Chapter One: Welcome to Your Life – There's No Turning Back

"H-Hey, Rick!"

"What, Morty." The blessed silence whilst he created was destroyed first with the sound of the door to the garage opening, then further by the sound of Morty's voice. Rick didn't even turn to look at his grandson, simply continuing on with his project, tinkering with a screwdriver in hand as he waited for Morty to sputter out some undoubtedly stupendous request or question for Rick to fulfill with an adventure, invention, or answer.

"Well, Summer and- and- well, I- I mean, we were wondering, s-s-since Mom doesn't talk about, y'know, uhh, Gr-Gramma, would you tell us about her?"

The addition of Summer's voice was yet another unwelcome annoyance testing his patience. After that whole debacle with getting time back to normal he could really use a break from his grandchildren. "Yeah, like, Mom hardly ever talked about you, Grampa Rick, until you showed up again, but she's never ever really said anything about Gramma Lucy." Summer paused in thought; neither of the kids saw the rigid tension that sharply straightened Rick's spine when they had said the word 'Gramma' and the redoubled stiffness when Summer said her name. "Ohh," Summer hummed, "I mean, I think that's what Dad said the name was when Mom mentioned her mom a couple times to him…"

"Y-Yeah! Tell us about Gramma Lucy, Rick!" Morty agreed jovially assuming this was the simplest request ever and Rick would actually be glad to indulge them for once, but then he finally took notice of the rigidity of their grandfather's posture, how he had stopped in motion completely, shoulder's raised up close to his ears. "Uhhh, Rick? A-A-Are you – is everything – o-okay?"

Summer, too, saw Rick's position and the odd, slightly malignant vibe he was giving off, she stepped forward, hand raised to touch Rick's bony shoulder, but jumped back in shock when Rick spun around on his stool to finally face the kids.

"A-A-Al-Alright!" Rick's brow was pinched in irritation, but his eyes shone a different emotion entirely. He crossed his arms, screwdriver still clutched in one hand, "Y-y-you wanna – you want me to tell you a story, i-i-is that what you waAAAUUUGHnt?" He belched loudly, and abruptly uncrossed his arms to dive a hand into his lab coat in a hasty search for his flask. He shook the stainless steel object, sloshing the contents to gauge how much scotch whiskey he had left and if it would be enough to help him tolerate his damned curious grandchildren. He took a long pull before he began, neglecting to wipe his mouth afterwards as a mix of spit and alcohol dribbled from his lips and down his chin, "O-EEUUUGHHH-nce upon a time, I met your Gramma on a prisoner transport ship, we escaped, we banged a lot, made your mom, I left a lot, she made some demands I couldn't dig, we still banged a lot, we stopped seeing each other, the e-EUGH-nd. Happy? Gr-great story? Good. Now le-leave me alone." Rick spun back to his current project, his muddled mind trying to take in what was in front of him to remember what exactly he was working on – oh right, he was commissioned to make an antimatter gun - before he was rudely interrupted with a forced jaunt down memory lane.

"What!?" Summer and Morty shrieked. Rick winced at the loud noise, searching for his lost screwdriver on the worktop, ultimately finding it stowed alongside his flask in his lab coat pocket. He took the screwdriver, briefly considering taking the flask instead. Two screw turns and Summer was babbling again.

"Grampa Rick, you can't just leave it like that! There's so much more information you're not telling us!" Summer wailed.

"Yeah! L-Like! Wh-Why – wh-what were you doing on a prisoner transport ship!? What were – what did you do to get on that ship? What did – W-w-what was Gramma doing there? Did she save you?" Morty added, voice cracking on almost every word and grating on Rick's nerves.

"I bet she did," Summer grinned, then gasped, covering her widely smiling mouth, "I bet she was like Princess Leia. You and Gramma Lucy were like the Princess Leia and Han Solo before Star Wars was even a thing, right? Am I right, Grampa Rick?!"

"You're not wrong, Summer," Rick grumped and burped with a hum.

