Great Story, Amazing Job! :D

A good way to explain Eezo (and other fictional materials) is that the first batch was artificial but the amount grows over time, essentially serving as it's own catalyst. Say you create a small amount and throw it into a old star, over the next few million years more and more keeps forming until it goes supernova and spreading it further.

ONI... just fuck ONI. This is exactly why we should have a separation of spooks and politics, just like our separation of church and state because damn they're idiots.

Halo reach remains one of the most moving games. You'd think it was written by Bioware given how they manage to pull a major tearjerker. And you bring it to life very well.

In reference to Logan's comment/review, he has a horrible misconception about crew sizes in naval ships, whether they be past, present, or future. While it is true WW2 era battleships, such as the Iowa Class, had crew numbers well over 2000, the only reason that was the case was because of the old/crude level of that era's technology. Steam engines, highly antiquated "targeting computers" for the man-operated deck guns, etc., etc. As technology advances, replacing more Human held positions with computers and electronic automation, the need for large crews lessens dramatically. A perfect example the this is the new Gerald R. Ford class supercarriers. While the aging Nimitz class can hold a crew of well over 5,000 officers and enlisted, the larger Gerald R. Ford barely has just over 4,000. Another good example would be the Arleigh Burke class Destroyers. Having a length of over 500 feet, an Arleigh Burke only needs a total crew of a little over 320. On the other hand, a WW2-era Allen M. Sumner class US destroyer (a little under 370 feet long) needed a crew of about 350. Considering these facts of naval history and warfare, I would say the truly logical conclusion would be to say that "naval" ships in the future would require little more than the crews needed for general command and ship maintainanceeverything else would likely be automated by computers.

I have been rereading this story, and while it is still good, I have noticed that when you are doing the space combat sequences regarding the Normandy vs. Covenant fleet, you seem to neglect the fact that the Covenant ships have shields, judging by the way the Thanix seems to only be damaging the Hulls of the ships. Just an FYI

An Iowa class battleship from WWII had a crew of 2700 men.
An Iowa would be roughly... 0.03% the size of a CCS class battlecruiser.
Logically, that means it could very easily have a crew of hundreds of thousands and still be considered "lightly crewed" by WWII standards.

...No, really. I'm serious. You've really underestimated the sheer size of the ship involved here.

But my biggest problem with the story thus far is how it reads like a power fantasy. Shepard's team has absolutely no real problems tearing their way through hordes of Covenant with only token difficulty. I found myself skimming over entire paragraphs that amounted to "and then they effortlessly killed more of the supposedly dangerous aliens" because they were so boring. That's not a good sign. I'm not sure I want to continue reading after this chapter.

Okay now I am worried about what happens to Kat :S

Otherwise holy hell those Krogan just would not go down, and I mean dam, what kind of mods did the blood pack give them anyway! Still I now move eagerly onto the next chapter!

Oh my word Tali is alive!

I never saw that coming *Cough, cough*

Okay...

I know you prefer longer reviews, but...

What Grunt did was so awesome I am lost for words :D

Hmmm I feel the need to gush with this chapter especially concerning Mordin and Halsey

Okay I love the conflict between Tali and Shepard here, oh my lord is it just nice to see Shepard and his love interest to go through some conflict and her 'apparent death' is just icing on the cake (I know I spoiled it for myself there :p)

Nonetheless the major thing I wanted to look into was Halsey and Mordin and especially as to how ME tech could be used to enhance the Spartans (unless you did that already, once again story wise I am a tad behind.) While the muscle and bone weaves are given technology I am surprised you did not bring in Alliance generic enhancements, although considering how rarely talked about I can understand. In short in ME 1 it is mentioned by Exo-geni on Noveria and by the couple on the Citadel arguing over gene therapy that the Alliance uses minor gene therapy or genetic modification on its soldiers to improve muscle growth, blood clotting and other things. Its a small thing but I am just surprised it was not mentioned: however the gene mods for the Spartans may actually be more extensive, although as I understood it was more chemical and cybernetic enhancement than direct modification of their gene codes. Sorry this is largely me gushing XD

Also hearing Mordin and Halsey talk just made me think of Spartan 4's arriving sooner than expected, as lore wise the first ones were made in the last days of the War or a few months after it. And now I cannot help but think of a Spartan Shepard, but story wise I could tell that would be to OP XD

Okay I just want to start off and say... this is concentrated awesome!

I just do not know where to begin with why I love this story. I mean its just a perfect blend between action, narrative, Halo and Mass Effect. You certainly bucked the trend with putting it in the Halo verse as opposed to Mass Effect, and you have not only done it but done it well!

The character dynamic and portrayal while occasionally off is still a hundred times better than many stories and just seems to add even more weight.

And seeing the gradual merger of the two universes is what I love about it, it just seems so cool

There is so much I want to say to you about this, like how the Vorcha would make probably the Brutes best back up.

But I can't because everything I would want to say would fill a hundred pages of notes Xp

Rossi-222 is right about some things but not all marines are able beat a sangheili in close quarter fights but arbiter from halo wars under estimated all the humans he fought and the brute chieftain from odst was distracted by the others if the brute wasn't distracted he would have killed them all

good story but first of but first of the UNSC has stealth tech the existence of the prowler class is proof seconded of all SPARTANs everything about them is classified how they were made their recruitment and their procedures why is Noble six ONI's primary wetwork spartan telling some alien synthetic that is beyond me

Wow. That was a long read. I think you did really good, but you were a bit off with some characters speech patterns, mostly the chief and with Thane and Kreave at one point. I haven't read the other stories you wrote after this though, so you probably have fixed that problem by now.