Disclaimer: I don't own Rick and Morty. They belong to Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon.

A/N: I just want to thank everyone again for the absolutely wonderful reviews on this story. This chapter was a little tough for me to write in certain areas, but overall I think it came out pretty nicely. Enjoy!

Chapter 6

Morty looked out the window of the ship, stars zooming past. They had flown three systems over from the Beta 78 System; a large, watery planet that looked similar to Earth in the amount of green land that covered its surface was approaching closer as Adalric steered towards it.

They flew through the planet's atmosphere, a huge, asphalt runway for the ship's landing getting closer and closer. Landing always made Morty nervous, even when Rick was piloting; he held his breath and closed his eyes.

Summer looked at her brother, his eyes closed in concentration. She put her hand over his; Morty opened his eyes, and saw Summer giving him a reassuring smile. She knew how he felt.

With a thunk, the ship landed on the black runway, racing forward on its wheels until Adalric calmly brought it to a halt. He turned around in his seat, facing the siblings, a huge grin on his lizard-like face.

"Welcome to the planet Meria! Come on, I'll get you some medical attention, Summer, and then show you two around the base." Adalric unbuckled his seatbelt and opened his door, hopping out. He opened Summer's door and slipped an arm under her legs and under her back, carrying her bridal style. He kicked the door closed with his foot. Morty unbuckled himself and followed suite, next to Adalric.

"S-so this planet is called 'Meria'? This is where the rebel base is?" Morty asked, his eyes taking in all he could see. This place was beautiful; though he could see a lot of buildings around him and in the distance, there was a distinct overtone of nature ringing throughout. Trees grew between buildings, flowers grew on top of roofs, and grass was pretty much everywhere that sidewalks and roads were not.

It felt as if nature and society were living in unison, instead of society living over nature, as it was on Earth.

"Yes, it is!" Adalric strode towards a large, rectangle building with plenty of windows. Morty half-jogged to keep up with Adalric's huge strides. "It's been the rebel base for about a century. Started off small; the rebellion didn't really pick up until your grandfather got involved. Ah, here we go." Adalric, carrying Summer, and Morty strode through the automatic doors, entering the building.

The room immediately reminded Morty of a hospital front reception area. There were multiple hallways leading out of the room, aliens scurrying in and out.

The trio was greeted by a blue alien woman sitting at the front desk, who had little antennae sticking out of her head. "Welcome! Oh, it's you, Adalric! How can I help you?" She smiled.

Adalric smiled back, shifting Summer slightly in his arms. "Hello, Diviana. I need some medical attention for this girl right here, her leg is pretty torn up. Their ship crashed back on Dosne."

"Sure thing, let me get Dr. Zenon." The woman turned in her swivel chair and pressed a couple of buttons on the desk. She turned back towards them, giving them a small smile. "He'll be out in a moment."

They stood there awkwardly in silence for a few minutes, Adalric quietly humming, before a small, blue alien man wearing a white labcoat and holding a clipboard came out of one of the hallways.

"Adalric! How have you been?" Dr. Zenon grinned, before his eyes scanned over Summer. "Ah, right. Follow me, please!" He turned on his heel back into the hallway, Morty and Adalric immediately following behind.

They followed quietly behind the doctor, as the hallway turned left, right, right, left, left, right, before Dr. Zenon stopped abruptly next to a door, which slid open for easy entry. The four entered the room; a single hospital bed, a desk with a computer on it and a chair underneath it, and small vials of some unknown concoction on the desk were all that were in the room.

Dr. Zenon sat in the chair as Adalric placed Summer on the bed, where she sat upright, facing the doctor, one hand clamped over her calf. Morty stood awkwardly off to the side.

Dr. Zenon smiled warmly. "Mind if I take a look at your leg?" Summer nodded, and he scooted closer in his chair and delicately touched her leg with his six-fingered, blue hands.

"Ah, yes, mm…seems to be a simple, clean cut." Dr. Zenon stood up suddenly and walked back over to his desk, pulling open drawers and looking through vials of liquid.

