Special thanks to Baconshelf for providing me a dependable Halo Timeline Now to the boring part of the story. I placed a date on the prologue to prevent confusion
Chapter 1: The Beginning- August 7, 2517
It was a bright and beautiful day. Donovan's unnamed star was as hot as always. A 10 year old Lance was busy mowing their lawn, a task given by his father, James Clark. His 6 year old brother, Dante Clark, watched him curiously. Their father didn't come home yesterday. Lance knew that was the cost for being second in command of the Donovan's security forces. He couldn't help but smile as his father's car stopped at his garage.
A newly promoted Lieutenant Clark came to his house, smiling happily as he prepared to make the announcement. He was delighted to see his son hard at work. James could hire someone else to mow his lawn for him, but he believed that making his son do things made him more responsible.
Their mother, Ines Clark , approached James with a warm hug. James pointed at his new insignia. "Guess you know what this means." Ines smiled at him in response. "Now to reward a hard working man."
James caught his eldest son's eyes and he pulled something out of his pocket. It was a bullet. James knew Lance loved this kind of stuff. Lance responded by giving him a hug. James found it quite tight. Lance has always been strong and smart for his age, and Dante was beginning to show signs of being exceptional too. "You're a very good boy, Lance."
James saw Dante by their house's entrance. The house had white as the primary colour and red as the secondary. It wasn't that big, but it was enough for James. Almost every house in Donovan's residential area was identical. Donovan was one of the first Outer colonies established and in 40 years' time, only a small area of Donovan was explored.
James knelt and Dante caught him in the eye, but he didn't go for a hug. James always thought that Dante was always acting tough, even for a 6 year old. James tried to get his son's attention by showing him a lollipop. Dante took the bait and came closer. "Is that for me?" he asked. "Of course son" James replied. Dante immediately took the lollipop.
Lollipops were hard to come by since it had to come from an inner colony. A settlement in Donovan was established solely for mining iron. As time went by, the residents decided to establish Donovan's first and ,for the time being, only city. They now had a lot of residents and factories for the primary human needs were established. No lollipop factory though.
James thought of showing his sons around the city when a lady accompanied by a man showed up. James knew who they were the moment he saw them. "So, you must be Dr. Halsey"