Note: Whew! This Interlude is now complete with this chapter. Thank you so much to all those who have read so far into this saga of fics. I hope the stories continue to be enjoyable. This now means that I am able to start writing the next big fic of this series, which will bring together various elements I've been building through the fics. I'm so looking forward to sharing it with you all.

Note2: Also, a shout out to those who review as guests on the site and to whom I can't reply directly, thank you so much for reading :)

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Chapter 22 - Epilogue

Just Outside Alliance Territory

The wait in the antechamber had been longer than expected, but Long Sleep had remained patient during the wait to be received by his new Queen.

The other leaders were not quite as patient, some of them pacing and some complaining to each other about issues Long Sleep didn't care about.

Long Sleep ignored them and continued to ponder over his list of unanswered questions. How had this new Queen been recreated by mixing the lineages? Was there new genetic technology and techniques that he was unaware of and could now learn?

What were the new drive pods and what was this dangerous radiation they were emitting? What did the new drive actually do?

Why did the Hive dislike the new drive pods? Why did the Queen not care about the Hive's response?

Unless, the pods were adapted alien technology and perhaps that was why the Hive disliked it?

If so, where was it from? Could it be altered somehow to work more closely with the Hive? Perhaps the new radiation could be contained more effectively.

The webbing across an opening slid aside and the Hive Primary entered, three new gathering Leaders behind him. The delay to meet the Queen was presumably due to their Cruisers later arrival. The Signal had drawn in so many.

Long Sleep felt the faint mix of responses in the minds of the other waiting Leaders. There was pleasure at the extra strength in numbers, but also a touch of jealousy – more warriors to serve their new Great Queen was good, but it also set up rivalry in pleasing the Queen.

Long Sleep ignored it all, but watched as the Hive Primary stood in front of them all, clearly enjoying the fact that he had chosen to keep them all waiting. As Hive Primary, he had unlimited and direct access to the Great Queen, and all other drones, warriors and Cruiser Leaders among them, would follow his lead under the orders of the Queen.

"Your new Great Queen will now receive you," the Hive Primary announced with great relish.

All attention fixed him.

"Once inside the Audience Chamber, you will kneel and keep your eyes lowered," the Hive Primary stated. "Our Great Queen, due to her mixed lineage, does not appear as most Queens, so she will remain concealed, but, as you will feel in her powerful mind, she is healthy and strong."

Long Sleep, along with all the other leaders, inclined his head in agreement, promising not in any way to insult his new Queen.

The Hive Primary gestured towards the closed doorway through to the Audience Chamber and the webbing slid aside willingly, allowing them entrance.

Long Sleep was closest to the opening and so followed the Hive Primary's gesture, and was the first to lead the way inside the Chamber, the others following him silently.

The inner chamber smelt of deep organics and misty contentment.

Long Sleep could instantly feel his new Queen's presence, her mind filling the chamber even while she was not actively focusing on anyone in particular.

He had never felt such power before.

To the right, the usual throne area was concealed behind a thin screen of hanging membrane, but there was the unmistakeable shape of a figure sat upon the throne.

Long Sleep quickly focused his eyes downwards, pausing in the middle of the chamber, turning towards the throne, and then knelt down to the floor, lowering his head and shoulders before the Great Queen.

The others had filed in behind him and now knelt in lines beside him and behind him, all silent, their minds full of awe.

Once all were in place, the chamber fell silent, and Long Sleep felt the Queen's mind shift, reaching out to investigate them all. He felt her touch graze against his mind like the softest touch of fingertips.

It was almost enough to make him pass out.

Her presence filled that empty aching place inside which had been desperate without a Queen to serve. He heard the others around him hiss in delight and acquiescence.

Long Sleep opened his mind to his new Queen, offering himself, his Cruiser, and all his gathering's warriors to her service.

An unmistakeable hiss echoed out from the other side of the membrane – the Great Queen was pleased with all the Leaders' offerings.

"Do you promise to serve?" her voice suddenly arrived, not through the air, but vibrating through Long Sleep's head.

He lowered his head further, overcome with the sensation of her power, her essence filling his mind and being.

"Yes," he swore to her, the others singing the same around him.

"Do you promise to do all you can to bring destruction upon the enemy?" Her mind voice asked loudly inside Long Sleep's head.

"Yes," Long Sleep promised her.

"Will you serve me in anything I ask?" She asked, the membrane between her and Long Sleep and his fellow Cruiser Leaders rippled slightly in the misty air, as if her question was so powerful that the air itself moved in her presence.

And well it should, for this was the promise that locked all Wraith to their Queen, through which they gave over their will and their futures.

"I will," Long Sleep promised, the others repeating the words over and over next to him.

Finally a Queen this strong would be able to strike back against the Armoured Herd, to tear back territory and reduce the human cattle back to acceptable numbers once more.

Revenge would be theirs and the new Great Queen would lead them all to that bright victory, the image of which shone in Long Sleep's mind so powerfully that it perhaps came from the Queen herself.

"Good," her mind echoed with obvious and delighted pleasure. "For soon, we will strike, and they will never see us coming."

And then she laughed, the sound full of aggressive power and delight as it rattled through Long Sleep's head.

"Yes," everyone around him hissed, the delight and promises chorusing in with her laughter.

The strange sound grated through Long Sleep's skull though. Perhaps it was her power.

A forceful push from inside had him lowering his body further towards the floor. He dipped lowered, aware of the others doing the same around him as they continued to hiss their promises.

Long Sleep tried to surrender to it, but oddly, as her power rose to even more blinding heights, it seemed only to become stranger. Her laughter continued with it, manic and seemingly overwhelming in his head.

He opened his eyes and blinked down at the mist coated floor only inches from his nose. There was a strange smell in the air, something he hadn't quite processed as he had entered the chamber, but it filled his nostrils now, filling his head almost as much as her roaring mind's laughter.

It didn't feel right, not at all.

Long Sleep turned his head, looking at the Leaders knelt beside him, but all he saw on their faces was surrendered pleasure as they accepted the Queen's mind with willing devotion.

But it was such a strange mind, immense in ways he had never experienced, but also...it felt...almost...unlike a Wraith.

He quickly shut those thoughts away, controlling them all tightly inside as he had always been able to do with his fast thoughts. He wrapped them up deep inside, away from where even his previous Queens had been unable to venture.

But would he be able to hide these thoughts from this new Queen who had such unfettered power?

He dropped his eyes to the floor beneath his nose again and pushed his traitorous thoughts even deeper.

And then waited.

Her laughter had started to reduce. Her hiss of continued pleasure could be heard beyond the stirring membrane curtain.

He couldn't sense any concern about him, no immediate signs that his thoughts had been detected and that punishment, perhaps death, might follow.

He cleared his mind, shining across it the simple prospect of vengeance against the Armoured Herd. Hopefully that would please her enough. The other minds in the Chamber clearly had believed everything from her, surrendering to her strange spell willingly.

Long Sleep lifted his eyes from the floor, lifting his head a fraction to be able to peer through the thin screen ahead of him.

As the Queen's laughter finally stopped, he could see the shape of her on the throne; he saw her lift a hand to her head as if she were pushing some hair back into place.

He held still, his breath fast.

Had her limb seemed oddly long?

He could almost believe that her equally long hand had held only three fingers.

Like the new drive pods on the Hive, this new Queen appeared to be something different.

Something alien.

If so, then what was she?

And what was she going to do with her new Hive and its packed numbers of blindly willing followers?

What had he done?

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THE END