Hi guys, this is the last chapter I'll post this year. I may post something before the year is out, but no guarantees. Have a good Christmas, or whatever you celebrate, and have a good new year.

The long ride to the MAC platforms was long, so many of the Federation soldiers and Spartans did what they could to alleviate the boredom. Many slept, especially those in single asteroids while others played cards or other games using their tablets. One soldier decided to write part of his doctorate for university.

Alexander and Mike sat in their asteroid with tablets in hand playing several games of virtual chess. It was best for the two, being strategy based rather than luck based and allowed them to keep an eye on their approach. They were about 4 games in before Alex looked out and became concerned.

"Something wrong?" Mike asked.

"Looks like we're a few thousand kilometres out," the ODST said. "Tho…" he paused before reaching for his buckles.

Mike said nothing and did the same. Soon the two were out and pulled themselves out of the asteroid and pushed away from it before it was blasted by a turret. The high explosive rounds turned the chuck of rock turned to little more than rubble. The two breathed a sigh of relief before looking at each other. Radios were a no outside of the asteroids, so the two used hand signals to indicate what they needed to do.

With both agreeing, the two used their jetpacks in a short burst towards the nearest platform. If they could reach them, then they could shut off the guns. But they needed to do it without raising suspicion from the platforms. They made sure to boost themselves enough so that they outpaced the other asteroids by a wide margin. With the speed that they were going, they would reach the station before they fully opened up with the guns.

It didn't take long for the two to reach the station, but they needed to slow down before they hit. The two activated their jets to slow down, but Mike was delayed on his boosters and came in too fast. Cursing, he tried to move so that he would skirt the edge of the station instead of hitting it. He gritted his teeth he scraped one of the station's panels before he grabbed a handle before moving any further. Alex flew up close and watched as Mike activated his jets.

The two looked at each other, before nodding and flying towards one of the guns. But as they approached one, two dark-suited figures approached armed with assault rifles. Mike and Alex drew their weapons as they approached until both groups were in range of each other and aimed their weapons. It was hard to tell who the other group was, but Alex decided to try something. Moving his hand to a wearable on his arm, he tapped in a few commands causing his helmet lights to flash.

As a backup to main communications, all soldiers part of the mission were told to use morse code in order to communicate. The other factions used a version of it, but Parisa used the original as no one else used it. After Alex flashed 'Mars' in morse, the other trooper did the same in the original code. That allowed them to sigh with relief, it seemed that others had the same idea as them. Alex pointed to another set of guns and the lead trooper nodded before moving off with his partner.

They approached the first main gun which was already turning and firing. The two of them avoided using their mag boots, as the sound of them attaching to the hull would attract unwanted attention. So, they used the handles instead, bringing them close to the gun. Manual controls were inside along with several redundant systems. But the wires needed to control the guns, were easily accessible so that they could be replaced. Drawing their knives, the two pried open one of the panels and found the wires. Both redundant and otherwise. Mike and Alex looked at one another before they began to cut all the wires linking to the gun.

With that done they moved to the next, and the next repeating the same process. By the time they reached the 4th turret, the two activated their mag boots as the asteroids began to impact the stations. While there were a lot of asteroids, they weren't enough to bash the stations off of their positions there were enough to shake the stations with each impact. Alarms blared loudly as Mars soldiers exited their rocky shields beginning the assault. Mike and Alex then decided that they needed to get inside to help out with the assault as taking out any more guns would be more of a problem than a benefit. Especially if they managed to take control. They needed the point defence hard points. Taking too many wouldn't be any benefit.

They, and others who shared the same idea's about taking out the turrets, moved to the nearest airlocks and readied themselves for a station fight.

OOOOO

Six's asteroid smashed into one of the stations' hangers and broke open. She wasted no time jumping out of the rocky shell and used her battle rifle to take out several marines and Stormtroopers in a matter of moments. But she needed to reload and dived into cover as more troops entered the hangar. She reloaded quickly before moving out and firing single-shot rounds at the Imperial troopers. While they did manage to pop her shields, and slightly damage her armour, she did manage to force them into cover.

As the two groups exchanged fire, another asteroid entered the hanger disgorging a team of ODST's who moved to assist Six. It didn't take long for them to take out the rest and lock the doors.

"This is Six," Six announced on the radio. "Hanger bay 5 is secure, all Federation forces regroup here,"

A series of acknowledgements came through the radio, but before she could move to check inventory, one of the ODST's found something.

"Errr commander," the lead called making her turn to face him. "You may want to have a look at this,"

Six frowned as she walked over and looked at the Imperial soldiers. Except they weren't. Despite the fact she took them out, she didn't notice the colours they wore. While camo was standard across the Warlord factions, many of the soldiers wore coloured armour displaying their allegiance. An example can be seen with the Imperial forces. Their main colours were black and red. So, it was a common sight to see Imperial soldiers with green fatigues but with red and black armour.

