Verrish

The Verrisha (singular Verrish) are a race of sapient humanoids native to the planet Vara, in the Vara Tal system. They are known as Brutes by the Compact, and are classified as a Seventh Phase Encounter species.

Description
The average Verrish stands at around 8 feet tall, with yellow-green slit-eyed pupils and head-tails called "tintas." Each tinta is about the length of an adult human's forearm and is patterned like snake scales. Verrish skin comes in varying shades of blue. The skin is patterned with either spots or stripes, though the sizes of each also varies. Inside the tintas are highly sensitive sensory organs that make them extremely effective trackers. This is complemented by their high running speed and eyesight. Verrisha also have retractable claws.

Somewhat physically weaker than Tribunes, these factors combine to make them one of the few races capable of effectively fighting them. A teenage Verrish is an easy match for most fit adult humans in raw physical strength.

Encounter with Nemesis
In the late 4600s CE, UECNS Nemesis suffered enough damage for Red One to lose control of her own memory banks. This led her to revert back to her state after the engagement between Task Force 97 and Expansion Fleet Bankala, when she was frantically searching for Earth and broadcasting on all available frequencies her distress call.

In this state, she detected the radio transmissions not unlike those of Earth, and headed for their origin point. Arriving in the Vara Tal system, the result of her distress calls was essentially a planet-crippling EWAR attack, jamming radio nets and communications systems across Vara. After recieving no response for several days, the automated repair systems aboard Nemesis eventually fixed the malfunctioning network node that led to the loss of control, at which point the distress calls ended.

The ship would then remain in orbit around Vara for almost a generation, slowly repairing using mined asteroids but without communicating to the people on the planet below. The Verrisha reminded Red One of humanity, and not just physically. Culturally and behaviourally they were very similar to that which had existed on Earth in the 1970's and 80's (even down to their moon landing only happening a few years before). When Host One, a vessel launched by the Rylethe Federation (whose language, not unlike English, became the dominant one among the species), arrived at the ship, this was what led Red to beckon them into a docking bay and show them the Compact's expected arrival. She also gave them a data drive containing historical information on the battles between the Confederacy and the Compact, and what she expected to happen to them once the Compact arrived.

Nemesis left the system several days after the departure of Host One back to Vara, but the cultural impact of its presence was deep and long-lasting. The ship was an icon, with depictions of it still being common in science fiction upon the arrival of Expansion Fleet Conmurra. The mere arrival of an FTL-capable starship, armed with railguns, laser cannons and equipped with artificial gravity proved to the people of Vara that technology that could currently only be dreamed of was completely possible. The warning also influenced them- every nation on Vara eventually joined the Varran Federation, and it began making preparations for war.

Resistance to the Compact
With decades of warning, the Varran Federation began to build. A moonbase, used for mining, was turned into a massive meteor cannon battery (not unlike the lunar guns of Earth's planetary defense net). The orbits of Vara were seeded with nuclear mines, directed mirror arrays, and laser-guided kinetic bombardment weapons to be used on the landing forces. Expansion Fleet Conmurra lost four ships to the meteor cannons, and the orbiting killsats and mines damaged dozens more. The surface military bases that could be seen from orbit were destroyed, but were in reality all distractions. Vital military and industrial facilities were all underground, hidden from above. Still, the Tribune forces slowly overwhelmed them, but at a massive cost.

By the time Bastion Leader Conmurra decided to resort to diplomacy (something he was loathe to do, seeing the Verrisha and primitive savages and not true intelligent beings), the pacification of Vara had exceeded the expected casualty count of his fleet's entire campaign (supposed to be spread across dozens of worlds and multiple years of operations) by almost 27%. Certain concessions were obtained, but the Verrish people were never supposed to let knowledge of the presence of Nemesis around their world leave the system.

Even after military capitulation, resistance continued. Some carried on fighting in the name of Nemesis, drawing inspiration from Red One's own war against the Compact with an almost religious fervor. Others fought for friends and family killed by the invasion waves and planetary bombardment. Despite not being anywhere near as advanced as the Compact, they are still at a level to know what things like improvised explosive devices and anti-tank guided missiles are, which makes them very difficult to occupy without large casualty rates, helped along by the fact that the cultural shock of alien arrival came and went decades before the arrival of the Compact.

One of Red One's ultimate goals is the liberation of Vara Tal, alongside Rally. It is very likely that liberating Vara would be much easier than Rally, given the lack of Compact indoctrination and popular knowledge of her there.

Snippet of Verrish resistance:

https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/the-last-angel-ascension.346640/page-33#post-19327946

Notable Verrish
Allyria te Neu - ex-Compact Janissary, current Confederate Marine. Mottled blue skin.

Trivia

 * The design of the Verrish was based heavily on that of the Na'vi from James Cameron's Avatar, with partial influence from the older versions of the daemonettes from Warhammer 40k.