Gateways

The Gateways are a series of ancient automated space stations across the galaxy that allow for instantaneous travel between each other. Various examinations of the gateways have determined that the majority are approximately three million years old, with a limited number in the countless years since then. Currently, approximately a dozen gateways have been reactivated galaxy-wide. Gateways provide access to the 'gateway network' - a conduit within subspace that allows for instant transportation to any other gateway active in the same network. They are capable of reducing travel times by far more than even hyper relay networks, but appear to be vastly more expensive and costly to construct. As of 2357 CE, nobody has been able to replicate the gateways and construct additional stations.

Nations that possess reactivated gateways have a significant level of control over them. Gateways can respond to numerous commands, including creating a subspace barrier to prevent entry, or blocking specific gateways elsewhere in the galaxy from accessing them. However, these commands require local access and cannot be sent through the network itself.

L-Gates

Several gateways, all around black holes instead of outside gravity wells, display modifications by nanites. Studies of these special gateways has determined that they connect to a separate gateway network, leading to an extragalactic star cluster called the "L-Cluster". These "L-Gates", as they have come to be known, appear to have been deliberately disabled by someone, and placed into an indefinite maintenance loop. No evidence has been found as to the identity or motive of whoever locked the network. Archaeological sites from after the gateways were constructed have shown that other species have attempted to open the network, to no avail.