"Oh my god! About which part?!" Summer squealed, and beside her Morty looked just as eager for confirmation.

Rick sighed, dropping the screwdriver and taking his flask once more and spinning to his overly keen grandkids. "L-L-Look! I-I-I'm in the middle of something here! A-And you're bothering me, alright? Thi-thi-this sorta stuff requires concen… concentration. Bother me later, okay, you little inquisitive…terrors? I'm busy right now." Even as the words left his mouth he winced, he'd practically sealed a verbal contract that entitled those two dipshits to bother him about her, about Lucy, again.

"Aw jeez, c'mon, Rick," Morty whined while Summer had brightened, evidently noting the verbal contract as well as Rick had, snatching Morty's arm in her hand as she complied, "Fine! See you later, Grampa!" She dragged a complaining Morty along with her as they left the garage and reentered the house.

Rick could distantly make out the sound of Morty's complaining through the walls and Summer rebutting until it faded too far for him to hear. "Fuck," he sighed and tipped back the entire contents of his flask into his mouth, throat swallowing greedily until the final bitter drop slid down the back of his tongue. Black spots now littered his vision whenever he blinked, some of the spots grew bigger even as he tried to blink more rapidly. Another weary sigh exhaled from his throat as he decided to stop fighting the encompassing darkness. Just as he tipped over the edge and gave in completely to blacking out on his work bench, a stab of panic tried to reel him back to consciousness in case he might actually dream, in case he might relive memories in his drunken unconscious dreaming thoughts. Fuck. FUCK SHIT. Too late.

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Date: 4072.14

From: LTC L. G'Zuvren

To: LTC L. G'Zuven (log entry)

Subject: In Galactic Federation Custody (cont.)

Still no contact established with Worvren since 35 soldiers in my company and I were detained by Galactic Federation military personnel. We, in custody, have no idea what the situation on Worvren is, if the battle still ensues or if there was a victory or even a truce. If there was a victory for us, surely we would have had word by now; we would have had contact somehow… We've been in custody on this transport ship for the past three days since my battalion was overtaken by Gromflomite soldiers. From what I understand, when we reach the main holding facility, we will be processed and held until a date for a trial is settled. Considering Worvren and the Federation's history, I doubt that settling a trial date will be of the utmost importance. They would've executed us on the spot if they could, just like they executed Dad… If I could just get my hands on the filthy insect scum that did it, I –

"Hey! Hey, Worvren kid! L-little girl! Sp-speak any English? Earth English?" the sound of a rough, male voice broke through the silence of the massive holding cell in which they were all collected. A free range holding cell instead of individual cells seemed like bad practice for such a universally renowned agency. In retrospect, she thought, perhaps they didn't put them all in separate cells in hopes that free range criminals might pick each other off and they'd have less prisoners to process once they reached their destination. She might add that to her entry, but her fingers softly tapping against the glass screen in her palm ceased at the sound of that voice… seeing as she and her comrades were still dressed in Worvren military attire and probably she was the closest thing to be mistaken for a 'little girl' in this place.

"Wh-whad'ya got there? I-I-If you've been holding b-back – ho-holding out tech that could get us outta here, kiddo-?!" the same throaty voice mildly threatened.

"It's not," she replied before any of her surrounding company could bite back something about showing some respect or just who in the hell do you think you're talking to like that, Earthen scum? But considering where they were? Respect wasn't necessarily due at that moment. "It's just a tablet for officer communication and log entries. The communication connection's been disabled since we stepped foot on this ship but-"

The voice scoffed, "S-S-So you've been – wh-what? Updating your diary? For fuck's sake, kid, we're on the way to Galactic Federation Prison! I-I'm gettin' a little desperate here, e-e-enough that I'm requesting help from the next intelligent beings in this shit hole."

