Cheron native The inhabitants of Cheron were an extremely long - lived race ; one representative of them was reputed to have pursued another such representative , an accused criminal from among his people , across the Milky Way Galaxy for over 50 , 000 year s . Technology . Cheron natives possessed extremely fast space ships with an advanced cloaking technology , and also possessed advanced protective shielding systems on their persons , which could also be utilized to disrupt sensitive computer systems and as weapon s against others . Some members of the species could also command advanced technological systems by sheer willpower alone , bringing vessels as large as a starship entirely under their control to send where they pleased . Physiology and " culture " . Physiology . Inhabitants of this planet bore a peculiar physical appearance : their skin was exactly half - black and half - white , with some white on the right side and black on the left , and others the opposite . The one Cheronian sub - species had acquired supremacy over the other sub - species , but exactly how this had happened was never explained , and it could be , and indeed was , assumed that even the two surviving specimens themselves did not know . " Culture " . Those who were " black on the right side " considered those " white on the right side " to be inferior , and had organized a " Commission on Political Traitors " as an agency of the government of which they had acquired control . They subjugated their brethren in what they thought was a gesture of mercy and compassion , but the " whites on the right side " considered it nothing but slavery and oppression . By 2268 , civil war had completely destroyed their civilization , leaving only two known survivors , Bele , " Chief Officer Of The Commission On Political Traitors , " and Lokai , an accused criminal whom " Commissioner " Bele had been pursuing since circa 47 , 730 B . C . E . at the latest , and probably long before even then . Attitudes . Bele referred to Lokai as " half - white " in a tone clearly meant to disparage ; Lokai referred to Bele as " half - black " in a similar fashion . These references were obviously pejorative in both their cases . Both talked primarily in what amounted to clichés about ( in Lokai ' s case ) racial equality and / or ( in Bele ' s case ) the inherent supremacy / superiority and / or " rightful " subordination / inferiority of any one race over , or to , any other , and there was no real dialogue between the two . However , from Bele ' s negative reaction to Kirk ' s suggestion that his people were once of one color , and both aliens ' hostile , contemptuous usages of derogatory phrases such as " monocolored trash " and " monotones , " it may be assumed that they both regarded their own dual - colored life forms as being superior to any and all singly - colored life forms . ( ) Apocrypha . The novel " " describes the " Enterprise " briefly returning to Cheron , with scans revealing that Bele and Lokai have now set up bases for themselves on different sides of the planet ; a time - displaced Seven of Nine notes that , even in her era , the Federation avoids Cheron due to the unpredictable power and life - span of the surviving natives . The novel also reveals that the Cheronians were finally destroyed permanently when an attempt by Bele ' s side to create a virus that would destroy only their enemies resulted , instead , in the virus being released before it was ready during an enemy assault , with the result being that both sides were destroyed . ( However , Kirk and Seven , temporarily trapped in the past , were unaffected by the virus . )