V9-Gamma

V9-Gamma's landscape

**V9-Gamma** is a desert planet in a binary star system somewhere in the "outer regions" of the Milky Way, where a colony of Americans survived for 30 years.

## Description

### Geography

V9-Gamma is a rocky, barren desert planet, most of its landscape being rather flat sands and peppered with jagged rocky formations and a few caves.

### Environment

Due to being in a binary star system, V9-Gamma is a very hot and rather inhospitable planet, but still has a breathable atmosphere that allows humans to survive on it. The planet also has no night, presumably meaning it's tidally locked. Additionally, the planet suffers from meteor showers, where many rocks manage to get through the atmosphere and strike the surface, possibly from remnants of a ring system around the planet.

## Inhabitants

V9-Gamma has no native life, but in 1991, a group of 113 humans from the United States colonized V9-Gamma, hoping to build a new life on a world without war. However, due to the planet's harsh environment, the colonists waited 30 years to return to Earth, multiplying to 187.

## Society

   While colonized, V9-Gamma held a single community of humans, who lived in underground refrigerated rooms, used a cave for shelter, farmed using specialized coverings over their crops to filter out the excessive heat and UV light, and constantly had to ration food and water, their way of life heavily restrained by strict regulations. Regardless, suicide and unhappiness were not uncommon on the planet due to its incredibly harsh conditions and very poor standard of living. One of the duties of the colonists was to keep watch on the colony's radar, two watches every day, for any incoming messages or signals from Earth.

### Government

The V9-Gamma colony lacked an organized government, instead being run by the expedition's captain, who had absolute control over the people, and functioned as a doctor, teacher, and religious leader, the colonists appearing to follow a form of Christianity.

## History

In 1991, 113 American colonists aboard the *Pilgrim I* spacecraft landed on V9-Gamma, seeking to escape the constant wars and turmoil on Earth. Despite finding the planet barren and devoid of life, the colonists still tried to make a settlement, learning new techniques of how to farm in the arid landscape and how to use caves for protection against the constant hazards, and dismantling the *Pilgrim I* to use for refrigerated housing materials. One colonist, a 15 year-old boy named William Benteen, gradually grew into a role of leadership as he got older, presumably working directly under the expedition's captain. Colonists began to procreate, making their numbers rise. Eventually, presumably after the death of the original captain, Benteen was granted the rank of captain and ascended to the colony's leader, handling medical aid, teaching for young colonists, and enforcement of the colony's strict regulations.

After 30 years, Benteen remained the captain of the colony, and the colony's population had risen to 187. To keep up the colonists' spirit, Benteen would tell them romanticized stories of Earth, which many of the older colonists had forgotten and which the younger and recently-born colonists had not experienced. Despite his best efforts, suicide was not uncommon among the colonists, nor was dying to the planet's various hazards. By 2021, the colony managed to send a message to Earth that they wished to return, as V9-Gamma was not the new world they were hoping for. However, Benteen, in his desire to protect the people, started growing increasingly obsessive and firm with his power, building an almost cult-like mentality among the colonists to look to him as their one and only leader, seeing them as nothing more than children, and seeing himself as an almost divine figure who needed to rule the colonists, strongly rebuking any who dared to question him or his judgement.

The colonists eventually got a message back from Earth, that a ship would come soon to retrieve them. After a few months, the ship finally arrived, giving the colonists a few days to prepare their belongings to return to Earth. While the colonists were overjoyed, the ship's commander, Colonel Sloane, began to butt heads with Benteen as the colonists were swayed away from Benteen's leadership by Sloane's talk of Earth. Additionally, Benteen found out that the colonists did not wish to stay as a community under him when they returned to Earth, angering him more. On Thursday, when the ship was set to take off, Benteen attempted to attack the craft to keep the colonists from leaving, going mad with his desire for power, but was stopped, fleeing into the caves. The ship and colonists left without Benteen, who was first happy to stay on V9-Gamma, and in his delusions, began sharing stories of Earth to imaginary colonists, only to remember the beauty of Earth, snapping him out of it. Realizing how wrong he was, Benteen begged the ship to come back, but was now marooned on V9-Gamma.