The rings between systems
Span gates are ancient ring structures linking star systems. Nobody built them in living memory, and nobody fully understands them.
The Charter maps them, guards them and taxes them. For a working pilot, the ring ahead is the next system on the route.
Something worth listening to
The Choir broadcasts a looping signal and regards the gates as holy. Elsewhere, explorers search data caches and relic sites for fragments of the network’s past.
The rings offer passage. Their origin remains an unanswered question.