Hermes Gate

Overview

The Hermes Gate is a modular Hyperspace gate that can have an aperture of anything from 100m to several hundred kilometers depending on the number of segments making up the gate and how powerful the gate needs to be. Hermes Gates are generally about 50 km in diameter with a standard outfit of 72 free floating 100m gate segments, but can be shrunk to allow more accuracy or range. Hermes gates are most often grouped into pairs, with one gate handling outbound traffic and one handling inbound. When an especially large object or group of objects has to pass through, both gates can combine and operate in either an inbound or outbound mode.

Jumping

One of the key features of the Hermes gates is the ability to function as a jump gate, either broadcasting the jump alone or acting as part of the network. When initiating a jump as part of the network, range is almost unlimited profided that there is a gate within range to pick up and forward the signal.

Security

The Hermes Gate is protected by several tiers of protection.

• The first is a customs station, which scans vessels for contraband which may harm the gate. Explosive devices, "fire ships", and so on should be detected well before reaching the Hermes Gate. The scanners can penetrate most known hull types, and any hull that cannot be penetrated must be searched. It should be noted that random vessels may be boarded and searched from time to time if they wish to use the gate network.

• The second is the patroling ships of the Hermes Alliance. Smaller ships, below capital ship size, normally patrol the gates to make sure that order is maintained. If an emergency arises, larger vessels may guard the gate to maintain the flow of traffic.

• The third and final defense is the gate itself. The gate is armed with heavy shields that can protect it long enough for assistance to arrive.

Safety

The Hermes Gate, like its predecessors, has an unparalleled track record, with no recorded accidents during normal operation. Several testing accidents have occurred with the original gate prototypes, but no one was seriously injured or killed in those incidents.

However, during an unorthodox trans-galactic broadcast jump from Axis to the Sculptor dwarf galaxy, the two combined gates catastrophicly exploded, damaging and destroying several Bryn Shanderan warships and destroying several hundred civilian vessels that had gathered to watch the trans-galactic jump. Multiple colonies and the asteroid were also damaged by the explosion.

Trans-Galactic Jumps

In addition to the catastrophic trans-galactic jump by the Axis gate, one other trans-galactic jump has been attempted. The first trans-galactic jump using the Hermes gates was during the fall of New Haven to Concordat forces when Imperatrix Sarah I and six million refugees made a jump to the Sculptor dwarf galaxy in an attempt to preserve their nation for future generations. Unlike the Axis disaster, the gate used by the New Havenic refugees simply burned out.