Kha'ak

The Kha'ak are a fictional insectoid alien race in the X computer game series developed by Egosoft. Not much is known about their culture, biology, technology or motives. They first appeared in X2: The Threat where they started jumping into sectors by using a gateless jumpdrive and attacking ships and installations. In their largest victory, the Argon Federation sector Presidents End was decimated, leaving wrecks of stations behind. In their next attack, the Kha’ak used a M0 Planet Destroyer to try and destroy the central planet in the Argon sector, Omicron Lyrae. This plan was thwarted by Julian Brennan, Saya Kho, Bret Sera and Allied forces. There has been no communication from the Kha'ak.

They are still attacking the X Universe in X3: Reunion

Nature
There has been no actual contact with the Kha'ak race before their attacks began. Indeed, their actual appearance remains, to this day, a mystery. They are rumored to have an insect-like appearance, with several reptilian features. The only picture of a kha'ak ever taken is the one from the start menu of X3: Reunion.

Near the end of the game the reason for their unprovoked attacks is revealed: they were originally a highly advanced race generally dwelling outside the closed jumpgate system (better known as the X-Universe), in asteroids rich in the rare, superconductive mineral known as "Nividium". At some point in the past, a ship belonging to one of the 5 races of the Commonwealth of Planets (Probably the Paranid Empire) arrived with one of their asteroid-colonies within the gate system. Since the Kha'ak live beneath the asteroid's surface and not on top of it, the asteroid appeared virtually deserted, so the ship proceeded to scan it for minerals and discovered the high yield of Nividium it had. Subsequent mining of that asteroid as well as others in the X-Universe prompted the Kha'ak to attack the races of the Commonwealth indiscriminately, since they saw no difference between any of the races.

This information was revealed by Kyle Brennan. During a Kha'ak attack on an Argon world in X2, Kyle was put in a coma after being the only being ever to have a close encounter with the actual race. During yet another assault, on Argon Prime, the Kha'ak jumpsystems somehow resonated with Kyle's brain waves, waking him up from the coma. Without explanation, he escaped from the medical facility holding him, stole a ship, and left for the distant star system of Nyana's Hideout. His son, Julian, was prompted by Argon intelligence commander Ban Danna to follow him. In Nyana's Hideout, Julian followed Kyle to a Nividium asteroid where the Kha'ak apparently had a base. The 'base' proceeds to jump out of the sector, but the mere sight of it confirmed Kyle's theory that Nividium was linked with the Kha'ak. He later disclosed the information to Ban Danna.

Technology
The Kha'ak appear to be highly advanced as they have created jumpdrives which do not require a gate at the exit. This allows them to attack practically anywhere in a sector. The Terrans have created a similar advanced jumpdrive except their version was far from reliable. The Kha’ak version appears to be capable of moving vast fleets into a single chosen sector at the same time with no damage to their systems.

The Kha’ak also have an M0 class planet destroyer which was used in the attack of Omicron Lyrae. Only the Xenon have an equivalent ship, although this may be due to the commonwealth of planets not needing such a weapon.

Another unique Kha'ak invention their only type of weapon. The Kyon Emitter generates and emits so called 'Kyon particles' that line up in a straight line. How these particles are generated is not currently known by any of the 5 races. Externally, the weapon emits a purple (for the alpha version), white (beta version) or yellow beam (for the heavy Gamma version) that abruptly ends after a certain distance. These weapons never miss and apparently require little power to fire, although their damage potential is great when used in large numbers.

The general compact shape of Kha'ak ships also serves a function in their attack maneuvers. Kha'ak ships are joined together in a cluster during the jump procedure, and they only break up when they are close to an enemy station. They attack by using their superior speed and maneuvrability to 'swarm' an enemy ship, flying around it and constantly attacking, until it is destroyed (similar to a swarm of bees). This means that they are very hard to destroy, due to their constant motion. The most effective weapons against them are the "Phased Shockwave Generator", which creates a large shockwave of plasma/energy in a given direction, damaging everything in the area of effect, and the Hurricane Missile, which as a large area of effect which destroys all the ka'ak scouts before being completely separated; leaving generally just one or two fighters.

Ships
The Kha'ak usually jump into a sector using a cluster of ships. These are usually composed of one Kha’ak Fighter and several Kha’ak Scouts. These are classed as M3 Fighters although they have no active weapons. Due to this configuration, M4 Interceptors are rarely seen in attacked sectors. The M0 planet destroyer appears as a non-flyable plot object in X2: The Threat.