History of the Galaxy

* *All fictions are purely of the imagination of the author.* (Llamasrcool269)

## Legends of the Gates

It has only been a half millenia since the discovery of the gates. Man has always imagined about other galactic citizens. We've always wondered upon their great stores of knowledge and possible technologies unknown even to our greatest scientists. We've always wondered how we would interact. From the speculations of the earliest humans, we have drawn up how perhaps mighty gods of the past were truly advanced aliens. However, these only present fictions, false realities, false speculation. But hasn't science fiction always become reality? It appears that even when dealing with aliens, science fiction always become fact.

The year was 2100 AD, a time of advancement for humanity. Space flight had led to the edges of the solar system, and except for a few minor diplomatic skirmishes, the Earth was somehow united with peace. Governments freely shared technology and worked with each other for the betterment of the human race. More and more funding led to faster, lighter, and longer range ships that did what was previously thought impossible. We pushed the limits of our technological advancement, and soon enough we had all but explored our solar system. The UNS (United Nations' Ship) *Aquarius*, led by Commodore Galen Verril and Dr. Patry Davins, was to be the most advanced technological masterpiece. Designed for Lightspeed travel and powered with a fusion reactor, The *Aquarius* was the fastest and longest range ship ever created by humanity, with contributions from all major UN members. The UN galactic science team, made up of only the brightest scientists in the world, were to document and analyze all findings in their voyage. The crew was made up of previous crew members of other successful missions to ensure only the best would go on the voyage. As the ship parted from the UN moon base, it was clear that humans had reached the golden age of their own advancement.

The *Aquarius* used its engines to reach the edge of the solar system within days. All systems checked out and were in working order. Artificial Intelligence usage was kept to a minimum due to disaster that occured in 2001, and the experienced crew more than made up for this. As the ship neared the edge of the solar system, the crew heightened the sensor arrays as this space had not been explored until now. Amongst vast asteroids, the ship found dwarf planets, comets, dead stars, and a vast collection of what they called 'dead worlds': full-size planets whose heat source ran out and left without any obvious sign of life. Upon further analysis of once previously unexplored areas, the science team discovered fossils of ancient life, a finding they thought was the highlight of the voyage. In other areas, they even found bacterium on asteroids. Their greatest finding, however, was yet to come.

The crew went further into the vast void of space, recording anything they could find. They documented all their findings in the ship's vast digital storage space, with complete analysis and scans on even the smallest particles. New elements, gases, peculiar chemicals, anything found was now aboard the *Aquarius.* That is, until one day the ship discovered and tracked a peculiar energy signal. It was not a star; the systems had long determined that. Not a planet either. Dr. Davins ordered the ship to proceed on course towards the mysterious object. What they found had shocked them, and the world. "This is a structure completely alien, a structure made by some other intelligent race unknown to man. It is like a bony, holly cylinder, and as of now appears to not function." Even amongst the scientists, all were confused, shocked of this chilling discovery. Thus proved that indeed, other beings existed.

Upon further inspection, the crew could not successfully determine its origin. There had to be creators, master builders of some possibly ancient race that ruled the stars. But no insignia, no clue was present on what many started calling the Star Gate. Dr. Davins named this race "The Initial" and as of now these previous beings still bear the same name. Commodore Verril contacted Earth on further actions; they too were confused. The *Aquarius* scoured the area once more for clues, but again, nothing. Within two weeks, Earth sent Verril a transmission:

> *Earth to Verril: Vast amount of unknown information. Unconfirmed functionality of the 'device.' Requires in depth inspection. Orders: Send a team down there and scour the object, learn of its inner workings. If it is truly a gate, we'll also need to see if it works; send a small craft to travel through.*
>
>

With that, Verril ordered a team of scientists to check out the Gate. They launched a small shuttle to transport them to the device, while the *Aquarius* stayed back in case something went wrong. The scientists determined that the composition was unknown; no material like it had ever been produced. It was sturdy, tougher than any material created by man. It had high energy levels, and appeared to radiate some unknown energy form. Whatever it was, it was undoubtedly foreign. However, nothing more than a surface check was possible as the material was deemed impossible to breach. Not even the highest powered lasers could attempt to open it up. All other attempts to try to analyze the inner workings of the Star Gate were deemed unsafe. The first part of the mission was complete, now came the second, and much more dangerous part: passing through it.

Dr. Davins himself would pass through with a few of the most experienced crew and scientists. As this mission could deem fatal, all members of the mission fully knew what task they faced. Of course, it would be foolish to send married people on such a dangerous and risky mission, so only those who had little relationships on Earth went. Each member was ready to die for the advancement of humanity, and it was their choice that they would go upon this mission to end their lives as true space explorers. The shuttle, equipped with seeds for food and a small room for agriculture, along with a water reclaimer, would ensure that the crew would survive long after their rations ran out.

