Belle Terre

Belle Terre is the fourth planet in the Occult system, in Cluster Z-80 of the Saggitarian Stellar Group, six months distant from the United Federation of Planets in the 23rd century. A lush, Class-M world, Belle Terre nonetheless remained uninhabited until the 2270s when some sixty-thousand Federation citizens set out on the Belle Terre Colonial Expedition to settle the planet. Despite many hardships early in the colony's history, Belle Terre became a Federation member in the 24th century. (Star Trek: New Earth novel: Wagon Train to the Stars, )

The planet had two moons, a small one nicknamed "the Needle," and a larger body called the Quake Moon. Three weeks after the colonists arrived at Belle Terre, pressure within the unstable Quake Moon built to the brink of a catastrophic eruption. The planet would have been rendered uninhabitable had the USS Enterprise not intervened, using a tractor beam to crash the Needle into the Quake Moon, alleviating the pressure. Even so, the Quake Moon's eruption bombarded Belle Terre's largest continent with radiation, and released quasar olivium into the atmosphere, casuing severe weather conditions across the planet. (New Earth novel: Belle Terre)