A week later, Luke was asleep in bed, once again under the effect of a sedative, as he'd done every night that week. He didn't like taking them but his father was insistent, and he did seem to sleep better when he took them, but it made him feel even more useless during the never-ending search for his brother. But this night, his door slid open and Vader entered his room and awakened him.
"Luke, get up."
Luke's eyes opened and almost immediately he started asking his father, "Han? Did you find him?" It was the only question that was ever on his mind these days.
For once, there was news.
"I found out where he was taken," Vader told him.
Luke's eyes doubled in size and he jumped out of bed, declaring, "Let's go!"
"Hold it."
Luke felt himself jerked back and he fell back on the bed.
"Get dressed first, there's time, the Executor is being prepared for takeoff as we speak," Vader told him.
"Where is he? What happened? Is he alright?" Luke rambled off several questions as he changed his clothes. "How did you find him?"
"It's a long story, my child, I can explain it to you on the way."
"On the way where?" Luke asked as he pulled his head through the neck hole of his tunic.
"A place I never thought I'd return to. My home planet, Tatooine."
Luke stopped, opened his mouth, then tried again, "That sand trap?"
"That is the place."
"What's Han doing there?" Luke asked.
"I will tell you on the way, but you must understand, Luke, when we arrive, you are not to leave the ship."
Luke blinked. "Father!"
"I want to collect Han with as little trouble as possible, I don't need anything happening to you in the process," Vader explained.
Luke looked up at him with hurt eyes as he insisted, "He's my brother!"
Vader placed his hands on Luke's shoulders and told him, "Child mine, I understand how hard this has been on you, but when I go to get your brother, I need to know that you are safe. You're not familiar with the likes of Tatooine, the collective scum of the galaxy gathers there, it's no place for innocents."
Luke conceded, reluctantly, "I'll stay on the ship."
"Good, let's go."
"So what happened?" Luke asked once the ship took off, "Who sent the bounty hunters after Han?"
"It turns out," Vader answered, "your brother had an ulterior motive for the Millennium Falcon. Any ship being armed to the extent it was is just common sense, but he had a reason for making sure it was, and not just to avoid encounters with space pirates. Surely you must realize, Luke, that he was never able to let go of his anger at being discharged from the Imperial Navy or the star destroyer fleet."
"Oh," Luke nodded, it was all starting to click now, "so he went out hunting for the slave ship that shot him down."
"Yes, and apparently he found it. It was one of Jabba the Hutt's slave ships, and when he found it, he in turn shot it down. When Jabba the Hutt found out, he put the worst bounty hunters in the galaxy on the case, to bring to him the man responsible. It was only lucky for us that he gave specific instructions Han was to be brought in alive."
"So that's it, they took him to this Jabba guy?" Luke asked.
"I have reason to believe it wasn't that simple," Vader told him. "You know your brother well enough to know he wouldn't go quietly and would seek any chance to escape. I believe he was carbon frozen for the trip to Jabba's palace."
Luke's whole body cringed at hearing this. He was faintly aware of how the process worked, even under best case scenario it sounded like a genuine nightmare.
"Do you think he's okay?" Luke was scared to hope.
"He won't be until we get him home," Vader answered. "Remember what I told you, stay on the ship."
"But Father-"
"No arguments, Luke."
"But I can help!"
"You would just be endangering yourself. You have no idea what kind of life forms inhabit Jabba the Hutt's palace."
Luke was relentless, "But Father, I-"
"I know you feel guilty for not being able to save him," Vader said. "But this isn't on you. Leave it to me."
"But what if something happens to you too?" Luke asked in genuine distress at the idea.
Vader turned his wrist and curled a finger, signaling to Luke. The blonde man stood up, crossed over to his father's seat and sat across his lap.
"Everything is going to be all right," Vader told his son, "but you must trust me, and you must do what I say."
"I don't like it, Father," Luke confessed.
"I know you don't."
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Luke told him.
"I know. But I will bring Han back."
Luke curled an arm around his father's back and rested his head on his shoulder. "I love you, Father."
He felt a gloved hand pat him on top of his head, and heard his father's deep modulated voice, "I love you too, Luke. Rest now, my son, it's going to be a while before we arrive."
Darth Vader stood on the bridge gazing out the viewport at the sands of Tatooine. They'd just touched down. He'd thought with every fiber of his being that he'd never return to this forsaken planet. Only the love for a son could redact that decision.
He heard footsteps echoing behind him, caught the hint of a reflection in the viewport.
"You wanted to see me, milord?" Admiral Piett asked.
Vader thought for a minute, and finally responded, "Admiral, why don't you jump off the bridge?"
Piett reeled back slightly and blinked. "I beg your pardon, milord?"
"Oh, nothing, just testing something." Vader turned to the admiral. "I don't need any escort into Jabba's palace, what I do need is for you to stay on this ship with Luke, don't let him out of your sight, and since I now know he won't be able to talk you into anything, if he tries to leave the ship and follow after me, you have my full permission to stun him."
"I...think I understand, sir. But are you sure you'll be all right? These people-"
"I'm familiar with them, I was born here," Vader told him, and didn't miss the way Piett's eyes bulged at that fact. "You needn't worry about me, I speak the language, and nothing is going to stop me from retrieving Han Solo."
