A Gift From The Stars

Author Notes. I do not own Ben 10.

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Chapter Two: Contact

The distance sounds of a battle register in her mind but her eyes refused to open from the darkness that surrounded them. Her body felt as if she hadn't slept in weeks and the left side of her face felt strangely wet and sticky. She tried to move her right hand to investigate, only to have it hit a barrier that sent shockwaves of pain coursing through her arms.

"ooohhh. . ." moaning softly she clenched eyes tightly at the intense burning of her arms. Concentrating upon the pain she focus all her energy on opening her eyes.

The world came to her in a burred haze of shapes and colors. There were three red figures on the left side of the room. The biggest of the three was moving quickly across the room towards a giant grayish being. One of the other red figures was quickly on the heels of its partner, shooting off blue beams of light. The final figure was standing in place holding a long grey object in front of another giant only this one was green.

She blinked her eyes rapidly her vision clearing slowly, but she could recognize two of the figures perfectly now. The red figure that had stayed on the left was her Grandfather dressed in what looked like a deep red battle amour he was pointing a silver man size cannon at the giant green being - Vilgax - she could clearly make out now who was standing there pointing a metal clawed finger towards her direction.

The biggest red burl was in fact Ben transformed as the Alien nicknamed Four arms. He was engaged in a heated tug of war of strength between what looked like a giant Frankenstein monster mix in with a robot. The creature had two organic arms on each side of its body (all four currently locked it place with Fourarm's) and what looked like one robotic yellowish eye in the middle of its head. The rest of its body consisted of robotic parts which surface shine like the sun on top of clear water.

The third red burl was a red skin alien that she did not recognize. He was wearing the same type of red amour her grandpa had on and fought with a pair of duel laser pistols, Which would seem to be having no effect upon the giant creature as his robotic body seemed to be absorbing the power of the gun's lasers.

For the first time she took a clear look of her surroundings. She was laying on her left side on the metallic floor of a spaceship. She moved her head off the ground looking to the floor, under her head was a small pool of blood. She watch for a few seconds as several drops of blood ran down the left side of her face to join the pile below. Turing her head sideways to get a look at her back. She saw that her arms were clasp together held by one energy shield. Her legs were curled together with the same type of energy shield place on them.

Everything that she was seeing did not make an ounce of sense. The last thing she remembered she and Ben were standing in her bedroom. His hands place on top of her shoulders as his head dipped down closer to her face. . .that had happened didn't it?

A sudden scream broke Gwen from her confusing thoughts. Looking to the battle once more she saw that Ben was now on his back over powered by the half-organic-half-robotic creature that was now right above him. The red skin alien was now on top of the creatures shoulders legs wrap around its neck with his right hand clutching the right side of his face as his left hand held some sort of knife.

"XELTA!!" The heavy voice of Fourarms called to the red skin alien above him. Xelta looked down and from what Gwen could make out had a grin plaster on his face "An eye for eye!" he yelled as he drove his knife into the creatures forehead. A white liquid sprayed forth from its head as Xelta jump off to the side. Releasing its grip on Ben the creature stood up and grasp desperately with its four arms towards its wound in some vain attempt to stop the bleeding.

Ben quickly jump to his feet holding the creature in place with his two right arms he pulled his top left arm back and screamed out "This is the end!!!" as he slammed his arm into the robotic body bringing out a large pumping organ which could only be the heart.

With its brain pierce and heart rip from its body the creature fell silently to the floor. Ben looked down to his left hand at the still pumping heart, narrowing his eyes he clutch his hand crushing the organ into pieces.

"AAARRGEE!" a strangled cry from the other side of the room brought Gwen's attention back to her grandfather and Vilgax. The cannon grandpa was armed with was laying on the ground in two pieces as Vilgax held him high into the air by his windpipe "Tennyson you must be getting forgetful in your old age! The same trick won't work on me twice!" Vilgax spat out "G-grandpa. . ." Gwen tried to scream out but her throat was raw and every syllable spoken sent a line of white hot pain down her throat. "Hands off my Grandpa you Bastard!!" Ben screamed out as he race towards Vilgax. Vilgax turn towards Ben and if he had a human mouth Gwen was sure a sick twisted smile would be place upon it right now "Hands you say? I prefer arms!" he snickered as he dug the metal claws covering his left hand into grandpa's right arm.

