No, you don't need an arbiter in a system to open a portal.

Look, you're sitting in a grassy field. All of a sudden, an ant pops from a hole in the ground, and followed behind comes several other ants, swarming and charging across the dirt. It is impossible to say which ant is responsible for the tunnel you see before your eyes. Nor does killing one perticular ant close the tunnel.

Wormholes are not stable. The Cree'Ar conduit is no exception. It has a lifespan that without arbiter support leads to the collapse and dissipation of the tunnel. Understand, though, that the arbiter is designed to cross GALAXIES. Not travel from system to system and carry minor dignataries, it brings entire fleets from my galaxy to this one. I'm not going to design a system whereby you can fire one small missle and destroy my entire fleet. I also object to your jump to conclusions that you know what the arbiter does... how? Because it's the first one out of the hole? That's a simply stated guess. You don't even know the c-velocity conduits are artifical modes of transportation because THIS IS THE FIRST TIME YOU'VE SEEN THEM. To be able to immediatly ascertain not only what they are but how they are created and how they can be collapsed is something I take high objection to, for obvious reasons.

This debate has already been had by the majority of TRF staff members that have ever held the job. I really don't feel like going through this again since this was resolved last year in discussions with Simon Kaine.

...Okay.

That's right.

http://www.therebelfaction.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4528&highlight=Opening+Doors

You might find page 9 of interest, Dolash

Fascinating. Though I didn't see anything to change this argument as it is, a lot of it was certainly enlightening, including:


"Quote:
1. When the wormhole dissolves/closes naturally what is the effect to ships remaining (trapped) inside?"

"Destruction. The womrhole is like... like a suchre. It's a conduit through a constantly contracting body. Eventually, the suchre and all materials in it disolve and melt away."


"Quote:
2. How long the wormhole can remain open naturally?"

"Months, maybe. Years. Never really considered it but it would die off. For the sake of arguement, months. Shorter the longer the conduit."


What this means to me, is that the wormhole would indeed kill anyone trapped inside, but once the wormholes are open it'd take months for them to close, even without an arbiter watching them. As such, Ruuvan's hopes that the destruction of the Arbiter would close a wormhole over the heart of the enemy ship has failed - even if we'd blown it up on first contact. Perhaps a better plan would have been to have just camped outside the wormhole and shot everything that came through, but it's too late for that. I will edit in the morning.