Cestus III is an M-class planet of the Cestus system, located in a region bordering the territory of the Federation and Gorn Hegemony, near the Metron Consortium. It was considered to be "on the other side of the Federation" from Deep Space 9, approximately two weeks from the Bajoran system by subspace message and eight weeks at the Xhosa's maximum warp. (TOS: "Arena"; DS9: "Family Business")
In the late 23rd century, Cestus III was on the frontier of Federation space, beyond which little was known. A small Earth Observation Outpost and colony was established, commanded by Commodore Travers. The establishment of this foothold alarmed the Gorn Hegemony; they regarded Cestus as part of their space and the colonists as invaders.
In 2267, a Gorn captain led his starship and ground forces in a counter-invasion strike, destroying the colony and slaughtering most of the colonists. Using faked communication and impersonating Travers, the Gorn lured the USS Enterprise to Cestus III, where the landing party, led by Captain James T. Kirk, beamed down to the planet's surface. The surface forces were repelled, and the Enterprise pursued the Gorn vessel to a point near 2466 PM, where both ships were seized by the Metrons and their captains forced to do battle. (TOS: "Arena")
Kirk's confrontation with the Gorn on the planet would later become one of the most famous incidents in his career. Benjamin Sisko once admitted he'd like to shake Kirk's hand and "ask him about fighting the Gorn on Cestus III". (DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations")
By the 24th century, the dispute with the Gorn was resolved and the Federation re-colonized the planet. In 2371, the colonists formed a baseball league with six teams, including the Cestus Comets and the Pike City Pioneers. Kasidy Yates's brother lived on Cestus III and invited Sisko and his sister to see a live baseball game at the colony. (DS9: "Family Business", "The Way of the Warrior")
See also
- Cestus III personnel
Background
Original broadcast version of Cestus III
- The remains of the Cestus III outpost was actually a fort constructed for a film about the Alamo in the 1930s. It was believed to be unsafe and was demolished in the late 1960s. (Star Trek Encyclopedia)
- For the 2006 "remastered" version of "Arena", a new, computer-generated version of Cestus III was created to replace the grainy, undetailed original. A new matte painting of the outpost was also created, showing more damage and more detail in the surrounding terrain. This version is displayed above.
Apocrypha
- In James Blish's short novelization of Arena, there were a total of 512 settlers killed in the Gorn attack.
- The Pocket TNG novel Requiem by Michael Jan Friedman depicted a time travel scenario in which Captain Jean-Luc Picard was transported back in time to Cestus III shortly before Commodore Travers' outpost was destroyed.
The same Fort set plays a major, role with on air screen time in the 1964 Bonanza episode "5x17 Alias Joe Cartwright". In the episode, Little Joe is mistaken for Angus Borden, an army deserter who is the spitting image of Joe. Joe gets arrested and is taken to the Army base to face charges. Air Date Jan. 26, 1964. The Fort walls and outside rock formations are clearly seen throughout the episode. The episode provides an excellent reference to this Star Trek episode.
External link
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