She mimicked his scoff in return, as she shifted her legs beneath her to heave herself to stand, "Well, before you interrupted me," she started towards one of the numerous bench and tables littering the detention cell, this figure occupied one by himself, booted feet kicked up onto the tabletop. "I was going to say they disabled the comm connection but if there's a chance that Worvren still stands Federation-free, they could be on their way here and hacking into the Federation's systems to reestablish a connection and will then be able to read my log entries." She paused for a breath as she reached the bench opposite the shadowed man, "They'll know where we are and can get us the hell out of here instead of having to try and break us out of prison which will prove to be a much more difficult task."

"Mm," he grumbled, "What makes you th-think you guys'll be able to hack their systems so easily?" She noted the subtle turns of his head as he sized up the few of her company who had stood and followed to flank her as she addressed this possibly dangerous stranger.

"Because I designed the system," she blinked with a slight air of blatant arrogance, but then corrected herself, "Well, my mother did, and I've been updating it. I know the system, and so do my tech specialists. The Federation stole my tech for their own use a while back. I think they forgot about that before they decided to attack my goddamn planet."

"Yikes, and I thought I had beef with the Galactic Feds," the voice chortled.

She sighed as she took a seat opposite the male figure, "Here." She offered the tablet toward him and he quickly retracted his feet from the tabletop to sit normally. "I mean, if you want to try and… and take it apart and salvage anything to make a daring escape, be my guest."

The figure leaned forward, his long fingers grasping against hers as he took the device. In the scant light she could make out a head of wild dark blue hair. "But remember who provided you the means of escaping this shit hole, if you do manage something, uh…?" she left room for him to name himself, and possibly hopefully lean fully into the dim light for her to be able to put a name to a face once he gave it to her.

"Rick," he muttered as he began to pick apart the tablet piece by piece with just his fingernails and the earring he'd hastily removed from his ear to use a rudimentary tool, laying out each part on the table top for assessment of possible use in escaping containment, "Rick Sanchez, Earth, dimension C-137."

"Lieutenant Colonel Lucei G'Zuvren. Born and raised Worvren."

Rick's hands ceased movement and he finally leaned forward into the dim light enough for Lucei to see tanned skin, dark eyes, and a bit of five-day old scruff along cheeks, chin and around lips as he repeated with perfect pronunciation, "G'Zuvren? As - As in the family that founded Worvren eons ago?" Rick stared with wide eyes as Lucei nodded, and he additionally wondered with slight hesitance, "As in recently deceased Tarkyo Zosli G'Zuvren?"

Lucei nodded, eyes cast down to the table top, "My father, yeah."

Rick's eyes took in all of what he could of Lucei while her piercing steely gaze was off of him, for such a young girl her eyes conveyed something of centuries worth of knowledge and exhaustion. He'd actually stopped by Worvren a few times before because of a couple acquaintances of his; he hadn't met the 'King' personally, but he had been close enough to become awed in Tarkyo Zosli's presence. Certain people were like that, Rick hated to say that he wasn't one of those people but he certainly strived to be. And definitely Lucei had taken after her father in such a manner, not only because of whatever genetics from their original world were particularly magnetic (Lucei in particular was redheaded, extremely fair almost glow-in-the-dark skin without a single sign of a freckle or mole. Decked in armor it was hard to tell what she had going on beneath it, as good armor tended to do. And she was short, far shorter than the majority of her diverse company), they also oozed a balanced sense of power and protection. He got back to work with taking apart the tablet as he muttered his condolences. "Jeez, h-hey listen, I'm legitimately sorry to hear about your dad, kiddo. The universe lost a really great guy."

"The Federation murdered him, and tried to frame it as a revolt of our people."

"Holy shit, are you fuckin' kidding me?" Rick barked back, absolutely stunned. He'd heard about the G'Zuvren King being dead, but not murdered?

Lucei shook her head grimly, her entire demeanor at that moment screamed to Rick that she had seen it happen, suddenly he understood why her eyes looked so tired, but still so angry.

