LOCATION -1, 4 POPULATION 945 million POLICING Good, but deep space piracy still exists EQUIPMENT Most equipment types are available JOINED Alliance founding member. Joined 3230

ASTRONOMICAL INFORMATION

  Gateway, originally named Oltiqu until the Alliance was formed, is a red giant star. The star is no longer a main sequence star, with the bulk of its reaction being the fusing of helium instead of hydrogen. It is a very old star, projected to be billions of years older than Alioth.

  Life is believed to have emerged on Hope some time after the star became a red giant. Research on the planet reveals it was far too hot when the star was on its main sequence. Life forms are quite different to the ones that gave way to human evolution, having evolved under a quite different spectrum. Hope is still a hot planet by human standards - the equatorial regions regularly attain daytime temperatures in excess of 60 deg. Celcius, which is intolerable to human life. The humidity is also exceptionally high planetwide, usually exceeding 80% r.h.

HISTORY AND NOTABLE FEATURES

  Gateway got its new name when it joined the Alliance as a founder member in 3230 after the uprising at Alioth. A primary trading system within the Alliance, it was a natural trade gateway with the Federation to the south, hence its name. Although Gateway was not a disputed system like Alioth, the population was deeply sympathetic to the plight of Alioth's citizens, and a large part of the system's militia came to the aid of the rebels in Alioth during the uprising.

  Now that the scars between the Alliance, Federation and Empire have healed, trade has been brisk. A large proportion of the bulk trade between the Alliance and the other two galactic powers comes through this system (hence its name). The result is that the economy here is extremely strong, and it is a very desirable place to live. Despite this, the pirates have still managed to maintain a small foothold in the more distant reaches of Gateway's space, despite the best efforts of the police.

  The system has also become an important administrative centre for the AJN. The Turner Space Combat Academy has its main training base at Dublin Citadel, in orbit around Hope. Thousands of new AJN cadets pass through this facility each year. The Curie Engineering Institute, one of the best engineering universities in the galaxy is also based at Hope. This has of course led to some interesting (and mostly drunken) rivalry between the cadets at the TSCA and students at the CEI, not to mention sprouting one of the best social enviromnents for undergraduate students this side of Sol.

  Hope is also an extremely productive planet from an agricultural standpoint, producing significant quantities of natural foodstuffs. Industrially, Gateway is not a major player, but the Continental Drive company has its main manufacturing facilities in Turner Town.

CUSTOMS INFORMATION

  Customs is somewhat lax in Gateway, the population never believing silly things like laws should get in the way of a good trading environment. Therefore there are not many illegal goods. The current list of embargoed products are:

• Narcotics
• Slaves
• Live Animals