After Vader had locked Padmé's door behind him, he stormed to his meditation room. Once inside, he howled in anger. It was lucky that there was nothing in this room, because he was in such a rage, he could have thrown something.
Vader had not hit her, but a part of him wished he had. He thought taking his anger out on someone would make him feel better. Of course, he would have suspected the person to yield to him, and it was obvious that Padmé would never do that. She would never end her defiance, and that made Vader seethe in anger even more.
He looked down at the hand he had threatened Padmé with. It was a hand that brought fear to others who had faced it. He had used his metal appendage to threaten subordinates and vanquish his foes. However, the woman he had locked away in a nearby room did not even flinch at it. As Vader continued to stare down at his hand, he recalled the events that led him to replace his flesh with metal.
Thirteen years ago, he had been a slave boy on Tatooine. He was all alone in the world at the time. He had no father, and his mother had been killed by a band of Tusken Raiders.
Vader remembered watching the Raiders drag his mother's body from their hovel, while he lay helplessly battered and beaten on the floor. However, the Tusken's had not killed him, which became a grave mistake. No one should have been able to stand easily from those injuries, but drawing on his anger and hatred Vader had been able to pick himself up and chase after the Raiders. He killed the entire group, but it was too late for his mother. Before Vader could release her, her captors had murdered her.
Vader's anger grew. He hated the Raiders for killing his mother, but he was also angry with himself for his inability to stop it. As Vader returned to his life as a slave, he wallowed in his self pity and anger.
He may have continued to brood, but he was released from bondage when Chancellor Palpatine bought his freedom. The chancellor had told Vader that he sensed he had great potential. Palpatine seemed to understand Vader's feelings, and was supportive of the boy in his time of need. He commiserated with the boy, and gave him a new purpose in life.
Soon after Palpatine's rescue, Vader found himself on the distant planet of Coruscant, under the tutelage of Count Dooku, a friend of Palpatine's. Dooku had once been a Jedi Knight, but left the order due to their lack of vision. Vader had heard of Jedi Knights on Tatooine and had always longed to be one, but after the stories from Dooku he was glad that path was never laid before him.
Under Count Dooku, Vader was trained in wielding a lightsaber and manipulating the Force. Vader learned that it was the Force that had given him the strength to chase after his mother's captors the night she was murdered. He realized that had he known more about the Force, he might have been able to save her. Vader vowed to himself, that in the memory of his mother he would learn as much as he could about the Force and use its power to prevent tragedies like hers. Over the next three years, Vader acquired new skills quickly and became a powerful manipulator of the Force.
At the end of his third year of training, Chancellor Palpatine called Vader to his office. Vader was told that Palpatine had some important information to give him. During this visit, Palpatine explained that the most powerful Force users in the galaxy were Sith Lords. He explained that with their power, the Sith Lords could bring order and security to the galaxy, things that the Republic and the Jedi had failed to provide for generations.
Vader was curious about the Sith because they could provide him with the power to fulfill the vow he made in his mother's memory. However he did not have to wait long, for the Chancellor quickly revealed himself as Darth Sidious Dark Lord of the Sith. Sidious stated that he had been using his position as Chancellor to slowly dissolve the Republic and replace it with an Empire. Sidious said it was his vision that the Empire would bring peace and prosperity to the galaxy.
Vader was awed by the Chancellor's revelation, and longed to join his side in this ambition. However, the Chancellor placed an obstacle in this path. He told Vader that only two Sith Lords could exist at a time. Only a master and his apprentice could possess the great power of the Sith, and he already had an apprentice. Vader's anger grew with the denial of power, while Sidious smiled at him.
Sidious explained that the only way he could take on another apprentice is if his current one was killed.
"Who is your apprentice?" Vader asked with a growl.
Smiling, Sidious stated, "Count Dooku."
Immediately, Vader ran from the Chancellor's office to find his teacher. He had lost his mother because he did not have the power to save her. He would not have power denied to him again; he would insure that it was his. Behind Vader's retreating form, the Chancellor smiled.
Vader soon entered the training room of his teacher, and drew his lightsaber in preparation of a duel.
"What are you doing?" Dooku asked.
"Taking what is mine." Vader replied.
"Which is?"
"Your title as a Sith Lord and your power."
Dooku was confused, only his master and himself knew that they were Sith Lords. He had not told Vader of his title, but why did his Master tell him. Perhaps he had underestimated his master, and failed to see his true intention with the young boy before him. "We shall see," Dooku replied, drawing his own Saber.
Vader ran towards Dooku, making the red blades of their sabers clash. Both twirled and danced around one another as they both expertly parried each other's attacks. Dooku may have been older with more experience in duels, but Vader had a natural talent with a saber and his youth gave him an edge physically.
For fifteen minutes the duel remained a stalemate. Neither Dooku nor Vader were taking control. Every attempt one made to attack, the other successfully blocked. The physical exertion of the duel was starting to take its toll, and both fighters were weakening.
"Release your anger, only your hatred can destroy him." Sidious's voice sounded from the doorway of the room.
Distracted, Vader glanced back to see Sidious smiling at him. However, in that brief lapse of conversation, Dooku pressed his advantage and sliced off Vader's right arm at the elbow.
"Argh!" Vader screamed as he fell to the ground cradling what was left of his arm. The pain was intense, but he knew he must continue to fight through it if he was to survive.
Dooku slowly approached his fallen student, readying himself for the kill. This boy was no match for him, and he had proven to his master how much more powerful he was. However, in his musings he failed to realize what Vader was doing.
Concentrating on all his anger and hatred for Dooku, Vader called upon the Force to help him. He called his lightsaber, still lying in the hand of his severed right arm, to his left hand. Dooku was approaching Vader with his lightsaber up, ready for a killing blow. However, before he could act, Vader used the Force to throw his saber at Dooku, impaling the Sith Lord through the chest with its blade.
In an instant, Dooku dropped his own saber and keeled over backwards. Carefully standing up, Vader walked over to his fallen teacher and pulled his ignited saber from Dooku's dead body. As he placed his saber on his belt, he heard Sidious call out from behind him.
"Good, good. Your hate has made you powerful. You shall be a great apprentice."
"Thank you, my master."
"Together, we will unlock all the mysterious powers of the Force and bring order to the galaxy. Now come my apprentice, let us take care of your arm."
"Yes, my master." Vader replied.
An hour later, Darth Vader, new Lord of the Sith had been refitted with a mechanical arm to replace the human one he had lost. To become a Sith, he had to lose a part of his flesh, but as Vader looked down upon his new arm he knew it would be worth the power he would gain in the long run. His mother had not died in vain, for he would now have access to great power.
Vader continued to stare down at his mechanical hand as he continued his musings. This hand had been with him for ten years since he killed Dooku. With it he had helped the Chancellor become Emperor and insure the security of people in the galaxy. People did not dare cross him, in fear that he would use his hand, his powers, to destroy them. All people cowered except one; a woman locked a room away. A woman who held the information he needed to destroy the rebellion and bring peace to the Empire he helped build. Something needed to be done to make her talk, but before he could think further on the issue, his comm. unit rang.