"A-A-And now they're trying to throw you into prison? They killed your dad and now they're destroying your planet and putting you in prison…" Rick summed up, face tilted toward the ceiling. Lucei looked up from her lap to watch him, though the light was still very dim she could make out the way his intelligent eyes were thinking in a frantically fast way. "Fuck that," Rick finally declared a few moments later, "Fuck. That! We are getting the fuck outta here, right now!" he cheered far too loudly in Lucei's opinion.

But before she could shush him, he was standing up and picking up a few pieces of the tablet, namely the pieces that recognized touch and scanned identification imprints, and the glass plate.

"C'mon, princess," Rick mumbled cheerfully and took Lucei's hand with his unoccupied one. Her legs scrambled to keep up with his long strides as she waved off her entire company that was now at attention and ready to toss Rick across the cellblock. "And I'll let your entourage know what the plan is as soon as I come up with it. Basically what I've got goin' right now is, rescan the last print that was used to access the door, scan it through to open the door, then we outtie. In the likely event that we're found out, we split up and fuckin' book it. Oddly enough, I really don't feel like taking over an entire Federation transport ship today." He dropped her hand once they reached the wall panel that would give them access to the authorization scanner locking mechanism.

"Hm, insane, but what other options have we got?" Lucei looked toward her comrades and jerked her head for them to get closer. "And then what's the glass plate for?" she wondered.

"If we gotta stab some bitches," Rick explained simply between grunts as he banged his elbow against the panel to pop it out, which proved useless, even after he tried 5 more times in quick succession.

Lucei grabbed his arm with a chastising cluck of her tongue and nodded to one of her company, "Lolo!" she addressed and broke off into the speech of the Erubvubari. Rick had thought he dwarfed Lucei when he stood next to her, but holy shit 'Lolo', they were a hulking mass of pale humanoid, three nostriled, forked-tongue Erubvubari awesomeness that made Rick feel like an infant… Also the fact that he might have shit his pants a little added to that infant feeling.

Lolo made easy work of the panel with a single jab. The panel released from the wall and the authorization scanner popped out. "Yo, tell Lolo thanks for me, kid," Rick muttered as he hurriedly took his place in front of the scanner with the parts from the tablet.

Lucei grinned at up Lolo, giving her thanks from Rick in the alien's homeworld tongue. Lolo muttered something back that caused Lucei to bark with abrupt laughter and had her face turning red too. Rick glanced over at Lucei, her laughter fading but still holding a hand over her stomach, he chanced another quick glance at Lolo who had a conspiring sort of filthy smirk on their mouth. "What? W-What did they say?"

"She just –" Lucei snorted softly, "Nothing, nothing. Carry on, I'll tell you later, go on."

Rick glared shortly before continuing with the scanner. He'd successfully picked up the last print, now he just needed to scan it through again. "Alright, get re-uuURP-ady to haul ass, every-" His words stopped short on his tongue when the door slid open and three Gromflomite soldiers stood in the doorway.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?!" their outraged call came, weapons hurriedly being taken off safety and taking aim.

Rick was in mid-curse when Lucei snatched the tablet glass from his grasp and launched herself at the nearest Gromflomite who was about to call for back up. She sliced at the insect's throat, garbling its words and spraying black blood on her and its counterparts. "Pull them in!" she barked as she wrestled the still struggling but slowly dying soldier to the floor. Rick and several Legiak in Worvren military attire (spiny brightly colored skinned, weak muscled, blunted clawed creatures that resembled enlarged starfish) surged forward at her order and pulled the other two Gromflomites into the cell. "Shut the damn door!" she grunted as she hit the floor hard when the soldier finally gave up the fight for life and collapsed.

The door slid shut and Lucei got to her feet, but not before taking up the laser gun from the deceased soldier. Before the other two insect soldiers could beg out a single word for mercy she fired two shots, and they slumped motionless to the floor. She was still panting from the previous struggle as she motioned toward the soldiers on the floor, she muttered something in Milisarian and several of her company rushed forward to strip the soldiers of all weapons and anything that could prove useful as a weapon.

