Jack of Harts

Constantinople’s trading firms wanted to colonize Alcyone once we found out The Taurus Gateway was there. But America, and the rest of the Western Alliance, was deeply opposed to that idea. When even the Peloran kindly suggested that they would prefer Alliance neighbors in the system, Constantinople grudgingly agreed to stay out of the system. But they knew how much money could be made through Alcyone, and they were not prepared to relinquish that golden goose. So they chose three stars on a direct route to Alcyone and colonized them instead. They reasoned, not incorrectly, that if they could control the road to Alcyone, they could make nearly as much money as they could with Alcyone itself. So they assembled a new colony expedition and sent it to colonize the systems they named Hellespont, Marmara, and Bosphorus as quickly as possible. It was a good plan.