Epsilon Prime
Role: Manufacturing, mining, business centre
Circumference: 32,060 miles
Population: 390,000
Orbital Path: First (only one planetary orbital ring in
system)
Rotational Period (days): 1.13
Orbital Period (days): 402
Primary Function: Manufacturing, mining (shipyards in
orbit)
Retention Index: 4
As the old saying goes, the business of Epsilon Prime is business. To say the people of this colony have a mercenary mentality would be going a bit too far but only a bit. Fully one quarter of the population of the colony (and slightly more than a third of the population of Achilles) is made up of business executives and their rather sizable groups of underlings and staff. Profit and productivity are of central importance in their lives, an outlook that has long since spread to the remainder of the colonists.
This business-friendly attitude has made Epsilon Eridani the home of a number of inventions over the years, from the latest styles of civilian ships rolling off the assembly lines of the orbital shipyards of companies like Mereson Spaceways to the technologies used for preservation of massive amounts of food for transport between stellar colonies. Of course, this same business-friendly attitude has resulted in a few high-profile scandals in the civilian business community as well.
History
If there were ever to be a non-medical cure for insomnia, an exhaustive treatise on the history of Epsilon Prime would surely be it. Though it is extremely valuable in many circles (to SICON, the Federation at large and the business community in particular), very little of any real, lasting interest to the field of general history has happened on this world. As for business history, that is another matter.
Since the first days after the colony’s founding in 2272 and once the colonists had gotten over complaining about the increased gravity of their new world, Epsilon Prime has been known throughout the Federation as a haven for civilian businesses. Much of this was due to the actions of Alexander Kesey, the first mayor of Achilles, the capital city of Epsilon Prime.
Kesey, once a lieutenant in Fleet, had no desire to preside over the capital city of a colony barely scratching a living out of the alien dirt. He had seen firsthand the glacially slow growth and economic poverty of colonies like Hod and Shoreridge III and he was determined that Epsilon Prime would not join their ranks. A skilled negotiator who was often called a borderline psychic for his ability to read people, he was able to strike deal after deal with up and coming civilian corporations on Earth, offering them everything from municipal tax exemptions to free land if they would move their headquarters to his new colony. Though most refused, thinking the loss of prestige from moving headquarters away from Earth would be more than any perks offered by the mayor of a new colony could possibly offer, a large number accepted and have been thriving ever since
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