Through a crackling speaker they could make out the teeny sound of another Gromflomite trying to confirm backup in Cellblock Delta 6. "Fuck," Lucei panted and wiped at the dark blood dripping down her face, "We've gotta go," she looked from her comrades who nodded in understanding, then to Rick, "What were you going to say? We gotta haul ass?"

"Abs-Absol – Yes, babe, we gotta go!" Rick unlocked the door once more and grabbed Lucei's hand, he called out to her company, "Split up! Meet up somewhere around the admissions holding area! Five minutes! If you're not there, you're getting left behind!"

"Rick!" Lucei scolded as they veered left down the hall and then right down another, "I'm not leaving anyone behind!"

"Sure, sure, kiddo. Once we're able to jump ship y-y-you'll be singin' a- a- a- tellin' a different story." He dragged her along, and she was doing well with keeping up with his extra-long legs, wiping at her face that was mixing blood and sweat.

Rick brought them to a hard stop before a fork in their path, and he took the time to glance down to see the black blood was in faded streaks on her face, and stained into her uniform. He smirked down to her, and she raised a single brow in silent question, "Y-You were probably jonesing for a kill, huh, kid?"

Lucei huffed, shaking her hand from Rick's grip to use her moderately cleaner sleeve to keep wiping at her face, "I'm not a damn kid. I'm 17."

"Ooh la la, this relationship is moving pretty fast; full names, ages, we're getting to know each other so quickly making a prison break together," Rick muttered in a sarcastic tone, glancing around the left corner, then the right as he added, "I'm 27, sweetie, my first language is Spanish and I like a stiff drink after a long day of evading intergalactic arrests."

She rolled her eyes, having to content herself with however she looked even though she still felt dirtied by bastard alien blood, "Just call me Lucei."

"You got it, Lucy," Rick uttered back and curved his arm around her waist to haul her around the right corner and down a long hall. Before she could correct him he was talking hurriedly again, "Alright. I've got a portal gun, it was confiscated when I was caught, but I'm sure they still have it on board in their evidence locker which is just around the next corner… I think… Likely with the r-rest of the weapons and junk they took off you and your group." They skidded to a halt, Rick's hands on her waist as they were stuck running in place for a moment on the particularly slick patch of floor before he toted her and himself to backtrack down the hall, away from unexpectedly very near Fed solider eyes, "Once we get our shit, I can hop us through a portal where we'll be safe. I know a place."

Lucei peeked around the corner, for now, choosing to ignore the fact that Rick's hands were still on her waist, "Sounds fine to me, as long as you do the same for my company."

"Yeah, yeah, whoever survives and shows up on time," Rick gave his assent, smirking to himself when she plucked his left hand from her middle and yanked him along down the hall. He took up the lead again, turning left two more times and then they were in front of the evidence room. With the scam scanner still in his possession, he made quick work of the door and shut it after them after they hurried inside. They split up, the room was loaded with impounded goods, personal effects, and weaponry. She headed toward the weaponry, seeking familiar Worvren military belongings, while Rick went on a frantic search for his portal gun and anything else he could get his hands on while he could.

"Say, he-here's what I wonder…" Rick muttered as he dug through box after box, pocketing small trinkets and alien drugs and hooch now and then, "Why would a universally acclaimed peaceful planet like Worvren even need an army, huh? Se-Seems a bit contradictory, if you ask m-m – in my opinion."

Lucei snorted as she strapped a belt with several holsters and pockets around her hips and secured an attached strap around her thigh, loading up the holsters with whatever weapons that fit, and additional ammo in the pockets. "What sort of fucking idiots would we be if we advertised asylum but didn't have the proper means to defend our well maintained sanctuary? Of course we have an army, of course we have weapons. And the army is completely voluntary, by the way, before you get all preachy."

"That is a s-sound argument. So Worvren really is a refuge for criminals? Like the Australia of the galaxies."

