Chapter 195

Icy planet, Pegasus Galaxy

Two sleek organic hulled Wraith shuttles streaked across the upper atmosphere. Aboard these craft were twenty human captives from a recent culling, eight Wraith soldiers, and the Queen known as the Primary. Descending with rapid speed, the two craft effortlessly tore through the skies of the frigid world. Continuing to neatly shed altitude, the two craft began to slow as they passed over the blue and aquamarine depths of the glacier unfolding beneath them. As landing struts were extended, the two shuttles deftly came to rest on the single smooth rocky outcropping jutting out from the ice.

Exiting the shuttles into the sub zero chill, Primary and her entourage in the company of their human captives, descended a stairway long ago carved into the rock. Continuing down, the party followed the stairs deeper and deeper into the heart of the glacier. Three hundred feet from the surface, they came to a solid rock cavern. Connected to this cavern was a tunnel. Instead of rock, this tunnel closely resembled the appearance of a corridor found aboard a Wraith vessel. Into this tunnel the party continued.

At a slight gradient, the tunnel continued into the depths of the massive ice sheet the new arrivals had flown over. Impatient yet apprehensive, the Primary charged forward at an expeditious clip. Were they not captives, some of the humans might have complained at the kilometer long underground trek. At the end of this jaunt through the subterranean pathway, a biopolymer door nine feet tall and five feet across blocked their path. Removing a pendant from around her neck and inserting it in a keyhole like opening, the Queen attempted to gain entry. As the pendant began to glow, the large door split neatly down the center allowing the party to continue forward.

Passing through the threshold, the human captives immediately took note of the dank odor of old death that hung in the air. A sense of foreboding struck them all. This place, whatever it might be, contained an apocalyptic force of old. Though the humans were uncertain how they knew this, it was a certainty that their minds could not shake. Stretching out before them was a single corridor that continued into the distance. Each step the collective group took brought them closer to that which they dared to lay eyes upon.

Covering a distance twice that of the corridor that brought them to the large door, the party continued forward. Wordlessly, the kilometers passed under their feet. As they progressed, internal lighting lit the path unfolding before them. In the distance, an illuminated chamber could be seen. Surely, this must be their destination.

Entering the chamber, the party laid eyes on a nerve center similar yet different from that found aboard a Hive ship. Clearly, they were aboard a ship of sorts. Instead of a control center outfitted for a crew, this control nexus was designed for a single operator. In the center of this room, surrounded by organic display screens, sat a single seat very much like a queen's throne. Ten meters behind this throne was a stasis cocoon. The shadowy outline of a lone figure could be seen through the membrane separating cocoon interior from control chamber.

Stepping towards this stasis cocoon, the Primary once again grasped her glowing pendant. Touching it to the organic frame of the cocoon supporting the membrane, mist began to cover the control chambers floor. Peeling back like desiccated flesh, the membrane grew thinner and decayed away from the frame it was attached to. As the veil was lifted for all to see, the long occupant became visible.

Six and a half feet tall, heavily muscled, and clad in a leather uniform similar to that worn by Wraith commanders, the figure opened his cat like eyes. Darting left and right, these eyes took everything in. A malicious smile came over the figures face, as his left hand stroked the intricately braided ponytail hanging over his shoulder. Stepping out of the cocoon for the first time in ten millennia, the figure locked eyes with the queen standing before him. Before Primary could utter a single word, the figure's left hand shot out with frightening speed and tightly griped the queen's throat.

"Why have you awakened me?" Harbinger demanded in an icy tone.

"Your people need you. Your skill, your blood, your sacrament are all that stands between us and extinction." Primary pleaded between gasps for breathe.

"Have the Ancient's returned to exact their retribution?" Harbinger demanded while tightening his grip on his targets throat.

"No Lord. The humans are the new hunters." Primary attempted to explain.

"The humans? They are not hunters! How can one be hunted by their food?" Harbinger spat.

"Children of the Ancient's from another galaxy have taken residence in Atlantis. Some of our very own people plot our destruction with them." Primary sputtered.

"Why have you not dealt with this petty inconvenience?" Harbinger asked softly.

"The humans fomented a civil war among the Hives. From there they spread a disease that killed our people when they fed." Primary attempted to argue.

"I see you still have your pride. Tell me, does it hurt your pride to know that I can succeed where you failed?" Harbinger asked with merriment.

"Assumptions, nothing more!" Primary hissed.

Striking with frightening speed, Harbinger's right hand loudly impacted the queen's chest. Before she knew what was happening, he began to feed upon her. The burning agony of being fed on ripped through her body. Her mouth opened to scream, but that scream died on her lips as her life force was forcibly ripped away. Creases and lines began to sink into the queen's face and her body began to whither. Taking cruel pleasure in the horror he was visiting upon her, Harbinger's eyes blazed. Tossing Primary aside, he watched as the wounded queen hit the floor.

"You bring shame upon those that died during our war to prominence in this galaxy. You are shadows of your former selves. Weak and so taken by your supposed power that you have begun to believe your own misplaced arrogance is truth. Pathetic, yet not unexpected." Harbinger spat.

Looking around the chamber at the cowering humans and Wraith soldiers, his frightening eyes took in the scene. In his mind, he summoned a fraction of his powerful telekinetic powers. His palms out, both of his well-muscled arms shot out at ninety-degree angles away from his body. Suddenly, the humans and Wraith soldiers alike found their bodies reacting to control other than their own. Lining the walls of the chamber, Wraith soldier and human were enveloped in ancillary cocoons. Instead of preserving life, these instead sapped it away. This life force began to channel into the ship itself.

Moving towards the throne, Harbinger sat. Once in his seat, tentacles slithered from within the recesses of the command seat and intertwined themselves around their commander. Life force drawn from the surrounding cocoons began to pour into Harbinger, and the ship itself. Systems denied power for ten thousand years began to come alive. Turning his gaze towards the deflated queen at his feet, a smirk was born upon his lips.

"Cast your eyes on your followers. Disappoint me again and the same fate will befall you." Harbinger threatened menacingly.

Power flowed through the vessel from extracted life force, and the internal power generators coming online. Hyper drive, weapons, and sensors were all available at the fearsome warrior's mental command. This vessel being the last of the three like it was unique. Larger than a hive, it was equipped with far more fearsome weaponry. Hive's that coursed through Pegasus now were poor imitations.

At his whim, the vessel began to rise. All around, the thunderous cracks of glacial ice could be heard. The sickening grinding noise of incredible amounts of ice flow breaking apart overhead boomed throughout the hull. Slowly, the menacing vessel rose. On the surface of the glacial sheet, fissures exploded open on the barren landscape. A boom some might liken to an ancient and angry god snapping his fingers welcomed the vessel to the surface. As it continued to rise, thousands of tons of ice cascaded from the hull. Leaving an incredibly deep depression in the ice flow, the long slumbering vessel gained speed and slipped from sight.