The Green Hills of New Earth
Written by Christina, Janet, and Penny
Story by Christina, Janet, Penny, and the VVS 7.5 Team
Previously, on Voyager Virtual Season 7.5 Season 3:
The Federation, at the invitation of the Vidiian Sodality, has dispatched an expedition to the Delta Quadrant to establish a colony on the planet known as New Earth. The expedition consists of three ships: the USS Odyssey, a Columbia-class vessel commanded by Capt. Geordi La Forge, supported in part by First Officer Commander Sam Lavelle, Ops Officer Lieutenant Commander Harry Kim, and Astrometrics Officer Lieutenant Jenny Delaney; the Pioneer, a transport vessel carrying Ambassador Shuba Diaza, Counsel Daeja Thev, Captain Joshua Merves, Security Officer Lieutenant Michael Ayala and 2,000 colonists including Angelo Tessoni, Tal Celes and Jim Morrow; and the USSVoyager II, a Columbia-class vessel commanded by Captain Kathryn Janeway, the mission commander, with First Officer Commander Tuvok, Chief Engineer Lieutenant Commander B'Elanna Torres, Chief Helmsman Lieutenant Tom Paris and Chief Medical Officer Doctor Mark Zimmerman (formerly known as the EMH). Civilians on board the Voyager II include Janeway's husband, Professor Chakotay, Tuvok's wife, T'Pel, and Talaxian representatives Neelix and his wife Sarexa. There is also a Romulan presence; as allies of the Federation in the Dominion War, they demanded an opportunity to participate in the formation of the relationship with the Vidiians and to observe the new colony.
The original parameters of the first formal expedition to the Delta Quadrant were modest, but after Kes of the Ocampa negotiated a new home for the Ocampan people on New Earth, it has expanded. Without the Caretaker to maintain it, the Ocampa home planet is failing rapidly, and the species will die unless they can start again elsewhere. Thanks to the aid of a Talaxian trader named Jixtan and two members of the Fluidian species (formerly known as Species 8472), Kes convinces both the Vidiians and the Federation to include the remaining Ocampa colonists on New Earth.
The expedition and colony face threats not yet fully comprehended. Mysterious pirates are raiding in the area, and no one knows their identity or their agenda. The government of Vidiia has been nearly bankrupted by decades of trying to cure the pandemic of Phage; its weakness caused it to seek an alliance with the Federation and has left it reliant on private corporations and consultants. Dr. Denara Pel has increasing suspicions about the motives and intentions of industrialist Mupano Tar and his Mupano Industries corporation. The cure for the Phage, invented by one of Tar's scientists, carried the side effect of sterility, yet Tar would not support research to counter it. The deeper she looks, the more Dr. Pel realizes that something is amiss.
Note: The day the first group of Ocampa migrating from their home world to New Earth departed orbit is used as the reference point for the passage of time throughout these episodes. The time at the beginning of each scene's action, shown in parenthesis, uses Voyager II ship's time, no matter where the action is located. Thus, Captain Janeway's Reception on Voyager II, which was scheduled to begin at 7 P.M. the night before the ships left orbit, would have a time stamp of "1 day prior to Departure (1900)." Any dialogue that is heard over a communications channel and not in person is set off with colons ::: instead of quotation marks.