Near the forest floor, a young man was floating in the air with his legs crossed. The back of his hands rested on his knees in a meditative position with his eyes closed. His face so beautiful it appeared to be molded from clay, his features soft and every line was perfect. Short white hair framed his face and gave him a regal feel.
Yet the fur that wrapped his body proved his wild nature. As he floated there the forest seemed more complete.
All of this was broken when a girl with flowing silver-white hair charged at him. She leaped into the air, her stunning face and almost glowing purple eyes were focused. Her body bent back like a bow to accumulate more power.
Her curves accentuated even through the thick hide that wrapped her body. When she approached, her cocked fist flew forward without remorse.
The corners of Khan's lips rose as he opened his eyes. He glanced at the oncoming fist with his scorching yellow eyes and stretched out a palm.
Belia's fist slammed into his palm, pushing Khan backward. He fell from the air and stumbled two steps back. "Your concealment needs work, the moment you attacked you revealed yourself."
"What can I say?" Belia cracked her knuckles. "The thought of hitting your face got me too excited." When her words fell she charged forward again.
This time she released a flurry of blows. Khan didn't try to block this time, instead, he met her attacks head-on and their fist clashed in the air.
Every time their fist collided it made a loud crack; Neither showed pain on their faces from the blows. While their bodies look no different than humans, their current mass was nearly doubled.
When she saw her fists weren't working, she started throwing kicks as well. Khan didn't fall behind, their clash moved across the forest floor. The sound of their shins colliding were like war drums; Causing other creatures to disperse around them.
While their martial arts were rough at best, their moves were full of savagery. Fully displaying their origins for fighting beasts.
The force flowed through their body and augmented their strength and speed; Yet their precognition was useless, having fought each other so many times. Instead, they performed similar attacks or perfectly contoured the other on instincts alone.
Just as their fist was about to clash again, Khan opened his hand. A wave of force erupted from his palm and staggered Belia. Before she could recover, his other hand pushed forward with a staggering momentum; The force so concentrated it disrupted the air around it.
The force erupted like a concussive bomb and flung Belia backward. Khan shot forward like a torpedo and tackled her in the air, his hands clasped around her waist and fell to the ground atop her.
"You cheated again! We agreed on not using force abilities!" Her eyes widened as she stared into his centimeters from her own.
Her warm breath tickled his nose, smelling of jasmine and mint. The warmth of her body and floral scent ignites a fire in his body.
"Ah, did I? It must be the dark side clouding my judgment." Khan lowered his head and sealed her lips. His tongue invaded her mouth as she closed her eyes.
Just as his hand traveled up the side of her body, an explosion sounded in the air. They both looked up in shock, through the cracks in the leaves they saw a smoking spaceship plummeting towards the ground near them.
The ship crashed into the thick coverage of leaves and branches first, damaging the ship further but it slowed its fall. The earth rumbled when the ship finally hit the ground.
Khan and Belia looked at each other with surprise. "What are you waiting for?!? Get off me." Belia pushed him off her body and ran towards the crash site.
Khan sighed, clenching his fist while he remembered that soft touch between his fingers. He couldn't help but shake his head before he chased after her. "I took so much time to design our bodies, why do I never get to enjoy them?"
It's only been a week since they gained the ability to fully control their shapeshifter abilities. They can only shift into different forms around their same size, but it's a start. No amount of practice sped up the process, only age increased their proficiency.
He based their appearances on valyrians, with their silver-white hair and purple eyes. The only problem is his eyes turned yellow whenever he used the force. A small consequence of practicing the dark side for twenty years.
Instead of letting the force flow through him, he bent it to his will. While it does give more power and access to various abilities, it has a corrupting effect on the body.
He didn't have to worry about his body becoming malformed, but he couldn't stop his eyes from changing.
Khan rushed behind Belia, taking out a small device as he did. He pressed a button on the device and placed it back into his pocket by the time he caught up to Belia.
"Why are you so excited? It's not like you've never seen a spaceship." Khan glanced at her excited face.
"How can you not be excited?!? If we can get a working flux capacitor connector we can repair the hyperdrive of the Habitat." Belia glared at Khan's nonchalant expression.
"Most ship crashes are due to hyperdrive failure, why get excited?" Khan shrugged, not wanting to get his hopes up.
Belia turned her head and sighed, she knew Khan was right. Nevertheless, excitement soon returned to her face. She felt like they'd find what they needed this time.
It didn't take long for them to reach the crash site, stopping on a large vine to overlook the wreckage. The ship was entangled with thick vines that further broke its fall. A long trench was dug in the ground, partially covering the ship with dirt. The ship had a long oval design and was heavily armored. The armor being what saved most of its structural integrity.
