Vow of Silver Dawn Chapter 43

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You know how it is
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Chapter 43: Infiltration Operation
By 国王陛下, Translated by 74translations
Notes at the end.

	The "journey" as it were was more unnerving than it was actually dangerous, and when he arrived, he was met with about the same vigilance as he had expected.

	"Halt! Identify yourself! Which squad are you with!?"

	The men under what was evidently the captain's command had all raised their blasters, and were all aimed squarely at Shawn's head.

	Shawn couldn't help but sigh internally. He had no idea what exactly the difference between him and Uncle Xu was. Why was it that Uncle Xu, always feigning sleepiness, seemed to easily win the trust of people, and yet everywhere that Shawn went, he had guns pointed at him?

	This time though, he didn't need to think of an answer for long.

	Shortly after weapons were raised, a blaster bolt came streaking over, again made from a truly absurd angle, piercing the captain's head.

	"Get down, scatter!"

	It took little time for the captain to be substituted by another veteran, who began to shout orders as well.

	Well-trained as they were, the soldiers executed their orders perfectly, scattering and fleeing perfectly, abandoning their original positions.

	Shawn took advantage of the opportunity to sneak into the crowd, and regretted his inability to resolve the issue with the captain without any one dying, though at the same time, he was once again quite impressed with Lü Nan's skill.

	Though, in this case, less so by her marksmanship and more so by her speed at which she could relocate, and her ability to help Shawn without any communication needed.

	To think even on this remote little rock, she'd still be an unrivaled trump card.

	After Lü Nan's shot, Shawn's predicament suddenly evaporated. None of the security personnel were going to pay much mind to another one of their own who happened to be dressed a bit shabbily, as they were busy scrambling to get behind cover.

	As luck would have it, the replacement for their captain had crawled into cover right beside Shawn, and was busying himself with shouting into his communicator.

	"What the hell are our pilots doing!? Hurry up and get in the air and deal with that sniper!"

	Shawn immediately took the opportunity to spread misinformation, "There's more than one sniper! I just came from the main gate and we came under fire there as well, it's obvious there's still plenty of hostiles hiding in the abandoned military encampment!"

	The old veteran didn't hesitate to shout back, "Who the hell are you?"

	At this, Shawn once again sighed internally. Still, he was unable to get people to trust him.

	He did have to admit though, compared to the others, his state of dress and manner of speaking was quite out of place, so it would've been hard to avoid suspicion at any rate.

	But he had no alternative.

	Without any contingency plan, and barely any preparation, the Captain's sudden idea to go to Dui-4399 meant Shawn hadn't had any time at all to study his opponent, let alone prepare to imitate their behaviour.

	He wasn't even the kind of decades-old Qian System native that Uncle Xu or An Ping were. He was just barely fluent in Qiankun on top of that.

	Shawn hated this lack of preparation most of all, and without any contingencies they had jumped into this. He found it all quite absurd.

	But at this moment, what Shawn found most intolerable was the suspicion of the substitute captain right beside him, who with a single syllable could bring to bear upon Shawn the firepower of the surrounding dozen or so armed guard and automated gun.

	Soon, Shawn had only one choice left to him.

	With his eyes fixed on his target, the Jedi Apprentice said very softly, "I've come to provide assistance to our heavy artillery position, HQ's dissatisfied with our efficiency.... I've got artillery training."

	The statement by itself was bordering on totally illogical, and could in fact serve to betray himself.

	Qiankun Corporation Security forces were hardly a disorganized rabble, why would they ever make such an absurd battlefield transfer? A suspicious kid suddenly runs over, and tells them that he's been sent by headquarters to provide assistance to their artillery position... he might as well have just written "SPY" on his forehead at that rate!

	But when such words were said with the application of the Jedi Apprentice's skill with the Force, the veteran in command simply nodded, and ushered him along saying, "Ah, I see, get a move on then," and motioned for his men to let Shawn pass.

	Shawn let out the breath he was holding, and nodded, before rushing past the stupefied security personnel and making for the gun encampment.

	The mind trick had done better than the Jedi Apprentice had expected. Before he had arrived in the Qian System, he wasn't nearly this capable, and to that end, wasn't able to assert nearly this level of control.

	It made Shawn feel quite strange. Obviously, with all that had been going on, his meditation had become infrequent, and yet despite that his connection to the Force felt stronger if his recent mind trick was any indication.

	At that moment, that burning star once again reappeared in his mind, light and heat filling the space...

	The sight wasn't unfamiliar to Shawn, who had seen that burning star once before. He had been aboard the passenger ship at the time, on his journey to the Qian System.

	Vaguely, the Jedi Apprentice was aware that the image in his mind was a vision granted to him  by the Force, it was just that it wasn't exactly great timing for it.

	Surrounded by enemies, Shawn had no time to dwell on what the Force was showing him. He forced it down, and forced himself to continue onwards.

	The heavy gun turret was the genuine article. A grey square with guns sticking out of a half-sphere sitting atop a base that looked to have a diameter of nearly ten metres. Its canon sprayed an unceasing stream of high temperature and high energy particles, obliterating the distant mountain rock it was showering.