Within minutes, the Star Gate roared with a massive burst of energy. It had awakened.

At this point, Davins said his last farewell and ordered the shuttle to go full speed into the mouth of the Gate. As the whirling, purplish aura danced around the small shuttle, every member of the crew braced themselves for their fate. At once, the shuttle disappeared through the Gate, and at that the purple lights dimmed into its previous dormant state. As Verril tried his best to communicate with the shuttle, all signs showed that the shuttle was too far away for contact. It had disappeared into the infinite reality that lay through the Star Gate. So too had Davins tried to contact the *Aquarius*. The crew had passed through a gate identical to the first; though this brought reassurance that they didn't travel far, this was indeed far from truth. Soon he and his crew realized through the ship's navigational data that they were in a place completely foreign. They were in a completely different part of the universe, a place never yet seen by man.

Back on Earth, the UN scrambled to find more information of this, but was stumped about the reports. All knew that disappearance was impossible; the only plausible reason would be that the Star Gate acted upon a wormhole; once thought to be the 'unicorn' of the universe, it was clear that the legends of their existence were true. Soon, Earth started producing more spaceships to send through the Gate in order to get more information. Commodore Verril was ordered to stay until further notice, but within a week the UN ordered him to follow Davins' ship in an attempt to retrieve it. Verril successfully passed through, and soon came into contact with Davins once more. By then, Davins had done some exploration around the system for the sake of humanity, but could not find another unusual signal other then the Gate he traveled through, so there were no other gates in the system. In an attempt to return to their Solar System, Dr. Davins and the science team realized they could control the Gates somehow. Using reverse engineering, Davins figured out a way to control the Gate he passed to go to any other Gate in the universe, if there were more. Blasting the Gate with a variety of radiation frequencies, Davins was able to find the right frequency to link the Gate's control with the ship. Putting in the coordinates for Earth's system, Verril and Davins successfully arrived to their home system, and once again regained contact with Earth. Both sent this new valuable information to the UN, which thanked them for their bravery and ingenuity. In an attempt to recreate the experiment, Verril and Davins arrived in the same system they arrived in before. Other ships came through the Gate as well, using the information Davins had explained.

Soon, the story did not simply pertain to Verril and Dr. Davins, but the entire human race. It appeared the Gate instigated a renewed Space Race, as governments started to mistrust each other and imposed classification on all gained information. All countries wanted to be the first to figure out the mysteries, and soon there were not just UN ships, but ships from the USA, UK, Russia, China, Japan, and the other developed countries. Soon the science ships evolved into colony ships as people saw potential of the Star Gate.

By 2120, humanity had explored more around their solar system. Mysteriously, they found more and more gates. By 2150, humans traveled through the Milky Way only to find more and more Gates. Soon, the infamous Star Gate become a common object of the universe. By now, humans had a strong grasp of controlling where the gates would send them, allowing them to colonize previously unreachable parts of the galaxy. Millions of people began flocking to the gates, anxious for opportunity and ready to find new habitable planets. This began what was called The Scattering. Davins and Verril had long since been ignored, but their legacy was still apparent to those who still remembered. As time passed, humans realized that the Gates were littered throughout the universe; the race who produced them had an enormous empire once spanning across the universe.

It was not long until humans discovered the first Stations, which were much grander than the Gates and seemed to have either a military or trade purpose. Interestingly, a team studying orbital dynamics to create large moveable stations found their ship, *Myrmidon*, hitting small chunks of processed metal. Further discovery led them to find a massive station along the orbit of the planet. The Stations lay dormant, and they appeared to have a near identical construction doctrine to the Gates, with similar control interfaces and structure. Obviously, the creator of the Gates also built these massive stations. The had similar composition to the Gates and had the same mysterious radiation, but were also heavily armed and seemed to be in major systems strategically placed to protect trade. We neither completely understand the Gates or the Stations, and has been the main point of debate of top scientists in the universe. Still, the discovery of Stations never made the same impact as the First Star Gate, but humans have been able to utilize them for defense and somehow owners of the stations have increased military, development, and mining output..

As millions left Earth, there was a grand decline in technological and social development. Earth had a dwindling population due to the mass immigration, and all of the colonies on the new planets had problems keeping strong infrastructure. Soon enough, Earth scientists began producing a planet-destroying weapon to combat the growing threat of other empires. Known to others as the *Desolation*, the only thing we know is that in its production, the weapon exploded in a burst so powerful that it destroyed the Earth with it. Now, we changed AD to After Destruction as testament to this horrible weapon of mass destruction. Now, the only thing that connects the human worlds is the Gates. Now, the question is not about the past. It is who shall raise a new empire as strong as the one that created the Gates?