I whooped and screamed for joy when I saw this had been updated! Hard to believe it’s been three years, it certainly doesn’t feel like it. And what an epic chapter this was, I was on the edge of my seat for a while there. I was overjoyed that Lake survived, and her reunion with Thompson and Reed was so heartwarming. Congratulations on this amazing new installment! I hope you guys are keeping well, and I hope to see more sooner rather than later :)

I was afraid we weren’t going to get another entry for a minute there.

Extraordinary effort per usual. The fighting felt desperate, tense, and it’s aftermath somber and bitter. You guys did a great job here, keeping me on my toes until the very end. The Covenant truly felt like a threat, a methodical, relentless and terrifying horde. And Despite the 5th’s sudden arrival, I wasn’t convinced the humans were going to pull through until the last bullet was fired. While I was happy to see the return of Thompson and Blunt, I was sad to consider their ultimate destination: Voi. Thankfully, it looks like they’ll never have to fight The Flood (fingers crossed). I did find the upcoming arc of this story (whatever’s going in Mombasa) a bit sudden but nonetheless I look forward to the next entry, however long it may take.

C.F.

I was introduced to your work via TV tropes. I was so impressed by your earlier works that I still read this story, even though it was uncompleted.

I love it. I love the tension and the grim action. I look forward to this story's continuation and conclusion

I just don't know what to say. This chapter sucked me in and I was part of everything again. All the intrigue, the emotions, the desperate fight to save the Abby and Lake's realization that there was so escape. I understand why she stayed.

You guys are getting good at this - I can't tell whose writing what anymore. I love the way you guys write your battle scenes. I don't think I can praise you enough for them. You do them in a way that's incredibly refreshing and engaging. I particularly loved Lake's last stand. Her death had this almost supernatural feeling.

I especially enjoyed this bit - "She saw a flash of white-blue fire, an explosion that reached high into the air, whose light hurt her eyes even filtered through the slowly dissipating smoke cloud. It was all she could see, and then she felt the incredible heat wash over her. It clung to her." Wow, just wow.

I must say, I hope her death is final. It was unexpected and true punch to the gut. In a way, even though she bought the boys some time her death seemed almost pointless. I was reading and ask myself, why didn't she just request reinforcements? Why didn't she just run? I was attached to her character just as Reed was but I didn't realize it until her passing.

I have to be honest, I thought I predicted the ending for the story correctly but it appears that our heroes might not make it out and the prospect of that happening keeps me in my seat ( I have a thing for unhappy endings).

My only gripe for this part was that Woodrow and Fraser took a back seat. This was rectified towards the end (the Master Sergeants little sermon was just great) but I long for continued interaction with these two. They have so much potential, especially Woodrow, and would love to see them fleshed out even more.

All in all, another amazing entry to what already seems like one of the best entires of fanfiction set on this site. Please continue working, continue writing, I will be waiting and reading!

Respectfully,
Cornelius Fox

So that other day a while ago when you updated the profile info with news regarding the impending arrival of this chapter; my smile virtually swallowed my face and elicited that rare giddy cackling of excitement from me. (The clapping of knuckles from balled up hands together may have been involved too)

Then before this you release the one sentence summary of what happens in this chapter... man that tease.

Now you finally publish this; lets just say the first reaction I had was repeated. Few can elicit such reactions from me. 36,438 words of engaging, captivating, revealing and towards the end heart-pounding action, tension and drama. Took me at least an hour to get through the second half of the chapter alone.

But where do I begin... if the first chapter was just setting the world, the bigger picture and the characters; then this one is where the heat on the pressure cooker is turned up and things revealed. And escalated quite rapidly it has. If this is just the second day it just makes me wonder what the other days have in store. I recently reread "Dandelion" and just seeing how desperate the situation becomes in this chapter alone makes me wonder how those ODST's and the conscripting of other civilians in other war-zones fit in and how it is going to play out in relation to everything else. In the first chapter things seemed stable but as you two described the position was untenable and things simmering. Boy did that stability prove to be one hell of a well-written mirage; a facade. I sort of got a sense of it before but now this chapter lays bear the tension at the hospital. A simple attack is all that is needed to get the fire burning. This commotion and infighting both highlights the tension that was there/not apparent in the first chapter and shows how rapidly the simmer came to a boil. The first knocked over domino. Now to talk about this all part by part.

