Chapter 6 - The Outpost

The first rays of daylight were slowly creeping up from the horizon, and the Tennysons had arrived at their destination. Somewhere in the middle of the Sonora desert was Outpost Seven Alpha, a resource and observation post for the Plumbers. Since Ben and his family never had the time to put supplies on stand-by, this would have to be their next stop. The outpost was staffed at all times, with at least twenty-five Plumbers there around the clock. The immense, multi-storey structure held a database of every exomorphic species encountered in the last century and thus was kept under heavy guard.

Disengaging the engines and bringing the anti-gravity drive online, Ben manoeuvred his craft into a landing position, finally touching down. Climbing out of the cockpit and onto the dry, warm ground, he watched the others' slow but stable landings. Dust was blown through the air in spirals, underneath the large vehicles. Each pilot in turn climbed from their craft and took a Modifier with them.

"We should all take communicators too, just in case." Suggested John. "Last thing we need right now is getting separated again."

"Pass." Said Gwen. "The chances are we're going to need them later. And besides, part Anadite here. Just give me the frequency you're using and we can keep one here as a backup."

"Good idea," Replied Sarah, collecting the communicator from Gwen and placing it securely in one of the AG's compartments."

Will began locking up each craft, finally returning to the group and placing his Modifier on his wrist.

At last, with all of the Tennysons ready and waiting, Ben began staring intently at an area directly ahead. He walked forward, arms extended as though trying to feel around for a non-existent wall. This was to the apparent complete bewilderment of his family and Gwen, who merely observed him curiously.

"Um. What are you…" Began Gwen, but she trailed off as her question was answered in the form of several loud, echoing knocks.

"Found it!" Exclaimed Ben, cheerily. "I was afraid we'd have to spend hours looking for it… Seems like we landed in just the right area. Lucky we didn't run into it actually."

"Run into what?" Asked John. "All I see is desert for dozens of miles. You sure the heat's not getting to you?"

"Shhh, listen!" Replied Ben, impatiently.

He raised his hand once more and begin swiping at the air, except it wasn't air. There was a series of even loader clangs as his hand struck the cloaked door of Outpost 37A. Understanding suddenly washed over his family. They rushed up to the door, with Will almost knocking himself over as he walked into it.

"Great, so… How do we get in?" Asked Gwen. This was the million dollar question. "I don't suppose there's a knocker."

"Nope." Said Ben. "Looks like we'll have let ourselves in the old fashioned way."

There was a dazzling flash of green light as Ben activated the Omnitrix.

"Pyronite." Announced Ben. "Or as I used to call him... Heatblast!"

He stepped a few yards back, away from the door, building a ball of fire between his hands and gesturing for his family to stand back. After several seconds, when Ben felt the heat from the fireball had reached it's peak, he released it, hoping for the best.
It flew through the air, hitting the cloaked door with enormous explosive force. For a moment, the debris highlighted a large, metallic structure, with no visible windows.

"No good." Said Ben. "Lets give it another go."

This time, the reinforced door was ripped violently from it's mount and landed in a smouldering heap on the floor inside. Ben returned to Human form and waited for his family to catch up.

"Nice job." Said Gwen, sycophantically. "Maybe next time you'll manage to level the whole building."

Ben ignored this comment, with a slightly red face. A freezing draft seemed to be blowing through the open entrance-way. It was nice to have a cool breeze after all this time in the scorching desert, but felt in a way unsettling.
Checking ahead cautiously, the Tennysons stepped through the opening.

The smoke emanating from the destroyed door limited their field of view, but one thing one clear. Something was very wrong. The entire building was absolutely silent, and all of the lights were out. In front, there was what appeared to be a large, interconnecting hallway with many rooms. It felt as though the outpost had not been used in decades, even though Ben himself had been there little over a month ago.

"Come on." Ben said in a low voice. "The control room's this way. Wonder why they left..."

Widthdrawing a small flashlight from his pocket, he proceeded deeper inside. Every tiny sound seemed to be mangified a thousand times. A faint flickering light could be seen up ahead.

"That must be it." Said John. "I don't like the looks of this."

"Me neither. This place should be full of people" Replied Ben, entering the room.

Their worst fears were confirmed the moment they stepped inside. The building's inhabitants had never left at all. They were all still here. Gwen looked up in horror at what had transpired only hours ago.

"Wh... What happened here?" She asked.

"I don't know." Said Ben. "But it looks like they didn't go down without a fight."

Whatever had happened, the Plumbers had stood their ground. From the look of it, they died at their stations. The peculiar thing, was that some of them seemed completely unharmed, while others had been gruesomely ripped apart. The floor was covered with what appeared to be a mixture of weapons debris and blood. The air, filled with dust.

"Lets check their last log." He said, stepping over the dozens of bodies to the main computer and searching the most recent recordings. "They must have left some sort of message..."

"Ben. Isn't this where your friend, Devoras was stationed?" Asked Gwen.

Ben simply turned and nodded silently. Resourceful as Devoras may be, he was still concerned for him. The monitor behind Ben abruptly activated, startling everyone. A video message began to play.

"This is a warning to all near by A. I. F teams; we are under heavy attack by an unknown enemy. All communication attempts have failed, and we are rapidly losing personell."

Distorted though the image may have been, behind the officer one could clearly see the destruction taking it's toll. Several large creatures had broken through defences and were slashing at anyone in their path, while many people appeared to be collapsing for no apparent reason.

"We are in urgent need of assistance. I'm not sure how much longer we can hold out!"

The image became nothing but random distortion, and a loud shriek sounded. So intense it felt as if it were tearing at the viewer's insides, then complete silence.

No one could bring themselves to speak. The full impact of the situation had just hit them. Finally, ben broke the silence.

"That was Devoras..." Ben said, seemingly stunned. "I can't believe it."

"Don't lose all hope yet." Replied John. "None of these bodies is Kineishan. I'd say there's a fair chance he got away."

"You're right," Gwen said. "Lets just find the supplies we need and go. There's no reason to stay here any-"

Gwen's sentence was cut short by movement from a dark corner of the control room. A vaguely humanoid figure emerged. It seemed to be examining their appearance, as if trying to decide if they were some sort of illusion.

"Wait a minute." Exclaimed Ben, excitedly. "I know that form. Devoras... is that you? Will, find a light switch."

The figure did not speak, although it did move slightly closer to the group. Just close enough to see it was injured. Badly.

"Ben. You've got to get out of here, now. You have no idea the danger you're putting yourself in. Stay silent until you leave the building."

Will returned to their side, something was going on that he did not understand.

"Dad. The lights aren't working." He said.

"What? Interjected Ben sharply. "Are you sure? This place has a self-contained power source."

"Yea', I'm sure." He said, walking over to the environmental controls and touching several panels. "Primary illumination... Offline. Secondary illumination... Offline."

"Dad, he's right." Said Ben. "We've got to go, now. I'll grab a few supplies, you help Devoras"

"Got it." John replied. "We'll wait for you by the AG's."

While the others began picking up anything they left behind, Ben ventured further into the control room. Technology and ammunition was always stored right at the back. Moving several bodies aside, he pulled open a large storage area and started to extragate a few heavy, black crates. Ben noticed a small piece of paper pinned to the top of the cabinet. A note. It was not in English either. He removed it from it's mount and placed it in his pocket.

"I'm going to need Fourarms to carry all this." He thought to himself, activating the Omnitrix.

Back outside, Devoras was beginning to recover with the help of a tissue regenerator. Ben emerged from the darkened entrance and placed one crate in front of each craft.

"This should keep us going for a while." He said. "Devoras, what happened in there?"