"Arena"
In a different extrapolation from the canonical Trek universe than the one I'm exploring here, here's Captain Veice (V'iii-sss) of the IKS
Killinger. He is here to remind us that Gorn are awesome, even when they must suffer my bungling attempts at control.
It's been a while since we've encountered another full-fledged interstellar civilization new to our protagonists (the First Federation being the last, if I recall correctly). This episode takes a rather neutral approach to the existence of other empires in unexplored space, depicting the Gorn as territorial and dangerous but more of a hazard faced by the unprepared or a grim reality of the frontier than anything to be judged. The Federation is in many ways rather hard-hearted and ready to accept its losses, and it's certainly intriguing to muse upon. Spock, I think, would approve, given the measured and reasonable if somewhat coldly unfeeling approach that the Federation seems to take in the aftermath of the attack (and we know from later history that no hostile stance was taken regarding the Gorn). The Federation seems to take the annihilation of its people in situations like this as an uneasy consequence of going boldly, and a cautious example of the need to tread carefully when there are other, unknown players also out exploring and colonizing space. People often mention the "mercy" angle in Kirk refusing to kill S'alath (as the Gorn captain is named in the novels), but I think the more intriguing aspect is the non-judgemental nature with which the humans ultimately relate to the Gorn, not as equals bound in a mutual understanding nor as demonised opponents, but rather hands-off and accepting. Sometimes lizard-men are going to freak out over accidental incursions into their territory and rain down fire on you. Deal with it. There's a lot to think and feel regarding this, some of it making the Federation seem very admirable to my eyes, some of it potentially troubling in various ways. What isn't?
I suppose we should also note the possible irony in the reptiles' approach being potentially read as the hot-headed one (instant, uncommunicative attack on trespassers and perceived invaders) and the mammals - the
Enterprise crew - immediately latching on to the Gorn's defensive justification as reason to cool things down and prioritise a more sedately measured approach. That said, I don't personally perceive Gorn aggression as "hot-headed" but rather just brute-force and methodical. I don't believe that they act in the passion of the moment, but simply bring defensive instincts to the fore, and these loom so large in their minds that logically all other concerns are swept aside or cannot muster the influence to steer them from their committed path.
Continuity
The Gorn were first mentioned back in the
Enterprise episode "Bound", as trade partners of certain Orion interests, noted for brewing very desirable
meridor. Other sources expand on this to describe the Gorn production method as making use of enzymes originating in the intestinal tracts of labourer-caste Gorn; whether the enzymes are collected through medical procedures or (as I suspect is more likely given the Gorn's general brute force approach to things) they just throw up in it, I'm unsure. Either way,
meridor is better when it's had what amounts to passage through a Gorn, in the manner, one assumes, of coffee beans passing through the digestive system of Civets.
This initial mention and our Mirror Universe visit aside, this is the first appearance of the Gorn Hegemony as a player in interstellar politics, though it will remain a low-key and often overlooked piece of the tapestry, in part because of its distance from the Federation core, combined with the Gorns'
comparative lack of interest in outside affairs. From this episode we get our basic sense of the Gorn people: methodical; territorial; wary; brutal when they feel imposed upon. A certain tunnel vision and relentless pursuit of an objective is apparently inherent to them; I wonder what the fauna of Gornar or their other core worlds is like; would they hunt lumbering prey with the methodical, slow-but-steady pace with which S'alath pursues Kirk, bringing it down like charcharodontosaurs targeting sauropods? Of course, Gorn evolution is difficult to pin down because they're such an ancient species. We'll learn over time that the Gorn caste system is now a matter of biology as much as anything, with millennia of selective breeding having rendered the Gorn a very diverse and stratified people. They've also been shaped by the environments of multiple worlds, to the point that certain of their castes (including the warrior breed we meet here) are no longer able to incubate successfully on Gornar itself. They're an insular people, comfortable in their rut, and it will be a while before they're drawn out - indeed, they seem to find the Cestus debacle more alarming than the Federation does, since they'll retreat in the aftermath and pursue what characters on both sides will later describe as a century of isolation. They'll even renounce the very claim to Cestus and neighbouring systems that triggered their hostility here, something that doesn't seem to rest too easily in the Gorn cultural mindset (evidence will mount that Gorn are very possessive and don't relinquish a holding easily once they feel it's theirs). Combined with what we'll soon learn about Gorn attitudes toward aliens on their outworlds, it would seem that the Gorn have little interest in the outside galaxy unless they feel threatened by it -- though as the Orions showed us, they're trading.