The interaction between Reed and Pennington, Reed's sharp attempts to wrangle more info and Penn's deflection and answering of questions was good as always. The following action and skirmish was fantastic as always, although I would still place the first hog and gun fight to be better than this tense encounter with Brute stalkers. (Although why Reed, Penn and others would ever leave their weapons beyond an arms reach puzzles me but anyway) A tense small probing skirmish, these brutes are crafty even if they did not prepare to exploit their unexpected success.

And then the diplomatic shadowboxing between Faroush and Watson. The probing for info and jousting to see who budges. Masterfully done and then the implications of the Banshee that got away...

And Penn lets Watson know that they are being pulled out. But they are surrounded and unlike the Germans in Stalingrad they have no airfield to evacuate from. They can go by land but...we know what would happen when the Covies find out.

And the witch-hunt over Shannon's death, oh man when I saw this the heart-rate picked up a bit. And then Fraser deepened her involvement with the retribution gang. I never though she would participate in that. And the aftermath of that, the spate between Faroush and Watson and the brewing conflict between civilians and soldiers... hot damn. And Fraser, as always the layering of characterization and reveal of new information; her background and reasoning for taking such action. She embodies the disgruntled, disillusioned and broken soldier, a personal manifestation of say the French Army in 1917 after the failed Nivelle Offensive. And disgruntled and broken many are. What is said about the suicides, the drugs and how it is affecting the whole battalion, the whole UNSC. She is made an even more interesting and sympathetic character, and the whole battalion and world so much more fleshed out.

And then the engagement with Lake's squad and the Covenant advance, the action described was stellar as always, the best in this chapter. But then the mortar barrage came. Over the course of the engagement my breathing became shallow, by the end I was not sure if I was breathing. My sense of time warped, it seemed slow and fast. In the end I found myself anxious, saddened, confused and in shock. Clinging to hope that she would have survived in some way and in some ways already resigned and mourning. Stern's pleas for her to hold on while Lake seemed resigned, spiteful and...different from what I would have expected from her.

Shit has hit the fan and now they are throwing Reed and Woody out in a Hail-Mary attempt to save them all. But then the talk between Reed and Stern over Lake. We were told that Lake seems different according to Reed and he seems to be right. Sarcastic/insubordinate towards Stern, seemingly resigned toward her fate and sitting and waiting for the inevitable. I have reread Through Hell Should Bar The Way and I am inclined to agree. She has changed but is still Lake. It is as if Lake is the person they all love and respect, the one they want alive. The Paragon if I must say. That argument said so much about Reed, Stern, Fraser and Lake and thank you for throwing me a bone and having them go look for her while they are heading toward the relay. I know people die in war and that stories without the tragic death of good people are not compelling and that without death what is life is meaningless; but god damn I am attached to her. Please spare her.

And that symbolic ending, back in the chain gang. All that action is going on outside and this is happening too. :O I previously said that Fraser embodies the disillusionment of the French Army in 1917, she is the one who knows how bad things are in the battalion and will act accordingly. Well this is were a mutiny starts. And from this chapter title, the unstable element is man. And they are all human. And this instability is everywhere, they breath it.

Alright I have gushed about this episode long enough.

A truly stellar and heart-pounding episode. I as always look forward to the next one. :D

Really fantastic story so far. This first part could be almost be a novel on its own. Great world building, Mombasa feels as alive as any of the characters. Woodrow and Fraser well characterize how war breaks both physically and mentally.

The story flows real nice between dialogue and description. The world building you two have come together to create is fantastic. It's that gritty military time piece I loved when reading Though Hell Should Bar the Way, and that crawling mysteryesque style from emf that makes me want to know more and more as I read.

The firefight scene was fantastic as well. No super suits, no bullshit, dirt and grit. Very smartly written, I'd argue better than anything in the canon novels.

This story is what finally got me to read the Halo novels lol, it was a long time coming. It's hard to express how many light years ahead of most of the content on this site this story is and it's a shame it doesn't have more exposure. I'm thinking I'm gonna have to ween myself off this story like an addiction by the time it's done, because I can't get enough.

I wish y'all the best of luck and I'm stoked to read the rest of the story

Took a while but sadly I finished this episode tonight. Loved the flow and philosophy, mostly bluntly dark. Harsh realities of war. Personally Casquis doesn't come close to these two authors in maturity.

