Here's the next chapter for you all, questions will be answered and others will be asked. Note: Sergeant Major Richards is the property of DaniWilder, so thanks for letting me borrow him.

I intend to look at all reviews and try to clear up any questions you may have, so if you have any stick them in your reviews and i will try to answer them without giving the game away at the start of each new chapter.

As some of you may have guessed there will eventually be new ships being built. The tricky part is coming up with appropriate names which is very important, so if you have any suggestions send them in and the best will become the names for the new BC - 305 class ships.

And here it is at last, the long awaited chapter. Apologies for the time taken but i have been ill for weeks, ranging from an annoying cold which led to a nasty and painful infection thanks to a weakened immune system. Now i am recovered and i present to you my longest chapter yet and with some plot points i am quite proud of. Enjoy.

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Shadow of Realm: I'm glad you trust me, you shall not be disappointed.

The woman's eyes snapped open as the pod doors slid open. She was instantly alerted to her surroundings and the people before her, one of which was her son but the others were all humans. All were armed with strange looking weapons that she did not recognise and, while they were not currently pointed at her, from the way they held them it was clear they were more than ready to turn them on her.

The second the mist from inside the pod cleared the Wraith queen became instantly recognisable for what she was. She was clearly a Wraith, as the pale blue skin and slits below the eyes showed. Interestingly though she seemed to be almost human with her long flowing black hair and the lack of the typical Wraith predator aurora. She certainly seemed to be much less of a predator than her son who was now standing next to her and greeting his mother.

"It is good to see you again Matriarch," said Todd.

"Now my son you know I have told you to call me mother as any other son would," said Echidna, smiling warmly at her son.

Todd smiled in response, "It is good to see you again, mother."

"Now then," she glanced at the assembled group who were looking on in wonder at this exchange. "Who are your well armed friends?"

"These are humans from another galaxy who I find myself allied with," said Todd. "They are seeking your assistance in negotiating with the hive queens."

Echidna turned to study the group before she finally spoke.

"And what is it that you wish to negotiate about?" she asked.

"We want you to convince them to take the cure that we are offering them," said Sheppard, keeping his voice level.

Upon hearing this Echidna's hand shot out and grabbed Todd's right hand taking everyone by surprise at the sudden movement. She turned his unresisting hand palm up to reveal the unbroken skin. She looked her son in the eye as she spoke.

"I thought there was something different about you my son and now I know what it is. You truly have been cured haven't you?"

"Yes mother I am," said Todd. "Thanks to them I am able to eat real food again. I no longer suffer from this agonising hunger."

"Then I owe them a debt of thanks," said Echidna before turning to the humans. "Thank you for giving my son this gift. Can you really cure all of them?"

"Yes we can," said Sheppard. "But we need your help to convince them that they can trust us."

"Mother," Todd interrupted, "I suggest that we continue this conversation on route to the Arima."

"What is the Arima?" asked McKay.

"It is my personal ship," said Echidna. "Only I am able to control it so any Wraith who sees it will know that I am aboard."

"Okay fine we'll continue this conversation on route," said Sheppard. He turned to Todd. "I am guessing that there is no stargate near it."

"No there isn't," said Todd. "But I can give you the location if you give me access to a star chart again."

Sheppard nodded. "Right then lets get moving, I cannot wait to hear this story."

He tapped his earwig. "Lorne beam all life signs up."

Weir – Conference Room

The conference room had a similar set up to the ones onboard other Tau'ri ships, table, chairs, wall mounted display monitor and a window view. Of course as the ship was currently in hyperspace the view mainly consisted of varying shades of blue. The assembled party consisted of Todd, Echidna and AR-1. Introductions had been made and they were waiting to hear Echidna's tale.

"Before I tell you my tale I need to know a few things," said Echidna. "How long have I been asleep?"

"You have been in hibernation for nearly 10,200 year's mother," said Todd.

