Here's the next chapter for you all, questions will be answered and others will be asked. Note: I only own what characters i create, the names and places i invent and the ships and vehicles i seem to be designing in droves for this single story.

Please review and i will respond. Or alternatively post in the thread for this story in my forum. .net/topic/84023/35075481/1/

Review Responses

AlexanderD: Suspense is one of my favourite troupes to use, i find it goes very well with cliffhangers. Hopefully i can surprise you, but i'm confident that i have one idea you haven't seen coming yet ready to go.

Shadow of Realm: Thanks for the correction. No we can't, we fear Echidna far to much for that.

DaletheChu: Well i think you'll find reading this chapter a lot less time consuming. I'm very glad to hear you had been saving this story and hope you enjoy the future chapters.

Jedi Carpet: There comes a point where the Wraith stopped being a decent threat in my mind, so i needed to come up with a good one.

As the haze of re-entry cleared the sheer scale of the Wraith presence on the planet became more apparent than the impression given by long range scans. The planets surface was covered in Wraith installations of varying size, from huge towering web like structures to small tube like towers. In several places, clustered together, there were large open fields with small buildings acting as fences to break them down further. In some of these areas were sink marks and scorch marks indicating signs that large ships had once been present but taken off from the surface. Looking at the other areas like them it became apparent just what those ships had been, hive ships. Dozens of them were at various stages of growth, some a tiny nest of tendrils where fully grown ships had once lain, others ranged from half completed ships to nearly fully grown behemoths. It was a large building near the heart of a web of much smaller buildings that the small space ship now flew towards, dodging around the smaller towers that they believed to be weapon emplacements. It was this building that the Wraith had sensed the presence of their brother, Todd.

Landing near the entrance of the massive Wraith construct the jumper gently touched down, the cloak remaining active as the ramp lowered. The five person team quickly disembarked from the jumper, the ramp rising shut behind them. Moving quickly and above all quietly they headed towards the entrance. It was the work of a moment to override the door controls and gain access to the facility. A thin veil of mist escaped as the door opened and quickly dissipated under the glare of the hot sun above. Stepping inside they made sure the doors slid shut behind them. If they could they would leave no indication of their presence until they were ready to strike.

Traversing the corridors of the Wraith facility was rather disconcerting for one member of the group. Unlike the others Sovaer did not have the experience that the others possessed having never even seen a Wraith in the flesh let alone stepped in a Wraith designed corridor. Once he stepped inside the building his eyes quickly adjusted to the gloom, and his skin softened from the moisture in the air. His first thought was to look for enemy threats, his second was that there were none and his third was that this place was just plain creepy. The combination of the gloom, mist and organic walls gave anyone unfamiliar with Wraith architecture an eerie sensation that they had been swallowed whole by a massive creature. It didn't help that he knew that the Wraith actually grew these structures which meant that they were actually alive. But if the others noticed his trepidation they didn't mention it.

"Teyla, which way?" asked Sheppard.

Lowering her P90 and closing her eyes Teyla focused on the part of her mind that was Wraith. Her brow wrinkled in concentration as she extended her normally disciplined mental senses outwards in search of their target. Ever wary of drawing the attention of the vast hive mind that dominated the greater majority of the occupants of the building she travelled further into the building. She tore down the corridors with her mind alone searching, seeking out the lone wolf in the middle of the pack, the mind of their ally and friend Todd. Deeper and deeper into the facility she went, the faint hint of the familiar mind becoming more and more distinguished on the edge of her senses. She was getting closer and closer to her target, until she turned one final corner and shot down the length of one last corridor and into a cell. In a cold and dark cell a familiar pair of sharp yellow eyes sprang open, the prodding at his mind having woken him from his slumber.

Teyla's own eyes shot open as her more natural senses reasserted themselves.

"I've found him," she said, as she set off down the corridor, weapon raised. "I'll take point, follow me."

They set off down the corridor in silence, silenced P90's at the ready with the exception of Ronon and Sovaer who were both wielding energy weapons of different designs. Rodney was also holding a life signs detector in one hand and was constantly glancing at the screen while watching where he was going.

