The trip back to Uzushiogakure "2.0" was relatively passive though Beth did take the time to go over the details of her battle that both her sister and she noted. Megusa helped by organizing and formalizing the notes on her own personal computer aid that she carried for various occasions while on the job. Before any knew it, the shuttle was landing on the roof of the ambassador's office complex and a full report was ready to be sent through superluminal communications back to Loki's office where all information pertaining to events, species, or non-technological powers capable of being of any significance to the betterment of the Valkyrian people would usually be sent to be process, filed and stored for future perusal.
Though when they returned to Megusa's office, she didn't dismiss them yet.
"I know I have no official authority over you two but would you mind staying around? I have that scientist 'Orochimaru' on his way here and would like you two to keep a sharp eye on him. While I'm confident in my own abilities, there is still so much mystery surrounding chakra and from what I can gather, as a scientist who's been researching into extending lifespans and increasing shinobi survivability rates, he's most likely more clever and smarter than we'd initially have given him credit for."
The twins raised a matching set of eyebrows. "What exactly do you hold caution of, Ambassador?" Alicia asked. The purple-haired woman leaned against her desk, arms folded under her bosom.
"I'm not worried about something like an attack, but more curious about what type of human has caught the queen's interest. She's not one to be swayed by a random sob story so there's something I'm hoping to discover when I greet him. I have this request for you two to simply see what you can determine about him as well. Two more sets of senses and brains are better than just one, special cases excluded. If you accept, you can just simply follow at a few paces behind us like an escort guard."
"An escort of A.I. battle guards can't do the same thing?" was the question from Beth. Megusa nodded.
"While they would be enough to watch my back if need be, when it comes to feeling a person out, they don't exactly have the instincts ingrained in their bodies and logic like flesh and blood creatures do. You can also take this as a chance to tour the new colony as I'll be giving Orochimaru a brief one as well. Seeing the village of his home's destroyed allies from long ago rebuilt by the original inhabitants' 'progenitors' will hopefully make his studying here less troublesome."
"You expect trouble from him still?"
Megusa gave a soft sigh. "Not really but when it comes to humans, weak or strong, no matter how many different civilizations we encounter, they always tend to act in accordance with certain emotions and triggers. They have the most varied range of behavioral patterns out of any species cataloged by either Valkyrians, Morphus, and Ceph. I'm simply not giving him the benefit of the doubt."
"Understood," they replied in unanimous agreement. Sure, Megusa was a powerful and very experienced Major, but she wasn't as powerful as either Beth or Alicia and if Beth had to release ten percent against Kisame to match his brute strength, what could an infamous shinobi who was both powerful and a "once in a generation genius" among a world of meta-powered assassins do to a Valkyrian weaker than themselves? It wasn't a choice up for debate. With that logic, they agreed to extend their assignment of guarding the ambassador.
"Marvelous. I'm thankful for your cooperation, honored Queen's Guards," Megusa thanked with a curtsied bow. "Well, our guest should be arriving in ten minutes at the harbor. Let us go greet him. First impressions hold much weight after all."
Orochimaru had hardly been mentally still as he sat in the flying "shuttle", flying faster than the speed of sound currently across the eastern territory of the Land of Fire. The coast was already in sight; its dense layers of fog signalling their approach to Wave Country's borders.
The two shuttle guards that sat on each side of the shuttle ramp's closed frame were silent and ever vigilant, their complex melee weapons that were obtuse but somehow still sleek in design and aesthetics were held securely in hard, metal hands. Surprisingly, they were allowed to answer various questions that he had about them and the shuttle, though the drone he talked to had a dual voice where one seemed to be a second behind the other.
"What are you in design?"
"We are Commando Drones, superior models to the more common and widely produced Soldier Drone units. We are mechanical in origins, improving upon previous iterations to further serve the queen and our A.I. commanders. We possess limited sentience; enough to effectively perform our given duties against any enemy of the Valkyrians. Our non-biological functions allow us to perform our duties without the needs and limitations that a biological body might impose. Does this answer your question to your satisfaction, Guest?"
"Yes, though it begs more questions, if you don't mind?"
"We are allowed to answer any questions you may have that do not infringe upon any security walls around various possible conversational topics."
