The debris field around the ship was a thick floating mass of twisting and scarred metal. Most of it was unrecognizable, but enough had retained its basic shape for an observer to tell it was the evidence of a battle. Ships ripped in half were slowly drifting into oblivion; culminated wreckages of vessels belong to Eggman, G.U.N and even Confederate Army.

With a loud shunting sound the hanger doors on the underside of the Blue Typhoon opened, the light from inside flooding out into darkness. Metallic arms descended out, attached to each end was the corner of an Icarus shuttle. Chuck had helped the military design these craft himself for quick evacuations and they had developed into short range transport vehicles for their space fleet. At least, it had right up until the fleets disastrous battle.

"Disengaging grapping hooks." The pilot of the shuttle stated from the inside of helmet of a space suit and once the shuttle was beyond the hanger doors, the arms let go and retracted back inside the ship. The pilot flicked some switches above him and the two thrusters at the back of the shuttle turned on, the two solar sails at the top and the bottom opened up like fins on the fish and slowly the craft began to slowly move forward.

"We really have to wear these dorky looking' things?" Sonic asked, finding that pushing his quills inside the space suit was more difficult than it looked.

"Amy broke my field generator and I don't have the resources to build another one." Chuck replied over the communications line built into the helmet. "So you're just going to have to make do. We've loaded the coordinates of the beacon into the shuttles computer so just follow that. We'll be monitoring you from this end."

"Roger." The pilot, Okida, replied his voice muffled by the helmet. Sitting in the co-pilots seat was Topaz. With Okida behaving this way she wasn't going to let him out of her sight.

"I'm watching you." She reminded him. "You're in no condition to do anything stupid. Remember, right now you're a ferry jock."

"Fine." Okida stated without a moments hesitation. "That's all my skills with ever amount to anyway."

Moving through the debris and avoiding collision required a great deal of maundering and the trip through it to the beacons source took longer. Visibility was more because this was a dark region of space. There wasn't anything around to supply light accept the Blue Typhoon and even its range was extremely limited. All they had to see where they were going were the two head lights at the front of the shuttle.

"I can't see a thing." Sonic complained straining to look through the cockpit window. Visibility was extremely poor. The lights before them only were revealing obstacles in their path a couple of meters away from the bow. "Are we getting close?"

"According to the sensors we ought to be right on top of it." Topaz replied glancing down at the radar a screen with the downloaded map from the Blue Typhoon overlaid over it. Their crew was a collection of five. That was all they were taking with them as they needed the space to bring back possible survivors. There was Okida, Topaz, Sonic, Hare and Emerl.

Being the only robot without serious damage, he had 'volunteered' himself for it. Cream, detached from her mother, quite literally clung to his leg as he stepped in the shuttle. Vector was taken her away, promising that he was going to look after her for a while.

"Well I don't see anything." Hare added from the confines of his own suit. According to the radar they should be without visual distance of the wreck but so far…

"Whoa Nelly!" Okida cried out, slamming his hand down on the reverse thrusters controls. Emerging out of the void before them was a colossal wall of metal and they were about to slam into it. The entire shuttle shook before the thrusters aimed forward kicked in and the vessel stopped sudden. Sonic was thrown from his seat and into the front of the console.

"What the heck is that?" Hare asked. Okida pressed a button and the lights angled themselves upwards, two circles of illumination examining the barrier in front of them. There was evidence all over of scaring from battle, holes from missile impacts ripped in the surface pf the riveted metal. Finally they learned the identity of the craft when they came across a 'G' logo.

"Giant Wing." Okida breathed with his eyes wide in mute horror. G.U.N's airborne stronghold, the physical symbol of their military strength, the flag ship of their fleet; reduced to scrap metal. The bodies of men in space suits floated back and forth in the gloom. The crew must have been attempting to evacuate when the attack came. By the look of it, none of them had survived.

"This is horrible." Hare commented staring out at the wreckage.

"The signal's coming from inside." Topaz announced. "There may still be survivors." The shuttle few down and around the massive scared hull, the evidence of war wounds firs illuminated before vanishing in the lights. Eventually they found what appeared to be an entrance hatch for air craft. While it was primarily a fortress, Giant Wing had served was an aircraft carrier for fighter planes and Albatross Mechs. As such it had many runways and entrances for their battle machines.

This one was the only one they had been able to find in relatively good condition. All the others had collapsed or been blasted in.

Finding that the entrance was slightly too small for their shuttle, Okida had it wait outside for a moment while he checked the transmitted coordinates.

"According to these, the signals being transmitted from only a hundred feet in." The major stated. "I saw the blue prints for the fortress once. If I'm right that puts it in the storage bays."

