Volm (Falling Skies)

The Volm are a species that feature in Falling Skies.

History
The Catarius flower was native to their homeworld that bloomed when the weather began to warm. During the conflict with the Espheni, the Volm departed their home onboard ship hundreds of years ago. (Episode: At All Costs) As a result of their conflict, some of the Volm had never visited their homeworld and instead had fought the Espheni for hundreds of years in order to liberate the galaxy from the Overlords. (Episode: On Thin Ice) In one engagement, Shak-Chic Il She-Shesash's squad encountered a group of Espheni cocoons where they attempted to remove an occupant from one of the organic pods. The act killed the occupant and the other surviving cocoons began to increase the heat they generated whilst attacking the minds as well as bodies of the Volm attackers. Shak lost nine brothers on that day and led them to begin the practice of simply destroying the cocoons whenever they found them after repeated hostile experiences with them. (Episode: Door Number Three) In the past, the Volm had been successful in taking control over Espheni automated craft. (Episode: Drawing Straws) During the conflict, the Volm had only ever known the Skitters as enemies. (Episode: Brazil) In fact, they knew of the original Dorniya race that had been enslaved and mutated by the Espheni into the Skitters with it believed that the base form of their kind being extinct for centuries. (Episode: Hatchlings) The Volm came to suspect that the Espheni had also perfected a form of transcendental long range mental communication whereby they met one another in a mental shadow plane though they had no proof of their findings. (Episode: Respite)

After the next seven months, the inhabitants of Charleston worked side by side with the Volm where they managed to repel Overlord attacks along with expanding their perimeter. (Episode: At All Costs) Upon arriving on Earth, the General Waschak-cha'ab did not believe that the human militias could offer any meaningful support and intended to have them relocated to Brazil so that the Volm military forces could take their fight to the Espheni. (Episode: Brazil)

Despite their presence on Earth, the Volm had to redeploy their forces when the Espheni struck at their sanctuary in the Alicante 8 cluster. This site contained the hatchlings and broodlings of the Volm thus forcing them to go on the defensive to protect their next generation or face extinction. As a result, they were forced to pull away from Earth but left small bands of recon units on the planet to maintain a presence and continue their conflict with the Overlords. (Episode: Ghost in the Machine) Among these recon units included those led by Cochise who managed to determine that the Espheni were building a new power source on Earth but this one was different from the previous one as it was designed for offensive action. (Episode: The Eye) In reality, these forces were not officially deployed as Cochise disagreed with his father and decided to remain behind with those soldiers loyal to him to continue the fight. (Episode: Shoot the Moon) After studying human pioneer and Native American history, the Volm began creating a number of supply caches that were hidden on Earth's surface. These contained highly advanced weapons were a critical resource that were stored for future use. (Episode: Till Death Do Us Part)

Cochise's recon unit found Anthony who had survived a Skitter attack after an Overlord had the human's team mate burnt alive. The Volm recon drones had detected a large Espheni force were approaching from the river side in order to approach the human encampment once protected by the hybrid Lexi Mason. This unit would be responsible for aiding the members of the 2nd Mass when the sanctuary came under attack whereby they helped destroy a bridge restricting Espheni access to the city as well as destroying an Overlord Beamer craft. (Episode: Saturday Night Massacre) It was later determined that the Overlords had constructed their power station on the Moon where it was remotely transmitting energy to Espheni equipment. The departure of Overlord forces from the site of the 2nd Mass allowed the Volm to take their human allies to recover the Volm weapons cache as previously the Espheni prevented them from acquiring it earlier. (Episode: Till Death Do Us Part) Cochise managed to use his subspace communicator to call his father who dispatched his vessel to aid Tom Mason during the attack on the Espheni power core on the Moon though this came at the cost of Lexi Mason's life. The greater Volm forces assisted in searching for Tom Mason's lost Beamer that became lost in the explosion of the Overlord power core. (Episode: Shoot the Moon)

Afterwards, their galleon's managed to locate numerous human militia's around Earth emerging in the aftermath of the Espheni defeat. (Episode: Find Your Warrior) Cochise later made contact with the Volm orbiting team on behalf of Mason and they transmitted a scattered communication relay that stated that human militias had encountered significant Overlord opposition at Victoria barracks in Sydney, Australia. Within the United States, it was discovered that Skitter armies were advancing along the Mississippi River delta where they threatened a five militia stronghold. The Volm galleons in Earth's orbit made every effort to contact each militia they found but even their technology was limited. (Episode: Hunger Pains) They did later on transmit messages from Mason to other human militias around the planet to unite mankind's offensive e against the Espheni. (Episode: Hatchlings)

