"Who would put a bounty on Captain Solo?" Piett wondered.
"Why would they put a bounty on him?" Vader asked. "Cargo haulers don't garner that kind of attention."
"Is it possible he was in trouble?" Piett asked.
"Not that I ever knew," Vader tried sighing around his respirator, "Not that he would've told me, none that Luke ever mentioned anyway."
"How is your son doing?" Piett asked.
"Sedated right now, the scans are good, he should make a quick recovery," Vader answered. "When he's conscious again I'll find out what he knows. In the meantime I want all bounty hunters this side of the galaxy notified that I'm requesting their presence. Somebody has to know who took Han and where."
In the meantime, while Vader waited for an update on Luke's condition, he kept himself busy reading the coordinate printouts from the Falcon to get an idea of just where the ship had been, to see if that would offer any clues to just what had taken place that day.
"Luke?"
"Father?" Luke opened his eyes and saw he was in a med bay. He tried sitting up, his back was killing him, his whole body felt weird. He saw Vader standing over him. "Father?"
"How are you feeling, young one?"
"Sore. Where's Han?"
"We haven't found him yet," Vader reluctantly answered. "I need you to tell me exactly what happened."
The look on Luke's face spoke volumes to the challenge that was. His scans all came back good, there was no head injuries, no brain trauma, but it was obvious he struggled to grasp the memories of what happened.
"I...I don't remember," he squeezed his eyes shut, looking like he was in agony, "We were getting ready to takeoff, and these guys...the..."
"Bounty hunters."
"Yeah, they were just...there, they surrounded us. Han started blasting so I could get on the Falcon, he followed behind me but they got on the ship before the boarding ramp was up."
"Did anyone say anything?" Vader inquired.
"They called Han by name...after that..." Luke groaned and sighed, "I don't know."
"What happened on the ship?"
"I don't remember," Luke said. "Han was shooting at them, they shot at us...we got to the cockpit and...I...they...I think they got us both."
"Stun bolts."
Luke nodded weakly. "I don't remember much after that, there was a lot of noise and it sounded like the whole place was being torn apart...and then the next thing I knew...it was all over, they were gone, Han was gone, I could hardly move...I heard you come on the comm link, that's all I remember." His eyes started to well up with tears, "I'm sorry, Father."
"It's alright, Luke. We're going to find him."
Luke was just about asleep again when he felt his father's hand on top of his head.
"I need you to tell me if Han had gotten in any trouble before this happened," Vader told him.
"What?" Luke tiredly asked, trying to understand the question.
"For bounty hunters to target him, somebody had to put a bounty on Han's head, and for that to happen, he had to have gotten in trouble somewhere," Vader explained. "I need you to tell me everything, Luke."
Luke groaned tiredly, "I don't know what I can tell you. Han wasn't in any trouble."
"Are you sure?"
Luke nodded.
"Did he owe a debt to anybody?" Vader asked.
Luke shook his head.
"What about between assignments?" Vader asked.
Luke barely shook his head again. "No, nothing like that, when we'd have a night off, we'd go in a cantina or a laser arcade, we'd have some drinks, I mean..."
"What is it, Luke?"
"Sometimes somebody would be really drunk and they'd start a fight with Han...but it was never anything serious, I can't believe that could be it."
"What about women?"
Luke opened his eyes for a brief few seconds. "Women?" he laughed weakly, "You don't know Han."
"Meaning?"
"He wasn't real friendly with them...credits were always a little tight so he'd never buy one a drink," Luke shifted around on the bed to get more comfortable, "I mean he'd talk to them a little bit but he wouldn't go anywhere with them. Some of them asked, they, offered, they...so, sa, solicited-ed..." Luke was all but asleep again.
"Luke, wake up!"
"Ah!" the young man jolted up in bed.
"When you were with him, were you two together at all times?" Vader asked.
Luke was a little more lucid now as he thought, and nodded, "Pretty much, I mean..." one eyebrow raised questioningly, "are you asking if he snuck off with a woman?"
"I'm asking if he could've left you long enough to do anything," Vader said.
Luke shook his head. "No, he wouldn't do that...he wouldn't...he wouldn't bring a woman back on the Falcon because we're close quarters there and it'd be way too awkward...and he wouldn't leave me to go off with one. I...I just can't think what other kind of trouble he could've gotten into."
"Perhaps then," Vader contemplated, "it was something that happened in the interludes when he dropped you off and went back out on his own."
Luke pursed his lips together and considered. "I guess it's possible...but I still can't think what it could be."
"I'm going to find out," Vader said.
The meeting with the bounty hunters had proved an exercise in futility. None of the ones who answered the dark lord's command had been involved with the trouble on the Millennium Falcon and none of them knew who might have been sent after Han Solo. The galaxy was full of millions of bounty hunters and in the time it would take to track them all down...Vader couldn't even think of that. Instead he rerouted several fleets of the Imperial Navy, half of them would resume contacting the bounty hunters, the other half would hit every location that showed up on the Falcon's printout coordinations and ask the locals about Han Solo to try and figure out if anyone knew anything that could point them in the right direction. When the Imperials asked about him, it wasn't as a missing person or the possible victim of a kidnapping, it was with the ambiguous implication he was a wanted criminal in the system, for some reason that always made people much more eager to volunteer information.