I’ve been a long-time lurker/reader of the Halo archive and I must say I’m pretty disappointed at the lack of reviews for this wonderful piece of writing. This archive has been lacking in terms of quality for quite a while and every now and then there are diamonds in the ruff. I would like for both authors to know that I for one am reading and eagerly awaiting the next installment. On to the review.

One of my favorite things about Ten Days is how effortlessly it flows. I must imagine that this must have been quite a challenge for both authors. I began reading expecting to have to “adjust” when one author’s contribution ended and the others began but I surprisingly didn’t have to.

The characters, as they were in the rest of the Lima/906th saga, are fresh and interesting. Ten Days is a war story absent of those stereotypical stock characters. I know both authors have mentioned several inspirations to this story and I am glad that I didn’t see any direct “references” (or “copies”) to these works (e.g. we do not see Woodrow sniping aliens while reciting a psalm). Each character has their own depth and uniqueness. Even background characters that aren’t named have this weight to them that you can’t really shake off. These characters, however minuscule in significance they may be, feel alive. I must admit I was saddened to see the exclusion of Sergeant Blunt. I hope he eludes his watchdogs and takes a trip to Mombasa.

The tone of Ten Days has been nailed perfectly. You really get the sense that this is the mother of all battles. I particularly liked the grittiness of the beginning. You can feel the desperation of the environment and both authors channel it into the characters. I enjoy the fact that not every human is out there putting their balls on the chopping block. You have your pro-human-lets-do-this-for-humanity guys and you have your non-hackers as well. A lot of dudes just want to survive. It’s a side of Halo that people do not see.

The battle scenes were written extremely well. Both authors maintained the balance between tactical jargon and the drama of the fight rather well. A lot of authors give you too much action that you almost feel muddled in a bunch of bullet porn. You don’t find that in Ten Days. I for one particularly enjoyed the authors decision to write about the sniper rifle as it should be (it’s an anti-material rifle your shields won’t stand a chance split lip!). I’m looking forward to more of them in the future.

My only gripe concerning Ten Days is the chapter length. I complain about this because I see it as the reason why there aren’t that many reviews or follows. Personally, I suggest cutting up the first part of Ten Days into chapters so readers aren’t intimidated by this huge chunk of text.

I really am looking forward to the next installment and I hope we won’t have to too long. Please continue working, continue writing. Until next time.

Salut et fraternité,
Cornelius Fox

It took me an hour to read this, nice detail and dedication

After so long... It is finally here. 35,450 words of pure greatness (and I though the great Halo fanfic writer casquis had no real rival in the length/word count per chapter department) (The word count of this episode alone is comparable to some completed stories) the action, drama and politics was excellent and has risen to new levels and complimented each other perfectly. I was captivated the whole way through by everything. The imagery, language and world building is top-notch and immersive.

It is these sort of stories that Halo is lacking and that only fan-fiction has been able to fill. The stories of the regular humans that fight on the ground and with none of the seemingly shallow power fantasies and embellishments of the games and comics/books. It exposes the brutal and seemingly callous nature of the great war. Where people of decimated units are gathered into ad-hoc units and sent to the front. Over and over again. Where chaos and suffering are the norm and things change quickly, yet remain the same. And how there is more to the fighting than just the street fighting, as the Brass sections show; there is the strategic elements to their decisions and why things happen too.

The Great War of Halo's universe has always reminded me of the Eastern Front of World War Two. The most brutal land war in history with only the Pacific Theatre rivaling its brutality and intensity. A war without mercy, a war without quarter, a war to the death. The same beat up and mauled but still functioning nature of the UNSC as portrayed here sort of fits in with my view. Functioning at sub-optimal capacity and yet going on. Sort of like how the Germans had no real rest and just constantly had to send what new and reassembled units they could and throw them into the meat-grinder to slow down the soviets. Little things like chain-gangs, different ammo types, improvised applique armor on the scorpion as described earlier, unit culture and history. The way we learn about our characters in and out of combat. All of these little things add up in creating such and excellent story and universe.

The time spent brainstorming and coming up with all of this has been worth it. You both should be proud.

I look forward to the next Episode of this HBO Mini-Series. :D