"What did you say your names were?" The doctor said absentmindedly as he rummaged.

"I'm Summer Smith, and this is my younger brother, Morty Smith." Summer said, gesturing lightly towards Morty.

"Mm….wait." Dr. Zenon stopped suddenly, his back towards the three. "Morty…Smith…? Good Gipnythin!" He spun around suddenly, his eyes bouncing between Morty and Summer. He looked at Adalric. "Are these-?"

Adalric smiled, nodding.

Dr. Zenon looked back at the siblings, a huge grin on his face as he began bouncing excitedly on his heels. "You two are the grandchildren of-Rick Sanchez!"

Morty and Summer half-smiled. "Yep," Morty said.

"Adalric, you must tell me how you found them!" He said excitedly. "And you two must tell me how you ran into Adalric! I always knew that Rick had kept his family life completely separate from everything else, but I had heard rumors and—"

"Um, Dr. Zenon, not do be rude or anything, but, like, could you…?" Summer pointed to her leg, looking at him with an apologetic look.

"Oh! Of course! How silly of me to forget…." He spun back around again, continuing his search for something. "Aha!" Dr. Zenon said, pulling a vial out of the cabinet. He opened another drawer with his other hand and pulled out a dropper, inserting it into the vial, drawing out the bluish, purplish liquid.

"Wait a second- I've seen that before!" Morty abruptly said. "R-Rick had made some from scratch when he got shot. When me and him were on the purge planet, remember?" He added when Summer looked at him questioningly.

"Who do you think invented it? He did, of course! Your grandfather gave me a lot of valuable chemical inventions, cures, and antidotes for injuries and diseases during his time here." He gently grabbed Summer's calf, straightening it. "Now, this may hurt for a brief moment."Dr. Zenon took his dropper full of the serum and squeezed it over Summer's wound. Summer flinched and hissed in pain as the liquid sizzled over her flesh, before the injury began to heal itself. The skin began folding inwards, growing back together, as Morty stared in amazement.

Her wound was gone.

Summer stared at her formerly injured leg. "Whoa," she said quietly.

Dr. Zenon smiled. "Sanchez was quite an amazing guy back in his day. I haven't seen him for years now." He looked at Adalric, who shrugged. "You must tell me how you two met Adalric!"

And so, Morty and Summer both launched into the tale of how they met the lizard-like alien, going back as far as the wedding between Bird Person and Tammy, with Dr. Zenon gasping at all the right moments.

"I had no idea that there were that many rebels at the wedding!" He said, looking at Adalric.

"I didn't know, either. Though it sounds like our people knew, or something- they had their guns ready."

"Well, in any case, I'm glad no one on our side was killed. Except for Bird Person, may he rest in peace." Dr. Zenon bowed his head briefly. "And I'm so sad to hear that Rick had been captured. The Federation…they do not go lightly on prisoners. Especially prisoners who are considered galactic terrorists. Though, it doesn't surprise me that he sacrificed himself for his family. When I knew him, in his occasional soberness, he would talk very highly of your mother. Beth, was her name, I believe. And her mother, too. He talked about her quite a bit as well," He said thoughtfully.

"Well, thank you Dr. Zenon for you time. I really must be showing these kids around base." Adalric said. Morty and Summer stood up and shook the doctor's hand as he smiled enthusiastically.

"Thank you for fixing my leg, Dr. Zenon." Summer said, grinning.

He chuckled. "No, thank you grandfather- he's the one who came up with the serum!"

Adalric, Summer, and Morty left the room and made their way out of the twisting hallways, before they came back upon the reception area. They exited, waving goodbye to the receptionist.

Adalric looked into the sky. The sun was beginning to lower. "Well, we still have a few hours of daylight…I would really like you two to see the base."

"Lead the way," Summer said.

!