The guard at the entrance looked only mildly surprised at the dark lord's presence. "Lord Vader, what brings you here?"
"I am here to see Jabba the Hutt, you will take me to him."
The guard's eyes went almost blank and he repeated, "You're here to see Jabba the Hutt, I will take you to him."
Vader felt a mild form of amusement, it didn't seem to matter how much time passed, once learned, a Jedi never forgot, and no matter how much time passed, people were just as weak-minded as they'd always been.
He was also mildly thankful for his life support suit, it ensued no part of him came in contact with anything in this place. It was anyone's guess how many diseases were crawling around this hellhole. Jabba's palace was home and probably birthplace of every immorality conceivable under the twin suns. Even with his red lenses tinting everything, he could see the lighting was dim, he heard native music playing, saw several of Jabba's female dancers, scantily clad and drawing all kinds of responses from the raucous crowd composed of all life forms, that filled every corner and corridor. He turned his head every which way, slowly, taking in all the scenery, all of it, as repulsive as most of it was to see.
There! Vader felt himself struggling to breathe even with his respirator and felt his heart drop down to the bottom of his remaining flesh body. Han was hanging on a far wall, still encased in carbonite, his features frozen just as they'd been at the point of impact, his hands reaching out as if trying to ward off his fate, his lips curled back and teeth gnashed in excruciating pain.
A garbled voice yelling in Huttese filled the room and the commotion died down. The music stopped, the dancers stopped, everybody was looking at the dark lord.
Jabba didn't look surprised by his presence. Then again Hutts almost always wore the same smug expression no matter what. Being the crime lords they were this side of the galaxy, they felt themselves above any and all protocols and orders, most of the time they were right. That ended now.
"Well, Lord Vader," Jabba said, feigning a note of innocence, "what brings you to my establishment?"
"I'm here for Han Solo," Vader cut to the point.
The Hutt's eyes narrowed slightly as he became defensive, and told the dark lord, "That Corellian bastard is my property now." He raised a huge hand and gestured towards the wall, "he makes a lovely decoration."
Some of the patrons laughed at his answer, but the mood quickly died when there was only silence from Vader, leaving everyone to their own devices to imagine what was coming next.
"He is leaving with me, you can either hand him over, or you can die," Vader told the Hutt.
Jabba leered at the dark lord inquisitively, "And just what is your business with him?"
"He is my son."
The whole room went dead silent at those four words.
A gurbled sound of disbelief escaped Jabba as his eyes widened. "You can't be serious."
"I was never more serious."
With that, Vader raised his hand and Force-choked Jabba, who sputtered and struggled, but he was composed of so many layers of fat it would take forever to actually kill him, so Vader did something he'd never done before, and choked the Hutt with both hands. Jabba's eyes bugged out and his tongue lolled out of his mouth as he slowly asphyxiated. Vader curled his hands tighter and tighter until he was sure the durasteel was going to snap entirely, finally the Force reached through all the layers of Jabba's exterior and found the bones in his neck. They popped so loud it sounded like an entire body being dislocated at the joints. The Hutt sprawled on the floor in a lifeless mass, everybody else in the room inched back in terror.
"It's alright, my son," Vader addressed the carbonite form of his firstborn, "we're going home now."
Vader had commed the ship to have two men enter the palace with a floating gurney to transport Han onboard. As he climbed the boarding ramp he saw Piett and Luke standing nearby, both with wide eyes of disbelief and shock.
"Han! You got him!" Luke exclaimed.
"I did," Vader answered as the crewmembers floated Han to another part of the ship, "and when we're home we'll get him thawed out."
"What do you mean?" Luke asked. "Why can't we do it now? Surely he has to be suffering in there, right?"
"He's currently in carbon hibernation," Vader explained as they prepared to take off.
"What does that mean?" Luke asked. "Will he be alright?"
"He is alive, he's conscious," Vader told his son, "he may be aware of something or he may not be...but when he's released he will experience hibernation sickness."
"What's that?" Luke asked.
"A sensory overload, some people have lost their sanity during it," Vader said. "As long as he doesn't move or talk too much when he comes out of it, he will recover."
"Then let's get him thawing now," Luke said.
"That would not be wise."
"Why not?"
"What he's experiencing is nothing short of excruciating, what he will experience when hibernation sickness sets in will be even more excruciating. He would be better off if he could recover at home instead of racing through the galaxy." He had considered the possibilities, if the ship came under attack halfway back to Coruscant or it got hit by an asteroid shower, the ship's klaxons blaring in alert, that alone could very well push Han clear over the edge. It killed him just as much as Luke to have to wait so long to free Han from his carbonite prison, but he wasn't willing to take any chances. "Trust me, Luke, it's better this way."
He saw the look on Luke's face and knew his son still had his doubts. He grabbed Luke's hands in his to maintain the boy's attention and told him, "Luke, the important thing is we've found him, and we're going home."
This fact finally seemed to sink into Luke's mind and he became wobbly on his feet. Vader put his arms around him to steady him and walked him over to their seats. Luke clung to his father and Vader sat down with the boy across his lap, Luke curled up against him and started crying. This time, the dark lord knew, from relief, that his brother was alive, that they had found him and were taking him home, that the three of them would be a family again.