"Okay so you know the date and we are on route to the Arima," said Sheppard. "Now its time for you to start talking, why will every Wraith out there trust you?"

"Because children will listen to their mother," stated Echidna.

Shocked silence hung in the air until McKay dared to break it.

"You were the first one?"

"Yes Doctor I was. But I will start from the beginning. 10,300 years ago I was part of a science team sent by the high council to a planet to study a new form of indigenous life form, an insect-like creature which we named the Iratus Bug. My team and I proceeded to enter a series of caves where we believed the creatures lived. At the time though we did not know of the dangers that awaited us, we had heard of locals disappearing but did not make the link between the creatures and the disappearances. It was that mistake that led to the deaths of every member of that science team, except for me. As we entered deeper into the caves we were ambushed by the creatures. They surrounded us and herded us deeper into the caves until we came before the queen bug." Echidna shuddered at the memory. "The queen fed on each of my team until finally I was the only one left. But when it came to me, something happened. I do not know the reason why but when the bug started to feed something changed in me. At the time my people were still striving towards ascension and some of our people were beginning to change genetically. We were all changing, becoming something more, evolving at an extraordinary rate and in some of us the changes were a little unstable, I was one of those cases but I could still control my natural abilities and it was not something that presented any problems. In fact the council wanted to study my changes, to see how my body would adapt to different environments and hopefully discover a new path to ascension. And so in exchange for being the subject of their tests they allowed me to join the science team to gain field experience, as I was merely finishing studying animal biology, physiology and anthropology at the time and was not yet a scientist in my own right. It had been my ambition to become a great scientist but instead I became a legend amongst the scientific community. My DNA absorbed the Iratus bug DNA on a massive scale. Even while the queen fed on me I was mutating on the cellular level, becoming something new, something never seen before. I became the first Wraith to have ever existed. The queen feeding on me noticed this immediately, and with my new mind opening to the world around me I could sense her fear. My immediate thought was survival and I reacted the moment the creature hesitated and tore it from my body." Most present winced at this point; the memory of the fight those things would put up to hang on to their prey was all too fresh in their memories. "And so I ran. I ran from the cave with my dead team mates, and the creature that had turned me into what you see before you."

After this revealing monologue all that followed was silence as the humans considered what they had heard. But even after such an insight into the woman's history they could tell she was still holding something back.

"That explains how you came to be," said Woolsey. "But how is that the rest of your kind came into being?"

Echidna drew in a deep breath to steel herself for the next part of her story.

"Simply put, they are my children. Well the oldest, like my son here, are but the rest are at least my descendants. But there are several things you need to know first before I get into detail and I will ask that you save your questions for after you hear what we have to tell you. Now then you must know that it did not take long for my own hunger to surface and I found myself needing to feed. I know what you are thinking and you should know that I did not feed on humans. Because of my Lantean heritage my mind and will is strong enough to resist the urge to feed on humans but as a result my only alternative is to feed on the larger wildlife on the planet. Thankfully there were several sizable herds of large wilder beast present in the local valleys and they provided an excellent food source.

"But it wasn't long before my people – my old people – sent a search party. I observed them for a while as they scoured the area around the stargate on foot and further out using numerous gateships. As long as they didn't try to enter the caves I had decided to remain hidden and if I didn't allow them to catch sight of me they would dismiss my life readings as those of a roaming animal, I was after all an entirely new species. This continued for some time until I eventually noticed one member of the search party in particular. His name was Typhoeus and I knew that he did not belong here. He was not of the military like the other searchers but a scientist, like I had hoped to be." She smiled at the memory. "I had known him for years, he was not much older than I. He was an engineer with a sub-specialty in bio-technology and it was hearing his passion about science in our younger days that inspired me to become a scientist. I knew that if he had come then he must have volunteered for the mission, the council would not have sent a scientist for something that was clearly a task for military personnel. It was this thought that gave me hope and late one night I snuck past the camps sentries and visited him in his tent. To say he was shocked to see me would be an understatement. "

She paused as the emotions of the memories temporarily overwhelmed her to the point of silence.