Adalric led them through the main center of the base; many, many aliens were walking around, moving in and out of buildings, holding various ship parts or walking with fellow comrades. One thing that Morty especially noticed was how loud everyone was. They seemed to feel free here; there was no Federation looming over them, watching their every move. Adalric had told Morty and Summer that Meria had had a special cloaking device around it in orbit so that the Federation couldn't detect the planet on their grids, and the system they were in was too far for the Federation to have known about its existence yet.

Adalric led Morty and Summer up the stairs of a large concrete building and through the double doors. Inside was a large cafeteria; many aliens were eating dinner, their plates full of seemingly exotic foods, laughing with their buddies.

"This is our mess hall," Adalric said. "Everyone comes to eat here together, even the leaders. We believe that no one is above each other; we are all equals," he continued.

Morty scanned the tables, taking in all of the various organisms. He recognized many species, though he wasn't sure he recognized any one in particular.

"MORTY SMITH?!"

The room suddenly went silent. All eyes were on a creature in the center of the cafeteria, standing on top of one of the tables.

"Holy shit- Squanchy?!" Morty gasped. All the eyes in the room shifted to Morty.

"What are you squanchin' doing here?!" Squanchy jumped off the table and ran over to the trio, a huge smile on his face.

"Oh my God, Squanchy- I-I-I thought you were dead!" Morty leaned down and gave the bipedal cat-like creature a hug. Though he hadn't known Squanchy that well and his only real conversation with him was when he accidentally caught him "squanching" in the cabinet during the house party Rick had thrown, Morty was thankful to see someone he knew alive that he thought had been dead.

"No! No, no, no! Are you squanchin' kidding me?! We kicked the Federation's ass, if you ask me!"

Morty smiled, and Summer laughed. "Rick had gotten us out of there really quickly, so we didn't see it through to the end. What happened?" Summer asked.

"Oh yeah, I know- I was the one who squanchin' told Rick to take you guys somewhere safe! Here, come sit down with me, and I'll tell you what happened at the wedding."

Adalric, Summer, and Morty followed Squanchy to a table as the chatter began to pick up again. Morty was thankful for that; he hated having all the attention on him.

They sat down at the table. "Okay," Squanchy began, "so you saw what had happened. Bitch Tammy shot and killed Bird Person, and then the squanchin' battle began." Squanchy sighed as he said Bird Person's name. Morty remembered; he distinctly remembered the sound of the shots, and the sound of Bird Person's body hitting the ground with a soft thud, and the quiet caw, caw sound he made as he died.

"So, after Rick took you guys away, we quickly kicked their squanchin' asses. The Federation knew that many of us were rebels, but they didn't realize how many of us were rebels. We were all ready for it, and thankfully, no one on our side who was still actively fighting against the Feds was killed.

"At the very end, me and a couple of other rebels decided it was time to go as soon as a couple of squanchin' Feds began calling for backup. So, we slipped out and ran to our ship—which, we had squanchin' discovered, had had been blasted by the Federation. However, as we tried to find another way to escape, I saw Rick's ship. It was still in perfect condition; hadn't been touched. The Feds didn't know it was his," Squanchy smiled.

Morty felt his heart leap. "So you have the ship?!" Morty excitedly said.

Squanchy grinned. "You squanchin' know it, kid! We jumpstarted Rick's ship and flew it back to base. Let him know it's here when you get the chance, so he can pick it up!"

Morty's smile faltered. He looked down at his hands. "R-Rick was captured, Squanchy."

"What?!" Squanchy said incredulously. "You're telling me that Rick Sanchez was taken by the Federation?! I don't believe it!"

Summer spoke up, putting a hand gently on her younger brother's back. She leaned forward. "Yeah. Grandpa Rick gave himself up to the Federation, in order to protect us. He said that the Feds would try and interrogate and torture us to get information on him, so he took us to some small planet in another system. Then, he just left. Next thing we knew, some Federation Gromflomites showed up and took us back to Earth. We saw a billboard saying that Rick had been captured, but Morty and I worked it out that Rick had gave himself up. That's why the Feds never questioned us; they just plopped us right back on Earth, no questions asked. Then, we hopped into my pink spaceship and got off-world, but a Federation outpost shot us down outside of the planet Dosne, where we, like, crashed. Then Adalric found us, and took us back here. So, here we are." Summer finished.