Overview
In appearance, the Volm were a race of hairless green skinned humanoid aliens whose body was covered in an exoskeletal sheath skin that required high-powered lasers to cut through. (Episode: Pope Breaks Bad) When grievously injured, the Volm bled a purple colored blood. (Episode: Journey to Xilbalba) They were also able to breath chlorine and survive in such toxic conditions that would cause respiratory damage to humans. (Episode: Till Death Do Us Part) Volm had two organs that were analogous to a human kidney but sometimes a member of their race was born with only one. (Episode: Pope Breaks Bad) It was claimed that their species were genetically designed for combat to the point that they were able to better handle stress of rough impacts or injuries compared to a human. (Episode: The Pickett Line) In addition, they had regenerative capabilities that allowed them to recover from serious wounds in a matter of hours so long as this process was not disturbed. (Episode: Journey to Xilbalba) As such, the Volm were able to anesthetize themselves by entering into this state where they did not experience any pain from acts such as surgery. In stasis, the organs that regulated the life of the Volm slowed down such as their heart beat which made it easier to transplant at this point with them returning to normal once they were awakened. Their recuperative powers allowed their body to close wounds by themselves such as those opened as a result of surgery. (Episode: Pope Breaks Bad)

Their species tended to be born onboard their spacecraft with some having never seen their homeworld. Warfare was so ingrained in their society that Volm were born into it, grew up alongside it and ultimately claimed by it. (Episode: At All Costs) Emotions such as love had little place within their society and they did not tamper with the fated order of events. As such, when dying a Volm tended to accept this as the conclusion of their lifespan and die rather than take steps in preventing it. Any attempt to prolong life by a Volm fated to die was seen as a sense of narcissism. (Episode: Pope Breaks Bad) It was considered a serious breach of etiquette for physical contact with a Volm commander. (Episode: Brazil)

Due to their ability to heal, the Volm tended to rely on this trait and did not have ship doctors. Instead, when injured, a Volm went into stasis to heal themselves unless their lifespan was concluded. When near death, they engaged in a rite known as the exchange of silence whereby the dying and another they were close to sat together in order to experience each other's presence one last time. (Episode: Pope Breaks Bad) Volm language was quite intuitive once a user got used to the symbology. (Episode: Brazil)

Over time, they had developed specific strategies in order to engage the Espheni. (Episode: Brazil) Humans sometimes derogatively referred to them as "bubble heads". (Episode: The Pickett Line)

Technology
Among their technology included machines that were able to safely remove an Overlords Harness. These large machines required an operator to manage and were able to remove the connection between the Harness to the host without harming the latter. (Episode: On Thin Ice) This operated by extracting the fibers from the Harness and uprooting the nuclear without affecting the host's spinal cord or nervous system. However, the process also removed all the benefits the Harness provided to the host that healed any illnesses. (Episode: At All Costs) They had smaller versions of these machines that lacked a view screen that could be placed on an individuals back and operated through intuition to remove spikes from a formerly Harnessed individual. (Episode: A Thing with Feathers) Though medically advanced, they lacked the means of successfully removing the occupant of an Espheni cocoon as all attempts had lead to the death of the individual inside. (Episode: Door Number Three)

To pierce their own skin, they constructed hand-held six-petawatt lasers that delivered 180 joules of energy with each pulse that could cut through their exoskeletal sheath. (Episode: Pope Breaks Bad) They also created a fast acting poison that was able to kill them faster than they could regenerate and was designed as a means to kill themselves to prevent being captured by the enemy. (Episode: Shoot the Moon) Volm-modified weapons were capable of punching through concrete and killing targets on the other side of such obstructions. (Episode: The Pickett Line) One weapon that they developed was a rifle that fired lightning-like electrical blasts that stunned multiple targets within its range and left them stunned for a couple of hours. They also had concussion ordnances that could project sound waves with the power to turn boulders into sand. (Episode: Till Death Do Us Part)

Volm had also constructed mobile holographic projectors that took the form of box shaped machines. When activated, they were able to project a large interactive hologram of a planet. (Episode: Pope Breaks Bad) They made use of small recon drones that were a fraction of the size of an Earth fly which surveyed the landscape. Telemetry from these small machines were used by the Volm to scout for danger and other threats. (Episode: Evolve or Die) Another device was a subspace communicator that was able to access enemy communications and enhanced the ability cut through their firewalls in order to contact reinforcements light-years away. (Episode: Till Death Do Us Part) Tracking devices were able to locate and track the source of jamming interference. (Episode: Respite) Volm also had access to tablet-shaped devices that could be used to monitor the readings of a subject such as one of their kind in stasis. (Episode: Pope Breaks Bad)

Their spacecraft were known as Galleon's that were able to hold heavy bombers and were able to pinpoint troop movements on a planetary surface. (Episode: Find Your Warrior)

Members

 * Waschak-cha'ab :
 * Chichauk Il'sichninch Cha'tichol :
 * Shak-Chic Il She-Shesash :

Appearances

 * Falling Skies: "The Pickett Line" (2013)