"So how we getting in'?" The rabbit asked. "That door ain't big for the shuttle and we can't leave it out here."

"Yeah the choice of parking spaces is appalling." Sonic added, glancing out the side window at the floating debris that could strike them at any time.

"We'll just have to cut out a bigger door." Okida replied and pressed a button in front of him. A long mechanical arm folded out from underneath the shuttle, multi-jointed with a buzz saw blade and motor attached to the end. "Pull up a magazine; this may take a few minutes." Slowly he began cutting around the entrance to make it wider. The hanger inside itself was wide enough to accommodate the shuttle but the entrance itself was only meant for maintenance craft.

After a few minutes, Okida was finished and the metallic shards cut away floated off leaving an opening wide enough for the shuttle to pass through.

"Retracting solar sails." Topaz announced and the four fins like sails at either side and on the underside and on the top, pulled back against the side of the shuttle. "Switching to combustion engine." The thrusters at the back of the Icarus thudded like the single beating of a heart and slowly the shuttle moved forward, sliding forward into the ruins of Giant Wing.

"Anchors away." Okida added and several lines attached rapidly from the ship, the metallic devices on each end pinning it to the floor below.

"Okay, I think we're docked." Hare stated putting down a magazine and standing up so fast he floated off his seat in the absence of gravity. "Let's get this over with."

"I think we should spilt up." Topaz stated.

"What for?" The blue hedgehog asked from the inside of his space helmet. Topaz simply handed each of them large sack and beamed at their confused faces.

"Okida and I while check for survivors at the signals source." She told him. "You and Hare check the fortress' supplies and see if there's anything we can use left in there."

"Like what?"

"Well the nearest burger bar's a good couple of thousand light-years away so food for a start. We weren't expecting to get sent out here so our supply's kind of slim." She replied. "But what we really need are replacement connectors for the engine. Grab what you can." Both Sonic and Hare gave a mock salute.

"On it." They said both at once.

In zero-g, Sonic wasn'y unable to get any footing. Thus his speed was greatly hindered and without it, he found himself floating around a lot with no way to get down.

"There are Electro-magnets in the soles of your shoes." Hare called up to him through the communication device in their helmets. Sonic looked down to see a small button on the outside edge of his suits boots. He pressed them and instantly was pulled down towards the floor, his feet sticking to it as if someone had simply turned the gravity back on.

"That's better." He stated, stamping a few times to test them out.

"Try not run too fast though." Hare warned. "Slip at your speed in zero-g, we'll never be able to catch up with you." The brief image of him flying out uncontrollably into outer space shot across the hedgehog's mind and he slowly put his foot back down.

As the two mobians went off on their supply run, Topaz and Okida descended from the shuttle themselves. Emerl dropped like a rock, his weight meaning nothing; his decent coming from the more powerful magnets in his mechanical feet.

"Okida is it a personal thing?" She asked him outright. "Look we all feel bad for loosing the fight but you can't let it get to you."

"It's not that I lost the fight." He replied, landing on the floor of Giant Wings hanger bay after gliding down from the shuttle above. "I wish I could have done more, but looking at my skills and armaments at the time I doubt I could have." He didn't even face her as she landed behind him. "I wasn't strong enough to make a difference."

"Stubborn jackass." She muttered putting her hands on her hips. The last thing she needed right now was to the major to have an identity crisis. "Come on Mr. Moody, let's get going."

Finding what had been the canteen was easy enough. It was brightly labeled and they found jars and tinned food floating out the door, along with another body in a space suit.

"Poor guy was probably trying to swipe what he could from the kitchens for taking off." Hare commented, pushing the body out of the way with the least amount of contact. Neither of them had the guts to look at the face as it drifted away.

"Isn't that what we're doing?" The blue hedgehog asked, walking past and into the canteen itself. All interior lights were off so his way lit by a small torch light on the top of his helmet. "Ok, there should be something in the there." He added, pointing over to a closed door marked; kitchen. "I'll check it out. See what you can find over there."

"Sure whatever." Hare replied walking off, the sound of the magnets on his shoes buzzing as metal made contact with metal.

Finding the door locked, Sonic gave it a kick and it swung open. At once a steady stream of pots, pans, tins and jars came floating out. Sonic tried to grab what he could but even his hands weren't fast enough to take everything. Eventually he filled half his sack with the tins. Seeing as they were all sealed and air tight he guessed that even floating through space for a while, they were still edible.

Inside the kitchen itself, the found the place in a mess. Everything had tipped out of the ovens, units and even the oil had floated out of the fat burner. But that wasn't what was brought to his attention. Floating nearby was another body, but that of a G.U.N solider. It was the body of the Fesonian.

