Re: FTL capable fighters (B5)

>> The new Kathryn Drennan B5 book seems to indicate that a large number
of
>> Jump gates were built thousends of years ago by First Ones. Lucky
younger
>> races like the Centauri and the Minbari found gates like these either
in or
>> near their home system. After long research they discovered the
access
>> codes for these gates and were able to use them. They then aquired
the
>> technology to build them for themselves.
>> 
>> Its possible that this 2 Light Months distant gate was one of the
originals
>> now incorporated into the Jump gate network. Why the First Ones
should put
>> a gate there?, only they know.
>> Regards..... Roger
>> 
>	At a guess, that location could have been where Epsilon Eridani
was
>located when they built the great machine on the planet.  The system
>could have kept moving through space, but the jumpgate wasn't anchored
>to the system?

Good thought, but for two things:

1) the First Ones didn't build the Great Machine; it was the race who
lived on the planet long ago. And the Great Machine was built ~500 years
ago, whereas the First Ones [almost] all left for Beyond back 1000 years
ago (granted, maybe there was a renegade First One running about and had
influence in on this; can't say one way or the other there).

2) doing the math the numbers don't quite work out right. In order to
move
2 light months in 500 years the Epsilon Eridani system would have to be
booking at a space velocity of ~61 miles/second.

2 light months ~= 965,685,888,000 miles.

31,557,600 seconds in a year

500 years -> 15,778,800,000 seconds

965,685,888,000/15,778,800,000 ~= 61 miles/second

The numbers given for Epsilon Eridani's X-Y-Z velocities are -4, +7, and
-21
(km/second, from the GJ91 catalog). This quickly is calculated out to be
~14
miles/second (~22.5 km/sec).

So the numbers don't work.

Plus with your hypothesis you now need to somehow explain how the jump
gate
was prevented from being gravitationally locked to the system. Just be
sure
you're internally consistent for other gates.  ;-)

Mk
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
During the run-and-fight-and-run-again battle through this forest of
horror,
she is finally cornered. Her weapons have been left deep in the bodies
of the
slain or broken against the granite-hard scales of these snakes that are
not
snakes. Her stand to the death must be fought here. Though her only
weapons
are her hands and her deep and wide knowledge of the slayers, she does
not
fear them. They will die. Of this she is sure.