No spoke as they proceeded deeper and deeper within the facility, but as they snuck through the corridors the mood became darker and darker as their personal fears started to creep in. The members of the team that called Atlantis home couldn't help but feel apprehension about what was to come. They couldn't help but worry about the sight that would await them once they finally reached the cell where Todd was being held. They had no doubt that they would reach the cell, their sheer determination would see to it that they did no matter how many drones they might have to slaughter to get there.

But, what about when they did get there?

What would they find?

They couldn't help but fear at the state that Todd would be in?

Would he walk out of that cell or would they have to carry him?

They worried about him for many reasons. They had come to respect him for all the things that he was. As a man, a warrior, a tactician, a scientist, a loyal son, an ally, a friend and as a patriot to his race. They all saw him from their own unique perspective and they had all found a way to respect him.

And the fifth member of this rescue team saw that they would do whatever was necessary to save him and couldn't help but wonder. He wondered what this Wraith must be like for humans to go so far for him. He had heard the stories about this Wraith, how he had hid his mother when her life was threatened, how he pretended to serve the traitors for millennia until he could safely bring her out of hiding, how he had given himself up so that his mother could survive.

So Sovaer wondered what it would be like to meet this Wraith, to maybe get to know him. But most of all he wondered what the consequences would be if it turned out that he was beyond help. Echidna's mental state had been volatile enough when she thought her son was missing, and the thought of what she would be like if her son was dead did not bear thinking about. The Tau'ri would also not like the idea that they had failed to save him and might even be just as angry. So Sovaer knew that he could not hold back, he had to save this man from the evil that ensnared him.

They all knew that he was alive. The fact that Teyla could locate him by searching for his active mind was proof enough of that. But again they did not know what condition they would find in and the question remained. It loomed over them like an oppressive gargoyle, ever present in the dark corners of their minds.

When they found him would he still be the same person they had come to know and eventually trust?

Would he recover?

Could he recover?

But they knew what they had to do. They had to push these fears aside and do what they needed to do here and now to complete their task. They had to keep going. They had to travel deeper down these moist, dank and seemingly oppressive corridors that they were coming to despise the further they went, because they had to reach their destination. They had to get to the cell that held Todd. They had to free him. They had to get him out of here, free him from the jail guarded by mindless drones that were forced into slavery. They had to release him from the vile clutches of the vipers that had once been his beloved sisters before their insanity had taken hold in their lusts for power.

They had to.

They. Had. To.

You could find out a lot of information if you were to immerse yourself within a Wraith hive mind. When the minds of thousands are linked together the combined knowledge of them all is within reach. So much could be found out about the Wraith from spending a few hours attached to the hive mind, perusing the knowledge available. History, science, hive power structure and even social standing are all available to those who might search for them.

The typical hive mind of the Wraith is both simple and complicated. Simple in structure and very complicated in practise. But this was no typical hive and the collective consciousness that governed it was no different. A typical hive had a simple structure, with the queen at the top and her commander beneath her. Then came the lieutenants, the secondary commanders and the scientists, with the Wraith males who showed more promise than others being at the top of this power segment and the lesser skilled at the bottom. But beneath all of these and, as a rule, all equal and all of them subservient to any Wraith who possessed a personality of their own and were mainly controlled by them. And beneath them and yet in some ways equal were the worshippers, humans who had come to serve the Wraith and in some cases even worship them. In the eyes of humans everywhere these were the lowest of the low, more hated than even the Wraith themselves.

