Several days passed in a state of strange normalcy at the Smith household. The universe, it seemed, had taken a breather. Kaelen spent his mornings with Rick in the garage, not for more upgrades, but to analyze Citadel technology and learn. Afternoons were dedicated to Padmé, exploring the complexities of Earth, from the wonder of an ocean to the inexplicable popularity of reality TV shows about people renovating kitchens.
For the first time, Kaelen and Padmé were experiencing something akin to a life. Waking up together, having breakfast (though breakfast often consisted of alien eggs Rick had "acquired"), and talking about a future that, for an instant, didn't seem so impossible.
One afternoon, while sitting in the backyard, Kaelen was engrossed in a datapad, running complex search algorithms through his galaxy's HoloNet, bouncing the signal through his portal to avoid being traced.
"Anything?" Padmé asked, looking up from an Earth history book Beth had lent her.
"Something," Kaelen replied, his eyes fixed on the screen. "My message to Yoda... the toaster worked."
"How do you know?"
"I'm tracking battle reports from Geonosis through encrypted Resistance sources. The battle happened. The Clone Wars have begun, just as Palpatine wanted." Padmé's face clouded. "But," Kaelen continued, "the outcome was... different. The Jedi didn't charge blindly into the arena. There was a flanking maneuver, a surgical strike on Separatist command centers just before the main battle. It caused chaos. Many of the leaders escaped, but Jedi losses were... significantly lighter than they would have been. Several Masters whom original records indicated would die in the arena, survived."
He looked up at her, a spark of hope in his eyes. "They listened, Padmé. Or at least, they listened enough to be cautious. We gave them a fighting chance."
An Uninvited Guest
A small victory. A ray of light in the looming darkness. But their moment of relief was interrupted by a burst of maniacal laughter from inside the house. Rick Sanchez strode into the yard, holding a device that displayed a holographic map of the multiverse, blinking with thousands of lights.
"HA! HA, HA, HA! It works! You two are geniuses, kids!" he exclaimed, clearly delighted.
"The Cosmic Crystal Challenge?" Kaelen asked.
"Better than I imagined!" Rick gloated. "Look at this! The Citadel is practically empty! All the bureaucrats, all the rectification squads, all the Ricks stupid enough to follow the rules, are chasing a stupid hoax in a frozen methane asteroid dimension! They're fighting and killing each other over worthless chunks of quartz!"
He pointed to a spot on the map. "This idiot just traded his portal gun for a shiny rock! We've bought ourselves weeks! Maybe months!"
It was a double victory. Their plans, both the serious and the ridiculous, had worked. They had warned the Jedi and temporarily neutralized the Council of Ricks. For a moment, they felt in control.
It was then that the sensor on Kaelen's wrist began to beep.
It wasn't the piercing shriek of a massive incursion. It was a solitary pulse, loud and growing faster.
"What is that?" Beth asked, stepping into the yard with Jerry.
"It's my 'Rick-detector'," Kaelen replied, his face turning serious. "But it's not the Citadel's signature. It's... it's a unique signature. Amplified."
They stood up and looked at the sky. At first, they saw nothing. Then, a small black speck appeared, growing at an alarming rate. It wasn't an Earth ship. It was angular, black as obsidian, and bristling with weapons that didn't belong in this dimension. It descended and stopped, hovering silently about a hundred meters above their suburban neighborhood.
Neighbors emerged from their homes, pointing and murmuring.
"Oh, shit," Rick whispered, his grin vanishing completely. "I recognize that cannon configuration. It's a G-Class Annihilation Fighter. Customized. He wasn't messing around."
In the ship's cockpit, a solitary figure watched them on a screen. It was the Commander Rick from the Tatooine squad. He had ignored the foolish treasure hunt. He had followed his own trail, driven by revenge and humiliation. He hadn't come with an army. He had come to finish the job himself.
The fighter's weapon bays opened, glowing with an ominous green energy.
"Well," Kaelen said, activating the holographic shield on his arm and drawing his Molecular Destabilizer. "I guess vacation's over."
Padmé moved to his side, pulling a blaster that seemed to come out of nowhere. Rick drew two laser pistols from his lab coat. Morty hid behind Jerry, who in turn hid behind a potted plant.
The war they had tried to leave behind, the one they had tried to outsmart with wit and deception, had just landed in their backyard. And this time, it wasn't a squad. It was a solitary predator, and it was hunting.