As large scale human space travel grew, there was an increasing need for exotic materials to power starship drives and extend humanity’s reach into the stars. Human expansion was slow and dangerous until the discovery of the dimensional gate – a means of traveling through higher dimensions to cross vast distances in a short time. The technology lead to a boom in human expansion, but travel via dimensional gates required a gateway on each side; sub-light travel times made construction of new gates slow and expensive.
Research into dimensional travel continued and eventually led to the “sling gate”: a one-way gate that could catapult ships over vast distances with no exit gate needed. This new discovery allowed humanity to access resources that were previously unreachable, and construction crews were sent through sling gates to build exit gates and open access to these untapped resources.
Sling Gate travel had its own risks, however. Flinging starships thousands of light-years through hyperdimensional space without a gateway to stabilize the exit led to frequent failures – ships would usually be left without functional engines and heavily damaged. In addition, the vast distances involved led to some inherent inaccuracy in sling gate travel – ships would often arrive light-years away from their intended destination.
The cost and risk involved in these endeavors eventually led to the rise of several large corporations to bear the burden. Corporations started sending large “station-ships” through the sling gates that could be scuttled on the other side and used to build a functioning station with enough supplies to act as a remote headquarters. With these starting resources, a supply network could be created and the remote headquarters could become self-sufficient. Once enough resources were stockpiled, a dimensional gate could be constructed to send the resources where they were needed.
Despite the vastness of space and the near-unlimited supply of these resources, corporations often found themselves vying for the same territories. They began developing military technologies their remote headquarters could employ to impede their rivals. The buildup of military forces eventually led to open warfare between the corporations. Waged far from the cradle of civilization, these conflicts were often ignored; it was simply the cost of doing business.