"I won't pretend that he was more shocked by my sudden appearance in his presence than by my actual appearance. I know that he was horrified by my transformation but I do at least know that he was happy that I was alive. When his mood calmed enough I told him what had happened in the caves and warned him to stay away from them. Of course his first instinct was to take me back home so that he and the other scientists might find a cure. But I would not go with him, I was afraid. I feared that if I were to go back with him the council would see me as a dangerous creature, a threat to be neutralised. My people were not above covering up their mistakes and I am sure that the idea that one of their kind could become such a creature would have terrified them. Besides I owed it to the others like me who would did not deserve to suffer because of such a fluke. And so we decided to hide my existence. An artificial body was placed inside the cave for an apparent discovery, which was made by Typhoeus, and the remains almost vaporized when he ordered the security forces to detonate a bomb in the cave to kill the deadly creatures that were supposedly chasing after him. With only his word and unidentifiable remains the council had no choice but to declare me officially dead and move on. As a kindness to Typhoeus for losing a loved one he was allowed to pursue his own private projects for a while and so worked alone, occasionally going off world as he chose. Of course his real reasons for going off world were to visit me, bringing supplies with him to make a home as well as a secret lab for him to use if necessary. I did not realise just how necessary it would soon become, but perhaps he did. A year had passed since my apparent death when Typhoeus was discovered to be working on altering the biological make up of a creature such as myself. The council wrongly assumed that his goal was to turn someone into such a creature and that the missing humans were his test subjects, when in actual fact he had been researching the opposite. Suddenly finding himself hunted he fled back to our secret haven where he hoped we would be safe, but we knew the council would be looking for us.

"Over time he had come to the conclusion that I might never regain my original state of being. So when he was forced to flee he set in motion plans that he had prepared for just such an eventuality. In the year that had passed both of us had been busy studying my changes to see what my capabilities might be and what discoveries my changes might lead to. Together we made many discoveries about my new form. The first of which was that I was capable of producing children, but not in the usual manner. Like the Queen bugs before me I must produce eggs, but since I was a combination of species I could not do so without assistance. We created a device, a birthing chamber if you will, that required me to be connected to it and once my contribution was made my child could grow. Once we knew the path our future would follow we decided that it was time to continue the new race that fate had created, and so the first of my children were born. Over the coming months I had many daughters and many more sons. And that is how my children came to be. Todd is one of my sons and because of the war he is my only remaining son.

"Another discovery was that like the Iratus bug queens my body was capable of making a pathogen for generating an almost web like substance used to make the bugs nests by converting the local plant matter. After some heavy genetic alteration to the pathogen we found a way for it to be altered to take in raw materials that were non biological and convert them. With further testing and trials we discovered that we could change the pathogen to create for us a home of our own, a home that could traverse the stars and take us away from those who would wish us harm. And so we decided to build such a craft. By that point my children had grown and had become strong, their DNA meant they reached adulthood quickly. They had been educated by myself and Typhoeus and knew of their heritage and how our species came to be. When we decided to make our home though we came to one irrevocable conclusion, in order to grow the pathogen required a host, a central mind from which to expand and grow and take shape. A mind which would act as the neural centre for what would become a living ship of the stars, and so Typhoeus made the decision to become that neural centre. He knew that I would continue to survive long after he had succumbed to old age and saw it as the way to be with me throughout the centuries to come. And so he injected the pathogen into himself on the jungle world we had called our home, and slowly began to change. Without a power source besides the electrical energy that his body produced to aid the process it took many years for the change to be complete. But finally our home, the Arima, was complete, and at the heart of it, with his mind still intact, was Thypoeus. He had become a part of the ship and for his sacrifice was revered as the true father of our race.

