Viia smiled as she coiled her long, snaking fingers around the neck of the tiny creature. This one had just managed to send out a distress signal out into the void, but that was fine. It simply meant Viia could get more subjects later. Her takeover had gone very smoothly, aside from the protective vault in the back of the ship.
“Ah, little one… you bend to my will now…”
The creature struggled, flailing wildly, before suddenly falling still. Viia’s viral imprints had wormed their way in, subtly reprogramming the creature’s mind. Like all Divine Guardians, this one fought hard at first, but their desire to protect was so easy to abuse. All Viia had to do was change who they were designed to protect.
Smiling some more, Viia gently put the creature down, examining them with her shimmering eyes.
“Tahvra, do me a favour and undo the lock down on this ship, please?”
The Guardian hesitated at first. Viia understood. They needed to clear their head, let her imprints do their work. Slowly, the Guardian started moving, and made their way over to a console. After a few moments, they turned back to Viia, a sad look in their eyes.
“Sorry, boss. Can’t do it. Lock down has to be cancelled from within the containment and protection vault.”
“Oh.”
Viia grunted. She should have expected this. Of COURSE the other Life Goddess on this ship would have such safety mechanisms. After all, Life Goddesses protected themselves first, and everything else later. In this case, the Life Goddess who owned this ship, a rather young entity named Kinisis, had swiftly sealed herself shut alongside one of her guardians.
“Can you work around it?”
“No, sorry boss. That’s the whole point of a lock down.”
With a frown, Viia glanced towards the other Guardians, who were mostly docile and still orientating themselves. Some of them had fought harder than others. In fact, the initial host Viia had used to obtain access to this ship was still fighting and not entirely under her control yet. Thankfully, the larger Guardians had dealt with it and kept it subdued.
“Do we have the tools to break in?”
“I… let me check…” Tahvra hesitated again, then returned to his console. He tapped away on it, then shook his head. “Seems like Kinisis planned ahead. Can’t access the tools to even get in there.”
“Makes sense…” Viia trailed off, again inspecting the other Guardians. Ten in total, plus the initial host they’d subdued. All different sizes and different skills, but all clearly Divine Guardians. All rather attractive as well. Clearly their previous Life Goddess had some damn fine tastes. “Not a problem. Could you do me a favour and amend that distress signal you sent out?”
Tahvra’s little, toothy face went blank. “What distress signal?”
“The one you sent just before you decided to work for me.”
“I don’t remember sending a distress signal?”
“You sent one.”
The little Guardian blinked some more, then checked the console. “Huh. Someone did send a distress signal. I guess you were right, boss.”
“Of course I was. Now, tell me, where did the signal go?”
“Um…” Tahvra inspected the console. “Turns out we didn’t specifically send it anywhere…”
Viia took a deep breath, then threw herself into the nearest comfortable chair, relaxing and stretching herself out. “No worries, little one. If anyone gets in touch, let me know. If it’s other Guardians, let them in, if it’s Voidborns or whatever, you tell me and we’ll work out a plan t get rid of them.”
The Guardians all nodded.
“Now go get this place cleaned up, it’s a mess in here!”