Cestus III

Cestus III is a planet in the Cestus System and site of a Federation colony.

History
In 2267, the Gorn were alarmed by the establishment of a Federation colony on Cestus III, as they regarded the system as part of their territory. By the late 24th century, the Federation had reestablished a colony on the planet, with Pike City being its capital settlement.

In 2389, Kornelius Yates, manager of Pike City's baseball team, the Pioneers, proposed an unorthodox means of Federation mediation in the diplomatic tensions between the Gorn Hegemony and the Klingon Empire: a baseball game between the Pike City Pioneers and a Gorn team, the S'Yahaza City Talons. King Slathis of the Gorn, under the advice of Klingon Ambassador B'vat, agreed to the game, as they were invested in ensuring a diplomatic failure and subsequent war between the Klingon Empire and the Gorn Hegemony. Additionally, Klingon Chancellor Martok was able to use the time bought by the so-called "Cestus Accords" to prepare the Klingon Defense Force for a full-scale invasion of Gorn space. The Pioneers were widely expected to defeat the Talons, who were widely believed to be awkward and slow-moving. However, the members of the Talons were from a different Gorn caste than those the Federation had previously encountered, and proved to be powerful and quick. The Talons were on the verge of winning the game when their pitcher abruptly suffered a reversion to Undine form in the eighth inning, and was swiftly killed by its own teammates. The Pioneers were declared the winners of the game by disqualification, and relations between the Gorn and the Klingons continued to deteriorate. Jake Sisko wrote a fictionalized version of this event, titled The Gorns of Summer, and later interviewed to accurately describe the incident in his recollection of the Undine War.

In 2408, during the Federation-Klingon War, combined Klingon-Gorn forces attacked Cestus III, and Starfleet massed a fleet to defend the planet and its population. Although the mayor of Pike City vowed to defend the colony by any means and many colonists refused to leave, Starfleet cautioned the population and urged them to evacuate, as a successful defense of the planet was not guaranteed.