	As Shawn walked closer, the vibrations the gun sent through the ground every time it fired became more and more distinct... and with each rumble Shawn felt ever slightly more concerned for Lü Nan, who was still in the gun's line of fire.

	Even without the two speeders, under this kind of fire even Lü Nan wouldn't be able to continue indefinitely, especially since she was still providing support, and was revealing her position each time she fired.
	He'd have to hurry.

	Fortunately, this gun that rose out of the ground had a small door to allow access for gunners.

	Shawn hadn't wanted to get too close and just walk on in. Maybe he could cut a hole with his lightsaber, but what would the chance of no-one seeing that be? Maybe he could blow a hole with explosives?

	But since there was a door, the problem wasn't as great. Chen Sanwan had given him a whole set of tools, and in twenty seconds Shawn disabled the door lock and stepped inside.

	The moment he stepped inside though, he found a blaster pointed at his forehead.

	"Who are you, which squad!?" demanded a red-clad guard who was standing behind the door

	Shawn cursed internally.

	How many times had he heard those words now?

	Shawn wondered why this seemed to be the case. Was it that he just seemed awkward? He put a lot of effort into blending in, so why was it that everybody seemed to be able to sense that he was an infiltrator?

	In all likelihood, Shawn determined, it was because he entered by means of lockpicking...

	At least this time Shawn had a different reply.

	Without hesitation, Shawn ducked low to get out of the gun's firing line, and then tackled the guard.

	In this closed-off space, the Jedi Apprentice had no need to hide his strength, and enhanced by the Force, he was even a smidge faster than An Ping.

	Before the guard could even pull the trigger, Shawn had delivered a strike with all his strength behind it into his chin. Following the sound of bone shattering, the guard collapsed to the ground as though he had melted.

	Stepping over the guard, Shawn was able to get a full view of the gun's interior.

	Though the turret appeared to be quite large from the outside, on the inside it afforded very little space for its crew, and aside from the guard, there were only two gunners sitting at the controls.

	And having heard sounds coming from behind them, they hurried to get up and turn around, reaching for their sidearms.

	Shawn reached out a hand, and with the intangible Force, slammed them together.

	With them dealt with, Shawn took control of the gun without hesitation, though after a quick survey of the controls, felt a headache coming on.

	How did any of this work?

	If this were under some other circumstances, Shawn would be delighted to see such novelty, after all it'd be a chance to learn... but given the current urgency, Shawn couldn't find it in himself to be excited.

	Through the control console's screens, Shawn could see that the speeders had finished their preheat, and were now rising upwards, preparing to make for Lü Nan's location.

	Shawn didn't have much time.

	Lü Nan might've been nestled in the complex topography of her location, giving her cover against the heavy firepower, but against air superiority she would be isolated and without help.

	Shawn sighed and took the gunner's position.

	"May the force be with me."

	And with that, he reached out to one of the mysterious controls and gave it a push.

	Immediately, the entire gun turret shuddered, and the square cannon mount rapidly rose, pointing skywards.

	Shawn found this encouraging: His hypothesis had been confirmed. Afterwards, he pushed another control forwards, and sure enough, that caused the turret to swivel horizontally.

	But just these two controls weren't going to be enough to actually fire the gun, just orient it. That would be the task of the complex array of buttons on the panel.


	Coordinate calculations, firepower settings, trajectory trackers.... it was all quite complex, no wonder the gun needed two crew to work.

	In the hands of an experienced gunner crew, a heavy gun like this one could fire with a great deal of precision, and could even bring down fast moving starfighters.

	A shame then that Shawn wasn't an experienced gunner. Given his level of precision, he gave up on the idea of shooting down the speeders.

	If only the speeders were to simply float unmoving in the air, and just let Shawn make a few test shots.... but that was just wishful thinking. They would not provide him such an opportunity. Quite the opposite in fact, as they flew towards Lü Nan's location with astonishing speed,

	In a moment of desperation, Shawn grabbed the controls and quickly swung the gun around.

	Rather than aim towards the sky, he pointed the gun at the other gun nearby.

	At this range, accuracy didn't matter, and it would be highly improbable that Shawn could miss.

	And now Shawn's eyes were drawn to the red button to fire.

Translation Notes
肖恩 - xiāo'ēn - Shawn, Jedi Apprentice
莫斯提马 - mòsītímǎ - Mastema, Jedi Master
李钰 - lǐ yù - Li Yu, Commander of the Silver Knights
白 - bái - Bai, Li Yu’s droid
安平 - ānpíng - An Ping, Captain of the Hongxing Squad
吕楠 - lǚnán - Lü Nan, Hongxing Squad Sniper
许伯 - xǔbó - Uncle Xu, Hongxing Squad Medic
庄原瑛 - zhuāngyuányīng - Zhuang Yuanying, Hongxing Squad Engineer
田路遥 - tiánlùyáo - Silver Knights something-or-other, the one who lost the Xuanming

At any rate,

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Thanks for reading!