But this hive mind was different, so very different from a typical hive. Most hives were confined to a single hive ship and her escorts, but this hive minds will extended over sixty hive ships and more than nine hundred cruisers. Then there was the large number of buildings on the planet, manned by Wraith who were also under the hive minds control, making this one of the largest hives to have ever existed. Then there was the leadership element of this hive to consider. This was a hive where not one queen ruled but two, or rather two queens who spoke with the same voice. Long ago after the rebellion of Echidna's children, which would come to be known as the fall by those who followed Echidna, the two sisters had realised that in order to remain strong they would have to stand united. What few remembered was that these two sisters were not just sisters but twins, something believed to be impossible for modern day Wraith. The bond between these two was greater than between any others of their species, for they possessed something that the others did not, a permanent telepathic link. Amongst humans it was believed that twins shared an almost telepathic link that allowed them to know what the other was thinking, feeling, even experiencing. But with these two it wasn't a belief, it was an undeniable fact. The link that these two shared could be thought of as a gift but it had also acted as a curse. When these two had fed on humans for the first time they had transmitted their satisfaction at having their hunger quenched to each other. It was unfortunate timing but the combined sensations from the feeding had overwhelmed their minds and removed any chance of the two ever willingly not feeding on a human again. The rest of the group had already been gripped by the hunger for humans but in these two it was so much worse. Sometimes all it takes is a single tap to push someone over the edge and these two tapped the others. When the idea was first voiced that they hunt humans these two had leapt on the idea with a grim determination, and the others had quickly followed.

Then once there mother had fled and gone into hiding the two of them had thought to themselves that together they had been an undeniable force. They had led their brothers and sisters against their mother and together had succeeded in defeating her. Together they were strong, apart they were vulnerable. So the two had decided to strengthen the bond between them until they reached the point where they were almost mentally indistinguishable from each other. In essence they were one mind inhabiting two bodies. Then over time they became one mind with two bodies with thousands of puppets under their control. Together they were so powerful that any drones they created became mentally controlled puppets. The ritual was simple, when the drones were created they subjected to the mental control of the queens, conditioned to believe that they were just appendages of the two. This completed the highest and lowest positions of the Wraith hive command structure. The middle slot was filled by those that weren't drones that were given some individuality in the hope that they would come up with ideas to strengthen the twin queen's empire further. They were the scientists and the only ones who possessed free will, although free will does not offer much if you have no way to use it. They did however have a choice to make. They could either serve the queens or die. In a way they were more slaves than the lobotomised drones. The drones did not have a choice.

After the war against the Lanteans and with their all powerful mental control over their growing empire established, they had decided to prepare for the future. The war with the Lanteans had left the Wraith infrastructure heavily damaged. The Wraith war machine had been all but destroyed, and if it wasn't for the Wraith's secret weapon and the Lanteans overconfidence they might have been destroyed entirely. But the cloning facility had proven to be a one shot weapon as they now lacked a way to power it to the point where it would produce the vast numbers of drones that they needed. The attachment of growing ships to the facility, via umbilicals similar to those that connected cruisers and hives, had produced huge numbers of ships that had almost as quickly been destroyed. Not that this was as big a problem as it might seem for them, Wraith ships could be grown elsewhere just as easily but not as quickly. If the Lanteans ever made a return then the same strategy could eventually be implemented, until that time they would build cruisers to bolster their numbers. But if another enemy were to turn up that could present a threat to the remaining forces then a fall back would be necessary. The twin sisters had foreseen a possible threat and had decided to make plans, plans that would not only ensure the chances of their races survival but their own should any of their kin try to steal their seat of power.

They had found themselves a world that had not been seeded with life by the Lanteans or given a stargate and had started their work. One of the first things they had done was to create an alibi for themselves, a cover story so that their work could progress uninterrupted. Over time they grew clones of themselves and a fleet for their doubles to have at their disposal. Once the clones reached a young age the brainwashing began, the clones were drained and restored countless times until their will was none existent. Then when they were finally broken they were given charge of a fleet and a small army of Wraith, all of whom were ultimately loyal to the originals, and were placed in charge of guarding and studying the Arima. Precautions were taken, as the clones were kept in hibernation while the others worked since time was not an issue for the Wraith.

