Summary: Luke finally speaks to his father.

Intake: Conversations

The time on the comm receiver showed that it had been a little over an hour since his father had been contacted.

"Luke?" Vader asked. Luke sat up a little straighter, the waist chain jingling slightly, and felt uncharacteristically nervous.

"I'm here."

"It will take me two weeks to arrive on Uhpes to retrieve you. You will be required -"

"Two weeks?" Luke interrupted, his heart sinking in his chest. Everything that he'd heard about this place had him perfectly convinced that he didn't want to be here for a day, let alone two weeks. He'd clung to the hope that if he was just able to get ahold of Vader, that he could be out of here in only a few hours.

"Yes." Vader said in a tone that felt far too flat. "You will be required to finish the prison's intake process and I expect you not to make a scene or cause any problems. Do you understand?"

"Yes, but - "

"The warden and deputy wardens will be informed of who you are. I have one of my officers making contact with the warden now to discuss my expectations for your well-being. You are not to tell anyone beyond Officer Gouban who you are in relation to me."

"What about the Force suppressants?" Luke interjected quickly. "Are they going to keep drugging me?"

There was a brief pause and when Vader spoke again, his no-nonsense tone wasn't quite gone but it was different too. "It is… policy for them to do so." he said. "I cannot ask them to compromise their safety without being sufficiently willing to explain why. Are you experiencing any adverse effects?"

Luke took a moment to try and calm himself down. His hands were shaking at the thought of the Force being withheld from him for so long. A week had been bad enough. Three seemed unbearable. "I… I just feel empty." he admitted thickly. "And cold. It feels cold all the time now."

And dead. Empty and dead and he wanted it to stop.

"But no physical ailments?" Vader clarified, his voice grounding him.

"I've thrown up a few times." Luke admitted after a moment.

"That is not unheard of. You may contact me if it advances beyond that."

"They're not going to let me -"

"You will have access to a communicator and my number will be approved. Contact me only if you have to."

Luke paused, mulling that over for a moment. It was more than he had thought to expect, even if it didn't make him feel much better. Vader began speaking again, filling him in on a few other things and giving him a rough idea of what to expect moving forward before Luke could ask any other questions.

He was straightforward and to the point, a military leader through and through.

It was the mention of his upcoming appointment with medical that had his heart racing again and Luke thought that he could handle a lot of things in life but he would not do this. He couldn't and he was willing to hurt anyone who dared to even try -

"Father," Luke interrupted again, his desperation bleeding into his voice. "Wait, just - " he groaned, frustrated and upset. If there was anyone who would understand, surely if would be his father. Even if there was nothing between them, even if he might not care - he couldn't let this happen.

He had no idea if Vader could sense him or his emotions at all but when his father spoke again, Luke dared to think that his voice had grown softer. "What is it?"

"They're going to put a tracking device in me. They do it to all the inmates here."

And he couldn't - he couldn't be tagged like that. Not like a damn slave. The thought was worse than the Force being stolen away from him.

There was another brief pause and all Luke could hear was his father's respirator coming through the comm. He wished he could feel something - anything, just to have an idea of what Vader was thinking.

"Don't let them do that to me, please." Luke begged.

"They won't." Vader said immediately. "And if they do, I will kill them."

The promise of murder on his behalf wasn't supposed to be comforting. But Luke wilted in relief. If Vader told them 'no' then they wouldn't.

"...are you hurt or will you be alright until I can get you?"

Luke shook his head, feeling oddly comforted by the question. It wasn't much but it was something... and coming from Vader, it was probably a lot. He didn't think his father would ask unless he actually cared.

He was a little sore but mostly tired and hungry and he said so.

"Good. Two weeks, Luke, and I will be there."

A/N This one is a teeny bit longer just because I hated the idea of breaking up the conversation into two parts. The next part should be the beginning of R&O!

Thanks for reading!