[Third Person]
The plan for the bureaucratic coup on the Citadel was on the table, a testament to Kaelen and Padmé's combined cunning and Rick's penchant for chaos. It was a brilliant plan, but as Padmé looked at the images of the war on Geonosis, an unbearable weight settled in her heart.
"We can't," she finally said, her voice a firm whisper that cut through the planning.
Kaelen and Rick turned to her.
"I cannot turn my back on my galaxy," she continued, her gaze meeting Kaelen's. "Not while my friends, the Jedi, fight and die. Not while my people face the threat of total war. The Council of Ricks is your fight, Kaelen. Palpatine... he is ours."
Kaelen saw the unwavering resolve in her eyes. He saw the Queen who had fought for her people, the Senator who fought for the Republic. And he knew she was right. Their future, their child... it was all tied to the fate of that distant galaxy. His anchor was calling him home.
"The bureaucratic coup plan was much more elegant," Rick grumbled. "The Clone Wars are stupid! Dumb robots against budget-challenged guys with weird haircuts! Boring!"
"Rick," Kaelen said calmly. "Our future child will be born in that galaxy. He will be Force-sensitive. The outcome of that war will define his life. Are you going to let some second-rate politician with a black robe fetish decide your grandson's fate?"
The word "grandson" made Rick flinch.
Kaelen continued, appealing to the only thing greater than Rick's fear: his ego. "Besides, I think Palpatine is a manipulative genius on your level. He's fooled the entire galaxy for decades. Don't you have even a shred of curiosity to see his work up close? Or are you afraid to admit that his long-term plan might be better than yours?"
The bait was set. Rick glared at him, but his eyes gleamed with competitive interest. "Better than mine? Ha! That hooded old geezer couldn't even plan a decent breakfast! His 'empire' is a cheap knockoff of half a dozen tyrannies I've overthrown out of boredom!"
He waved a hand. "Alright, alright! We'll go to your stupid war! I'll dismantle this Sith Lord's 'grand plan' just to prove how mediocre it is! And I'll collect some rare DNA samples along the way!" He turned to the door. "Morty! Pack your lucky underwear! We're going to a war in a galaxy far, far away!"
From the living room, Morty's terrified voice was heard. "A-a war? But I have a Spanish test on Monday!"
"You can practice your Spanish on the prisoners of war, Morty! Now move your ass or I'll use it for portal fuel!" Rick yelled.
An hour later, the most unlikely team in the multiverse's history was gathered in the garage. Kaelen and Padmé, geared for stealth and combat. Rick, his lab coat now bristling with extra weapons and gadgets. And Morty, trembling with a backpack full of power bars and palpable fear.
"I've found the perfect location for our base of operations," Kaelen said, displaying a hologram. "The Rishi Maze Asteroid Cluster. It's dense, it's on a secondary hyperspace lane, and it's full of old, abandoned Old Republic mining stations. Nobody looks there. We'll be off Republic and Separatist sensors."
"Boring, but practical," Rick admitted. "At least space rocks don't complain."
Kaelen activated his portal gun, inputting the coordinates with precision. The green swirl opened, but this time it didn't show an earthly landscape. It showed the silent, metallic interior of an abandoned hangar, with dust motes floating weightlessly in the air and the distant light of a nebula visible through a cracked viewport.
"Well, family," Kaelen said with a wry smile. "Duty calls."
Padmé was the first to cross, her face filled with new determination. Kaelen followed her. Rick pushed a complaining Morty through the portal.
"Oh, geez! It's... it's like dusty everywhere, Rick! And it smells weird!"
"That's the smell of adventure, Morty," Rick replied. "And millennia-old corpse depressurization. You'll get used to it."
The portal closed behind them, plunging the Smith garage into silence.
The four of them stood in the silent hangar of a forgotten mining station, on the edge of a galaxy at war. Kaelen, the reborn engineer. Padmé, the exiled queen. Rick, the mad god turned grandfather. And Morty, the terrified teenager who just wanted to pass his Spanish test.
Kaelen activated the holographic galaxy map, the blue and red fleets moving like insects on a Dejarik board.
"Alright," he said, his voice echoing in the silent hangar. "We're here. Invisible. Phase one: figure out how to screw up a Sith Lord's grand plan without him even realizing we exist."
He looked at his strange travel companions. "This is going to be fun."