Gorns

Gorns are a reptilian sapien race that originated on the planet Gornar. They are cold-blooded creatures, both in body and in temperament. Physically, they are powerful creatures standing more than two meters in height with thick, muscular bodies, which makes them powerful opponents in martial combat. However, they are slow moving warriors and an able-bodied adversary can easily evade their attack. The Gorns are a technology advanced race with space-faring capabilities and access to advanced weaponry. The governing and militaristic arm of the Gorn species is known as the Gorn Hegemony.

History
The Gorns' chosen territory included several known uninhabited worlds in the Cestus system.The United Federation of Planets first learned of the Gorn in the year 2267 some time after establishing an Earth outpost on the planet Cestus III. Although the Gorn did not regularly inhabit the planet, they perceived the Federation's presence as an invasion and took measures to repel them. A warship commanded by Captain S'Slath-S'Slee descended upon the outpost dropping bombs until the site was all but obliterated. Several hundred Starfleet personnel were killed in the fire-bombing.

Captain S'Slee took it upon himself to fake a communiqué to a Federation starship, namely the USS Enterprise, masquerading a Starship officer named Commodore Travers. He invited the crew of the Enterprise to come to Cestus III and to bring a large complement of tactical officers with them.

When the Enterprise captain James Kirk brought his away team down to the planet, S'Slee locked onto their tricorder signals and bombarded them with incendiary shells and disruptor fire. Most of Kirk's crew survived and they managed to get back aboard their own ship.

When the skirmish was over, Captain S'Slee retreated from the planet. The Enterprise pursued him into a neighboring star system inhabited by a race of highly-evolved aliens known as the Metrons. The Metrons, aware of the massacre that had taken place on Cestus III, refused to allow the Federation and the Gorn Hegemony to continue their feud in their space. They used their advanced power to render their weapons systems inoperable and to lock their ships in a fixed position. They teleported Captain Kirk and Captain S'Slee back to the surface of Cestus III with instructions to battle one another to the death.

S'Slee had no qualms about following the Metrons' demands and actively pursued Captain Kirk across the hills and valleys of the planet. Although the Gorn was larger and significantly stronger than Captain Kirk, he was not as agile as he and Kirk was able to avoid most of S'Slee's attacks. Kirk kept S'Slee at bay by propelling large rocks at him, but the Gorn kept coming after him, taunting him through his voice recorder.

Kirk's innate resourcefulness however finally paid off and he was able to fashion a rudimentary bazooka using nearby mineral deposits. The crude weapon was only good for one shot, but it was enough to deal S'Slee a crippling blow. Kirk had defeated him, but refused to take S'Slee's life. The Metrons were impressed with Kirk's show of mercy and allowed both captains to return to their ships.

Notes & Trivia

 * The Gorn race also exists in the Mirror Universe.


 * In the standard Star Trek universe, Gorns have compound eyes similar to those of an insect, but in the Mirror Universe, their eyes are more reptilian.