Gateways

Remnants of an age long gone, the Gateways scattered around the galaxy are seen by many as proof that a long forgotten empire once ruled the entire galaxy, uniting millions of stars under one rule. Whether that empire collapsed, was reduced to ruin, ascended to a higher plane or something else altogether is unknown. What is certain, however, is that the network of gateways has fallen into disrepair eons ago, as did any trace of its builders. Should we one day have the opportunity to reactivate the gateways, distant stars might once more be reunited.
Though we have no way of accessing the gateway network, research done on the derelict gateway found in the Sol Sector's Cromwell system has revealed some preliminary information about the way the gateways worked. The position of the gateway station on the outskirts of the system points to gravity well interference with the transit process. However, there is no detectable subspace pathway or tachyon trail, as in the case of hyperlanes or wormholes.  This  likely means that the travel system was of an instantaneous nature, connecting the different gateways together in one overlapping point, accessible by expending an enormous amount of energy. If wormholes are stable phenomena that "pierce" space-time through subspace tunneling, gateways seem to have functioned by temporarily bending it towards one location or another, forming a single point of passage.
This, however does not mean that the network was "open" to travel all of the time. Indeed it seems one could conditionally lock a gateway, either to everybody, or to select harmonic signatures, if the Curators are to be believed. This would mean distant enemy powers could have been be locked out even if their fleet was technically just a gateway jump away.
Tentative research into Gateway activation has been undertaken and according to initial reports, re-activating a gateway would take a near complete overhaul of the existing framework, a new interface module and massive amounts of power, in addition to the discovery of the actual means to reactivate the gate.

Eons old, these giant derelict stations once formed a network of their own, allowing instantaneous travel between several points in the galaxy. That network could one day be restored, if we had the technology to restore and reactivate the gateways.

List of Known Gateways:

• Cromwell, United Nations of Earth
• Coraxan, Ix'Idar Star Collective
• Dorak, XT-489 Eliminator Space