Miss Bethany was a teacher who lived on a Skagaran colony planet in the Delphic Expanse. A descendant of the Humans who had been abducted from Earth and forced to work as slaves for the Skagarans, Bethany was three quarters Human and a quarter Skagaran (Phlox, upon examining her, speculated that the Skagaran genes came from her maternal grandmother).
Bethany disagreed with many of the laws that the Humans had made when they had finally managed to overcome their Skagaran masters. In particular, she believed that Cooper Smith had been a murderer and butcher, killing Skagarans ruthlessly and eventually making restrictive laws so that the Skagarans could never enslave the Humans again. However, she did realize that whatever the actual facts of Smith's rebellion may have been, it did teach the present-day Skagarans about the immorality of slavery.
Although teaching Skagaran children was illegal, Bethany taught outside at night. Her students included Yral and Kret. Bethany was arrested by Deputy Bennings for this offense, but was freed by Captain Jonathan Archer and wounded during the escape attempt. Archer had her beamed to Enterprise NX-01 for medical treatment. Although Bethany doubted that her people were ready to return to Earth yet, given how far Humanity had progressed while they were still stuck in an Ancient West environment, Archer assured her that they could accomplish it if they tried. Following changes in Human law, Bethany was able to teach Skagaran and Human children together, inside. (ENT: "North Star")
Bethany was played by Emily Bergl.
Chris Black – who did considerable uncredited rewriting on "North Star", in close collaboration with David A. Goodman – characterized Bethany as "a damsel in distress". By making Bethany part-Skagaran, Goodman wanted her ancestry to represent the integral relationships in societies where "there aren't clear divisions of who's who," such as in the modern-day Middle East. ("North Star" audio commentary, ENT Season 3 Blu-ray special features)
In the final draft script of "North Star", Bethany was described thus; "Bethany, thirties, is attractive in a tough, frontier fashion."