The Gates

The network on which all humanity builds

The Gates, sometimes called Ring Gates, Ring Stations, or Wormhole stations, as incredibly advanced and poorly understood megastructures built with 0.4 AU (5.984e+7 kilometres) of a host star, binary, or trinary system. Little is known conclusively about how the Gates function, when and how they were created, and how to recreate them ourselves, but nevertheless they have proven to be the most important discovery by Mankind in perhaps their entire evolution.

Discovery

The first Gate (Exodus Station) was initially found in a state of disrepair within the bowels of the vessel at Crash Site Apollyon. At first, researchers planned to dig up the Gate in order to scrap it for the increasingly important Arkonite which the structure was presumed to be primarily constructed out of. However, after managing to recover, decode, and display even only a few small pieces of the larger Arkon computing network within the vessel, it was quickly established that the structure was of incredible importance to the creators of both it and the craft it was carried on. A ring symbol appeared both on ancient computer parts, drawn hastily on the walls on the vessel, and even a massive mural carved into the wall of the preserved vessel in reverence of it. As such, the large ring - approximately 5 kilometres in diameter - was lifted off the planet's surface in one of the greatest single feats of engineering at the time. Eventually, this event became known as the Flight of the Ring, and along with Activation day, both are considering important milestones in humanity's history.
Once the Gate was lifted from the planet's surface, it was at first left in orbit for several years as researchers and engineers tried to find a way to activate it. Eventually, however, a mural - once again carved into the walls of the vessel in a deep, buried room - showed where the researchers were failing; the Gate had to be closer to the target star. As such, the gate was moved towards Proxima Centauri. When that didn't work, the gate was instead moved toward the binary Alpha Centauri AB stars.
Upon entering a range of 0.4 AU Alpha Centauri B, the Gate reportedly began to glow, emitting streams of gamma radiation and untranslatable gamma-ray transmissions. The ships connected to the ring shut down their drives, wherein the Gate began to rotate under its own power, turning until eventually, it pointed at a high declination away from the star. This is where the first known Quantum Space Fold occurred.
In the days following, the Gate would shut down, then reactivate its Quantum Space Fold every 43 minutes, in a seemingly unending cycle. When it was active, it acted as a giant lens, allowing the crews of the vessels that followed it to see through to a new star system. Quickly, exploration probes were designed, approved, and sent through the first Gate.
From their new star system - a G class star unknown to current charts hence named Geneva - humanity discovered more Gates, which lead to more systems, which lead to more Gates. In 301 AT (2350 CE), over 100 Star Systems have been discovered as part of the Gate network, and there are still Gates yet to be explored.

The Blink

Compared to all technologies as yet mentioned, the Gates are so far beyond human understanding that although they can be utilized, they cannot be recreated or reverse engineered, as much as engineers have tried. In 270 AT (2319 CE), after exploring what's known as a Dead Branch system (a system with only one Gate connection between it and the network) and finding it barren and lacking in essential resources or high colonization priority, the entrance Gate between the system (the Gate from the rest of the network to the system) was allowed to be tested upon and potentially destroyed.
The event, known as the Blink, that occurred shortly afterward was an intensely kept military secret until public pressure forced the Secretary-General of the CNC to release the gathered documents on the event. Although much is still redacted due to fear over public safety, what is known is that the Gate connections to both the Dead Branch system and the system it was connected to - a burgeoning colony - was suddenly disconnected from the network. The colony system had at least two gate connections to the rest of the network - both of them already explored - yet the connections between both were severed.
As such, the Commonwealth parliament quickly established laws that prevented tampering with the Gates. Called the Ozymandias Concordance, named at the lost colony system, is one of the few Accords established by the Commonwealth parliament which the Periphery included within its constitution during its declaration of rebellion.
In short, the consensus is that the Gates should not be meddled with.

Utility

Regardless of their mysterious origins as supposedly Arkon technology, the Gates are still considered one of, if not the, most important discovery in human history. This is because they facilitate the creation and expansion of an interstellar dominion beyond the realms of a single star system - even with Glide Drive technology, modern space travel still heavily abides by the speed of light. The Gates, of course, work with mechanisms beyond the scope of the natural laws by ignoring distance entirely - they allow a craft to travel vast interstellar distances within human timescales. As such, the importance of the Gates to modern society cannot be underestimated.

Above;
Dorado Station, in orbit around the K Class star Geneva, opening out to the Dorado System. Taken 283 AT/2332 CE by a research team from EC Labs New Paris. All rights reserved.