$W{ DELTA SERPENTIS
From the Encyclopedia Galactica (Ising University of Antares ed., January 2399) $}

STELLAR CLASS: A9IV (Delta Serpentis A), F0IV (Delta Serpentis B)
MASS: 2.6 Solar masses (Delta Serpentis A), 1.7 Solar masses (Delta Serpentis B)
PLANETS: 6 (Delta Serpentis A), 9 (Delta Serpentis B)
INHABITED: 2 (Cowley, Jericho)
OTHER MAJOR SETTLEMENTS: 1 (De Vass)
NODE CONNECTIONS: Beta Aquilae, Ross 128, Sol (via Ishtar portal), Sirius (phasing/unstable)

GOVERNMENT TYPE: Presidential, dominant-party
HEAD OF GOVERNMENT (2399): President John Othman
CAPITAL: New Freetown (Cowley)
POPULATION: 219,162,602 (2392 Census)
LANGUAGES: English (official), Kru, Krio

SETTLED: 2302-5-5

Delta Serpentis was the first system to be explored after the discovery of subspace.  A binary system with two habitable worlds and one habitable moon orbiting Delta Serpentis B, it was one of the first worlds to be settled during the great exodus from Earth that followed the development of subspace travel.  The two habitable planets, Delta Serpentis II and V, were named after Stewart Cowley and Ndaba Jericho, the physicists who laid the groundwork for the discovery of subspace.  The habitable moon orbiting Delta Serpentis IV is named for Henri De Vass, leader of the project to develop the first subspace drive.

The initial colonization of Delta Serpentis was carried out by settlers from the West African Union, with the Freetown and Monrovia arcologies providing the bulk of the volunteers.  Too deep in Terran space to be a target during the Vasudan War and largely ignored during the Great War by the Shivans, Delta Serpentis prospered during the long wartime years but fared poorly during Reconstruction.  The loss of Sol and the collapse of the old Galactic Terran Alliance put Delta Serpentis on the front lines of the border wars between the Luyten New Alliance and the GTA rump state in Beta Aquilae.  Existing tensions flared, as Freetownites tended to side with the GTA, while the Monrovians tended to ally with Luyten.

In the ethnic strife that resulted, much of the system was depopulated, and Delta Serpentis was lapped economically and politically by Beta Aquilae, Laramis, and Vega.  Recovery would not begin in earnest until after the Second Shivan Incursion, when the GTVA poured trillions of C-bills into the construction of the Sol Gate as well as its supporting infrastructure.