"But one day shortly after the ship was completed a few of my children who were hunting wild animals on another world were come across by a scouting party of primitive humans. Fearing the creatures they found the humans attacked and killed several of my children, but they underestimated them. The others fought back and killed almost all of the humans, draining them of life. My children who had fed found the human form to be a more appetising snack than the simple animals they had hunted all their lives. When they at last returned to me they spread the word of their discovery and convinced the others to use the humans as their new food source. I argued that my people would not allow them to feed on the humans as they pleased but to no avail. What I would later learn was that my children had become addicted to the life force of humans and that there was nothing I could do to curb their hunger. It was this that marked the change in my children's futures for they now saw humans as their one and only food source, and as such the Alteran's as their enemy.

"And yet they knew that my people were powerful and would be difficult to overcome. So they tried to harvest what information they could from the memory banks of the Arima in order to build the ships they would need to combat my people. But they would also need troops and so after experimentation they created the first of the drones, creatures of strength and power which, in exchange for rapid growth, were reduced to nothing more than mindless soldiers. When I discovered this I stopped trying to merely convince them and physically attempted to stop them. But the combined mental powers of all my daughters were too much for me to take on alone and so I was captured. But it was my fate to be freed by the one child of mine who had stayed loyal, the one you now know as Todd, and with his help I was able to go into hiding. And so after so many millennia I find myself here before you," she concluded.

There was silence for a minute while everyone mulled over the condensed version of the Wraith's origins and added this new information to what they already knew.

"So," said Woolsey at last. "What makes you think they will still listen to you now when all those years ago your own children betrayed you?"

Echidna winced slightly at the memory of her children's betrayal before speaking.

"Now that you have a way to make it so that my kind does not have to feed on humans in order to survive I can convince them to accept the change. If it is me who is offering them this change then they should accept it, even my grandchildren would recognise me as Matriarch of our people."

"I take it that's why we are taking you to the Arima then," said McKay.

"Correct Doctor. The Arima can only be controlled by the one true Matriarch," said Echidna. "It is the flagship of the entire Wraith fleet, the most powerful Wraith ship to have ever existed. The current hive ships which were built from what little knowledge gleamed from the Arima's design are poor copies in comparison."

Everyone was slightly taken aback at this bold statement, already thoughts about the size and capabilities of the vessel were flittering through their minds. The most prominent of which were images of the super hive they had faced not that long ago.

"Before we arrive we need some assurances as to your intentions," said Woolsey. "Since we can neither confirm nor deny your story there is only one thing that we can do that will allow us to trust you. I would like you to submit yourself to the same treatment as Todd."

Echidna's expression of resolute calm did not flicker for a moment. "I will be happy to Mr Woolsey."

Unknown System

In orbit of a desolate dust coloured world barren of life was a single hive ship with fifteen cruisers scattered around it in a defensive formation. They were the guardians of the treasure below. On the planets surface slowly being buried by the dust storms that traversed the planet was the first Wraith hive ship, the Arima.

Standing on the bridge of their cloaked ship and watching the small Wraith fleet was AR-1, Mr Woolsey, Echidna and Todd.

"There are probably more ships waiting a short hyperspace jump away to ambush any attacking force," said Todd.

"I don't suppose that trying to jam their communications will do any good?" asked Sheppard.

"No," said Todd. "Even if you block their communications you cannot block their telepathy."

"Our only option is for me to beam down to the Arima and attempt to communicate with the hive queens," said Echidna. "Hopefully they will listen to reason, but if not then I will have to destroy them as a show of strength."

"Well luckily our scans show the ship is abandoned," said Sheppard. "It'll take time for you to power the ship up and make orbit, in the mean time we'll provide cover for you in case they try anything."

"Those ships will most likely fire everything they have at you if they feel it necessary, said Echidna. "Are you sure your ship will be able to survive such an assault?"

"Don't worry about the Weir, she'll take whatever they throw at us and dish it back out," said Rodney, with a hint of pride in his voice.