While he waited for any updates on Han, Luke made a fast and full recovery, physically anyway. But the events that had taken place had definitely affected his mind. Vader thought Luke's emotional state would fair better back at home, but if anything, he only seemed to get worse. As the days passed, with no leads from anyone, Vader anxiously awaited any further news, while watching Luke seem to deteriorate. Aside from questions about if they'd found Han, Luke became largely non-verbal, he hardly ate, his complexion became pale, he looked like a ghost, he just paced aimlessly around the palace. That was in the daytime anyway, at night he'd either join Vader in his meditation pod and sleep curled up on his lap clutching his ewok doll against his chest, something he hadn't done since he was a little boy, or, he'd crawl into Han's bed, hugging his pillows since they still smelled like him, as infrequently as he was home anymore his bedding hadn't been washed in a while.
For an understatement, Vader was worried sick. Han had been taken away from him, and now Luke appeared to be fading away because of it. He'd already lost his oldest son once, he couldn't lose them both now.
Desperate to jar Luke out of his near-catatonic state, Vader took him to the training room for a sparring session. For all the good that did, Luke's mind wasn't on what was going on in front of him, he made more mistakes now than when he was a young padawan first learning about the Force. Vader restrained from yelling at Luke, but his frustration at his son's sheer lack of response or even basic perception was growing, and he wasn't sure it wasn't going to boil over. Before it came to that however, after several more glaring mistakes, Luke let out a frustrated scream, threw his light saber to the ground and burst into tears.
Vader deactivated his saber, re-hooked it to his belt, took a step towards his son and put one arm around him, pulling his son against him in a tight hug, as the boy let out loud howling, wailing sobs.
"It's all right, it's all right," Vader tried to console the boy as he felt Luke's whole body wrack and jerk against him.
Luke sobbed directly into Vader's armored shoulder for several long seconds before he pulled back and was able to breathe in enough oxygen to get out the words, "It's my fault!"
"What is?" Vader asked.
"It's my fault they took Han!"
"What are you talking about, Luke?"
"I was there! I was right there! He covered me so I could get away, and then they took him! I have the Force, he doesn't, I should've stopped them!" Luke wept, "I should've staaaa" the words broke up into incoherent sobs as Luke dropped his head on his father's shoulder.
"Oh, Luke."
Darth Vader held his son in his arms and let Luke wear himself down enough that the boy would actually listen to him. He waited until Luke's every breath was merely taken up by soft sobs and sniffles before he told him, "My little padawan, this wasn't your fault. If it were truly that simple, I would not have wound up in this suit. Being able to use the Force doesn't make us invincible, nor infallible."
Tears continued to pour from Luke's eyes as he weakly tried to argue, "But I could've stopped them, Han would still be here."
"You don't know that," Vader told him. "For whatever reason they took Han, I'm only thankful they didn't take you as well, I would've never found out what happened to either of you then."
Luke sucked in a shaky breath and it just came out in sobs again as he asked, "What if Han's dead?"
"You can't think like that."
"But what if he is? What if they already killed him?" Luke asked.
"I will not permit that kind of thought. I refuse to believe it, and I refuse to let you believe it either."
Luke started crying again as he clung to his father and begged him, "Find him, Father, promise me you'll find him."
"I will," Vader pulled him close and hugged him again, "I won't stop until I bring him home."
One way, or another. But he wouldn't tell Luke that. He'd either find Han alive, or he'd bring his body back and bury him alongside his mother, the only suitable resting place for his son.
That night Vader went into Luke's bedroom and saw him curled on his side hugging his ewok doll. However old he got, it wasn't unusual for Luke to cling to it whenever he was sick or upset. Padme had given it to him and for that reason if nothing else, he kept it, he made sure it was always cleaned, and that it was never damaged.
"Did you find anything?" Luke asked.
"Not yet," Vader answered as he walked over to the bed. "There's something I want you to take."
Luke sat up and squinted his eyes curiously at the capsule in his father's gloved hand.
"What is it?" he asked.
"A sedative," Vader answered, and was immediately met with the suspicious scowl of his son. "You need to rest, Luke, you're not doing your brother any good by making yourself sick."
"But if you find him," Luke started to say.
"You will be the first to know when we do," Vader told him, "I promise you that. But for now, you need to sleep. I'm asking you to trust me."
"That's not fair," Luke whined.
"I'm your father, I don't have to be fair," Vader pointed out.
In spite of himself, the comment drew a small smirk from Luke. He took the capsule, swallowed it, and after a while started to feel the effects. His eyes felt heavy, he felt himself gradually starting to fall away, he felt the mattress under him.
"Just rest, little one," Vader said as he pulled the covers up over him. "Let me worry about this."
"Father," Luke reached out from the covers and grabbed his father's wrist, "Promise you'll find Han...promise me you will..."
"Luke, I promise you I will do everything within my power to find him and bring him home," Vader assured him.
He watched as Luke's eyes closed, and this time they stayed that way. He stayed with his son for a few minutes to ensure Luke was actually asleep, then he left the room.