Two laser cannons were mounted on the side with one being broken, snapped off somewhere in the forest. The canopy glass of the cockpit was shattered; Three disoriented creatures tried climbing out clumsily, stumbling as they did.
At first glance, he could tell they were Rodians. Their big black eyes, snout-like mouth, and their suction cup fingers and antenna gave them away. Two of them had green scaly skin but the last one is blue. All three were wearing what looks like leather clothing with a blaster strapped at the hip.
"Are those aliens? They look no different than us." Belia looked on with eyes full of curiosity. Never before has she seen an intelligent species outside of her own clan.
"You think they look like us?" Khan turned his head and looked at her shining eyes. "You mean humanoid? Almost all intelligent life has this shape."
"How many species are there?" She managed to peel her eyes from the Rodians and look at Khan. He taught her many things, but never about the wider galaxy.
"Who knows, but there's a lot." Khan slowly shook his head. He had no idea of the number, not sure if anyone else did either.
As they spoke, a black drone flew from behind them. A black sphere with over thirty tiny red spider-like eyes in the middle. The seams on the sphere were so fine, one couldn't even tell the bottom section were folded up legs.
When he saw that his droid was here, Khan lept from the vine. He fell through the air and landed softly on the ground, his sudden appearance startled the Rodians.
"Uhhh, is this planet inhabited?!? Why didn't it say so on the nav computer?" The blue Rodian held his head in pain and questioned one of his companions.
"No way boss, the info we got must be fake. That's why we crashed." He quickly found an excuse and passed off the reason for their crash as well.
Belia jumped down and landed next to Khan. "Is that galactic basic? It sounds so strange."
"No, they're speaking Rodese. Their people are called Rodians." Khan glanced at Belia before moving towards the ship. "SB-21, scan the ship for any usable parts, we might be able to fix the Habitat."
The black drone flew towards the smoking spaceship after its eyes flashed in response. When the Rodians saw them and the probe approaching they pulled out their blaster pistols.
Due to the squeal from the crash, their movements were clunky and slow. Even if they drew their weapons faster, it wouldn't change the outcome. The moment they reached for their pistols, Khan had already raised his hands.
His fingers were spread wide as blue lightning shot from his fingertips. The lightning seemed to close the distance in an instant, striking all three Rodians.
While not true sith lightning, he can copy its appearance after numerous shocks over the years.
Their bodies seized, losing complete control due to their spasming muscles. The pistols fired wildly before they fell from their hands. Khan increased the output when he saw this, their bodies trembling violently as lightning course through their veins.
His hands raised and their bodies were lifted from the ground. With a gentle nudge, the last bit of lightning left his fingertips. The final impact shot them backward, crashing into the damaged hull of the ship.
Their bodies slid and fell when he lowered his hands. When they hit the ground their bodies continued to twitch every so often.
"When are you going to teach me the dark side? I want to shoot lightning from my fingers." Belia sneaked next to him, walking towards the down Rodians.
When they moved closer they could smell cooked meat wafting from their bodies. Burn marks were clearly visible on their scaly skin.
"I don't want you to learn the dark side yet, not until you have better control over your emotions or it'll consume you." Khan squatted next to the blue Rodian, his hand stretched out over his head.
Red tendrils manifested from his hand and drilled into the Rodians skull.
"Control my emotions?! What a vague answer, who knows how long that will take. If you don't want to teach me, find a better excuse." Belia rolled her eyes and followed SB-21 into the ship.
Khan watched her leave before turning his attention to the Rodian. He knew she was right, he didn't want to teach her. Maybe it was the dark side amplifying his fear, but he knew how easy it was for dark side apprentices to turn on their masters.
While he had confidence in his sixty years of brainwashing, why take the risk.
He can feel it affecting him all the time, that constant craving for power. Every moment he wants to dominate those around him, to bend them to his will.
That unbridled desire fueled him, it strengthened his control of the force at all times. A yellow star seemed to blaze in his eyes, his obsidian pupils were like black holes that swallowed the Rodian's head.
The tendrils plunged into his mind, they peered into his secrets and bent his will. His body twitched, trying to fight off Khan's control on instincts.
A futile effort, it only took a moment to control his mind completely.
As a species with a natural telepathic ability, the development of mental force abilities came naturally to him. Because he had no knowledge of other abilities he spent most of his time on them.
While Shi'ido are naturally resistant to mind tricks, he spent years dominating beasts in the forest to test his power.
With the Rodian under control, he began searching through his memories.