The Tierijev Pocket (Chronicle)

Tierijev system is controlled by the Caldari State, but it is completely encircled by the Gallente Federation. During the Gallente-Caldari War the system saw a number of battles, but the Gallenteans never managed to conquer it. But they did cut it off from the rest of the Caldari State by conquering a nearby system and building small military outposts in other unclaimed ones. In the years since the Gallentean systems have developed into fully fledged settlements and colonies, making the lone Caldari system a small beacon in a sea of Gallente systems. During this time Tierijev was a vast military complex, which could only be reached through a highway jumpgate linking it directly with Caldari space. For this reason it was often called the Tierijev Pocket. In recent years, as the relations of the two empires are steadily improving, the system is slowly becoming a major trade post.

It all started a decade ago when an agreement was made between the two empires to link Tierijev with some of the Gallentean systems surrounding it. Tierijev quickly became one of the most popular trade routes between Caldari space and Gallente space as it is much shorter than the traditional route through the Border Zone.

The increased trade, and hence traffic, through the Tierijev system has put enormous strain on the Caldari customs official responsible for supervising the trade. The main reason for this lies with the agreement for opening the Tierijev Pocket. The agreement stipulates that both sides must severely limit the number of armed empire ships they can operate in their respective space. This makes the work of the customs official much harder, as they’re constantly plagued by manpower shortage. The Caldari have tried to remedy the situation by increasing customs checks in those Caldari systems the Tierijev highway gate leads to, but this has met with limited success.

Instead the Caldari customs authorities have recently started employing another way which seems much more promising. They sell temporary customs official licenses to independent traders and mercenaries, thereby increasing the number of customs officials on duty, while bypassing the limits on military vessels set out by the agreement. The Caldari ensure that there is always ample supply of willing customs officials available by promising them a cut of the profit from fining smugglers. The Tierijev experiment has met with such a great success that it is currently being emulated extensively in every empire; they see this as a cheap, but efficient way, for stemming the ever-increasing tide of smugglers from the outer regions into civilized space.