"Hopefully Doctor McKay it will not come to that."

Arima – Bridge

In twin pillars of familiar white light Todd and Echidna appeared on the bridge. The bridge itself was styled in the typical layout of Wraith vessels, with one major difference. At the back of the bridge, raised so that it overlooked the rest of the room, was a Wraith throne chair.

Echidna walked over to the throne and sat down, sinking into it as the organic material moulded itself to her shape while the head of the throne moved forward to half encircle the crown of her head. This was the neural interface that would allow her to control the entire ship. The interface was based on the control chairs technology and so could only be controlled by Echidna alone.

Activating the interface she powered up the ships system, at the same time reactivating the ships central core processor. In other words she re-awoke Thypoeus.

"Echidna," echoed a voice from the past through the mental link. "You have returned to me."

"Hello Typhoeus," replied Echidna using the link. "I am sorry I took so long but I have good news."

She sent her most recent memories over the link, containing her encounters with the Tau'ri and the hope that they offered her and her children, and the gift she had been granted by them.

"So at last after all this time you and your children have a way to rejoin the people of the universe," said Typhoeus. "I am glad for you."

"Thypoeus you know that you are as much their father as I am their mother," she replied. "Without you we would not have had even the few peaceful years that we did. But now is not the time for this, we must leave this planet and make ourselves known to our children."

"I understand my love. The ships systems are fully operational and the Sentinels are all reporting that they are ready to launch."

"Then let us go, you have been trapped on this world for too long. It is time for you to be amongst the stars again."

Wraith Hive ship in orbit - Bridge

Manning one of the bridge consoles was a Wraith commander, the only commander in a fleet otherwise crewed solely by mindless drones and who was alerted to a change in normal activity by a bleeping of his console. Accessing the sensor readings to locate the apparent change he quickly noticed something distinctly unusual, for in all the years he had been a guardian of the treasure of this world he had never seen it happen, the Arima was giving off power readings by itself.

Turning around he addressed his superiors in what he hoped was his most serious and calm voice.

"My Queens," he said. "I am detecting power readings from the Arima."

The two queens were standing together, seemingly silent in their musings. Although most likely they were talking to each other, as well as the other vessels commanders not to far away, using their telepathy. The two were a striking pair, both with flowing red hair and what in humans might be called a family resemblance to the keeper queen that Sheppard had killed all those years ago. They were quite similar looking and, given the Wraith genetics was somewhat limited when it came to differences in appearance, the only notable difference between them was the fact that one had a lighter shade of hair compared to the darker tones of the other.

They hissed in duet as they turned to face the commander that dared spout such lies at them.

"What do you think you are saying you fool?" said Stheno, the lighter haired of the two. "Such a thing is impossible."

"Check the logs," said Euryale. "If you used your brain to think you would probably find that there is a science team down their running experiments."

"My queens," said the commander, remaining firm. "There is no science team scheduled to be down there and according to the logs one has not left the ship."

The queens hissed in frustration and were about to shout at the commander to double check his obviously false findings when the console bleeped again. Turning back to it the commander's eyes widened in surprise.

"My queens," he said with his voice clearly showing his surprise. "Sensors are detecting that the Arima's systems are all online and fully powered."

Before the queens could even respond to this latest piece of seemingly impossible information a voice from the past rang over the Wraith's telepathic link, amplified to a nearly deafening volume by the powerful transmitters on the Arima.

"Hear me my children. I am Echidna the Matriarch of all Wraith and I have returned."

"Mother!" was the daughters disbelieving reply.

"Hello my daughters I have returned to you at last and I bring with me a cure for your hunger. You need never feed on humans again. You can join the rest of the universe as friends not enemies. The people of the Tau'ri offer you a way to live amongst them as equals. Accept what I offer you my children for if you will not take this gift then I will not protect you."

The two queens were drunk with the power they believed their species still commanded over the galaxy. They shouted out together in unison, having long ago become of one mind.