Squanchy was quiet for a moment, his mind thinking. "Well, it doesn't squanchin' surprise me that Rick did that for you guys. But he's gonna have a bad time in prison. The Fed is going to put him through a lot of squanch."

"W-which is why we have to break him out." Morty said suddenly. Adalric, Squanchy, and Summer looked at him in disbelief.

Morty looked at each of them. "Well, we have to try!"

"Kid, do you even realize what that means? That means we would have to sneak into the Federation top-security prison, find out exactly where Sanchez is being held, if he's even still alive or not been driven crazy, and then successfully get him out of there without the Federation noticing that their most top-security prisoner was missing?" Adalric said. Squanchy nodded.

"Morty…I…I don't think we can." Summer said quietly. "Right now we have to get back home. Could we take Rick's ship, Squanchy?"

"Absolutely," Squanchy said.

"No!" Morty said loudly. "W-we can't just leave him in there, Summer! There has to be some way! He wouldn't leave us like that!"

Summer pursed her lips. "Morty, we don't-"

"Shut up, Summer! We can do this! W-w-we can figure out a way! There has to be some way!" Morty said hotly. His cheeks were growing hot. He didn't know what had overcome him; he knew that there had to be some method that they could extract Rick and bring his grandfather home. There just had to be.

Summer didn't say anything. She took her hand off of Morty's back, her hand falling into her lap.

After a few moments of silence, Squanchy spoke. "Listen, kid…I'll talk to the other rebels, try and see if we can come up with a plan. If you want, you two can come and sit with everyone tomorrow, help us come up with a plan."

Morty looked up at Squanchy. "Really?"

He nodded. "Sure thing, kid."

Adalric stood up, stretching. Some of the cafeteria had cleared out. "Well, I should probably show you two where you can stay for the night. Thank you, Squanchy."

"Yeah, thanks, Squanchy." Summer and Morty said, standing up also.

"No problem. It was squanchin' great to see you guys!"

"You too."

!

Adalric led them to another building, where there were multiple rooms with beds inside.

He opened up one of the doors, leading the siblings inside. He flicked on the lights. A bed and a desk were present on either side of the room; the walls were a gray color, the floor a black carpet.

"Here's where you'll be staying. Sorry it's not as fancy as it could be," Adalric added, clicking his tongue a little in dismay at the room.

Summer smiled politely. "No, this is great. Thank you, Adalric."

"Well…goodnight, you two. Get some sleep." Adalric turned around and left, the door wooshing closed behind him.

Morty and Summer were alone. Neither of them said anything; both sat down on their beds, trying to make themselves comfortable as they fluffed their pillows and crawled underneath the sheets.

Morty heard Summer let out a long sigh. He couldn't see her, as the room was dark, but he knew his sister well enough to know what she was thinking.

"Summer?"

"Yeah, Morty?"

"Do…do you think that Rick is okay? Do you think he'll be okay when we break him out?"

Summer let out another sigh. "I…I don't know, Morty. I don't even know if we'll be able to get him out. We don't even know where he is." She was quiet for a moment, before she rolled over to look at her brother. Morty could just barely make out her shape. "Do you think he would come for us, if we were captured? Or…or do you think, if the situation was pretty much hopeless, he would just dimension-hop to another family, where he could still use your brainwaves to hide in another dimension?"

Morty fiddled with his blankets. "No. I think he would come for us."

Summer rolled back over. "Then we should try and find him, too."

A/N: Hooo, boy, Summer and Morty are going to try and find Rick! I hope you liked this chapter. Next one is coming soon! Comments/reviews are GREATLY appreciated. Stay schwifty!