Halo: In Death's Grey Land

Halo: In Death's Grey Land is a 147-page short novel set in the Halo universe written by . 
==Behind the Scenes==
IDGL was originally submitted to Halo.Bungie.Org's fan fiction archive, and can still be found there. However, due to its length, the story was split up into five 'sections' (just like the published Halo literature). I have since collected those sections and combined them into one coherent document, which is available online at Scribd along with the rest of my forays into the Halo Universe.
==Referenced in Canon?==
After the Halo Encyclopedia was published, a friend sent me an interesting e-mail containing an entry from page 81, which he called "vaugely familiar." The exact passage reads as follows:
While minor changes have been made, the Spartan-Is in my novella DID, in fact, successfully and covertly infiltrate a sub-orbital facility (to destroy a primitive rebel MAC gun) where they suffered only one casualty (during that phase of the operation; I haven't figured out how you can exfiltrate without being "seen" but still suffer a casualty, but I guess they have some kind of explanation they're not sharing). The month has been changed from February to January, though the year remains the same, as well as the location (Eridanus II). I never specified an operation title. Furthermore, in my novella, this was the original Spartans' only op, since all but one were killed (one during the op, the rest in an accident shortly after extraction). 
100% conclusive? Perhaps not, but one can't help but notice that the similarities are very, very close. Now, I wouldn't blame anyone for thinking "he probably borrowed all that from canon"...but you'd be dead wrong. IDGL was written in 2007, and I have the date-stamped web page to prove it (see: 'Chapter Two', approx. 60% down the page). This would mean nothing if you didn't also look at the utter lack of established canon available at that time, concering Spartan-Is and their deployments. In other words, they hadn't revealed jack squat back in '07. Certainly nothing this detailed.
Does this constitute a legitimate reference? Possibly. I'm not the kind of prick who'd try to ask, or demand some kind of official recognition. Personally, the fact that the novella probably got a barely camouflaged nod is more than thrilling, and what I consider to be a high honor. 
Is IDGL referenced in printed canon? You be the judge.
Leo 07:53, September 16, 2010 (UTC)
==External Link==
*SCRIBD: Halo: In Death's Grey Land