As they waited for a clear firing path, three surviving troupes emerged from the rear of the craft. Devoras charged his weapon, and the others followed suit. At once, the silence and darkness was broken when several powerful photon charges were fired. The six pulses of energy soared through the air at extremely high speed hitting what remained of the Arconian crew, who were blasted from their defensive positions, and flung out of sight behind the ship.

"Was that the last of them?" Sarah called, still very weary of their predicament.

"No. There's one more inside." Gwen replied. "Ben, go take him out."

Giving not a word of acknowledgement, Ben swept across the scorched earth and into the craft. For a few moments noise of the trouper's scrambling around, it sounded to the group outside as though he may actually have been defending himself. And as the noise echoed even louder, they became somewhat concerned that something may be wrong. These concerns, however, were quickly dismissed when the sound of a bone chilling crack filled the air and all suddenly became very silent.

John left his position, stumbling to the front of the group to find Devoras.

"It's dead?" John asked, uncertainty in his expression.

"Yes." Replied Devoras as he stood up to face John. "There is no substantial life inside the vessel other than Ben and their captain. He remains oblivious to his crew's execution."

"Great. Let's move in then." John said.

They gathered their equipment and cautiously started towards the craft. Gwen cast some light to avoid tripping over debris, deciding to walk ahead of the group to provide defence. Ben appeared beside the entrance hatch.

"Tread lightly in there." Ben said in a chilling voice, addressing the group. "You wouldn't believe how loud the echo…"

"Oh, we heard alright." Gwen said, cutting him off. She shot him a look of utter contempt and continued on her way, muttering something about unnecessary use of force under her breath."

Slightly pink-faced, though it was difficult to recognise from his present appearance, Ben deactivated the Omnitrix with a red flash of light.

"Point taken." He called over to Gwen. She looked back and smirked.

"That's got to be your shortest argument ever, you know" Gwen replied, and almost gagged as she absent-mindedly tread on the body of a recently deceased Arconian soldier. Ben sniggered as she instinctively used her abilities to throw the corpse out of the open hatch.

"Come on, Gwen." Sarah said, moving up beside her. "There's no one here but the captain, just relax."

"I know that." Gwen grumbled, crossly. "I just wasn't expecting to walk into a dead alien…"

The interior of the craft was extremely unusual in design. It gave the constant impression of standing inside an immense cave. The gloss textured, brown walls sloped downwards slowly from a gently glowing diamond-like ceiling. They were riddled with conduits and vents, bearing the unmistakable signs of great age. Dozens of hallways attached to each wall, a few even built into the floor. These specific corridors, as John could only guess, had some form of energy based shield blocking them to prevent the crew from falling in when the ship was not in a zero gravity environment.

Striding deeper into ship, Devoras was able to pinpoint the position of their target. The Arconian captain, unaware of the fate of his crew, was in the engineering sector. It was a mere ten feet down the nearest hallway, but John did not seem so keen on entering unarmed. He placed his hand on Devoras' shoulder to capture his attention, and handed him a rifle. Even without weapons, Arconians could be very worthy adversaries if necessary.

Ben was the first to step into the engineering post, a warm room with faint lava-like light leaking in from somewhere in the background. He could just about make out a dark figure on the opposite end of a large anti-matter reactor. It had not seen him enter.

"Gwen, Devoras, you're with me." Ben whispered to them quickly. "Sarah, John, you stay back there to provide us with cover-fire if we need it. I really don't know how difficult this is going to be."

Gwen and Devoras followed Ben into the room, keeping low behind the reactor. They needed to stay out of sight until they reached a suitable position from which to capture their goal.

"Ready?" Said Ben. "I'll get up behind him. If there's any trouble, you'll be waiting behind the reactor to help."

Without waiting for their responses, he quietly stood up behind the Arconian, grabbing his left arm and holding his wrists together. For a moment, he seemed completely bewildered. That is, until he managed to catch a glimpse of his captor.

"Don't move and you won't be harmed!" Ben yelled furiously at the violently struggling Arconian. "I have backup standing by if you try to escape."

After a half-hearted attempt to break away, the captain finally stood still.

"Release me, immediately!" He yelled, glaring maliciously at Ben. "What do you want with me?!"

"Lets see…" Ben retorted sarcastically, a definite note of rage in his voice. "Where should I start!? Why are hordes of Kryl killing the entire Plumbers' organisation? Why are the Arconians about to wipe out our entire race? And why the hell did you come here tonight?"

At this, the captain seized the moment and abruptly regained his arrogant posture. Forcing Ben away, he stood fully upright and said gently.

"You really don't know? I would have thought our reasons quite clear."

"Try me." Ben replied through gritted teeth.

"But why ask me when there is one among you here already who has the answers?" He said, sneering at them. "You, Kineishan. You know exactly why all this is happening, don't you."

Devoras didn't say a word, but just stood there silently, staring at the floor. Ben glanced at him, as if wondering what to tell him.

"You are not willing to tell your friend the reasons behind his own extinction? Very well." Arconian said flatly. He turned back to Ben. "As you are probably already aware, Tennyson, we have been observing your culture's growth for quite some time. You will be quite interested to hear our summary of your species."

"By all means." Replied Ben, cynically.

"You are an impulsive, violent, unpredictable, and savage race." the captain said aloud. From his tone, it was clear that he was thoroughly enjoying this. "From the moment when we first began our observations up to now, you have shown no motivation to change, and no regret for your actions. Even in the past century, you have slaughtered hundreds of millions of your own people without hesitation. And now you are beginning to reach into space, spreading yourselves, and your primitive nature to other worlds. That is something which we simply cannot permit to happen. Your species is a disgrace, and does not deserve to survive."

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This chapter was updated to 12/12/08. Well now, a major plot turning point, I believe. Granted I promised no more cliff-hangers before, but technically, this isn't a cliff-hanger.

Reviews are always appreciated and encouraged!