Super-hive

"What you really need to know is that this hive is a work in progress. It has yet to reach its full potential, which means if you attack it now, you may be able to destroy it. But if you hesitate, it will be too late, and this hive will be unstoppable."

- Todd

The ZPM powered Hive Ship is a Wraith Hive that was modified to draw energy from Zero Point Modules. With the abundance of new energy, the Hive had increased incredibly in size and power.

Overview
"Inefficient power generation is the Achilles heel of Wraith technology."

- Rodney McKay

The main advantage the Tau'ri have over the Wraith is entirely technological. The Wraith are stronger in number, but their technology is lacking. For instance, their hyperdrive systems are not capable of long-term sustained use, requiring periodic stops between jumps when traveling long distances. They also possess no shielding technology, and rely on the organic Hive's ability to "heal" itself. With the power harnessed from a ZPM, they are no longer technologically inferior; their weapons are significantly stronger, the hyperdrive much more efficient and the hull of the Hive heals itself much faster. The Hive itself changes in appearance, in that it grows to a much larger size. A vessel such a size would tear itself apart with its own inertia, but the ZPM's power also increases the structural integrity of the ship, making the hull nearly impenetrable even to Asgard weapons, and the corridors visibly more structurally sound. The effectiveness of Ancient Drone weapons is also diminished, as they do not possess enough power to burrow into the denser hull, although they appear to be more effective than the Asgard weapons. The increased in size and power of the Hive's armaments fully deplete the shields of a 304 in a dozen shots.

The sensors have also been made more powerful, capable of detecting the energy signature of a cloaked Puddle Jumper, and detecting very weak transmissions normally overlooked by most sensor systems. It is unknown if a more powerful cloak, such as the one on Atlantis would be less detectable, allthough it is likely considering a Puddle Jumper is only powered by a small battery.

Apart from growing in size and capability, the Hive had filled in the large gap in its interior. In all Hive Ships prior to this, there has been a large gap in the forward section. This gap could either be there in order to keep the inertial forces from ripping the ship apart while keeping the large area of the ship. This gap could also be there to provide a false target for drones, but since the hull is now much denser, there is no reason to do so.

Construction
At the Battle of Asuras, Todd was able to steal a number of Asuran Zero Point Modules before the planet was destroyed. He used some of them to power his massive cloning facility, and set his underling, Kenny, to work on devising a way to integrate the ZPMs into a Hive ship.

The retrofit took well over a year to complete due to the incompatibility between Ancient technology and the organic nature of a Hive Ship. However, when Kenny was finally able to make it work, he mutinied, chasing Todd from the Hive. Todd crash landed on an unknown planet with a Stargate and dialed Atlantis. He apprised the Expedition of the situation and was permitted back into the city, to yet again ally against the Wraith, though with his track record of duplicity, the Expedition remained suspicious, notably John Sheppard. He revealed that the ZPM powered hive ship was still in the process of upgrading its systems, and if the process is allowed to complete, the Hive would be unstoppable.

Attack on Earth
Todd urged Woolsey to attack and destroy the Hive Ship before it became a threat to Atlantis. Onboard the Daedalus, Colonel Caldwell, Colonel Sheppard and the rest of the team rushed to engage the new Hive ship. However, the ZPM powered vessel proved itself an impressive opponent, crippling the Daedalus before it made a sudden jump into hyperspace to Earth, following coordinates from a weak subspace signal in Wraith code sent, through subspace, from another reality. They then notified Stargate Command via Atlantis once the communications array was repaired.

In the Milky Way galaxy, Colonel Ellis and two of Earth's BC-304 starships, the Apollo and the new Sun Tzu, failed miserably to stop the Wraith ship, with the Apollo, in bad shape herself, taking on crew from the crippled Sun Tzu. Then then relayed a message back to Atlantis, detailing the failure to stop the Hive.

Meanwhile, Sheppard interrogated Todd for the location of more ZPMs, which Lorne and his team were able to locate; Atlantis, with her full complement of three ZPMs, will return to Earth in a last-ditch effort to defend it. Carson Beckett flew the city until the hyperdrive failed. Zelenka proposed activating a highly experimental and potentially dangerous drive based on the same wormhole technology as the Stargate. With it, they reached Earth in seconds.

Following instructions from the message they had received, the enhanced hive sent darts to destroy the unmanned Control chair at Area 51 while hiding behind the moon, rendering Earth's stock of drones useless against it.

When Atlantis arrived, it placed itself in a position between the Hive and Earth in order to buy the SGC some more time. Atlantis took the brunt of the hive ship's assault on Earth and launched a barrage of drones in retaliation. The sheer force of the Hive's weapons fire pushed the city ship into Earth's atmosphere, and it strained the shield. With little power left, Beckett could either have adjusted the course of Atlantis, or kept firing at the enemy ship; Woolsey gave the order to keep firing. The SGC eventually succeded in destoying the Hive, with a nuke planted on board by John Sheppard but Atlantis was forced to make a landing through Earth's atmosphere.