Iconian gateway



The Iconian gateways were a technology invented by the ancient Iconian race which allowed instantaneous transportation between locations all over the galaxy. The ability to appear out of seemingly nowhere earned the Iconians the nickname "Demons of Air and Darkness".

Overview
The Gateways allowed instantaneous transport throughout space within the network of gateways extending throughout much of the Milky Way Galaxy and to at least one gateway just outside the Galaxy. Some gateways could also be used to travel through time and to other dimensions. (DS9 novella: "Horn and Ivory"; ; )

There were at least two types of gateways created by the Iconians. One was an older type which were found in planetary orbits and were used in the transportation of starships. The second type were the smaller series which were used to transport people from one location to another. 

The gateways were also developed by the Iconians in the mirror universe. In the late 24th century a smaller portal device was discovered, which seemed to function as a miniaturised version of the gateways technology. 

Main timeline
In the year 2365, Federation starship Captain Donald Varley of the USS Yamato (NCC-71807) discovered clues as to the location of the lost Iconian homeworld. After the destruction of the Yamato, the search was taken up by Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), who discovered the homeworld located deep within the Romulan Neutral Zone and discovered a functioning gateway on the planet's surface. Unfortunately, Picard was forced to destroy the gateway in order to keep the technology out of Romulan hands. 

Similar to this in the Mirror Universe, the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance destroyed the Iconian homeworld rather then allow the gateway technology to fall into the hands of the Romulan Star Empire. 

The following year, Commander Elias Vaughn encountered another gateway on Alexandra's Planet during another encounter with Romulans. 

In 2370 members of a conspiracy within Starfleet stored what appeared to be a gateway in a secret facility on, or near, Earth. 

The Dominion discovered a gateway on Vandros IV in 2372. A group of Jem'Hadar rebelled against their leaders and seized the gateway for themselves, hoping to take control of the Dominion. They were stopped by Benjamin Sisko and Weyoun's crews, who mounted a joint assault to destroy the gateway. 

Brave New World
In one timeline where Doctor Noonien Soong's vision of widespread develop of androids, Commander Data led a group of Soong-type androids away from the Federation after gaining near equal sentient rights in order to explore the limits of artificial life. Their travelling led them to the Romulan Neutral Zone where they settled on the planet Turing which they discovered to contain an Iconian gateway. After examining the technology for many years, the androids developed a culture on the planet and were able to use the gateways for their benefit but not recreate it.

Through the gateway, they deployed android infiltrators in other interstellar governments in order to quicken the acceptance of android life. They later contacted the USS Enterprise under the command of his former Captain, Jean-Luc Picard in order to ask for his aid to stop a war which Data believed would come from the Romulans when they discovered the colony on Turing. Whilst on the android homeworld, Wesley Crusher unlocked the secrets of gateway technology allowing for the machines to be developed. In order to prevent a war, Picard and Data offered the widespread development of gateway technology by the major races in the hopes that this would promote peace and that any government that used it as an offensive weapon would face the possibility of a gateway attack on them.

This prompted peace in the quadrants and by wide scale development of the technology by creating gateway hubs, the Federation was able to expand into the distant Gamma Quadrant where they encountered the Dominion. It was believed that eventually the Iconian gateway technology would mean that widescale exploration of the galaxy would happen in a short matter of time which meant that new horizons were expected such as journey to other galaxies.