Gateway
Star (Recharge Time): Harrow's Sun (202 hours)
Star Type: M1V
Number of Planets: 4 (including one gas giant) plus one asteroid belt
Time to Jump Point: 2.96 days
Recharing Station: Nadir
Planet: Gateway
Position: 3
Planet Type: Rocky
Gravity; 1.00
Atmospheric Pressure: Standard
Atmospheric Composition: Oxygen-Nitrogen
Percent Surface Water: 65% (largely glaciated except in equatorial regions)
Equatorial Temperature: 15-degrees (Cold)
Percent, Level of Native Life: 65%, Fish
Satellites: None (although the planet does have an icy ring)
Population (2766): 210,000
Population (3025): 1,840,000
HPG Station: Class B
Planetary Capital: Hel's Bosum
Description: Gateway is a rather frigid world, if otherwise perfect for human settlement. It has drinkable water, breathable air, compatiable vegetation and animal life for human consumption, just the right amount of gravity and atmospheric pressure, the right mixture of gases, the same axial tilt as Old Earth . . . and if weren't quite so cold it would be a major discovery.
Situated on the outer edge of the red star's habitable zone, average planetary temperatures remain above freezing only in a narrow band extending to twenty-three degrees north and south of the planet's equator. Both polar regions are covered in glaciers, as are the continents and seas much above the 25-degree latitude lines.
The lack of moon means that tidal forces on the planetary oceans and seas are quite gentle, and settlements on the equator itself are quite pleasant.
But Gateway was bypassed by the Cross Expedition, since his scouts had already found the garden world of Perth just two more jumps distant. Gateway was settled in 2724, just twelve years after first contact with the SLDF. Although population pressures were not forcing the settlement of this pristine world, the Congress decided to do so to garrison the most likely route of visitors arriving at their worlds. Having the SLDF Survey flotilla appear in the Perth system itself (without warning) had caused heads to roll in the SCDF afterwards.
The Star League knew why Gateway was being settled (as if the name itself was not a giveaway), but they went ahead and assisted the colonists, helping to cement relations between the two.
After the arrival of the LXXIII Corps and the Southern Cross Fleet in 2745, construction began on a SLDF naval station orbiting Gateway. Its original designation has been lost to history, but in 2752, the nearly complete station and yards was christened as the Port Simon Reservation, in honor of recently deceased First Lord Simon Cameron.
Up until the Amaris Coup, Port Simon was also home to the Southern Cross Customs Enforcement Service, which carried out all inspections on vessels from the Periphery and Inner Sphere arriving in the Southern Cross. Customs regulations required that all traffic arrive at Gateway; those bypassing the system could face severe criminal (if not military) penalties.
In 2765, rebels from the Periphery assault Gateway, but Port Simon and the mobile Fleet defenders proved far too tough for them to assault. After losing five of their own WarShips, the rebels abandoned Gateway to instead assault a softer target in the interior of the Congress. One of those vessels, a Dart-class Light Cruiser, was salvaged and eventually restored to service (in 2788) as the SLS Southern Cross.
Today, Gateway still has a very small population that barely exceeds one million. However, it is still home to Port Simon and serves as the headquarters of the Southern Cross Customs Enforcement Service, as well as a base of operations for a small squaron of WarShips. Since the Quarantine was lifted in 3024, the SCCES has reopened for business; although so far no merchant vessels have made the long journey along the Southern Cross Corridor.
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