For a moment Sonic thought it to be a Black Arm, but the uniform like body armor it was wearing was unfamiliar to him and bore an icon he had never seen before. An arched crescent moon like symbol with a small circle in the middle, making an 'eye' like shape. At a guess, he would say this was a Confederate.

He picked up a spatula as it floated past and pocked the body. It floated back a good foot and stopped. Its limbs hung put before it lifelessly, the back arched over like a newborn child.

"Dead alright." He stated out load.

"What's dead?" Hare asked, hearing his comment through the com-link in their helmets. The rabbit popped his head around the door. "Oh." He stated sighting the reptilian body.

"Looks like this one bit the dust from gunfire rather than the vacuum." He was basing that assumption on the torn holes in the amour that were caved inward. "Looks like G.U.N still had some fight left in it."

"Almost feel sorry for the guy."

"Almost." Sonic repeated turning away.


---

Entering the storage section of the fortress from where the signal was coming from was most difficult as most of the entrances to and from it were lifts, which with the absence of power were no working. Eventually Topaz found a stairway and the two of them descended down it floor by floor.

Okida hissed, feeling the torn flesh tugging at him again. Choosing to suffer in silence he said nothing. Besides, he could cope with being uncomfortable for a while. Given the situation and the possibly of finding survivors, his own complaints amounted to very little; at least in his perspective.

"I never realized before just how much we rely on automation." Topaz stated, finding another door that refused to move without electricity. This however was the last one. It was the entrance to the storage area from which the signal was coming from. "Ok Emerl, do your thing." The robot made an action that resembled cracking his knuckles, before pushing his fingers into the centre of the door. The metal groaned as inch by inch the obstacle slid open, pushed until finally it was just about wide enough for them to squeeze through.

Before they could get through, there was an intense barrage of laser fire aimed straight at them. Emerl caught the direct strikes, but managed to avoid serious damage by ducking back quickly.

"Hey those are G.U.N issue laser rifles." Topaz stated, seeing the blue flashes zip past them. "Hold fire in there!" She called out. "We're on your side." The lasers instantly stopped and there was a buzz of static on the communication sets in their helmets. Transmission on another frequency, Okida was quick to realize and set his to try and correspond.

"I repeat, Friend or foe?" A very human voice asked.

"Friend." Okida replied quite quickly. "We're here to look for survivors."

"Oh thank god." Someone else replied.

"Stand down." The first voice added. "We've got friendly's." Topaz put her head around the door with the light from her helmet shining in. The interior of the storage area of revealed, showing over twenty G.U.N soldiers in space suits that had taken up defendable positions around the door. Another good load of people in suits, most likely the surviving non-military personnel of the fortress were huddled behind them. Overall, they numbered about fifty or sixty.

"I think we're going to have to make two trips." Okida remarked. There was no way the Icarus could hold this many people.

"Lieutenant Milford, Mantis Division." Their commanding officer, they gathered, introduced himself with a salute. Through his helmet they could see his face. He had well defined cheek bones and a thin nose. His hair was black and hug over his face in strands. He appeared to be in his thirties.

"Former Captain Topaz." She introduced herself in return.

"Topaz?" One of the soldiers nearby repeated. "Holy Christ, Lieutenant, they're the crew of the Blue Typhoon!" There was a murmur of chatter of the communication links between everyone there.

"Fame…" Okida muttered. "Who needs it?" Emerl just shrugged.

"As you can imagine, your arrival couldn't have come a minute too soon." Their Lieutenant told them. "These are all the survivors we could find. The rest either died in the attack itself or were lost to space."

"How many?" Topaz asked.

"About 65 including me and my men. The rest are mostly technicians and maintenance workers." She glanced around at all those behind the Sergeant. A couple of them were in suits that didn't seven fit properly, meaning there had been a scramble for them before the air ran out and the vacuum seeped in. "We lost contact with everyone else after the blast hit Giant Wing and we've not had any updates since then." They could see a smile spread beyond the helmet. "But hey, since you're here that must mean we won right?" Neither of them replied. "Right?"

"We'll talk about all that later." Okida stated. "Why did you lock the door? Where they any Confederates in the fortress?" Milford was quiet for a moment, as if deciding whether to answer or pursue his original question. He eventually relented.

"One of their ships crashed into us. A few of them tried to take the fortress. We thought they all got killed when the air ran out, but we couldn't take any chances."

"Yeah, so sorry about the opening fire thing." One of the soldiers added sheepishly.

"It's a good thing you managed to send a signal or we might never have found you." The sergeant and the nearest solider exchanged a puzzled glance.

