Cestus III

Cestus III is a barren, rocky world found in the Gorn Hegemony. In the mid 23rd century, it became an Earth observation post for the United Federation of Planets. As this world was largely uninhabited, the Federation failed to ask or gain permission from the Gorn Hegemony to establish an outpost on their world. As time passed however, the Gorn learned of its presence and regarded the building of the outpost as an act of war.

The Gorn sent an air strike down upon the outpost, leveling several buildings, killing scores of people. Using information they aquired from the outpost's records, they faked a communication to the USS Enterprise and baited them into coming to Cestus III. They made a special request of Enterprise captain James Kirk to bring a full complement of tactical officers with them.

When Kirk and his landing party arrived on the planet's surface, they were immediately besieged by bombs and mortar fire. They managed to rescue one sole survivor and transport him back to the Enterprise. After getting a statement from the injured crewman, Lieutenant Brent, Kirk learned that the raid on the outpost took place one day prior to receiving the faux invitation. Kirk was not about to let the attack go unanswered and he pursued the Gorn marauder into an area of space dominated by a race of highly evolved aliens known as the Metrons.

The Metrons refused to tolerate the warlike nature of human and Gorn alike, so they took the captains of both ships and teleported them back onto the surface of Cestus III. There they instructed them that they would have to face one another in a battle to the death with none of their conventional weapons to aid them. Whoever proved the victor would be allowed to leave.

Kirk's battle against the Gorn captain, S'Slee, was hard-fought and difficult. Although Kirk was faster and more agile than the Gorn, he could not physically overpower him. Kirk was forced to imply ingenuity in order to survive and constructed a rudimentary bazooka out of a hollowed out tree trunk and used sulfur, coal and potassium nitrate to make gun powder. The weapon could only fire a single shot, but it was enough to drop the Gorn in his tracks, critically injuring him. At the last moment however, Kirk refused to take the life of a fallen enemy. One of the Metrons, impressed with Kirk's display of mercy, appeared before him and applauded in successfully defeating his opponent without resorting to murder. He then used his powers to return both Kirk and the Gorn to their respective ships and they were allowed to leave Cestus III.

Points of Interest

 * Federation outpost

TV shows that take place in

 * Star Trek: The Original Series
 * Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Characters from

 * Commodore Travers
 * Lieutenant Brent
 * Many unnamed Starfleet officers