McKay/Carter Intergalactic Gate Bridge

"Thirty-four Gates from both the Milky Way and Pegasus Gate systems have been strategically placed in the massive void between our two galaxies. Simply enter on either side -- for example, Atlantis -- and boom! A macro that I have written specially for the occasion will command each Gate in the chain to store you in its buffer and forward you along to the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next until you arrive here. Once at the midway space station you simply exit the Pegasus Gate system and enter the Milky Way Gate system where a similar macro designed by yours truly will forward you along to the S.G.C. Total travel time, a little over thirty minutes. Cue applause."

- Dr. Rodney McKay

The McKay/Carter Intergalactic Gate Bridge is a network of interconnected Stargates placed in the void between the Milky Way and Pegasus galaxies. Developed by Doctors Rodney McKay and Samantha Carter, for whom it is named, the bridge is designed to allow fast, convenient travel between Atlantis and Stargate Command without the need of a Daedalus class ship, or even a Zero Point Module.

The bridge is composed of 34 Stargates taken from both the Pegasus and Milky Way gate systems, into which has been loaded a macro developed by Dr. McKay that forwards travelers directly from one Stargate to the next without rematerializing them. Since the two gate systems are apparently incompatible (at least with the current level of Tau'ri knowledge), a space station has been constructed at the midpoint between the two galaxies, where the two chains of Stargates meet. There, it is intended that one need only step out of one Stargate and into the next. Travel time using the bridge is approximately 30 minutes, a drastic reduction from the weeks-long journey required via ship.

As of 2006, Midway Station was still incomplete, but the gate bridge itself was fully functional; Lt. Col. John Sheppard performed the inaugural intergalactic voyage using a Puddle Jumper.

When the Asurans briefly took control of Atlantis, Gen. Hank Landry expressed concern that the gate bridge might be used to allow them access to the Milky Way. Even though Earth was protected by the Iris, the Asurans could potentially rewrite McKay's macro to send them to some other Stargate within the galaxy. When Sheppard and Dr. Elizabeth Weir mounted an operation to retake Atlantis, McKay himself managed to rewrite the macro to take them to the Athosians' new homeworld.

Afterwards, Landry wanted a way to disable the gate bridge; Dr. Lee suggested detonating a Mark IX warhead at Midway station. This plan was apparently not carried out, however, and the gate bridge remained intact.

After Atlantis' Stargate was destroyed by the Attero device in 2008, the Daedalus retrieved Atlantis' new Stargate from one of the gates in the, currently inactive, gate bridge.

Midway space station


The Midway space station is a space station located between the Milky Way and Pegasus galaxies, serving as the midpoint of the McKay/Carter Intergalactic Gate Bridge.

History
By late 2007, the station had been completed to the point that it supported life; the final stages of its construction were personally supervised by Colonel Samantha Carter and Doctor Bill Lee. During the efforts, the artificial gravity briefly failed, but was eventually repaired.

It was possible to communicate in real time between the Midway station and locations in Pegasus; when Atlantis went missing following its departure from Lantea, the Apollo kept communications with the Midway station to assist in locating the missing city.

After a virus breakout on Atlantis, travel between the galaxies was conducted solely over the Midway station, with a 24-hour quarantine imposed on every traveller.

Eventually, the Wraith managed to gate to Midway and use it as a way to Earth by taking a cruiser to a planet in the Pegasus Gate Network that was part of the bridge. They took over the station and sent Wraith to Earth to establish a foothold in the SGC base. A strike team led by Sheppard and McKay gated to the Station and managed to retake it, but more Wraith managed to gate through to Earth. Dr. Kavanagh managed to shut down the Gate but in doing so accidentally triggered the self-destruct and the team couldn't override it, causing Midway Station to explode. It is currently unknown if the station will be rebuilt, but in an alternate time line nearly a year later, it had not.