"...due to the instability of hyperdimensional spaces, faster than light travel remains science fiction, with the exception perhaps of a few black tech remnants from pre-MGE era under lock and key of governments and military. Therefore, the Gate Net, colloquially known as 'g-net', system is the crux of all galactic civilisations. This does come with the disadvantage that worlds not connected to the system remain out of reach until hyperdrive technology advances.

Furthermore, they operate on no known physical, occult or magical means that anyone has been able to decipher. Each gate leads to one other and the system connects to itself, forming a closed loop, much like a mag-train system. Gates that connect to several other gates are few and far between, almost automatically elevating that star system to intergalactic hub status, for example Consensus of the Nine Rings sector.

Transporting ships on regular intervals that are unique to each gate, they are also the only method of transport of any kind between star systems. This has an extreme bottleneck effect when it comes to wars, giving an immense advantage to the defender. It also results in 'lag' time for information exchange, as it can take several 'jumps' depending on the distance.

The oldest archaeological ruins found to date have records of these gates suggesting that they predate even those civilisations. Thus, it begs the question, what could have so efficiently removed all trace of a civilisation capable of building structures that last millions, possibly billions of years after their demise?

The short answer is: no-one knows. The long answer..."

- Excerpt from The Economics of the Gate Net, introduction p.g. 3 by Wiseling Feretek 3546 MGE

◤━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◥

[Admiral]

"That insufferable buffoon, may his successors ever be cursed with haemorrhoids!", I muttered under my breath after walking out of my briefing. Not only was I being replaced from his position, they picked Drysis over me. Drysis. That Keltari managed graduated from the Academy with a negative score, which was believed to be a mathematical impossibility.

Either way, he managed to make it to Admiral without blowing up his fleet during a training drill, so I guess that counts for something. On the way out, I authorised the transit papers with the receptionist that finalised my transfer. Not that I had any choice in the matter anyways.

I hadn't even heard of the gatenet I had been transferred to. Probably some backwater industrial world, or a recent addition to the Alliance. Anyhow, it is a far cry from the Nine Rings, bordering the Empire. I sighed, taking solace in the fact that once the term dictated by the treaty was to end, I would return to my post.

Entering the VTrans at the end of the corridor, I remember Akilah mention something about a possible upgrade for me. Pressing the relevant button, with a soft hum, the box began to move sideways in the direction of the Research labs. The inertial dampeners ensured I didn't feel a thing and before long, a neutral "ding" sounded and the doors slid soundlessly open.

Following the signs to her lab in the sterile white corridors, I soon reached an opaque door with her nameplate engraved in the plas-metal. Before I could even knock, it opened inwards, revealing a stout Luttar, with comically oversized glasses. I entered and it closed the door behind me.

Crossing its two front limbs over its raised torso, Ketin trotted to a nearby bench, without so much of a glance in my direction. Clearing my throat, I was about to speak when it interrupted:

"Yes, yes, I know why you're here Glaive", Ketin rasped, pronouncing my name as though clearing copious amounts of mucous from its air ways.

"Akilah's busy, she said she left her present on the other bench", it continued, "try pressing the on button this time instead of the self destruct. Might help".

I gritted my teeth. 'I swear that damn lizard is out to get me', I thought to myself. I picked up the object in question, inspecting it. It appeared to be a silver metal band, without so much as an indentation in its surface.

"So, does this bracelet do anything else, except look pretty on my wrist", I turned around and asked the Luttar.

Ketin turned around, swishing its tail in displeasure. "That bracelet may just be the next breakthrough in arms technology", it huffed. "Try channeling your aura into it".

I looked at him, confused. "You do know that Contractors cannot infuse our auras into artifacts right? I thought you were a scientist?", I spoke with a straight face.

"Just do it, Glaive.", it clicked its tongue impatiently.

I shrugged and activated the aura gland deep in my neck where pre-GEN humans were said to have an obselete gland called 'tonsils'. Feeling the warm current flow out, I suppressed my instinct to let it roam free and channelled it down my right arm to my wrist.

Seemingly reacting to this, the bracelet tightened almost painfully. I felt it inject needles directly into my aura paths. Instead of the aura circling back through my hand, it entered the bracelet, complex circuits and runes revealing themselves on its surface in grey ink.

"Now, I know its hard for you, but try to use that useless organ between your ears and picture a gun of some sort", Ketin rasped. Considering Luttar have neural nets as opposed to centralised nervous systems, I assume his insults are not aimed at me specifically. Or not. It's hard to tell with him.

The standard LAS-pistol, given to all military recruits on graduation came to mind. It was not the most efficient nor the most powerful, but it held powerful sentimentality, especially to Academy alumni. He shuddered at the unpleasant memory before suppressing it and focusing on the task at hand.

Just as the runes fully appeared, the bracelet dissolved into a viscous liquid before flowing into his open palm. There, it reformed a perfect replica of his LAS-pistol, down to the familiar nicks and scratches.

