the Dark Side The obsidian meditation chamber aboard the Executor closed slowly, the upper half dropping like a jagged-toothed jaw. With a final hiss it sealed shut, closing Darth Vader off from the pettiness and incompetence of his subordinates, leaving him alone with his ruminations. As the Dark Lord settled uneasily into the pressurized chamber, a mechanical claw assembly descended and removed his helmet and its cumbersome mask. When the assembly fully retracted, Vader steadied his will and drew in the faintest of breaths. The cold hyper-oxygenated air stabbed into his lungs with the ferocity of a lightsaber cutting through durasteel. Each cell of his lungs' ravaged, smoke-scarred tissue seemed to constrict and seize at once in protest. Yet with clinched fists, he forced himself to withstand the torment. The Sith Lord embraced the pain and centered it. He focused it and let it fuel his rage, giving himself fully to the Dark Side energies that flowed from that pain. Vader let out the breath, then drew in another. Slowly, unseen wisps of energy coalesced into tendrils that roiled like writhing serpents over and through the contours of the Dark Lord's ubiquitous armor. As the energy heightened, Vader bathed in the dark currents of the Force, praying for the pure malevolence to strengthen and heal his broken body. The Force that washed through his poisoned soul was dark and terrible, full of hatred, fear, and suffering. At its shadowed core, Vader felt the work of his Master, the black force whose machinations had brought the Republic to ruin, the puppet-master who bent the galaxy to his will and whim, who had transformed the galaxy, molding it with malice. Everything flows only according to the Emperor's design, Vader marveled. The Sith Lord savored the malignant beauty of the Dark Side. "This is power," he muttered. Vader reached into the Dark Side, using it to probe through time and space, seeking to examine the powerful tug he had felt at the edge of his consciousness since the Battle of Yavin. Dark and unbidden, images floated into the shadowy recesses of his twisted mind. You're not all powerful, Anakin. Only through me can you achieve a power greater than any Jedi. He told me enough! He told me you killed him! Do what must be done. Do not hesitate. Show no mercy. You have failed, your Highness. I am a Jedi, like my father before me. Master Skywalker, there's too many of them; what shall we do? At last, the Force revealed what he most wanted to see. The Dark Side energies peered into the recent past and showed a young man half-dead sprawled upon the frozen tundra of Hoth””Skywalker, the boy who had sent powerful echoes reverberating through the Force at the Battle of Yavin. Even so near to death, there was an aura of confidence and power Vader could sense. Yet the light he shown in the Force did not completely resist the darkness. Lurking in the shallows were hunger, impatience, and attachments that yearned to feed the dark energies of the Force that swarmed around the boy like birds of prey. Then suddenly, a brilliant blue luminescence appeared in resistance, shielding the boy from the prying eyes of the Dark Side. It grew in strength and fought against the darkness. The collision of cosmic forces emitted powerful shockwaves through the Force that sent Vader reeling back into his chair among a torrent of unspent energy. As the storm dissipated, the images morphed briefly into the scene of a city in the clouds, then disappeared. Vader's connection severed and he found himself in the meditation chamber again. The presence of General Veers he sensed just outside the chamber only enhanced the stark reality of the present. Yet a grim smile threatened to stretch across his scarred face as the claw assembly lowered the helmet in place. Victory was near, and he could almost taste it. Soon the Rebel Alliance will be eliminated, Vader told himself, and the son of Skywalker, will be under my control and the dominion of the Dark Side. Then, there will be a new Empire!