Knossos
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| The Knossos Device |
The first Knossos Subspace Portal was discovered in the Gamma Draconis system in 2367. A team led by Dr. Mina Hargrove determined that the portal was constructed by the species known as the Ancients. Historical findings suggests that portals such as the Knossos were used to connect parts of the Ancients' once vast empire to another throughout the galaxy. Information concerning this project are limited due to ongoing (at the time of FreeSpace 2) technical and engineering evaluations on the technology.
To sum up the functioning of the device, the interlocking circular motions of its components creates a subspace vortex that assists in stabilizing jump corridors otherwise too unstable to be used safely. Prolonged use of a Knossos can cause a node to completely restablize, so that if the Knossos is destroyed or deactivated, the node remains usable.
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FreeSpace 2 Tech Description
The subspace portal was discovered in the Gamma Draconis system in 2367. The interlocking circular motions of its components apparently create a subspace vortex that connects the Gamma Draconis system to another part of our universe. Dr. Hargrove's team continues to study the device, though their findings are highly classified.
Speculation
One of the many Knossos theories suggests that the portal is not a node stabilizer at all but rather a node destabilizer. It proposes that the Knossos network was established to prevent the Shivans from entering Gamma Draconis rather than to allow ships to access the nebula and the systems beyond. There is no particular game evidence to suggest this; in fact, it runs contrary to much of the game's implied information.
It's also odd that the GTVA never noticed this massive subspace portal floating around in Gamma Draconis until the Shivans arrived through it. The system's sun is easily visible in the Knossos missions, implying that the Knossos is not set up too far into deep space. This gives credence to Petrarch's theory that "This device may have been inactive and therefore invisible to long-range sensors, or it may be of recent construction." Note also that Hargrove states that "What we know is that this device is very, very old, on the order of several thousand years."
Known Knossos devices
Knossos 1
Discovered in Gamma Draconis by NTF forces, and activated by the NTC Trinity, this device connected GTVA space with the nebula. As the only easily accessible example of this device, it was extensively studied, but was eventually destroyed by Allied demolition teams in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent the Shivans' entry into the Galactic Terran-Vasudan Alliance's core systems. Before that time, the scientific team studying the device was able to gather enough information such that something similar could conceivably be constructed to reestablish contact with the Sol system.
Knossos 2
The second Knossos portal was discovered by pilots from the GVD Psamtik in the Shivan nebula, and led to the Binary System beyond. It was the major entry point for the Sathanas fleet into the nebula (perhaps the only one) and was only traversed once by GTVA forces, when a small exploration team of Special Operations Command operatives in captured SF Mara-class fighters went through in an attempt to gain information about the massing Shivan fleet.
Knossos 3
The third Knossos portal was discovered by the SOC team in the binary system, approximately 150 kilometers from the node leading back to the nebula. No data is available on the system it links to, though it can be assumed to be Shivan-controlled.
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