Then they had taken time to build up their forces, there were sixty hives, aside from their own, still out there that were not loyal to them. Over time their forces had grown to meet the bare minimum that the other hives had set. The research into growing structures had proven to be the most prosperous for the Wraith, as they were able to come up with several new designs to allow them to build a proper stronghold. The planets surface was relatively barren, meaning that Wraith ships would have difficulty growing as fast as they would otherwise be able to without the natural resources. However this could be compensated for with additional power for the process and the planet was in too strategically valuable a location to give up for this reason. Structures were grown that were designed to absorb and generate energy to speed up the growth of Wraith ships. At the centre of this web was a large building designed for researching ways of improving their ships, making the Away from these growth fields were large complexes designed along similar lines to the Wraith cloning facility, but not actually cloning facilities. These facilities would allow for the growth of Wraith soldiers, but because the cloning process was so highly inefficient they would only produce drones naturally. To provide the seeds for the soldiers growth queens had been bred without a higher consciousness, the twins didn't need more rivals after all. Other structures were eventually grown that were similar to the growth chamber on a hive ship for the construction of cruisers. To defend all of these, and to not unnecessarily tie up the defending fleet of ships, tall towers were grown that would act as defence weapons. These towers would be able to easily target ships in orbit and were able to generate their own energy, which was supplemented by energy generation buildings like those used in the growth fields.

All of these had become dormant until such a time as an enemy revealed itself that needed combating, not to say that the ship construction by the active hives had ceased as more and more cruisers had been built over time. Now though an enemy had arisen. Hives all over the galaxy were awakening and forces were rallying against them and so the twins had awakened from their own period of dormancy and begun to build up their forces. The growth fields were being filled with hive ships under construction, cruisers were being built in droves and drones were being produced in their thousands. But cautions were being taken, a sizeable fleet was guarding the world and even more buildings were being grown so that the production capabilities would rise. They were preparing for the days to come. To the twins, if they won, these days would be known as the resurgence, but if Echidna and her allies won they would call this time the rising. The rising of the true Wraith society as they should, in their minds, always have been.

The Wraith hive mind is such an interesting thing. In a large hive the death of a few drones barely registers, which could prove very unfortunate to the twins. They would never notice a small force infiltrating one of their facilities and possibly killing a few drones along the way.

The team crept through the corridors, moving as quickly and as quietly as they could. The dangers of what they were doing ever present in their minds. So far they had gotten quite a way into the facility without running into any patrols. Some had past their way but the team had been able to hide in empty rooms while the patrols went by. For a while their luck seemed to be holding, they were getting closer and closer to Todd's cell and hadn't encountered any difficulties. But their luck couldn't last forever.

They were moving along the corridor. Teyla was on point, Sovaer and Ronon next in line, backed by McKay and with Sheppard covering their rear. They would have kept on going forward down the corridor to the t-junction ahead but McKay, who still had his life signs detector out, signalled for them to stop. Looking at the life signs detector they saw what had caused there halt. At the upcoming t-junction, on either side of the corridor positioned with their backs to them were two Wraith. Thus far they had only encountered roving patrols, not stationary guards, which indicated the security precautions were increasing and that from here on things would be more difficult.

Ronon drew one of his many hidden knives from a pouch in his coat. Sovaer gave him a look before nodding and pulling out a wicked looking knife of his own. Like two animals on the hunt the two of them stalked forward, creeping closer to the intersection. The rest of the team hung back, waiting for the two predators to claim their kills. When the pair reached the end of the corridor they glanced at each other, Ronon held up five fingers, Sovaer nodded and one of Ronon's fingers dropped. They didn't have to speak to convey the plan but instead just stole a glance around the corner while continuing the countdown in their mind. Three, two, one and on zero they struck. They knew the position of the Wraith guards and struck like vipers. Moving with almost inhuman speed they swung around the corner their arms moving in a graceful arc until their knives went straight through their necks. The skin broke easily, the Wraiths wind pipe offering little resistance and the spinal cord offering slightly more. The knife strike had come from below, so the drones had never even seen it coming and had not even moved an inch. Any noise of surprise they might have made was easily muffled by the masks they wore, and they were grabbed by the collar by their attackers and gently lowered to the ground.

The rest of the team moved up to the join them the second the pair had struck and the life signs vanished.

"We need to get rid of these two," said Sheppard, gesturing to the pair of corpses.

"There's a storage room back down the corridor," offered McKay.

Sovaer and Ronon didn't respond, they simply grabbed their kills by the collar again and dragged them down the corridor. Once the drones were safely stowed away, hidden from sight behind some crates, the team moved on again.