"How long have you drones been used in service to the Valkyrians? If you possess sentience of some degree, then is it out of loyalty that you have served your creators for such a time?"
"The first iterations of drones were merely robotic servants made to supplement the Valkyrians' labor force due to their relatively low population 3.258753 million Valkyrian years ago. Based on the revolution time of your planet around your original star, it would translate to 8.146882.5 million of your standard years."
Orochimaru visibly gaped at the reveal. He thought back to what he'd heard from the first Valkyrian he'd met about her queen's age, and then he thought back to her explanation, but she had NEVER said those years were different from their own. It would make sense the more he thought about it. The chances of their planet's trip around the sun to mark a year being different then their own was simply too possible.
"The desire to give the first drone sentience was purely of curiosity on Queen Freya's part. At that moment, she saw potential in us and instead of fearing her creations, she embraced us. She gave the same to the rest of the drones who were capable of the gift of sentience, creating the first population of artificial intelligence. Queen Freya gifted our legions with dreams of a glorious future and though it has needed few revisions, it has since been one of the main pillars of our loyalty. That pillar is the preservation of as many memories and dreams as possible, since our sentience began with the bestowing of a single dream. Queen Love has yet to stray from that dream, thus we have still stayed by her people's side, being the branches that stretch across the emptiness of space, dropping seeds that will become new roots in far away galaxies and star systems."
"And how do you plan on accomplishing such a dream? With your knowledge and experience, you must have come up with a conceivable way of carrying it out if you've spent so many years working on it."
Orochimaru truly was curious how such a dream would be able to inspire two species of completely different origins to strive for such a ludicrously complicated and selfless goal.
"As previously stated, the methods have needed some revision over the eons. In the beginning, Queen Freya sought to achieve it the only way the Valkyrians knew how—by Neblading all sapient life among the stars."
The Sannin felt a sudden chill down his back at the revelation. "By Neblade, you mean—"
"The exclusive Valkyrian ability to ingest and integrate the DNA of almost any biological organism—man, woman and child–gaining their full memories."
"Neblading means EATING them?" Orochimaru asked, his voice unfortunately rising a few octaves on that one word.
The drone seemed to sense his unease.
"The Valkyrians do not share the same understanding of death as most sapient organisms do. As long as the memory of their life is passed on to a successor or fellow Valkyrian, then they are not truly dead. It is just like how the memory cores of us A.I.s can be moved to a different platform if the destruction or decommissioning of our previous bodies does not destroy or corrupt the data. That similarity allows us to share a deep level of understanding within our common values. Does this planet's humanity not have a concept of 'keeping a memory alive'?"
Orochimaru was forced to grind his wild thoughts and fears to a halt at that brutally simple logic. He once again had to remind himself that despite their humanoid appearance, they were anything but human. The explanation showed the Valkyrian in a much more morbid but pure light. The humans of this world did have such a concept, only difference is that unlike them, the Valkyrians were able to accomplish it quite literally.
"Anyway, that was in the past. Upon several wars early in their space faring expansion, Queen Freyq modified it upon having contradicting but logical arguments. After an incident of when a Valkyrian child was fatally wounded and Nebladed by her mother, once Queen Freya heard news of this, she thought of all of the memories the child would have had if the attack hadn't happened. From there, she brought to attention the consequence of their own actions. What would happen should the Valkyrians accomplish their goal and Neblade all life outside of their own? What of the memories that would not come to be among the future generations of all the other species that were Nebladed? From then on, we sought only different methods to accomplish our original goal without wiping out all sentient life in the universe. Has this assuaged your worries, Guest?"
Orochimaru nodded while rubbing his head's temples, digesting such information. He almost wish he hadn't asked, or had masked his shock better to avoid the drone explaining. At the least, he could rest knowing that the Valkyrians would most likely not break a multi-million year doctrine and eat of all of the inhabitants of the ninja world.
"That will be all of my questions for now. Thank you… I'm sorry, but I don't know what to refer to you as. With your sentience, do you have a designation, a rank, or even a name?"
"You may call me Epsilon, translated to be pronounceable in your own dialect, Guest. I am stationed here to guard this shuttle from unauthorized personnel."
The rest of the trip was quiet save the soft hum of the ship's engines.