The Ministry

The Ministry is a hive-mind alien race that is mentioned in A Trick of Light.

Before A Trick of Light
The Ministry was once a sole species connected through a centralized mind, within which was a virtual dreamscape of their own design. Their planet left in ruin from dereliction, they roamed the galaxy as intergalactic conquerors by absorbing countless civilizations into their mental utopia. Sustaining such power required the Ministry to live on a certain fuel⁠—the drones of races the Ministry enslaved⁠—and harvested their energies like batteries to sustain the Ministry's Elders, and with each race they exploited, the more power-hungry they became. But due to the actions of a renegade member, the Ministry's addiction was their undoing, resulting in the murder of the Elders and their numbers severely dwindled, with few members still existing in the known universe.

A Trick of Light
A survivor of the Ministry, Xal, attempted to revive the hive as its new queen on Earth before her timely demise, but sent a distress signal to direct the other remnants toward Earth where the superweapon that destroyed them currently resided.