Her brow scrunched in confusion, pausing in motion for a moment, "I'm not sure what that means, but we don't just save criminals. And well, not every criminal either. If you've done a bad thing, then you can fuck right off. But if it's trumped up we'll provide protection. Some worlds are in constant battle, and some of their people, from either planet involved, want to avoid the fight until it's over. A lot of beings are trying to evade Galactic Federation rule; they don't want to be subjugated by the government. So they'll flee to Worvren. Worvren is a safe place, where everyone is equal, my family has preserved this oasis for thousands of years… I'll be dead before I see it under Federation control."

Rick shifted on his feet, pulling at the collar of his shirt before he sifted through his pilfered goods to grab a bottle of rotgut and cracking it open for a sip, "So you've got a lot of diff-different races on that planet, huh? Heard you speak a few languages… Y-Y-Y'know, Earth has a lot of languages. I-I-I grew up speaking Spanish and English."

"With every race that retreats to Worvren they bring their native tongue. I've made the effort, like my father did and those before us, to learn their languages out of respect and prove our devotion to keep them safe," by then Lucei was fully armed, but still searching for the next best weapon to swap out, and Rick had found his portal gun and stowed it in his back pocket, leaning against a storage rack to watch her as she talked and searched through weaponry.

"Mm," he shoved off the shelf, hands in his pockets as he approached her, "Got r-room for one more language in there?" She turned her glance up to him once he stood a foot away from her and took one hand from his pocket to tap gently against her forehead, "I could teach you Spanish."

A grin pulled at her mouth as she shrugged, "Sure."

The following sound of the evidence room's door swishing open caused both of their smiles to fall; Rick grabbed at her forearm, while Lucei was shoving at Rick backwards toward the nearest wall behind a shelf full of confiscated illegal 'food items'. Considering Lucei was much smaller in height compared to Rick, she wasn't doing the best job of keeping him hidden from sight, but it was instinctual and an admirable effort.

"They'll probably be in here! I'm checking it out!" a Gromflomite soldier called out, "Keep the door open and covered!"

Lucei mouthed a colorful curse, glancing up to Rick she saw he had a finger pressed to his mouth while his other hand ventured to his back pocket. It was a bit difficult to manage with a small Worvren Army basically royal officer smashed against him, but then again… he had a small Worvren Army officer smashed against him, he wished he couldn't complain.

He managed to get the portal gun in hand and type in a familiar coordinate code, Lucei's eyes keeping watch for the soldier all the while. Rick brought his freehand to her shoulder, and with her eyes back on him he tried to communicate to the best of his abilities, hoping that they were already in tune with each other enough that she would understand his plan.

With a short shake of her head and glare of her eyes, he knew she'd figured it out. He rolled his eyes and typed in different coordinates. A reestablished plan, and just in time too. The Gromflomite soldier spotted them as it turned a corner, it let out a shout that signaled it'd found them. Rick shot a portal just beside the soldier, and Lucei shot forward to deliver a heavy kick to the insect's gut. The soldier fell through the portal with a short cry, and the green swirling vortex dissipated just a second afterwards.

"Here!" Lucei plucked one of numerous guns about her person and shoved it into Rick's hands, and took another to occupy her own hands, "Let's go!"

In a rush of lasers and shouts, they managed their way out of the evidence room and down toward what they hoped was the Admissions Holding Area.

"I've got 35 soldiers in my company with me, Rick. I'm not leaving any of them behind, dead or alive!"

"Fine!" Rick snapped back, "We're going to have to jump through dimensions though, t-t-to shake these assholes off our tail!"

The more Gromflomites they passed, the more of Lucei's company they stumbled upon as well, few were injured, none were dead. Running and shooting, Lucei was mentally doing a headcount as they got closer toward Admissions. Rick was shouting again, harshly criticizing, "I-I-I mean, wh-why do you even have Sozarians in your company?! They get injured if they stand up to fast! S-S-Seriously!"

"Anyone who has something to fight for is welcome in our army!" Lucei shot back.