"We will not accept this Mother, for we are the superior species. The hunters shall not submit to the demands of creatures we call our prey."

"You cannot stop me my daughters, the others will listen to me even if you will not. It is time for our species to begin a new era or perish."

"THEN IT IS YOU THAT SHALL PERISH MOTHER!"

And with those final words the Wraith ships powered their weapons and began to target the Arima.

Weir - Bridge

The entire ship was at battle ready conditions waiting for the moment when they would either be needed to spring into action or be told to stand down. As the crew on the bridge listened to the dialogue between mother and daughters, courtesy of Teyla's Wraith DNA, it seemed ever more likely that they would be forced to fight. Then, as the dialogue drew to a close, another voice dared to break the silence.

"Commander, all Wraith ships are altering their position and are powering weapons," said tactical.

Sheppard's reaction was immediate, "Keep us between them and the Arima. De-cloak and raise shields. Bring weapons online but hold on the Grodin. You know the plan people, main weapons to target the cruisers only. ISIS you're on point defence, set railguns to anti-fighter mode and target any and all darts."

The railguns double barrel gave them firing options their predecessors didn't have. Normally for ship to ship engagements they would fire simultaneously to provide maximum impact damage, as this was normally needed to break through the enemies armour. But fighters presented the problem of being able to avoid the shots your firing rather than surviving a hit from one. In order to counter this problem in anti-fighter mode the double barrels would alternate their fire, effectively doubling the rpm of the railguns at the cost of a lower yield shot but making them that much harder to avoid.

Cloak dropping, shields raising and weapons powering, the Weir shimmered into visibility to the shock and surprise of the Wraith fleet. But even faced with a vessel that bore a startling resemblance to the warships of their old enemy the Wraith did not hesitate and opened fire immediately. Energy blasts quickly travelled the short distance between the ships and impacted on the shields of the Weir.But they held with against the assault, and now that the Wraith had fired their opening shots the Weir would repay them in kind.

In a show of raw power every APB on the ship lanced out towards a different target, seemingly at once, with the short time between shots almost unnoticeable. In an instant most of the cruisers were either crippled our destroyed outright from the opening volley. Three ships exploded as their pierced reactors detonated, leaving nothing behind but atomic dust. Five ships simply lost all power as the beams tore through their hulls and severed the main power conduits. The other two just drifted, the command crew dead, as the beams had vaporised the bridge and a significant areas of the ship around it.

The remaining cruisers scattered, desperate to avoid the remains of their sister ships or worse join them in their fate. But dodging wreckage quickly proved to be the least of their problems as the eight forward mounted ICT's opened up on the remaining cruisers. The glowing white orbs tore towards their targets flying through space, some missing but the rest hitting. Two very unlucky cruisers, who had been unable to veer away without steering into the crippled ships around them, took the brunt of several blasts after being targeted by multiple turrets. Each shot, while nowhere near as powerful as an APB, still packed an impressive punch as both ships joined those around them as debris, with not a single Wraith onboard left alive. The other three cruisers were clipped by blasts, two of which had a wing section burnt off, leaving whole sections exposed to space, while the other lost an engine pod causing it to stop mid turn as the crew desperately tried to compensate. The cruisers that were still able to move were forced to retreat behind the hive ship while their hulls regenerated and the gaping wounds in their sides closed.

Seeing the devastation wrought by a single volley from the enemy vessel, and realising that their own volley had done relatively little in return to the enemy shields, the queens did the only thing they could. On the cruisers that still had power the hanger bay doors slid open to disgorge every dart that could be crewed, while the hive ship attempted to empty its massive hangers in one go. Meanwhile, behind the hive ship, space ripped open as four hyperspace windows opened disgorging four hive ships and their twelve cruiser escorts. The newly arrived ships began to head towards the remains of what had once been a proud wraith fleet ready to add their weight to the battle. The Tau'ri response was to blanket the oncoming swarms of darts with railgun fire and transfer additional energy to the shields while the Grodin powered up.

