WMG / Star Trek S3 E15 "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield"

• Cheron was destroyed 50,000 years ago and Bele has indeed been chasing Lokai for that long because they are ghosts, doomed to forever repeat the mindset that destroyed their world. This is also why Bele’s ship is “invisible”— there is no ship. While Lokai did steal a shuttle craft, he didn’t need it, it was part of his self delusion. The destruction of Cheron millennia ago explains why the Federation has never had any contact with their people.