Chigs
The Chigs were an alien species that featured in Space: Above and Beyond.
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History
The Chig species began on the moon which orbited their later homeworld and was sacred to the race for it considered the place where their life began. This was because of the mineral deposits found on its surface which indicated that the cosmic debris from a comet had impacted on the planet and were part of the same material which impacted Earth and thus sparked life on that world. In this sense, were born of the very same life that sparked and gave birth to Humanity.
Hints were given that the Chigs had then began to silently observe Humanity since the time they lived in caves. Official first contact between Humanity and the Chigs began with an unmanned probe that was launched by military industrial corporation Aerotech who landed on the celestial body known as 2064K which was actually the moon of the Chig homeworld. The probe was successful in gaining a limited amount of information on the Chigs before they sent a warning signal that brought about the probe's eventual destruction. Despite contact being achieved with the Chigs, Aerotech withheld information on this find for reasons only known to the corporation itself who kept it as a closely guarded secret. Thus, the nations of Earth were completely unaware of the existence of the Chigs.
By the mid 21st century, the Chigs declared open war against Humanity and launched a series of what appeared to have been unprovoked strikes against Earth's first colonies. These colonies were sponsored by Aerotech who designated them as the Vespa and Tellus colonies. The colonists were attack and killed with only a few survivors taken as prisoners. The Chig fleets then began a push for Earth and began to devastate the unprepared Earth forces. They were moving almost contested through the asteroid belt in Earth's solar system when they were defeated at the Battle of the Belt by the actions of the US Marines Aviator 58th Squadron which helped prevent their homeworld from falling to the Chigs.
Despite this defeat, the element of surprise, better technology and their superior technology gave the Chigs a significant advantage over Humans in the early parts of the war. However, in time, the adaptability and the ferocity of Humanity managed to make up for this in their war against the Chigs. Mankinds use of guerilla tactics were counter to the Chigs tactics of large direct military strategies. Furthermore, special ops missions, infiltrations, assassinations, sabotage and small unit engagements proved to be quite effective against the Chigs and Earth's fleets began a slow push that brought them closer to the Chig homeworld.
As the war continued to rage between the two sides, the chigs began to form an alliance with remnants of the Human-built race of androids known as the Silicates. These machines were perfectly willing to work against Humanity after losing the AI Wars tha were waged on Earth and the Silicates eventual exodus from the planet. The nature of the alliance was vague and the true depths of it were unknown.
By the later part of 2063, the intelligence and surveillance missions conducted by the Earth fleets on Chig territory had successfully located the Chig homeworld. It was confirmed to have been the fourth planet within the Helious system. In 2064, after 18 months of heavy fighting, the Earth fleets began to prepare for an invasion of the Chig homeworld who's moon was designated "Anvil" in part of an military mission called Operation Roundhammer.
Despite the continuing war, the Chigs sent an ambassador to the USS Saratoga and was equipped with a translation device allowing them to communicate with Humans. The Ambassador was asked to explain his reasons for the Vesta and Tellus colony disasters. During the events of the negotiations, the ambassador revealed the connection of Aerotech in defiling their sacred moon as well as citing that that proof was capable of being produced that the amino acids that brought about the birth of their existence was similar to the content of the comet that struck Earth. The Ambassador then blamed the Aerotech representative for ignoring their warning calls and became violent after which it apparently detonated a hidden suicide bomb that seemingly killed most of the members of the diplomatic meeting.
The end of the negotiations seemingly restarted hostilities between the Chigs and Humans.
- The series ended after its first season which means that the further history of the Chigs and the end of the war remains unknown.
Background
Biology
The ultimate revelation of the Chigs is that life on their homeworld began through panspermia. They developed into a humanoid species with a clammy pink soft skin. Their small black eyes were recessed in eye sockets with gills on either sides of their heads along with jutting chins. The unique conditions of their home planet meant that they breathed a methane rich atmosphere and communicated through a series of cetacean-like whistles and clicks. Their biology meant that they died and disintegrated when in contact with oxgyen based atmospheres which necessitated them in using complex suits to survive in other atmospheres. Furthermore, water had a profound impact on them as it was a poison to their systems resulting in immediate death if injested.
Desite the similarity in the amino acids in their birth and the different environment they were born in, the Chigs evolved at a faster rate when compared to Humanity.
Culture
The Chigs are hinted at believing Humanity to be a culturally unevolved as well as violent race which was why they shunned contact with them.
The fact that they wore complex fully encapsulating armored environmental suits meant that Humans never saw the actual appearance of a Chig. Furthermore, the did not communicate with mankind and the designation Chig was not the name of their species but rather a nickname given to them by Humans due to their environmental suits.
In reality, the species hated being called "Chigs", "Chigoes" or aliens. They in turn refer to Humans in a term that translated to mean "red stink creature" which referred to the offensive color as well as odor of Human blood.
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