New Horizon

Equipped with an experimental faster–than–light drive, a United Systems cruiser is converted and recommissioned as the exploratory vessel New Horizon. During its first jump, something goes terribly wrong, damaging the ship and hurtling it thousands of light–years from its destination. With the FTL drive destroyed, the handpicked crew's only option is to settle in a nearby star system. Fortunately, a habitable planet exists in the system, populated by creatures that are strikingly similar to those of Earth's past. Internal politics, along with a series of accidents, plagues the fledgling colony while they struggle to gain a foothold and discover the secrets of the planet. The prospects become grim when the dominant rulers of the world arrive to dispute the New Horizon crew's precarious claim.

-- Brian F. Gehling