Wraith Hive-Ship
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| Wraith Hive-Ship | |
|---|---|
 Hive-Ships in orbit of Lantea |
|
| First appearance | "Rising" |
| Affiliation | Wraith |
| General Characteristics | |
| Fighters | Wraith Darts |
| Armaments | Pulsed energy weapons |
| Defences | Organic armored hull Asgard beaming jammer |
| Propulsion | Sub-light engines Hyperdrive |
A Wraith Hive-Ship is a fictional type of organic spacecraft in the science fiction television series Stargate Atlantis.
Contents |
[edit] Background
The Hive-ship is a large Wraith mothership, home to an untold number of Wraith who hibernate for centuries at a time.[1] The large ships are capable of interstellar travel[2] and landing on the surface of a planet.[3]
Most of the Hive-Ships first encountered by the Atlantis team are concealed beneath the surface of their home world - so much so that they did not realize it was a ship at all.[1] It sat undisturbed on the surface for so long that tall trees grew on its dorsal surface. Only the Keeper and a small number of Wraith warriors are on guard to defend the sleeping race; when the Keeper is killed, the sleeping creatures begin to awaken.[1]
The ships appear to have a bridge with three to four consoles present that are controlled telepathically by the Wraith in the same way that the Puddle Jumpers can only be controlled by someone with the ATA Gene.[4] Deeper inside the craft lies a "Royal chamber" where the leader of the Hive-Ship sits.[5] A holographic system generates a misty screen in front of the throne to allow the Wraith an on-look of events.[5] The craft contains untold numbers of hibernation pods, and is equipped with at least two holding cells for individuals awaiting an audience with the Wraith before their life-force is consumed.[1] They also contained an untold number of cocoon alcoves which were used to store humans for later feeding.[6]
[edit] Offensive and defensive systems
A Wraith Hive-Ship has a large number of weapon ports stationed across the exterior of the ship. These ports rapidly fire blue energy pulses which are powerful enough to destroy another Hive-Ship after several hits,[7] working in concert with each other, Hive-Ships are able to bring down the Asgard designed shields of the Daedalus in less than a minute. The ship does not appear to have any point defence weapons to fight off smaller ships such as F-302s. However the Wraith Dart has been shown to defend the hive from incoming fire.[8]
When the Earth ship Daedalus used Asgard beams to transport nuclear warheads aboard three Hive-Ships, the Wraith devised a jamming technology which prevented beaming objects either on or off a ship.[8]
Significantly the Hive-Ship differs from other known combat vessels of comparable size due to the fact that they do not have energy shields for defence during combat, something previously not encountered amongst ships constructed by technologically advanced alien races. Instead, they rely on an organic armoured hull which allows the ship a limited ability to repair itself (literally "healing" the damage) The hull and armour of the ships are shown to be able to withstand a direct hit from Mark III tactical naqahdah enhanced nuclear weapon, although the ship suffered serious damage and was rendered largely inoperable.
[edit] Propulsion
Due to the large size of a Hive-Ship it is not as manoeuvrable as, for example a Daedalus-class battlecruiser or Goa'uld Ha'tak class vessel.[8] However as seen on "The Siege, Part 3" they are able to alter course to intercept ships quickly. There is only limited information regarding Hive-Ships but it is known that they can enter the atmosphere of a planet and break orbit when needed.[7] The hyperdrive on Wraith Hive-Ships is not as efficient as that used by other races, such as the Asgard.[8] As seen also on "The Siege, Part 3" Hive-Ships do not have intergalactic hyperdrive capability. They have to travel in a series of jumps and depending on the distance, must take breaks to allow the organic hull time to recover from the effects of hyperspace radiation.[4] It is also known that due to the large size of the ship they have certain weaknesses such as the hyperdrive being able to be disabled by a few well placed shots from a F-302.[4]
[edit] Size
Wraith Hive-Ships are the second largest known ships in the Stargate universe, after the Ancient city ship. It is even larger than the Ori battlecruiser as seen in the SG-1 episode "Camelot". Hive ships are at least 13 times larger than Earth's Daedalus class battlecruiser. It is unknown precisely how many Wraith each hive ship can carry, but the number is well into the thousands.