"Signal?" Milford asked sounding confused. "What signal?"

"The S.O.S signal we picked up." Topaz put in. The soldiers just looked at her confused. "You did send an S.O.S didn't you?" Milford shook his head.

"Not us." Okida was not most confused. If they didn't send the signal then who did? Apparently, Topaz was wondering the same thing.

"Emerl, bring up that map Chuck downloaded for us again" Emerl's eyes lit up, projecting a light image onto the nearby wall. The signal was definitely coming from this room, at the far end from where they were now. Okida flipped on the lights on his suits helmet and glanced in that direction.

"Everyone we've got is right here." Milford added. "There's just a load of storage containers for the Mech depots over there." Okida forged a frown and then walked off.

"Hey where you going?" Topaz called after him.

"I'll check it out. You get these guys organized for an evac." He called back.

"Don't over do it." Her tone was patronizing. "You're not super-man and you DID collapse a short while ago." He glanced back over his shoulder. "And don't give me that healing quicker crap. You do something stupid like jump and you'll tear the flesh off your bones." Okida just waved her off in reply and continued on. "Cocky bastard."

Walking through the large crates stacked up either side, a strange sense crept over Okida. A growing excitement he couldn't explain, a sense of anticipation; as if something very significant lay nearby waiting for him.

"Should be about here." He muttered to himself, glancing up. Above him was the bottom of a lift. This would lift the containers up into the Mech pits for the maintenance teams to work on. This was the storage area below.

According to the map, the signal was coming from… he glanced to his left. Right here.

The crate there was standing on its own and was a great deal taller than the others, standing so tall it brushed the ceiling. Whatever this contained had to be a good head and shoulders taller than a Yahger Mech. It was G.U.N's insignia engraved into the metal on the side. It also had the words; 'Military-Priority-Technology' printed in red underneath.

Reached over, he tapped the side of it. There wasn't any reply, dispelling his first thoughts of someone hiding inside. There wasn't any control pad to open it and the riveting job looked like this was a blast casing, meaning that it was a permanent covering to protect the thing inside and could only be removed with a deal of force.

Under normal circumstance, Okida would have chosen to leave this where it was. Something at the back of his mind told him that he simply couldn't do that. His gut was telling him this had to be opened.

"Topaz…" He began through his com-link. "I've got a package to bring back."


---

With almost four hours passing since the shuttle went beyond the Blue Typhoon's sensor and communications range, all those on board had been waiting with figurative breaths held until finally a blip appeared on the radar screen.

"ID code confirmed, it's them." Chris stated with a thick smile with his hands running over the console pad. "Communications open; this is Blue Typhoon calling Icarus. Come in Icarus." There was a garble of static for a moment but eventually an holographic re-laid image appeared before them.

"This is Icarus; we have confirmation of survivors." It was Okida at the ships help. Behind them they could see Topaz, Emerl and a good many people in space suits. The smile on Chuck's face broadened at the sight.

"How many?" Chris asked.

"Just over sixty according to the Lieutenant we found." The major added glancing back over his shoulder. "We couldn't pick them all up at once so we're having to make two trips. Once we've unloaded this lot we'll have to go back for the rest."

"I don't see Sonic with you." The boy said, observing hide nor hair of the blue hedgehog.

"No he's still back at the wreck. Hare's with the remaining survivors and Sonic's scouring the ship for supplies and salvage." The vampire bat smiled grimly. "Topaz made him do it."

"Good I could use the salvage to repair Omega's arm." Chuck remarked folding his arms

"Any injured?" Chris asked.

"A few. One has a broken arm; a few with intense bruising, concussions and some have laser rifle burns."

"Uncle Sam'll be waiting for you with some medical kits for the worst cases. We'll just have to get the others to our sick bay."

"You certainly took your sweet time getting here." Was Bark's almost callous statement, the polar bear had gotten very gruff lately and it was beginning to wane of peoples nerves.

"Hey, sorry to be so long but we're heavy in the net."

"Those people shouldn't weight that much." Bean remarked giving the collection of space suits behind the major a glance.

"It's not them I'm going on about." He replied with an amused smile from behind his helmet. "Have the hanger bay readied to receive a little present, oh and Bean I'll be needing you down there as well." The duck blinked in surprise.

"What for?" He asked

"Just bright some plastic explosives and you'll see." The major added before discontinuing transmission.

"Whatya suppose that's about?" Chuck asked. Chris just shrugged before entering the command to open the shuttle doors into the hanger bay.

Approaching the ship, the Icarus retracted its sails and slowed to match the drifting speed of the Blue Typhoon. When it was level with the hanger door, they slid open and the mechanical arms used to launch it descended down. They took hold of the shuttles wings and once they had a good grip, began to retract themselves inside dragging the Icarus in with them.

