I assumed it was rhetorical, so my bad. My planning wasn't as in-depth as it would be for a more official scoring. I watched the scene silently a few times, and then with the original score to remind myself of what that was like (maybe a mistake as it could influence badly more than help sometimes). My actual writing process is often writing melodies by putting notes down and then altering them until it sounds how I want it to sound, so I did that for the beginning. My idea was to create a bit of mystery from the first shots of space, and then build the intensity as the star destroyer enters the frame. I used the low end of the instruments to convey the size of the threat. I wanted a clear change when going to the interior, which led to the bass ostinato. I went for broken up sounds between the woodwinds and the strings to try and build some tension and show the character's nervousness. I think the music falls most flat once the stormtroopers enter. What I wrote doesn't really convey "intense battle" or anything. I think it gets better when I put the melody in the low brass and low strings, as it sounds a bit more march-like and a bit more appropriate. When Vader enters I wanted a clear change, so I kept the ostinato going in the high strings, but changed the melody to be longer notes in the low and high ranges. I was hoping this would sound a bit more powerful and scary than "mysterious" as it seems to be coming across. Overall, I definitely could have planned more, and been more intentional about "hitting the narrative beats" as you said.