This wasn't the last obstacle that they encountered, the further they went the more roving patrols there were and the more stationary guards. In some cases they were forced to go around the guards, their positions being too heavily patrolled for their absence to go without notice. When this happened they had to wait while Rodney did a wide scan in an attempt to map out the corridors so that they could safely get around without deviating from their course. Unfortunately they could not always use such a tactic and one time they had no choice but to let Teyla plan out an alternative route for them to take. So far though their stealth tactics appeared to be working, no alarms had been raised and no unusual activity was seen to suggest the drones had been alerted to their presence. So the team kept on moving, getting closer and closer to their target.

The hive mind was strong, stable, the will of the twin queens undeniable. It encompassed the minds of all of those whom they called their subjects and the queens were confident in their supremacy over their subjects. Occasional thoughts and questions flitted across the link only to be answered or quashed in an instance.

Perhaps drones should be relegated to a loyal and hard working scientists control as a reward for his efforts. No.

Perhaps he should be granted human worshippers instead. No, humans were needed for food and it annoyed them to have to use drones for food without the humans they needed at hand.

Supplies of humans had been extinguished and some drones were reaching the limits of the time they could go without feeding. Put them in stasis until the culling parties are dispatched.

The prisoner had been awoken from hibernation but had not agreed to co-operate. It did not matter, he was already weakening and eventually he would have no choice but to submit to their will.

And yet something still niggled at the hive mind, something they felt they had missed. They couldn't quite place it. Something they had missed, no, something was missing. They had lost something, something almost inconsequential but something none the less. It did not matter. This stronghold was impervious, and soon, when their army was grown, they would be unbeatable.

So they pushed their doubts aside and focused on managing the productivity of their army.

The team were getting close. According to Teyla Todd's cell was just around the corner and right down the corridor. From what the life sign scanner could tell them there was indeed a single life sign in a small room around the corner and down the corridor. Unfortunately there was a slight snag in the form of the three Wraith guards standing right outside the cell. They were in a bind. There was no other way to the cell that wasn't even more heavily guarded and if they couldn't take down the drones quickly the alarm would be raised. If the alarm was raised then Wraith electronic countermeasures would come online and beaming out would be impossible, which would mean their route of escape would disappear and a swarm of Wraith would descend upon them. Retreat was not an option out of principle, so it seemed they had only one option left, keep moving forward.

"We need a plan," said Sheppard. "We can't just charge in there."

"Pick them off from a distance," said Ronon. "If we all strike at once we should be able to take them down before they raise the alarm."

McKay shook his head. "There's too much cover, there are alcoves that they can hide behind and then they can just raise the alarm and call in reinforcements."

"We need to come up with something quickly," said Teyla. "The longer we wait the more likely we are of being discovered."

Sovaer had been silent during the discussion but he had clearly been thinking something. Having come to a decision he spoke.

"I will go."

When the others looked at him, confused, he continued.

"I'll go first. I'll take down the first guard in close quarters, once he's down you take care of the rest."

Sheppard shook his head. "It's too risky. You'll never make it down the corridor without being hit at least once, and that's if you're lucky."

"I can handle a couple of stun blasts, and we don't have another choice. If it's me alone it should distract them, momentarily. When they move to get me you can take them out."

"Your nuts," said McKay.

"What he said," said Sheppard, before sighing. "Unfortunately nuts is probably our best option so let's try it."

"Good luck," said Teyla.

"Here goes nothing," said Sovaer as he drew his knife.

He staggered round the corner putting on an expression of confusion and bewilderment. The drones heard his footsteps and turned his way. When he froze in fear they began to advance on him, drawing their stunners as they went. He backed up against the wall, his eyes wide with fear as they drew closer. Then, as if he had realised he had no other choice but to go down fighting, he raised his knife and charged forwards, displaying a surprising burst of speed. The drones however had been expecting him to flee and were momentarily surprised that he was in fact charging at them! But they still raised their weapons instinctively and fired at him.

