Summary: In which a phone call is made.
Intake (continued)
Officer Gouban entered in the number and then hesitated for a second or two over the CALL button. Luke kept his expression as neutral as he could, desperately hoping that the man would go through with it.
"I'm out of my damn mind." Gouban muttered under his breath. He bit his lip and then pressed down on the button.
Luke felt his heart pound in his chest as the comm receiver rang. The number he'd memorized was a private number – or at least, his bounty seemed to suggest that it was. His father should pick up.
What if he didn't though? What if he was busy? He had no idea where the Executor was or if his father was even on it – he could be asleep or in battle for all Luke knew.
What if Officer Gouban wasn't willing to try and call him twice?
Luke stared at the receiver, feeling beads of nervous sweat forming in his hairline, willing for his father to answer the damn call.
It only continued to ring.
And ring.
…and ring…
And –
Static crackled loudly over the receiver.
"Who is this?"
Luke dropped his head back against the wall with a sigh of relief as Vader's harsh, commanding voice finally came through even as Gouban's face turned white as a sheet and he gaped for a long second before straightening up to attention so fast that he must have thought that his life depended on it.
"Speak quickly!" Vader snapped, his patience apparently already waning.
"Y-yes, Sir!" Gouban stuttered. "Forgive me, Lord Vader but my name is Officer Gouban. I'm an intake officer at the prison facility on Uhpes. There's… there's an inmate here who claims to be your son. He… he requested that I call you?"
Gouban winced as the words came out of his mouth, hiding his face in his hands for a few seconds out of sheer embarrassment and clearly regretting ever having been born.
There was a long, long moment of silence, save for the sound of Vader's respirator on the other end of the line. Luke wished, not for the first time, that he had access to the Force so he could know what his father was feeling right now. Was he angry? Stunned? Completely ambivalent?
They didn't know each other. And after Luke had rejected him and his crazy offer at Bespin... what if he didn't even care? It hadn't seemed like he'd been hunting Luke as intently as he had been for the last few months.
"Prove it." Vader finally said, and his tone suggested that there would be hell to pay if Gouban couldn't follow through.
Gouban glanced at him and then quickly gestured for him to speak up.
Steeling himself, Luke took a deep breath.
"Hello, Father."
A/N Apparently this might get a part three!
Thanks for reading! :D