Scfi book about beeming starships between gates in star systems.

[SirKnight]

I Listened to an audio book a few years ago. The main plot is humanity sends drone ships out to build gates in star systems then ships can be "beamed" to them using a giant laser. The catch is they still only travel at the speed of light so for them no time has passed but in reality it a been how ever many years it took to get there and then back again. Leads to a heap of time jumps eveytime they come back to earth technology and society has jumped forward. The people that travel this way eventually become known as "skips" for the way they skip though time.

 

[Parson]

@SirKnight -- This is a not uncommon story among S.F. novels. Except the "skips" part of it. I remember snippets from 2 or 3 novels with that idea of interstellar travel. Can you remember anything else about the plot? When did you read it? Do you know when it was published? What did the cover look like? Those kinds of things can jog the old memory. This is a pretty good group at puzzling these things out, but of course we are far from finding them all.

 

[SirKnight]

So on their return trips different factions emerge as technology advances. The one I remember the most is a group that begin upgrading themselves with cybernetic implants some even uploading themselves into a server.
Their employer after nearly 200 years has done this and owns their starship out right so organisers a great expedition to find these mysterious aliens.
They've developed warp travel in the way of large transport ship that other ships dock with then they travel to the outer limit of the star system in minutes sol is all but colonized.
Near the end of the book they meet the aliens and the digital guy uploads himself to them. From memeory it was a stand alone novel it. I csnt remember any of the release and publishing details.
I just want find it again and see if there are anymore books in the series from memeory it was left with the ability to continue

 

[Galactic Bus Driver]

Your description is making me think of "Manifold: Space" by Stephen Baxter, except the drone ship discovers the gateway.

"Manifold: Space" at Goodreads