CaptainBaconMan
It might have had something special though, you never know. Valve never really said anything about the original plans for Half Life 2.
It does..in half life 2 episode 3 Eli Vance directly instructed Freeman to destroy "whatever is aboard that ship".He also scolded Dr.Kleiner for wanting to "use the power of Borealis against the combine" saying "havn't you learned anything from black mesa?".Clearly valve is hinting to us that Borealis is some hidden key to freemans story..and the future of the half life series.
Although I do not think the entire next game will be revolving around it..it definitely will play a large role.I predict it will be some epic choice for freeman to rather try to use the power of Borealis,go against Eli's (what I would call)dying wish,and in addition make the same mistake as before in black mesa ORRR to destroy the remaining combine without it.
Also in the next game I think they may be trying to find a solution to a problem i saw...what if the combine reopen the portal?
if I were the combine I wouldn't just stop and be all "oh well they closed the portal i give up!" Id be pissed and do everything in my power to smite them..also i wouldn't just leave my buddy's trapped on earth to be abolished by the resistance.
so in the next game I predict they will 1:find some way to be prepared in case the combine strike again (witch may involve using Borealis) or 2:find a way to prevent the portal from spawning again (witch still may involve Borealis)