But the soldiers she had killed wore black armour over blue fatigues. It reminded her of some old 21st-century mercenaries. The armour was of good quality too as were the weapons. But as she looked closer, she noticed the patch. It was of a dog's head holding a knife and behind it was a pair of crossed MA5 assault rifles. As soon as she saw it Six gritted her teeth in annoyance.

"Shit, Wild Dog," she muttered.

"Who?" the lead ODST asked.

"They're an army for hire with high-quality weapons and gear," Six answered. "They are good and trouble," she tapped her comm." President Parisa come in," all she got was static. "Damn it," she then switched to the local net. "This is Commander Six to all Federation units, be aware, the mercenary company Wild Dog is protecting the stations. They are highly trained and lethal and can be identified by their blue fatigues. Engage with caution,"

She got another round of affirmatives as ODSTs and Spartans entered the hangar. The leaders all gathered together to make a plan.

OOOOO

"Shit, shit, shit…." Aniko yelled as she felt her asteroid slowly break up as it entered the atmosphere of Zeta halo.

While the inside of the asteroid was made in case they hit Zeta, the problem was that it only applied to atmospheric entry. The landing was another thing. The rocks wouldn't be able to survive impact, and the occupant would be turned into a pizza made of blood bone and intestines. A goreiana, as one engineer put it. So, while the asteroids were braced for re-entry, survival for the occupant was another matter.

Aniko gritted her teeth as she reached over and grabbed a jet pack before checking a console that measured her altitude. It was too early for her to jump out. While John could survive re-entry with just a starship panel, she wasn't confident the same would apply to her. Especially with the fact that he had Forerunner metal, all she had was a reinforced asteroid with braces on the inside. Not the same as what John had.

She had to wait until she was in the atmosphere then she could exit and pull out. That wait lasted for a few more moments before a section of the asteroid opened up and she was sucked out. She began to freefall waving her arms and legs as she tried to gain control of her movement. Taking in a deep breath she spread her arms and legs reducing her velocity and giving her some form of control during her descent.

"Attention all units," she said in her radio. "Marking a rendezvous point. All Federation units, regroup at the location,"

She didn't know if anyone got the message, but it was better than nothing. As she got close to the ground, she activated her jetpack slowing her descent. The jerk of the jetpack activating and keeping her up made her feel like it was going to pull out one of her arms. She grunted in annoyance and directed her pack away from the rendezvous location. She couldn't land there as the Empire would swarm the area and kill all Federation soldiers eliminating the landing force.

It took a while, but soon she managed to land by a river at a rocky outcrop. Looking around, it seemed that she was clear. She unstrapped her jetpack and looked it over, out of fuel. Sighing with annoyance, she placed it down and dropped a grenade next to it before running. The grenade exploded taking out the jetpack. She hoped it would make it look like some equipment landed there and was destroyed by something. But hoping and people believing it were two different things.

She ran a good few kilometres before she stopped. Looking around, she found a cave which she ran towards it and hid inside. Once inside she then checked her weapon. She would have liked to do it sooner, but being in a hostile environment with no idea where anything was, and rocks dropping all over the place, it was better to hide and take stock. But she did have her pistol on her thigh and at the ready in case of attack.

With a sigh, she pulled off her assault rifle and checked it over before grunting in annoyance. The weapon's barrel had warped and the bolt was broken in three places. While UNSC weapons were made with abuse in mind, the fact that she was being tossed around in the asteroid before she left, didn't help. It was broken and she couldn't repair it. Not with the stuff she had, and leaving it here wasn't the best idea either as she could be tracked.

She then hit herself as she released that her boot tracks could be followed. Shaking her head, she placed the rifle back on her back before looking around and moving out with a pistol in hand. She needed to get to the rendezvous and soon.

OOOOO

John exited his asteroid before climbing up onto the 'top' and looking around. The Fleet had just entered the system and the asteroids were being destroyed left and right. It was mass confusion as the space war over Zeta began. He looked towards the command-and-control station before pushing himself off and activating his thruster jets aiming towards the station. As he flew, he adjusted himself so that his trajectory wouldn't hit a wall or something else embarrassing.

Soon he settled on a target. He spotted an auxiliary command and control node. He positioned himself so that he would smash through the window and take out the crew, only making minor adjustments. He slammed into the glass moments later and landed on the floor with a thud. A second after he landed, the vacuum of space began to suck everything out, except him as he activated his mag boots holding him in place. Screams and yells of panic echoed around him as they were sucked out into space. But by the time the vacuum shield had sealed, the only one left in the room was him.