Cestus III
Class:	M
Type:	Planet
Location:	Cestus system
Affiliation:	United Federation of Planets

Cestus III was the third planet of the Cestus system. This M-class planet was located in a region bordering the territory of the United Federation of Planets and Gorn Hegemony and near space claimed by the Metrons. 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 mid-24th century, the Federation had 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 youngest 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")

Appendices Edit

See also Edit

• Cestus III personnel

Background information Edit

In the final draft script of "Arena", the Cestus III outpost that appears in that episode is initially described thus; "This is a military-scientific outpost of the Earth Federation... a limited number of facilities on the surface, most of it below ground. But what we see [...] is smoking ruin... desolation. Cestus Three, in terms of structures and settlement, no longer exists. It has been smashed. All that we see are ruins with here and there a silent body lying dead." The script also establishes that the destruction included all of the outpost's underground section and that the Human population of the outpost was listed as five hundred twelve at the time of the Gorn attack.

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, as seen from orbit, was created to replace the grainy, undetailed globe in the original edition. 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.

The logo worn by the colonists was the same worn by personnel at Outpost 4. [1]

Apocrypha Edit

In James Blish's short novelization of Arena, it is stated that there were a total of 512 settlers killed in the Gorn attack.

The Pocket TNG novel Requiem, by Michael Jan Friedman, depicts 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.

External link Edit

• Cestus III at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works