Tch'Kairn
The Tch'Kairn are an insect like species native to the planet Tch'Kair located in the Beta Quadrant. In 2408, the United Federation of Planets received a distress signal from them indicating that they were under attack by an unknown and aggressive species.
The Tch'Kairn are very tall, with Males reaching heights of nearly seven feet and females nearly eight feet. Biologically they are most closely related in body structure to that of a Terran praying mantis. Their carapace is capable of adaptation, in that they can take on the coloartion of their surroundings and apparently their Carapace can adapt to colder environments.
If their exoskeletal carapace is craked it will eventually heal over time, but it is always weakened after a break. The Tch'Kairn possess advanced technology in the form of Fractal Spacial Field Studies. This technology was resonsible for creating a communication system that could transmit signals for hunders of thousands of Light Years.
Philosophy
The Tch'Kairn philosophy is similar to the human philosophical school of Zen. The basis is simply that all living things are connect, so that which you do to one living thing you do to yourself. This simple application first introduced by the Tch'Kairn philosopher H'volik became the basis for the peaceful creation of Tch'Kairn society. The philosophy, known as "Kel'Sima" (The Great Truth), has served them well through three different contacts with other species. It was not until the Tch'Kairn encountered the Waagoshin, a warrior-like species, in the 2200's, that the philosophy failed.
The Waagoshin stole Tch'Kairn Fractal technology and developed it into a Quantum Filament weapon. They then set about subjugating the Tch'Kairn by force, making them slaves in a now aggressively expanding Waagoshin Empire.
The Tch'Kairn Underground
Due to their non-violent culture and nature, there was little resistence offered to the Waagoshin's conquest. The 'long-snouts' destroyed those Tch'Kairn ships that attempted to flee their world. One such battle site was discovered by the USS Hades. Over time, the Waagoshin began to become more aggressive and brutal as their empire through strength grew and flourished.
Eventually this led to the drastic displeasure of some elements of the Tch'Kairn populace, who formed the Tch'Kairn Resistance. By 2408, the underground numbered a few hundred thousand Tch'Kairn world-wide and was led by a male named K'Thartek.
It was his small local band of Rebels that had discovered the ancient distress signal located in an even more ancient fortress thousands of years old. His band repaired the more modern power systems and through the aid of collaborators managed to acquire necessary intelligence to allow them to reactivate the distress beacon on a schedule that would not be detected by the Waagoshin fleet.
K'thartek admitted that he had killed Waagoshin soldiers and other members of their species, although he was not proud of it. He saw the distress beacon as a means to convince another species to intercede on the behalf of the Tch'Kairn. He was gambling on the Waagoshin's barbaric and agressive territorial nature to create and incident that would catalyze the responding species resolve.
Relations with other Species
The Tch'Kairn are known to be allies of two other species. The Joz and the Niglik, both of whom are also at war with the Waagoshin. The Tch'Kairn Resistance has also forged a loose alliance with the crew of the USS Hades when the Waagoshin took three members of the Hades' crew hostage. Seized were Captain Devan Sash, Lieutenant Angenni Windsong-Trommashere and Lieutenant Darla Wright.
The Tch'Kairn first appeared in the USS Hades Mission: A Rule of Conscience