I suppose I should also discuss the Metrons, since they feature just as heavily. The Metrons won't be heard from again until it's revealed that Nanietta Bacco, Governor of Cestus, successfully negotiated an agreement with them around the same time that she patched up Cestus-Hegemony relations in the aftermath of the Black Crest campaign (we'll get there in due time; years, at the rate this is going
). Presumably trying to ensure that all players in the region were committed, this is regarded as an impressive display of political and diplomatic prowess, and such is pretty important - in that Bacco making a name for herself outside of Cestus is what makes her an accepted candidate for the presidency.
There is a mention of "Metron Consortium" in
Deep Space Nine, but I interpret that as coincidental name-sharing (it has to happen quite often in a galaxy of a million languages and cultures); that, or it's a deliberately ironic name, akin perhaps to "Mahatma Ghandi Munitions". I hope the official emblem features a grizzled, hard-eyed Metron armed to the teeth. Also possible behind the irony: someone knows enough about Metron operation to at least suspect a certain hypocrisy about them.
Anyway, the Metrons are yet more mysterious energy people with mysterious powers and a parental air about them, though their true nature is unclear. Possibly they're a people even further along the developmental path that the Gorn seem to have chosen - resting comfortably in their enclave adhering to millennia-old traditions, generally reacting rather than projecting, cultivating a sense of easy superiority? Their motive is difficult to decipher - are they trying to be genuinely helpful, streamlining the conflict for minimum bloodshed by reducing it to individual champions, while encouraging Personal Growth by telling the captains that there are elements suitable for fabricating weapons - that is,
if you're going to fight with weapons, you could use your ingenuity to create them! Won't that be fun! - sort of a quietly desperate or adoringly parental effort to make the play
slightly "educational"? Are they just messing lesser species around from a position of assumed moral superiority as manifests in smug indifference to others' desires? Kirk even accuses them of setting the contest up for entertainment (a reasonable assumption, but I wonder if he was recalling the Talosians, whose home videos he recently watched).
The Metrons claim that violent intent is at odds with civilization, though they view "mercy" as a civilized trait, which suggests that they at least must
retain some understanding of intensive interpersonal aggression. They certainly have a rather easy time segregating outsiders from the perceived protections of "civilization" - you're violent, so you don't count. Very convenient, Metrons, and if you so easily place other people outside of the system codes and niceties that define your concept of society then I can see why you place such importance on "mercy" but not how you're apparently "non-savage" as you seem to define it. Of course, I have no idea if the Metrons mean what they say. It's hard to know what to take at face value here. But if we accept what they say then they certainly don't seem that different to Humans or Gorn.
More insight into what took place in this episode (the Cestus attack and the Federation's incursion into the region, that is, not the Metrons) will be offered very soon in
Open Secrets, which will contextualise Cestus by revealing it to be part of the general Taurus Reach colonization initiative (although Cestus in fact lies slightly outside of the official boundaries of the Reach, however precisely those are measured - I'm guessing there's a reasonable degree of vagueness about it). Cestus will be resettled sometime before the 2290s, and somewhere down the line will receive full membership in the Federation.
Characters insist that diamond is the hardest substance known. We'll have a lot of fun with this as the episodes mount, because they keep changing their minds. As it is, tritanium will be noted as harder than diamond and the Axanar were using that a century ago.
Next Time: "The Alternative Factor".