One blast clipped his shoulder causing him to stagger forwards, his reduced speed making him an easier target and a second blast hit him full on the chest. As he started to fall forwards, only a few feet from the drones, his foot came forwards instinctively to break his fall. As he started to fall the drones stopped firing, confident in their victory. That is until Sovaer landed gracefully and surged forward, pouncing like a tiger, knife raised and at the ready. He tackled the drone on the right to the ground, having taken him completely by surprise. He drove the knife blade into the drones exposed throat, killing him in seconds. As the remaining drones turned, shocked at what they had seen, the others struck. Before the drones could even draw their knives to combat the human in front of them they were cut down by P90 fire and energy blasts.

"How the hell did that not stop you?" asked McKay.

"My nervous system has safeguards against energy damage," said Sovaer calmly as he rose from the ground. "And it's harder to affect something as insulated as I am."

"You were the patient," McKay said quietly as realisation dawned.

"We'll talk about this later," said Sheppard.

Moving quickly they ran to the cell and were both shocked and relieved by what they saw. Slumped on a bench, looking exhausted and barely conscious but alive, was Todd. His clothes were ripped, his shirt collar ripped open and his chest marked with dark bruises, and the tell tale marks that he had been fed on. When the team approached the cell his eyes fluttered as he struggled to keep them open. Seeing Sheppard and McKay step into his cell, while the others stood guard, he gave a low chuckle at the sight.

"Ah, it seems my rides here," he rasped weakly.

"Good to see you too Todd," said Sheppard as he helped the injured Wraith to his feet.

"I take it mother must be nearby."

"And we are determined to get you back to her," said McKay, attacking a beacon to the Wraiths jacket.

Todd laughed with feeling. "She must have been unbearable these past few weeks."

"You have no idea," muttered Sheppard.

A single tear escaped and rolled down Todd's cheek.

"I'm sorry for what I put her through, but it was the only way I could save her and father."

"Don't worry about it buddy," said Sheppard. "For now let's get out of here and blow this place to hell."

"Sounds like a plan," said Todd as he temporarily slipped back into unconsciousness before waking again, drawing on his precious energy reserves to temporarily restore himself.

Sheppard reached out and activated the beacon, as the rest of the group activated theirs. In a flash of white light they were aboard the bridge of the Weir, just as alarms rang throughout the facility

The doubt that had been niggling at the hive mind had been located. Several minds had unexpectedly vanished. It took a moment for them to process and realise that these were minds that should not have vanished from the collective consciousness. The hive mind reacted as quickly as it could, orders were screamed to the nearby drones and alarms were raised. But it was already too late and the prisoner was gone.

Weir - Bridge

As Todd was taken to the infirmary Sheppard took command of his ship.

"Send the signal to the fleet," he ordered.

"The Arima and escorts has exited hyperspace," said a crewman. "Wraith ships are moving to intercept."

Multiple hives had broken orbit to intercept the approaching enemy ship along with the myriad groups of cruisers and darts in system. Against such a resilient enemy a heavy hammer blow would be needed to deal with them without taking large losses of their smaller ships.

"De-cloak and initiate Arcturus manoeuvre," ordered Sheppard.

The Weir shimmered into visibility, facing the planet below, to the shock of the Wraith forces present. Before the enemy could even react the grodin had powered and fired a brilliant, relatively narrow, beam of energy at a structure on the surface. A structure which happened to contain the planets stargate and was situated near the drone growth facilities. The beam of energy tore through the facilities bio armour and struck the pre-targeted stargate dead on. As the gate absorbed the energy it quickly reached its saturation point and when it could absorb no more it exploded. The resulting blast wave was incredible, easily visible from orbit, the three thousand megaton blast disintegrating anything it touched. In a heart beat every drone growth building had been completely annihilated leaving behind nothing but a massive crater in the planets surface. While the blast wave was expanding the Averian fleet de-cloaked around the Weir and opened fire on the Wraith ships in orbit.

"Sir," said the comm officer. "We are detecting a subspace message on an Averian frequency directed at the orbiting fleet."

Teyla's eyes fluttered as her Wraith senses picked something up.

"Something is coming," she said.

Please click Review and leave a few words.