Just some stuff I thought up as -background for the story:
Over ten thousand years ago an alien race know as the Tyral, built hyperspace gates across the galaxy so that they could travel where ever they wanted. Some say they were traders, some say they were warriors, but what everyone agrees on is that they were one of the most advanced races in the galaxy. Then they disappeared, though no one knows why or where to, though archeologists have been trying to discover more about them since their disappearance. After they disappeared various races uncovered their tech and reverse engineered it, becoming as advanced as they were, if not more.
In modern times, Tyral gateways are below average in terms of "depth", but they are found throughout the galaxy, so you still find them in use many places. In fact, one of their gates was found by humans 140 years ago on edge of the Keiper belt when a Hibros ship was force to make an emergency exit from it. Humans had known about aliens for decades from archeology in the system, but these were the first live aliens they had come into contact with. With the help of the Hibros humans were able to reverse engineer the gateway technology, but Earth's version is drastically inferior to the Tyral gate.
Though the gate was originally captured by the military and used to trade with other races, when the economy on Earth started to collapse it was sold to a multi-national corporate conglomerate that had already invested billions in in-system colonies, and they built Trade Station Alpha near what people had come to know as Prometheus Gate. Gates were then built in orbit near most colonies to facilitate in-system trade.
Gates have a "depth", which is how deep it can place you in hyperspace. The deeper you are in hyperspace, the faster you go, but the faster you have to dump tachyons to remain. If you don't release enough to stay in hyperspace, you reenter normal space. Though many races have the technology to enter and leave hyperspace from any location, Earth doesn't, and Earth ships can only enter or safely leave hyperspace at a gateway, though their best built gateways only let you go .15c, with the only one being in orbit of Earth, and rediculously expensive to use. Most go .10c.
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What do you think?