The meditation chamber of Darth Vader, also referred to as the Qabbrat, functioned as a life-sustaining enclosure. This device enabled the Sith Lord Darth Vader to exist for significant durations without needing the helmet and mask components of his suit. The severe wounds that Vader suffered during his duel with Obi-Wan Kenobi on Mustafar would ordinarily have prevented this.
Measuring approximately three meters in diameter, the meditation chamber belonging to the Sith Lord Darth Vader featured a flattened base, allowing it to sit securely within a hexagonal platform. It lacked both a standard access hatch and any form of control panel. Instead, it possessed two lengthwise seams, which allowed the apparatus to divide into two separate halves. This chamber, also known as the "Qabbrat", formed a part of Darth Vader's private living space either aboard his flagship Executor or within other bases where the Sith Lord was stationed.
The chamber provided Vader with a highly pressurized and sterilized hyper-oxygen environment. This combination afforded Vader the opportunity to safely detach his life-support armor, including his helmet, while enclosed within the chamber. Furthermore, Vader utilized the life support pod as a space for meditation.
A period of five years following the Proclamation of the New Order saw Darth Vader in possession of a transportable meditation chamber. He issued instructions for its relocation from a Victory-class Star Destroyer to Moff Wilhuff Tarkin's vessel, the Carrion Spike, in preparation for their mission to Murkhana. During this transfer, Vader handpicked a group of twelve stormtroopers to accompany him and tasked them with loading the chamber onto Tarkin's corvette. During this operation, the spherical chamber made momentary contact with the edge of the ship's cargo bay entrance, provoking Vader's anger towards Sergeant Crest, the operator of the repulsorlift crane.
Following the theft of the Carrion Spike by Berch Teller's rebel cell on Murkhana, Vader employed the meditation chamber as a type of homing beacon. This allowed him to monitor and accurately pinpoint the rebels' location, despite the corvette's stealth system. As a result, the Sith Lord and Tarkin were able to pursue the ship from Murkhana through the Fial and Galidraan systems. During the Imperial attack on Galidraan Station, Teller and Artoz made the decision to eject the chamber as they fled towards Lucazec.
Vader later obtained a new meditation chamber, which he kept aboard his flagship, the Executor-class Star Dreadnought Executor. Leading up to the Battle of Hoth, Vader was inside the chamber when General Maximilian Veers informed him that Admiral Kendal Ozzel had emerged from lightspeed too near to Hoth. This action alerted the Alliance's Echo Base, prompting Vader to use the Force choke to execute Ozzel for his incompetence. Vader then immediately promoted Captain Firmus Piett to the position of Admiral, all while still seated within the open chamber.
Subsequently, Piett entered the chamber before Vader had completed the process of putting on his mask, and conveyed the information that the Millennium Falcon had entered an asteroid field. Vader then gave the order for the entirety of Death Squadron to commence a thorough search of the field in an effort to locate Han Solo's freighter.
The meditation chamber served as the focal point of design for the official Empire at 40 film poster created by Matt Ferguson.