According to the sensor readings, the Icarus shuttle was now over three times its normal weight. Either Okida had brought back something other than the survivors, or one of them had really let themselves go. Once pressure and atmosphere had been restored to the hanger bay, the Icarus was let drop onto the floor with a short thud.

"What is that?" Sam Speed asked, sighting a large metallic container strapped to the underside of the shuttle. It was longer than the shuttle itself and attached to the underside with long metal ropes.

"Must be what he wanted the plastic explosives for." Bean replied; his bag of tricks already at his side; a sack with the words 'highly dangerous, keep out of reach of children' printed on the side. As soon as the shuttle doors were open a steady stream of people in space suits began to move out. Taking off their helmets their conversations range on what it was like to breath outside of the suits again.

"We lost?" Milford looked stunned, awed and horrified all at once. "After all that preparation, all that training… they just walked right over us?"

"We might have put up a better fight if Eggman hadn't been himself." Topaz stated, following the last of the soldiers down the ramp from the shuttle. "But we can worry about all that later. Right now we should be concentrating on the more immediate objectives."

"Like finding out where we are and how we get back." Okida added in. Milford followed them down, his head hung low. This was crushing news for him. He had kept everyone he managed to rescue from killing each other by using the possibly of victory to improve moral. So much so he had started believing it himself.

"Hey major what's the deal with this thing?" Bean asked up as Okida removed his helmet, his head fur all messed up.

"Don't know. But the signal we followed coming from inside." The major replied. "Can't find any door knob either, or we'll just have to blast our way in." A short psychotic look passed over Beans face. "A short blast." Okida added, throwing water on that fire before it got out of control. "Just enough to get it open, there may be someone in there unconscious."

Once the crate had been detached from the shuttle and the Icarus itself moved, it took Bean less than a minute to set up the plastic explosives and another two to attach the wires and detonator.

"Making things go boom is an art form." He announced when he realized he was getting impatient looks. "A true professional doesn't just light a fuse and run."

"Just get it open." Topaz remarked callously. Bean went backwards a few steps, laying out the wire before tying the ends to the remote detonator.

"Alright fine, your wish is my command." Were his words with a grim smile upon his beak. "You may want to get down." He added before pressing the large red button. A loud buzzing followed, preceding a loud bang and fragments of metal from the container flew off in different directions. Okida and Topaz had to duck to avoid being hit. "I did warn you."

There was a moment of silence and the container remained erect, then simultaneously all four sides began falling away. Each one hit the hanger bay floor at the same time, the echoing thud shaking the ship even as far as the angry core. Released dust from inside spread out in a thick cloud, preventing anyone from seeing what was inside.

"Phew!" Bean called out, wafting the air in front of his nose. "What is that smell?" Okida sniffed the air himself. It was a scent he was familiar with.

"Oil." He said. "The kind they use for lubricants in Mech arsenals." The dust began to clear and a shape began to form. A shadow in the gloom, towering over them

"Is that a…" Topaz began but the words died in her throat as the dust began to thin. Taller than any Mech any of them had ever seen before, this new machine was a battle titan in its own class and its very form screamed this with tremendous force.

Unlike any other walker, it was humanoid; with arms legs, a torso and a head. Coated in blood red anti-ballistic armor, the G.U.N icon branded onto the outside edge of each colossal arm.

Articulated hands with fingers with parts around the size of a trash can. The head was long, arching back over the back, the barrel of a revolutionary laser cannon sitting above the eyes in the head. The face was a curved sheet of metal..

On both shoulders was a particle shield generated, concealed by armored metal designed to pull open like a flowering plant. Directly in the centre of the chest on both sides were two vents for a propulsion system the major had never seen.

Parts of the armor on the legs were missing and attachments for thrusters on the back were present with nothing else for them to hold. This showed that the unit was still incomplete. One of them arms was even missing part of the armour platting across the wrists revealing the hydraulics that moved the hand.

Staring into the aqua blue eyes on the head of this new machine, Okida was struck by inspiration he thought he lost. He could feel his heart beating hard in his chest just by looking at this magnificent machine.

This was different from all the other Mechs he had laid eyes on. Far different. Different in ways he could only fathom at.

It was almost as if he was looking at himself from another perspective, an intense feeling of displacement rippled through him like the disturbed surface of an ocean. He couldn't even hear Topaz calling his name; he was that far away.

From somewhere, somewhere unknown; a name came flooding into his mind.

Looking up at this metal giant, a single word passed the vampire bats lips;

"Diablon."