Astria Porta

An "Astria Porta" (latin for "Stargate" and found in the original texts) is a transport device similar to an Iconian Gateway. The device creates a power nuetrino surge which causes a cascade wormhole to travel great distances in seconds.

History
The "Astria Porta" is an unusual device, first discovered in the Pegasus Galaxy by the USS Isis. This device was taken aboard the Isis and placed in the cargo bay of the ship, with the first Astria Porta showing signs of extensive assimilation attempts by the Borg Collective.

The first discovered Astria Porta proved to be an advanced mystery as Project Exodus scienctists were baffled by its construction or purpose. These scienctists thoerised that the rings purpose may have been for some long range transportation however repeated analysis had turned up inconclusive results.

All doubt was erased when the semi-assimilated Astria Porta automatically interfaced with the EPS Power systems of the USS Isis, crippling the ship. The gate drew massive amounts of power from the Isis, almost crippling the ship and automatically established a powerful neutrino field and created a wormhole.

After various attempts were made to shut the gate down, which proved unsuccessful, Captain Shawn Messioptra ordered a team through the gate when probes determined a breathable atmosphere on the other side of the wormhole.

The team travelled almost 500 Lightyears in a few seconds, although their commbadges still worked while the gate was opening. The team arrived at Alexandria City Station which appeared to have a ring of its own. The station itself proved to be of the same race as the people that built the Astria Porta.

It was also discovered that the Borg Collective, who had been defeated by the Cealier in the Milky Way Galaxy in 2381 and were thought to be extinct, had infact been using assimilated Astria Porta technology in order to create power neutrino surges and pull ships to this region of space for assimilation as they rebuilt themselves.

Known Technical Specifications
Travel through an Astria Porta is strictly one-way: from the dialing gate to the receiving gate. This is not a limitation of the wormhole, but of the technology; wormholes will transmit anything that enters them, but no solid matter could survive the process. Thus, each gate in the pair takes on a specific role: the dialing gate converts the traveler into its most basic components (sub-atomic particles) and transmits it, while the receiving gate reassembles the transmitted matter back into its original form. Doing the reverse is not only fatal for the traveler, but would just result in the dialing gate deconstructing the object upon arrival, converting it into energy.

It is unknown what would happen if someone entered the Astria Porta via the 'back' rather than the front. Although it is believed to be a most unpleasant experience.