Matriarch is a science fiction novel by the British writer Karen Traviss published in September, 2006.

[1] Mohan Rayat and Lindsay Neville have been sent to the bottom of the ocean, after having been infected with c'naatat in the World Before, to spend forever living with the bezeri to help them rebuild and recover.

Since Shan threw herself into deep space to keep c'naatat from Rayat and Earth's government, she was not pleased that the symbiont was just given to them.

Rayat wants to acquire the bioluminescence ability that Shan has so he can try to communicate with the bezeri without the aid of the translation lamp.

The matriarch of the group brings the body of a youth that has recently died and Rayat and Lindsay put some of its tissue and blood into their own bloodstream.