[edit] Number of active Hive-Ships
In the episode "Underground", the Atlantis expedition collected information from Wraith computer systems during a raid aboard a Hive-Ship. Through this they found out that there are at least 21 hive ships in the same quadrant of the Pegasus Galaxy that Atlantis is in, and at least 60 in total. This number has been decreased over time:
- "The Siege (Part 1)": One Hive-Ship is destroyed by an Ancient defense satellite.
- "The Siege (Part 3)": One Hive-Ship is destroyed through a suicide mission with a Puddle Jumper, while three others are destroyed when the Daedalus beamed nuclear warheads onto them.
- "The Hive": Shepard turned two Hive-Ships against each other. In the ensuing battle both were destroyed.
- "No Man's Land": The Daedalus and the Orion managed to destroy 1 of the Hives heading to the Milky Way with its Drones while another one was captured by the Atlantis team.
- "Misbegotten": The captured hive has been destroyed by another hive ship in the orbit of a planet near Atlantis.
- "The Pegasus Project" (SG-1): While attempting to complete a plan to block incoming traffic from the Ori galaxy by dialing in from a gate in Pegasus galaxy, SG-1, onboard the Odyssey, managed to destroy a Hive-Ships while connecting to the Ori Spergate, thus blocking any more ships from coming through to the Milky Way and simultaneously destroying an Ori ship close to the supergate's event horizon.
This is a total of ten confirmed Hive-Ships kills. (Additionally, during a mission to the wrecked ancient ship Aurora, two Wraith cruisers were destroyed by the Aurora's self-destruct function; however, the total number of Wraith cruisers is unknown.) This leaves a total of at least 50 Wraith Hive-Ships that are known to be active, with more possibly constructed during the show. However, it is quite possible that other Hive-Ships (and cruisers) were destroyed in the Wraith civil war. Information learned from the Wraith during a short-lived alliance with a single Wraith hive indicates that Wraith civilization has stagnated for centuries or longer, with all but a handful of the Wraith forgetting much about Wraith technology (the Keepers apparently handle most basic maintenance and repair that the Hive-Ships cannot heal on their own, and the Wraith spend most of their time hibernating anyway.) Given that Wraith provided this information, and that they later betrayed Atlantis, this information is suspect, but other information learned by Atlantis supports it.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d "Rising". Stargate Atlantis.
- ^ "The Siege". Stargate Atlantis.
- ^ "Underground". Stargate Atlantis.
- ^ a b c "Misbegotten". Stargate Atlantis.
- ^ a b "Sateda". Stargate Atlantis.
- ^ "No Man's Land". Stargate Atlantis.
- ^ a b "Allies". Stargate Atlantis.
- ^ a b c d "The Siege, Part 3". Stargate Atlantis.
| Technology in Stargate | Edit | |
| Tau'ri | GDO | Horizon | IDC | Stargate Iris | Kull Disruptor | P90 | MALP | The Seeker Project | Naqahdah Generator Wraith retrovirus | F-302 | Prometheus (BC-303) | Daedalus-class Battlecruiser |
 |
| Goa'uld/Tok'ra | Al'kesh | Death Glider | Ha'tak Mothership | Hand Device | Healing Device | Intar | Memory Recall Technology | Sarcophagus | Staff Weapon Tel'tak | TER | Tunnel Crystals | Zat | Zatarc detector |
|
| Ancient | Ancient City Ship | Ancient Control Chair | ATA Gene | Atlantis | Aurora-class Battleship | Dakara Weapon | DHD DNA Resequencer | Drone Weapon | Healing Device | Project Arcturus | Puddle Jumper | Repository of Knowledge Ring Transporter | Sangraal | Stargate | Time Dilation Device | Zero Point Module |
|
| Asgard | Beliskner-class ship | Daniel Jackson-class ship | O'Neill-class ship | Thor's Hammer | |
| Other | Wraith Dart | Wraith Hive-Ship | Supergate | Ori Mothership | |
| Lists by race | All | Tau'ri | Ancient, Aschen, Asgard, Goa'uld, Ori, Tok'ra, Tollan, Wraith | Other | |