But whilst all this was happening the Arima had powered her engines and was taking off from the surface. The ground shook as tons and tons of dirt, that had previously been attempting to cover the ship entirely, were dislodged and shifted off the ship to reveal the shining grey metallic bio-armour that made up the mighty ships hull. As the engines roared, the last of the dirt fell away and the ship came clear of the planets surface. Rising higher and higher into the atmosphere the ship quickly climbed through the stratosphere, burst through the exosphere and tore its way into outer space. Forced upwards by its massive engines the fifteen kilometre long hive ship like behemoth rose past the Weir and turned towards the mere ten kilometre long hive before it, like a parent turning towards its child. As the colossal ship turned three, one kilometre long, cruiser like shapes detached from the underbelly of the ship and formed up in a defensive formation around the Weir, one above and one on either side. The Weir ceased firing, and the darts swarmed and held back while the Wraith reinforcements ground to a halt alongside their queen's flagship. But even while all this was occurring the queen's hives continued to fire on the Weir, and that sealed their fate.

Once again Echidna's voice rang over the Wraith mental link.

"Hear me now my children, for I am Echidna the Matriarch to all Wraith. I offered my two daughters a cure for the hunger that curses you all, and yet my two daughters would reject such a thing and in turn tried to destroy myself and the Arima. When they saw this my friends the Tau'ri, the bringers of this cure, protected me and in thanks my daughters tried to destroy them as well. Now I grant the Tau'ri the permission to strike down those who fired the first shot, those who would harm their mother. Those who would reject what can save our race from destruction in an attempt to satisfy their own lusts for power. My daughters, to you I have only one thing to say." Echidna's eyes closed in sadness. "Goodbye."

"Target the enemy flagship and fire the Grodin," said Sheppard, silently praying this worked as well as hoped.

"Target locked and firing," said McKay.

The, thirty metre diameter, forward weapons emitter discharged a single lance of pure white energy, hurtling through space until it reached its target, the hive ship before it. The beam hit the tip of the ship and tore through the bio-armour like a knife through butter. Uninhibited by this meagre resistance the beam continued onwards, tearing through corridors until it encountered the armour layer on the outer hole. But still the beam was unaffected and carried onwards, through the armour and into the empty space in the middle of hive. Crossing the distance with little effort the beam once again encountered bio armour which it once again overcame and continued onwards, passing through the engines of the hive until it had split the ship in two. This all happened in an instant and all an observer would note was that a beam of energy lanced out and through the entire length of the hive splitting it in two. The hives reactors quickly realised what had happened and exploded, turning the two halves into space dust.

The reaction from the other Wraith ships was immediate. They powered down their weapons while the darts retreated back into hangers that were only too eager to accept them. The Wraith mental link was filled with the voices of commanders welcoming the return of the Matriarch and swearing that they would accept her decision and comply with her wishes. In response to this Echidna silenced them with a single command and ordered them to lend her their telepathy to send a message across the entire Wraith hive mind.

"Hear me my children, wherever you might be. I am Echidna, mother and Matriarch to the entire Wraith race and I have returned to you at last. I have returned with a cure to the hunger that plagues you my children, and this cure was brought to us by a people that you all know, the Tau'ri. They have offered us a way to live amongst the peoples of this universe as equals and I have accepted their offer, and as Matriarch my word is law. Know that they offer this to us out of kindness. See the images from your kindred and know that they have the power to destroy us if we choose to continue down the path that we are on. Today they used a small fraction of that power to destroy those that would try to doom our race by refusing their offer, and they did so with my permission. As of now any Wraith that refuses this offer and tries to feed on a human will be hunted down by me and feel the wrath of the Arima and her three Sentinels. The choice is yours my children, but know that a new era now begins for our people and the ways of the old will end."