Ossus

Belia moved to her workstation, something she hasn't used in a while.

She used to be a bit worried about Khan's apprentices catching up or surpassing herself.

But the more she trained with them, the more she found out her ideas were foolish. She couldn't allow herself to have such a narrow view and taught them wholeheartedly. The force flowed freely through her and made her stronger because of it.

The more she held herself back in her mind, the more it hindered the force. She then realized how Khan grew stronger even though he spent most of his time in the lab.

Everything he does is to further his ambition. Every calculation or stroke of the key drives him forward and fuels his power.

She pulled up all the biological data available on the ship. If she had talent in this area she was going to foster it.

Khan watched all this out of the corner of his eye. He turned back to the Cerean strapped to the table and pushed the button. The syringes plunged into her body and injected the nanofluid.

He watched as her flesh melted away and only a dark gray pointy-headed skeleton remained. Even though he failed, a fire was burning in his eyes.

His hand thrust forward and the force invaded the bones. The machines had successfully bonded with the bones, even though their host was dead.

"The midi-chlorians are dead?" His brows furrowed and his hand moved. The nanomachines were twisted to his will and the skeleton took a step forward.

"The nanomachines have no control core. Usually, they would bond with the brain and access its incredible capabilities to think. This would also bind them to the user's will. But this isn't good enough for me." Mechu-deru lets him bind any machine to his will. The nanofluid is no exception.

Only someone stronger with the technique can break his control, and he doubts if anyone is better with this obscure technique than himself. The more mechanical knowledge one has the stronger this technique gets.

Once he learns Sith alchemy, he's sure he can take it even further.

Khan controlled the skeleton to walk over to another Cerean woman strapped onto a table. The skeleton made a knife-hand and stabbed into the woman's abdomen; Reached in and grabbed her spine.

The skeleton paused and its body began to shrink, transferring all of its cells into the woman and binding to her bones.

The skeleton's feet disappeared first, held up completely by the hand in the woman's body. Soon, the whole skeleton vanished. Blood began gushing out of her stomach but a droid came and patched her up.

Khan stood next to the woman with his hand stretched above her. The bones have been perfectly fused together, any rejection was eliminated by the nanobots.

"Interesting, this can only act as a partial fusion. Half of her bone mass is missing the nanobots but the midi-chlorians are alive in that half." Khan withdrew his hand and fell into thought.

"Besides bonding with the cell, do I need to bond with the midi-chlorians inside? They are an independent lifeform." Before, it was enough to control the cell by binding to the outside, but it seems like he needs to fuse from the inside as well.

"Like a virus." His eyes began to shine. He's been too focused on the nanofluid bonding with the cells outside like a suit of armor. This gave immediate results but was far too extreme.

If he designed it like a virus, they can first stealthily infiltrate the body and invade the cells. Slowly change them from the inside to make them ready for the full bonding process.

"This will turn it into a two-step process, but I think it's better this way." This is the only thing he can think of to stop the midi-chlorians from dying; By taking control of them first.

Moving back to the computer he began calculating out his new idea. The woman on the table was being monitored for any changes in her body while he worked.

After a few hours of research, he stopped to go and train Natasha. With a new goal, time seemed to fly and a few days passed by.

Habitat walked into the lab and stoped next to Khan. "We've navigated through the Cron Drift and arrived at Ossus."

"Were here already?" Khan stopped his work and turned to Habitat. "Let's go to the bridge and take a look."

The two left the lab and went to the bridge. When they arrived Belia was already there. She stood next to the wall display and looked at the planet.

It appeared mostly barren with a few large bodies of water and areas of green around them. 

"Are you sure this is the right place?" She turned her head when they walked in. "It only looks a little better than Rattatak."

"I'm sure this is the right place. Habitat, deploy our quantum satellites to map the sector and orbital satellites for the planet. I want to know everything that happens here." Khan signaled towards Habitat.

She started moving instantly. Six quantum satellites were sent in different directions and flew out. At the same time, a series of wash bin-sized satellites were deployed around the planet.

Data poured in as all the satellites moved into place. 

"This planet has a weak kyber crystal signature." Habitat pulled up a hologram on the table. Instead of tunnels of crystals like on Cerea, only a single mountain range showed a reaction.

"Have you found any life yet?" Khan wasn't too concerned with the crystals. He already knew they were there.

The hologram shifted and it shoved a village built on the side of a mountain. The people moving about looked humanoid but had various features. Some had pointed ears, some had big noses, and others had rough-looking skin.

"What race are they? They mostly look like humans." Belia watched them move about, transporting water from a well and watering their strange crops.

"A mixture of different races. They did everything they could to survive, different races bred together but became paranoid and distrustful. They could have left years ago, but chose to hide themselves."

Khan turned towards Habitat. "Focus on finding a structure in the mountains. It should blend in due to erosion, but it's there."

"I'll start, but we need to wait for the satellites to fully move into place before we can scan the whole planet."

"What now? Are you going to attack these villages?" Belia peeled her eyes from the hologram and turned to Khan.

Khan shook his head. "No, attacking these villages is pointless for us. Once Habitat finds the library we will go inside. Natasha and Sheva will lead the troops in taking over this planet."

While they spoke, Habitat started unleashing the full capabilities of the ship. All of the interceptors were deployed and spread out forming a grid. Tractor beams pulled in asteroids and broke them down for material.

Construction droids flew out of the ship and started assembling parts that were already manufactured.

"Found it." Habitat suddenly spoke. She pulled up a hologram that displayed the base of a mountain.

The image looked no different than the other ridges surrounding the mountain but the insides were completely hollow.

"Good, inform Natasha and the Rattataki to meet us at the transports. Take a few spider bots first before moving all the droids." Khan's eyes flashed and he moved towards the elevator.

"What about the Cereans?" Belia came up behind him and reminded.

"Bring them as well, they've been using our supplies, it's time to earn their keep." Khan waved his hand.

When they got to the hanger they saw Natasha and Sheva. Behind them stood the twenty Rattataki in their Predator armor. The dark gray armor made them look like hunters. With their vibrospears and shoulder-mounted cannons, it gave them an intimidating look.

While the armor looked thin and revealing, the main protection was the built-in shield generators.

"Master." Natasha stepped forward. "We're ready to follow your orders."

Khan looked at the droids moving into place. The numbers have increased by three hundred since they first set off.

"Your task is to lead the troops and conquer this planet. I don't want a massacre, I want you to dominate them." He looked into Natasha's eyes for a moment before turning to Sheva.

"If your work pleases me, I will train you as a Sith assassin."

"Yes, Master!" Sheva's eyes flashed. While it wasn't an apprentice, it was a vast improvement over her current situation.

Everyone boarded a ship and left for the planet. It didn't take long for them to land in front of the ruined library.

Unlike the cracked ground in other places, the land here was solid. Not too far away was a towering tree with a twisted trunk. Its limbs bore no leaves but the tree did not appear to be dead.

"The life in that tree is weak, but I can still feel a powerful force coming from it." Belia's brows furrowed when she saw the strange-looking tree.

"That is no tree, that's Jedi Master Ood Bnar." Khan shook his head.