Grandpa made a loud gagging noise from his throat as Vilgax penetrated through the armor he was wearing and twisted his claws through his flesh, the sounds of breaking bone and tissue echo off the walls of the room. Till four red soaked pieces of metal poke out of the other side, with a quick tug of his arm Vilgax pulled the limb out of its socket and to the ground.

The air in her lungs froze as she watch the scene in front of her. Unable to move or speak properly. She could only lay there and watch as Vilgax twisted around and threw her grandpa limp body towards Ben.

He caught him as gently as he could, but the sudden change from running at full speed to a complete stop made him stagger backwards. He would have fallen straight to the floor if Xelta wasn't a step behind him readily steadying him.

It was like a nightmare in slow motion. Vilgax running towards her, with blood dripping off his body. She tried to inch away but it was a lost cause as Vilgax scoop her up over his shoulders and was running towards the exit.

"B-Ben. ." a desperate whisper escape her lips as she watch her cousin who was keening beside their grandfather body get further away.

"Benny-Boy!" The alien Xelta yelled out as he pointed to their direction snapping Ben attention away from the old man's body.

"Gwen!!" he cried as he stood up and chased after them.

"Gwen!!"

"B-Ben!" she called out her voice a little stronger then before.

"Gwendolyn!" shouted the forearmed alien in a different voice. . .

Her eyes widen in confusion since when did Ben ever call her "Gwendolyn" ? and why did his voice change?

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"Gwendolyn!!"

Snapping her eyes open Gwendolyn pushed her self away from the table her back hitting the front of a wooden chair. Her breath coming in quick shallow pants as she looked around her surroundings. Bookcases full of long forgotten books and journals were lined up against the walls of her personal study.

Placing her right hand to her temple she closed her eyes and took a long shaky breath to try and clam her nerves. "It was only a memory. . ." her thoughts consoled to her trouble mind and body ". . .of an invent that happened a lifetime ago. . .now its only a bad dream" Reasoning seemed to be kicking in slowly as her breaths started to even out, Her body was still trembling though.

"Gwendolyn are you there?!"

A voice. . .Ben's voice called out from the speakers of her laptop. Quickly reaching over to the other side of her desk she pulled the computer in front of her. "Gwendolyn here what's the problem?" she stated in what she hoped was her most calm and cleared voice.

"Gwendolyn finally! I been trying to reach you for ten minutes now. I was beginning to worry"

"Sorry about that. I was just caught up in one of my new research journals you know how us book worms can be. Put a book in front of us and we're dead to the rest of the world." she said lightening up her tone.

"Heh. . .I should have known it was something like that." he said flatly without a hint of suspicion. Gwendolyn took a moment to mentally congratulate herself on her wise decision on leaving out the video option to the central communication channel.

"Gwendolyn we have a problem. The central computer detected an unidentified object entering the orbit. I wasn't able to get any information about the object but I did find out that it's going to land just outside the state line in about. . . .eight minutes now!"

Gwendolyn straighten up in her chair "Send me the coordinates I'll meet you there."

"Roger."

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The sights and sounds of the city's metropolis past in a matter of seconds. Buildings were replace by giant oak trees, and the sea of cluttering voices that populated the night life were now the soft swaying of tall grass fields.

Enemy or space debris in his own opinion they couldn't have picked a better place to land. This area was completely covered by empty grass fields that stretch for miles.

Removing XLR8's helmet shield he let a smirk cross his face without the worry of civilians getting harmed he could transform into almost any one of his ten thousand forms.

Winds suddenly picking up followed by a bright yellow glow to his right Signal Gwendolyn's arrival. Her hood and scarf were up, but the paleness of her skin around her eyes stood out in the night.

He could till her voice was shaky as he reported the object to her. The way she force the fake calmness into her voice as she spoke to him was not lost to his ears. He knew from past events that if he tried to push details from her no matter how much concern was behind them that she would just end up brushing him off.

He wonder silently to himself if this was how Gwendolyn felt during their childhood when he would charge head first into any danger with no regard to her worried warnings.

"It shouldn't be long now." she called to him breaking his thoughts. He looked over to her to see her sitting on a nearby rock. Her face scanning the sky for any hint of a craft. He walked over and sat on the grass next to her joining in on the search.

