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Relay001
Relay001
Image from Steve Bowers
An early stage in the reconfiguration of this tripple system, showing the disassembly of a gas giant
Star SystemHD 196885
ArityTriple: One class F star orbited by a red dwarf at 24 AU and another at 6600 AU
Distance from Sol109 ly
ConstellationDelphinius

Relay001 was the first major wormhole plexus and relay system built in the Inner Sphere. It became the model for later Relay systems.

Relay001 lies approximately 109 light years from the Solsys and represents the first major reconstruction of a solar system in the service of expanding the Wormhole Nexus. The system was originally a triple sun arrangement similar to Alpha Centauri. A binary pair of stars (F6 IV and M1 V) orbited each other with a separation of 24 AU, and were in turn orbited by a more distant M2 red dwarf companion.

When plans for a major 'backbone' link for the growing wormhole network were first laid, the system was unclaimed by any polity and seemed perfect for the task. During the initial construction, both of the inner stars were converted to ten kilometer gauge wormhole gates, leading to other major plexi, while the red dwarf companion star was partially disassembled to provide mass for three addtional 'branch' gates leading to systems in the vicinity. The rest of the mass of the system was initially stored in orbiting clusters in the vicinity and then gradually used for the creation of additional gates, the expansion of existing gates as traffic increased, and the manufacture of various large industrial complexes whose products take advantage of the nearby wormhole plexus to provide rapid transit across the connected galaxy.

Over the next several centuries, the number of branching gates grew until in the current era over 80 star systems count the Relay as one of their major wormhole links, allowing rapid transit not only to many other systems, but (via the central backbone gates) rapid access to other relay systems farther away. The design of the system has become a standard with Relay301 having just come online in 9649.

Travel via the Relay system typically consists of jumping from one's starting point directly to the Relay or through one or two intermediate systems until one reaches the Relay point. From there, it is possible to either transit through one of the branch gates to one's destination or to jump via one or more of the backbone gates (typically separated by 50-75ly) to the Relay system that contains the link(s) to the destination system.

Using the Relay system it is possible for dozens or hundreds of solar systems to enjoy rapid communications and contact with their neighbors and with neighboring clusters of systems for the cost of a single wormhole portal. Most of the traffic routed through this relay point is destined for, or originates in, the former Cygexpa volume and the Keter Dominion, including part of the former Biovirate territories.

 
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Appears in Topics
CommunicationsInfrastructureInterstellar Transport
Places and LocalesSpace-Time EngineeringSystems & Worlds Q - R
Transapientech / Godtech / Clarketech
 
Development Notes
Text by Todd Drashner
Initially published on 15 January 2003.

 
 
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