Cheronians - Notes

Universe :	Prime Timeline
Species Name :	Cheronians [1]
Quadrant :	Beta

The Federation first became aware of the Cheronians in 2268, when a Federation shuttlecraft was stolen from Starbase 4. It was intercepted about a month later by the USS Enterprise. They found the thief to be a closely Humanoid individual, with one major exception : his skin was completely black on one side of his body, completely white on the other. The ship's doctor assumed that this peculiar colouring was some form of mutation. [1]

Shortly afterwards the Enterprise was chased by another ship. It's pilot beamed aboard the Starship's bridge; named Bele, he had the same black/white colouring as the prisoner Lokai. Bele claimed that he was an official of the Cheronian government, and had been pursuing Lokai for an amazing fifty thousand years. Bele claimed that Lokai and 'his kind' were traitors against the government, while Lokai claimed that he was rather a revolutionary fighting for freedom. [1]

It soon became clear that, although apparently identical in colouring, there was one subtle difference between the two men; Bele was coloured black on the right side and white on the left side, while Lokai was coloured black on the left and white on the right. This slight difference had been enough to spark immense racial hatred between the two factions. [1]

When Captain Kirk declined to head for Cheron and hand over Lokai to the authorities Bele seized control of the ship, apparently using some form of PSI to set it on course for Cheron. He declined to release the vessel until Kirk threatened to use the self-destruct system. [1]

Once the Enterprise had completed its mission, Bele again seized control of the ship - this time disabling the self-destruct system in the process. He sent it towards Cheron, which lay in the southernmost part of the galaxy in an uncharted quarter. Both he and Lokai demonstrated further PSI-type powers, including personal force fields. [1]

On arrival at the planet, the Enterprise found the entire world lifeless - apparently the result of vast wars which had raged between the two factions. Bele and Lokai immediately blamed each other's people for the catastrophe, and set about attacking one another once again. Lokai managed to escape the ship by beaming down to Cheron, with Bele again in pursuit. [1]

Little more is known about the culture of Cheron or the abilities of the Cheronians themselves. The source of their impressive abilities appeared to be natural, although it is possible that they were the result of some type of implant or other advanced technology. The claimed fifty thousand year duration of the chase indicates that the Cheronians have extremely long life spans, possibly even some form of immortality. The wreckage of their civilization indicated that the Cheronians tended to live in several very large cities, rather than many hundreds of smaller ones, but Captain Kirk was understandably disinclined to remain at the planet to do further research. [1]

If indeed the Cheronians do posses immortality, it seems likely that Bele peruses Lokai even to this day. For as Captain Kirk noted of the two, hatred may not be all they ever had, but it was surely all they had left. [1]

Colour key

Canon source

Backstage source

Novel source

DITL speculation

References

#	Series	Season	Source	Comment
1	TOS	3	Let that be Your Last Battlefield

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Last updated : 20 Jan 2023

Series :	TOS Season 3
Episode :	Let that be Your Last Battlefield