Hive ship

Wraith Hive-ships are the main components of the Wraith fleet, and the centerpiece of their entire society. Hive-ships function in a role very similar to the city-ships of the Ancients.

Functions and statistics
A hive ship is a massive wraith mothership with hundreds of Wraith darts at their disposal. Large portions of the ship and hallways are dedicated to human cargo trapped in cocoons. Additional stasis cocoons support thousands of wraith warriors during hibernation. During these periods ships land on the surface of a planet and become overgrown with vegetation. The ship is largely organic, allowing it to grow new parts and repair itself, but the programming is very haphazard and inefficient. The organic components also limit their hyperdrive abilities, forcing them to make "pit stops" in order to heal from radiation damage accumulated in subspace.

Hive ships are capable of carrying three cruisers, which then function as escorts. They have energy based weapons which can bring down the shields of a 304 in a matter of minutes, and destroy another hive with twenty to thirty blasts. There were approximately sixty hive ships or more at the time the Atlantis expedition arrived, but at least fourteen of them have been destroyed since then, with more destroyed during the Wraith's internal conflict and their war with the replicators.

Uses and details
After learning that Atlantis was still out there, the Wraith sent a fleet of Hive ships to bombard Atlantis from orbit, but the city-ship's shields prevented much damage. Another use seen by the Tau'ri has been to dispatch Wraith Darts on their planetary culling runs for their respective hive-ships. According to the hive-ships' computers, the Wraith hive-ship dwarfs its other opponents in size, being more than 13 times the size of a Tau'ri 304.

As they have no shields, the hive-ships, weapons are considerably more effective against them; however, the hull on hive-ships are known to regenerate because they are organic. Extended use of the hyperdrive also affects the organic elements of the ship.

Command structure
The hive ship is controlled by a hive queen. She remains in a throne room deep within the hive ship, usually guarded by a group of Warriors and their commander, and tended to by worshippers. One hive, however, was ruled by a male. The hive is controlled from a bridge that has controls which only respond to a Wraith neural interface, similar to how a puddle jumper or control chair will only respond to someone with the ATA gene. Those who have Wraith DNA spliced into their genetic makeup are capable of piloting the ship, but it is very taxing if the individual is not a Wraith.

Holding Area
Hive ships contain holding cells for prisoners and immediate feedings. The door to the cell is of a webbed pattern that opens upwards. Such a cell was used to hold the Athosians and Atlantis Expedition members, led by Colonel Marshall Sumner, who went to Athos when a culling occurred. The cells appeared to be controlled telepathically by Wraith commanders.

Sheppard, his team along with Aiden Ford's strike team were captured and placed in a holding area on another Hive ship. They were given open view to the telepathic mechanism that the Wraith guards used to open the doors. Ronan used several knives to pierce the mechanism which opened the door.

Data Core
The data core was a location deep inside the Hive ship which served as a central computer for the vessel. It contained a great deal of information which included the deployment of other Hives. The Genii along with the Atlantis Expedition's flagship team embarked on an infiltration mission of a sleeping Hiveship where they uncovered details on Hiveship deployments in a region of the galaxy. The chamber was secured by a door mechanism which was breached by Rodney McKay allowing Cowen to use an interface device to get the necessary data.

Hibernation chambers
The hibernation chambers were areas within a Hive ship where the Wraith entered into their hiberative states that can last centuries. They are located in the cieling of the vessel and tended to a number of caretakers that watch over the sleepers. A female Hive Keeper remains in charge and her death can unleash an activation mechanism that awakens the Wraith. Major John Sheppard killed the Hive Keeper of a sleeping Hive which resulted in all the Wraith around the Pegasus galaxy awakening.


 * It's unknown how the Wraith exit the chambers but considering their ability to stick to walls easily, presumably they exit it as normal and climb the walls till they reach the ground.

Bridge


One important location within a Hive ship is the bridge where the high ranking Wraith commander resides along with the crew at various sations. There are no seats and the Wraith must stand at their stations with their hands placed on the machines. These bridge controls make use of Wraith telepathy allowing them to command the vessel through their thoughts. Those individuals that possess Wraith DNA within their blood were capable of accessing these controls though it placed a strain on them.

From the bridge, a commander was capable of rerouting ship controls to systems like hull regeneration.

Throne Room
The throne room is where the Hive Queen (or any other such ruler) resides. The room is deep within the hive ship, where the Queen sits upon a large throne (that has the appearance of stone or bone). A large open area allows for people to meet with the queen, and an adjacent dinning room can serve food, although those who eat there are usually fed upon soon after. Usually, there are Warriors guarding the main entrance to the throne room.

In front of the throne resides a projector which beams imagery for the ruler to see. These images can be projected from probes and take the form of a one dimensional image that has mist-like qualities.

Dart bays
There are dart bays on the port and starboard sides of the hive ships. The vessels carry many darts, which errupt from the hive and swarm the intended targets. The bays have no doors to keep opposing ships in or out, allowing an intruding vessel to enter the hive ship with relative ease. The dart bays are usually a high priority target, as the resulting secondary explosions are quite large causing extensive damage to the hive ship.

Known hive-ships

 * Atlantis' Hive-ship

Known destroyed Hive ships
When the Altantis Expedition first knew about the estimated number of hiveships in the Galaxy (of at least 60), the numbers started to diminish and now at least 14 are known to have been destroyed. Here is a list of known ships that were destroyed;
 * One destroyed by the Ancient satellite.
 * One destroyed by nuclear weapons activation from a Puddle jumper.
 * Three destroyed by the Daedalus beaming nuclear weapons on board.
 * Two destroyed by attacking each other.
 * One destroyed by the Orion.
 * Atlantis' Hive-ship destroyed by another hive-ship.
 * One destroyed by the Odyssey beaming a nuclear weapon on board.
 * Two destroyed by attacking each other.
 * One destroyed during the Battle of Asuras.
 * One destroyed by ramming into the Wraith cloning facility.
 * In an alternate reality, at least four ships were seen being destroyed by the Phoenix. Also at least two more were seen being destroyed by Michael.