Wallace Breen negotiated a surrender on behalf of the entire planet, saving the survivors at the cost of their freedom. These portal storms attracted an alien empire known as the Combine, also called the Universal Union, which defeated all of Earth's confused and distracted armed forces in only seven hours. The portal storms, believed to be caused by the death of the Nihilanth, raged across Earth, (and still do according to writer Marc Laidlaw ) spreading Xen life forms about the planet and causing the human population to move into cities for protection. The war is also mentioned in Half Life 2: Episode Two. Eli Vance in Black Mesa East if the player stares at the newspaper clippings long enough and more details can be gathered through newspaper clippings and conversations. Although never discussed directly in the game, the war is mentioned briefly by Dr. The Seven Hour War is a fictional conflict appearing in the back-story of the 2004 computer game Half-Life 2. Newspaper clippings in Eli's lab, depicting occurrences of the Portal Storms and the Seven Hour War.
