Great thoughts everyone. I'm in the camp that really wants the names to match the actual stars. But I'm going to admit there are problems with this approach. Vega colony only makes sense IF Rigel is the REAL Rigel and, as pointed out by
@Timo pointed out, they are not concerned with getting to the closest medical facility. If Vega is en route to their next destination then that could make Vega a logical choice.
The other problem with every instance of Rigel being the real Rigel isn't just that they have at least eight habitable planets, but that the planets don't make sense. Rigel 2 was home of a cabaret that McCoy went to. Geordi retired to Rigel 3 in the alternate future. The Hill people are from Rigel 4. There were medical trials on Rigel 5. Rigel 6 is an inhabited non-federation world in the 24th century. Rigel 7 was the site of Pike's conflict. Rigel 12 was the distant lithium mining colony. Also the planet killer was headed for Rigel which Decker referred to as "the Heart of our Galaxy" where "millions" of people could die.
Rigel 7 in the Cage always struck me as an out of the way place, yet supposedly it's orbiting the same star as Rigel 5 which apparently has superior enough medical facilities to run trials. There's also Rigel 4 which was host to the Hill People who at least had enough technology for Mr. Hengist to get to Argelius. Was Rigel 7 some sort of historical preserve planet and for some reason Pike decided not to patch up his crew on Rigel 5? The lithium mining station on Rigel 12 also seemed like an out of the way place There only three lonely guys there. I'd expect more if this system is supposedly the "heart of the galaxy".
Putting all of these planets in one system is implausible from a cosmological perspective AND also doesn't make sense considering all the different developmental levels of the planets.
If we conclude that SOME of the Rigels are part of the same system, then I'd group Rigel 2, Rigel 3, and Rigel 5 - These are all low enough numbers to be inner planets. They are all probably Federation aligned, and probably have the same technological level. This is specifically referred to as "the Rigel Colony." It is host to millions of people and when taken with other nearby systems is "the heart of our galaxy" that Decker was referring to.
The rest seem unique enough that they'd probably be part of their own systems. So the question becomes which, if any, are part of the REAL Rigel. That I'm not sure.
Rigel 4 - Redjac came from earth and moved out to Mars, Alpha Eridani Two, etc as mankind expanded. The name "hill people" on Rigel 4 sounds more like a name for indigenous inhabitants rather than colonists, do and earth ship must have unknowingly dropped redjac off there.
But wait there's more! Rigel, and Vega aren't the only colonies out there. There's also the Orion colony. Problem is, Orion is a constellation not a star. The constellation Orion is made up of stars (including Rigel) at a great variety of distances so it doesn't makes sense to group them together from any other perspective than as a constellation from our vantage point. So which star of the Orion constellation(if it is even there) is host to the Orion colony. IN fact looking at references Orion is just a mess. apparently Orion is a colony, and its also a government, and its also a (presumably blue skinned) species discernible from humans, and it's also a race of green animal women. Y U DO This Too Me, Star Trek?
