Stardate 3045.6: When Kirk, Spock and McCoy beam down to Cestus III, they find the outpost destroyed. There is only one survivor. The landing party comes under attack by an unknown enemy, and one of Kirk's men is killed. The survivors beam up, and Kirk orders to pursue the enemy vessel into an unknown region of space. The powerful Metrons, however, stop the two ships. They prevent the imminent battle and turn it into a duel on a barren planet between just Kirk and the reptilian Gorn captain. Kirk eventually disables the Gorn with a crude cannon built from raw materials from the surface. When Kirk refuses to kill the defeated Gorn, the Metrons release the Enterprise and the Gorn ship with the remark that there is hope for the human race.

• E18 Previous
• E20 Next