They hadn't been searching long when he spotted a fallen star like object heading east from them "Ben. ." Gwendolyn said standing up. He stood as well keeping his eyes locked on the object. From here he could till it wasn't a mother ship but it wasn't any meteor either. Locking down his face shield he called out "lets go!" as he race towards the direction of the object.

Running at full speed through the fields he was surprise to hear the voice of Gwendolyn right beside him "Cogo Sputum!" she said as a yellow glow surrounded her hands. He looked at the craft that was now only a few feet from hitting the ground be cover in a round yellow shield lessening the force of impact. "Good Thinking." he commented as they reach the crash site. She seemed to appreciate his words as for the first time tonight her voice sounded like her usually self "That's why I'm the brains and you're the brawn." she said as she landed beside him.

As the dust and smoke cleared Gwendolyn released the energy shield around the craft giving them their first good look at it.

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A cloud of red dust kick off the ground as the docking ramp hit the Martian sand. Ultimos descended down the ramp in a slow pace taking in the sight of the Mars space port. A dark brown rust cover most of the walls around the port as only a few small patches of the original grey could be seen. Mechanics raced around the area crossing from one ship to the other. Mostly likely taking what ever new job afford the most money.

This was the first time he or his team had ever step foot on the Milky Way's fourth planet. Mars was mainly consider just a back water mining planet to the rest of the universe. If it wasn't for their Talc (or Talcum Powder as Earthlings called it) mining's fields Mars would have been completely ignored by the rest of the universe and left for time to decay.

Talc was the planet's only profitable resource. It could be use in a wide range of items spanning from medical powders to food additive. The planet surface was mainly cover in rock solid ground making farming or animal life impossible. As a result there were only a hand full of towns populated by Martian miners and mechanics. The rest of the area where either space ports or mines fields.

Snynaptak floated along to his left side and after a quick observation mutter a very fake sounding "Quite the charming place." Ultimos was about to rebuttal him for his sarcastic tone when he felt the rumbling of the ramp followed by Tini aperrance on his right side. Common sense choke down any lecture he was about to give as he was literally between a rock and a hard place.

Although he was respected as their leader and chariest as their friend Ultimos has seen the result of what happened when someone disagreed with a Tetramand mate. Needless to say it was not pretty.

Instead he turn to Snynaptak and asked "Where is the location of the bar from here?" They had only started their patrol for a few days when their ship received an encrypted message with the following "Come to Mars. I have information that would be a great help to Ben 10,000. The directions are listed below. Sighed X." the robotic face was silent for a moment as he calculated the coordinates " By my calculations the contact bar should be one mile south form the entrance of this space port." Ultimos face brighten "Excellent!" striking an old heroes pose he stretch his right arm in front of him his four finger pointing to the space port exit and shouted "Galactic Enforcers Move out!"

Several mechanics that were racing by stop in their tracks at the Specimen Prime antic. Most had a look of confusion on their faces as they stared closely at him watching for what he would do next. The rest it seem were snickering silently to themselves. Heat rose to his cheeks as he watch Tini and Snynaptak walk in front of him heads lowered with hands and tentacles locked together as they did their best to blend in with the crowd.

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Walking into the bar called "Kolos" Ultimos nostrils were immediately attack by the smell of smoke, dirt, and other unmentionables. The main room was of moderate size with small crowds of aliens huddle together in booths or tables either sharing tales of their younger days or playing games of cards in hopes of making some extra cash.

In the middle of the room sat the liquare counter. Its bartender behind it scrubbing brown glasses with a black rag which Ultimos suspected was originally a different color.

Walking towards the bartender Ultimos noted that none of it customers bother to take any notice of himself or his teammates. There was no doubt in his mind that something illegal was going on in this place, but either they just didn't care or they didn't think of them as any treat. The later he deputed as laughable. What ever was or wasn't going on at the moment was not their concern as he brought his attention to the bartender who was now right in front of him.

"Excuse me my good man but-" Ultimos stop in mid sentence as the bartender reach out from under the counter and slid a keycard to him. Not bothering to look up from his cleaning duties he said "X is in the V.I.P. room use this to get in." taking the keycard in hand he open his mouth to ask where this V.I.P. room was, when the bartender spoke once more "It towards the back has V.I.P. written on it. You can't miss it."