"W-well you've got some liabilities in your damn army, i-i-it'll be the death of you, strategically speaking!"

"We've also got Milisarians and Argisolari," Lucei noted smugly.

Rick paused, astonished for a few moments as both mentioned races were hard to create establish alliances with as is, but to get them to pledge their lives to a cause not solely concerning their own species was something to marvel at. "A-A-Alright, you got me there. Those are some pretty excellent ass-s-setts." In addition to have their allegiance those beings separately had amazing abilities, one that excreted juices with healing properties, and the other teleporting aptitude when given access to Nitrogen.

A chueliak male called out to Lucei, confirming all of their company that had been detained were accounted for. Lucei let out a relieved noise before she nodded to Rick, "We're all here! Let's go!"

Rick tapped away at his portal gun, slowing his in pace as he shot a portal a few feet in front of them. He skidded to a hard stop and stepped out of the way as he ushered all of Lucei's company through the vortex. "C'mon, go!" Rick urged as the last few that were among the wounded being carried hobbled as fast and they could go. "Lucy, go!" Rick pressed, "Nuh uh!" she shook her head and grabbed his hand, "None of this 'I'll be right behind you' hero bullshit." She tugged him along through the portal and the rest of them trailing after. They were back to running again as Rick hurried to type in another set of dimensional coordinates. The last portal had shut, but had let through quite a few Federation Soldiers as well.

"Shit!" Rick cursed, he shot out the next portal and they rushed through. Almost immediately after stepping through that one, Rick shot two more, ordering every to follow through the second one, explaining they would hopefully lose the tailing soldiers with that.

Running through portals into different planets and dimensions continued on for several long minutes until finally, struggling for breath, and without any Fed soldiers trailing them. Rick shot out six different portals against the bases of six different purple barked trees with top high with black slimy leaves.

"It'll be safest if we all split up. These all lead to the same dimension, just different sectors of different galaxies, far from Federation control. Lay low for a couple of days, and whoever ends up closest to Worvren, send a message about the status of the planet, whether it's cool to head back or…" Rick sighed, knowing he really didn't need to finish that sentence. His eyes caught sight of Lucei with her gaze fixed towards the ground as she supported one of her exhausted comrades. "Any-uh-anyway. This one's for Earth, five of you that are more humanoid, you're likely to blend in easier, so you can come with us."

The Worvren company waited until the orders were confirmed by their commanding officer. Lucei raised her sullen glance from the ground, looking at each face of her soldiers and friends. She pulled in a deep breath through her nose, straightening her posture and nodding in thanks as she passed off her weakened reptilian comrade to another. "Establish contact in 72 hours. Each group should have someone familiar with tech and communication. Designated tech specialists will use emergency galactic distress signal MuRhoTauUpsilon – confirmation code 19211313518… I hope to see you all back home very soon."

The Worvren company stood at attention and gave their customary salute. Lucei returned it and they all began to split up and disappear through the portals. Five portals closed up, the only one still illuminated and waiting was set for Earth. The other five humanoid aliens had stepped through by Rick's direction while Lucei had watched her soldier's vanish one by one, hoping that that wasn't the last she'd ever see of them. She turned to see it was just Rick and herself left, with his hand extended out towards her, she took it gratefully and stepped through the green swirl; neither one aware of what hardships were to follow.

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Note: I am grampa loving scum. And if you follow me already, you'll know I have to fill in the blanks when there is an absent mother/wife figure whose identity and reason for being absent is shrouded in goddamn mystery. It was only a matter of time…

I've reviewed this chapter twice, I don't have a beta reader, and I'm hoping there are only very few mistakes.

Anyway this should be a 5-part story. And I thought I'd put up this chapter because I'm 50% sure I'm gonna be pissed off at work tomorrow and if I see follows or favorites or reads or reviews during the day, it'll cheer me up. Thanks for reading! As per usual I don't own a goddamn thing concerning Rick and Morty.