"[1] Created by John J. Ordover, the novels follow the crew of the Enterprise as they escort a colonial expedition into a hostile region of unexplored space.

Ordover asked, “What if you went outside the known galaxy or outside the common area to find a new colony and you were assigned to stay there and protect them for a while?” His answer was the concept for New Earth.

[2]: 431 Star Trek: New Earth – Rough Trails, co-written by Julia Ecklar and Karen Rose Cercone as L.A. Graf, was inspired by the Johnstown Flood.

They found the experience of writing a multi-author series difficult, saying: “It felt like we were building a bridge between two shores that were both shrouded in fog, while trolls were busy knocking out the supports from under us.

The last-minute changes kept rolling in, so we did the only prudent thing we could do: We finished our book first so everybody else would have to follow our lead from then on.”[2]: 432 Star Trek: New Earth – Thin Air was co-written by husband-and-wife Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith.

The titular flag ship is the UFPF Challenger (OV91951L), a Mongrel-class frigate assembled from the multifarious vessels used to transport colonists to Belle Terre.