"Ah Thank you so much for your help kind citizen!" Ultimos said as he and his team mates made their way towards the V.I.P room. They found it quickly enough and pop in the keycard into the electronic lock beside the door.

Walking inside the room Ultimos was greeted by a blue laser hitting the wall just beside his head. Sitting on a chair with his legs prop up on the table was a local Martian wearing what he assumed was once red battle armor now faded with time and looked as if it might fall to pieces onto the floor at any moment. His face was wrinkle with time and dirt was smudge across it, but what stood out for Ultimos the most was on the right side of his face a long deep scar ran from the tip of his eye brow down to his chin.His right eye being replace by a cybernitc one.

"Galatic Enforcers take a seat!" he said grining removing his legs from the top of the table to place them undernth. Ultimos eyed him suspiciously as he place his gun into its holder on the side of his belt. "You always greet your guest by almost blowing their heads off X? I take it." he said walking towards the table to take a seat across from X. Snynaptak followed behind me as Tini closed the door aptting to block any way of escape should this meeting turn sour.

Laughing lightly he responded "Sorry about that! Just my way of saying hello." his face switching from a ease look to a serious expression as he lowed his voice "Utimos we have a lot to discuss." he would have continued if Snynaptak hadn't interrupted "How do we know that you can be trusted?" he inquired as he study X closely. X turned to him with an annoyed look on his face "Believe me if theres one old dog in this universe you can trust its me. I would have taken this information straight to Ben myself if my ship hadn't been damage in that damn meteo shower. Right now I'm stuck here for a few months till the repairs are finished. When I heard that an Galactic Enforcer ship left Earth on some mission I knew that this was my chance. " he stop there waiting for anymore protest.

When he got none he continued "I was over in the Andromeda galaxy doing some some work. When one day I'm sitting at a bar when some roboctic recruiter drioid rolls up to me and says "I have watch you for many months I believe someone with your talents would be of great use to my master." I tried to get the bucket of bolts to roll off when it says "My master will reward you genorestly for any help in his pursuit." Now that got my attention so I asked in pursuit of what? "I can not go into details here. But I can assure you the pay for each day will be more then you can imagine. Take this data pad it has coordinates to the contact location. I must point out that if you arrive at the contact location you will not be permitted a No option." And with that it rolled right out of the bar. Right after I hop in my ship and headed on here to inform Ben .Just my dumb luck it turns out if you leave the system the data pad automatically erases the coordinates. I didn't even get to look at them." he huffed out angrily.

Ultimos turn to look at Snynaptak their minds clicking as one "All those recent pirate and rebel attacks. . ." they said together. X finished their sentence "Are more recruiters of that robots master and now his pursuit has lead them over here."

Standing abruptly Ultimos turn to his teammates "We must inform Ben 10,000 of this news!" "Yes, Sir!" they said together. He turn to X "X come to our ship once we inform Ben we'll head to Earth and-" X raised his hand signaling Ultimos to stop "No can do." he said flatly. Perplex Ultimos asked "But why?" X looked him straight in the eye and said as if it was the easiest answer in the world "My ship grounded here on this rock and as long as she is I am too. That ship and I have been through hell and back. I won't abandon her for anything or anyone." continuing he added with a grin "Don't worry I'll get in contact with Ben as soon as I can."

Accepting his answer Ultimos nodded and headed towards the open door to join the rest of his team "Ultimos!" X called out to him. Stopping to turn back at the Martian he asked "Yes?" X was standing now looking towards the ground as he said "When you speak to him. Tell Benny-Boy the old man sends his regards." accepting his request he answered "I will." as he walked out the door.

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Author Notes: The first chapter has now turn into three ; All of this plus the next chapter were to all be one single piece. But because my hands kept cramping up I had to spilt them.

Mappadouji - Thanks for reviewing the first chapter. I'm glad you liked the flash back scene. It was really fun to write. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well.

Jinnai - Here is the next chapter I hope you enjoyed it.

SpeKtoR - Thanks for the review. No worries I could understand you just fine.

Inulover4eva - Thanks for adding my story to the C2 heh yeah when I first saw Ben's beard I thought "Ok that thing has got to go!" sorry for the errors I'm sure there will be a lot more but no one is perfect right?

More author notes to follow in chapter three.

Please Read and Review.