Flicking off the safety, I felt it power on. "I see, it draws energy from its user as opposed to a power source. That way it would continue firing so long as the wielder had the spare energy", I realised with a start.

"Exactly. The engineering boys almost had their scales moult and their eyes boil trying to figure this out", Ketin grated. "You're to field test this for the time being, work out the kinks until its combat ready. The usual works."

Must be a cultural thing.

"Yes of course, I understand", I replied.

"Oh, and one more thing", he raised a foreleg, "send your reports directly to me. This project has been placed under my supervision".

I nodded my assent, still turning over the LAS-pistol in my hands. Cutting off the aura flow, the gun dissolved back into that viscous liquid before reforming around my wrist as a bracelet.

"As a plus, it's pretty much invisible to most scanners. This is currently classified to level 3, so you'll have to transport it yourself to prevent any paper trail. It'll get through our security checks, but I'd avoid any diviners or seers. Those guys have no respect for science and the laws of causality anyways.", he grumbled.

"Sure, I can handle that. Anything else for me?"

"Nope. We're counting on your reports to make this military standard. You know how stingy the higher ups are with the budget. I've no doubt they'd sell their broodbearer for a single scale"

"Right...don't worry about it", I waved him off and he returned to whatever important task I had distracted him from. Considering my ship had been returned to the r&d department, I would have to take the next gate-jump to travel. My new placement was in a system called Half World, on the outer edges of Alliance territory, far from any volatile borders. It would take 11 sol days to get there travelling by g-jump, after which it shouldn't be long before I am back at my Nine Rings position.

Walking back to my quarters I couldn't help but sigh, 'What's the reason for Lord Astrom replacing me? My mission was classified level 4, so to expose my absence from my post by declaring it according to the treaty would risk its confidentiality. Surely they could have swept this under the rug and the Empire would be none the wiser?'. I began to feel a growing headache coming on, 'these politicians and their damn politics.'

Well, there's nothing for me to do other than deal with it, so I shook unnecessary thoughts from my mind, entering the VTrans to head back to my quarters for a solid night's sleep.

...

True to the words of the Luttar, the bracelet made it past internal security checks without so much as a flicker on the scanners. I would be lying if I said the lack of security did not worry me, but this was highly experimental classified tech, so I doubt the average space-pirate would have their hands on one.

He had received a missive from Ossilia's instructor, Forgemaster Scell, that she would be to accompany me on this mission as well. Apparently, she had been 'appropriately reprimanded' for her errors in combat with the Archbishop on Exo-Prime. Knowing Scell, that probably means 48 hours in the Dark Room. Poor thing.

Our convoy consisted of one Disaster Class freighter with an escort of five Wasp class fighters. Although, considering the relative safety of our route, I had no doubt this was slight overkill.

Approaching the looming Gate, I glanced at the holo displaying the countdown to departure. In all, it would take a total of 3 gate jumps and 11 days to reach our destination. Not too bad for a place effectively in the middle of nowhere. Our convoy joined the large mass of military and civilian ships that awaited the Gate, cruising to a stop among them. This was one of three Gates that were accessible from Command Centre and were solely for its use.

After all, you can't always use black hyperdrive technology to travel. I was rudely interrupted from my daydream about crashing a hyperdrive into a star by the powering up of the Gate. The inanimate construct hung ominously, shrouded in darkness. With a low hum that could be heard in my bones despite the vacuum of space, the inner part began to spin clock-wise. The noise gradually building until I had to activate the vibration-dampeners in my seat. The outer ring then joined its sister and began to rotate in the opposite direction.

When it reached some unknown velocity, a sharp blue light blossomed from the contact between the two spinning rings, like sparks on a wheel. Without the shielding present in his freighter, he had no doubt that the sheer forces would rend his prized hyperalloy ship like a child with play dough.

As quickly as it came, the light faded as the roar receded. Instead, what he saw through the inner ring was an ocean-covered world, as though through a window. Even now, so soon after it powered on, space around the ring twisted and roiled, fiercely rebelling at the effects the Gate had performed. Even with its immense energy, it could only hold out so long against the laws of the universe and the full brunt of reality, hence they had a short window of transfer.

The ships moved forward in sync, connected through a collective Nav-AI for this sole purpose. Like the well-oiled machine it was, the ships passed through the Gate without issue. As always, despite visual disorientation of your view of the stars being replaced by another, there was no physical discomfort, as though you were travelling through completely normal space-time.

Just as the last ship passed through, the spinning rings slowed down and the boiling space-time around flooded in to correct this breach of universal laws, until there was no evidence remaining that we had just travelled several thousand light years.

****************************

14th Monarch, 1446

We are approximately 14 days from reaching the inner boundary of the Outermost Rim. So far, all abyss-dwellers have been easily dealt with by the ships projectile weapons. There has been no need for any intervention. Navigation has gone as expected, although the maps were slightly outdated in some areas.

- Extract from the diary of S. Kyssus entry 6, Archive File #P1D9*****