Vow of Silver Dawn Chapter 17

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Chapter 17: Visitors from Outer Space
By 国王陛下, Translated by 74translations
Notes at the end

	"So, this is the Lady Nan Wuyou's room? It does indeed have the elegance befitting the daughter of a noble family."

	The pair of Jedi were standing in the doorway of the bright and spacious room, offering it much praise. A few maids were accompanying them——mostly at Mastema's side and positively full of smiles.

	"Well of course, the Young Mistress was indeed the daughter of a noble family"

	"She's always been exceptional. She was helping the Master at work from as early as twelve."

	"She was always friendly with us servants."

	Mastema then asked, "Does she still normally reside here?"

	From around them came a number of sighs, "It has been a long time since she has. The Young Mistress already held an official company position at the age of 15, and has at times been even more busy than the Master."

	"The last time was over a year ago, she and the Master came for a short holiday."

	"No-one expected that the Master would then suddenly... well, this place likely would have reminded her of him, it's no wonder she wouldn't wish to return."

	"Alas, without the Young Mistress, it seems that we should probably apply for a transfer"

	Amidst the sighs, Li Qiong had strolled up, ashen-faced, and declared that "If you want a transfer, then I could help arrange for postings at a mining company."

	Immediately, the mirthful sounds vanished like smoke into the air. The maids, as though met with a ferocious, predatorial beast, quietly slinked one after another to behind the Jedi.

	This seemed to make Li Qiong even more angry, "What exactly do you think you're doing!?"

	Mastema answered, "I asked them to introduce us to our hosts."

	Li Qiong smiled coldly, "What, you weren't thorough enough in your inquiries before so now you come to us?"

	"We really aren't the assassins. Our investigation serves to ascertain the truth." Mastema said.

	"Tell it to the judge." Li Qiong replied, brushing them off. "The lot of you, back to work! Why do you think you've got so much free time!?"

	The maids quickly scattered.

The Jedi looked on apologetically.

	On the rare occasion that Li Qiong was in bed, the two could finally begin to encroach upon the truth hidden in the manor. What a pity it was that the young maid was possessed with such astonishing willpower.

	Nevertheless, they had at least, broadly speaking, locked onto their target.

	Shawn's eyes were drawn to a photo that sat on a desk in the bedroom. A girl, barely 12 years old, stood in front of a scholarly-looking middle aged man. A faint smile carrying with it tremendous emotion.

	Nan Wuyou, Nan Heli's beloved only daughter, another secret of the manor.

	In the past few days, his Master had, guided by the Force, finally figured out where the Manor was hiding its secrets. The crux among those was here, tucked away in this bedroom.

A shame Li Qiong was so quick, denying them the opportunity to have a look around at their leisure, and a chance to grab hold of their prize.

Having said that though, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

The Manor had been Xia Yan's choice of location for their house arrest, no doubt the Qiankun Corporation had already poked around. In that gaggle of maids that had just been with them, there was all the possibility that among them there were those that reported to the Qiankun——without someone on the inside, it didn't seem likely that Nan Heli would have died inside his own house.

The Qiankun Corporation must have already searched the estate, and having found nothing, decided to place the Jedi within, and "allow" them to simply do as they pleased.

Their only fear would be that if the Jedi found the secret, they would immediately open hostilities.

So just that they were able to pinpoint Nan Wuyou's room as the place was progress in and of itself, now they would have to just very carefully investigate it in secret.

Though this manor was filled with prying eyes and intrigue, it wouldn't be able to stop the Jedi.

When the two had been "invited" to the manor, they had been allowed to keep all of their equipment. Fully equipped as they were, this would be no more difficult to crack open than Bergamore's.

So ultimately, being interrupted by Li Qiong was surprisingly quite good. Communicating by code, the two Jedi agreed to postpone their action. Still under Li Qiong's watchful gaze, they returned to the living room as though nothing had happened, and continued to watch television.

While they watched, they communicated through their own special sign language, and decided upon their next course of action——This is what the Master and Apprentice had devised in passing while taking breaks from their studies of the Qiankun Language.

It had proven most useful these last two days.

On one hand, they already had spent far too much time in the Manor. Their nights were long and full of dreams. On the other hand, Li Qiong had from the very beginning tried her hardest to impede their progress. If there was anyone who seemed like they were a mole, she was the most suspicious! But in this moment, she was ill, and weak. Whether that was an act or not was irrelevant. As their guards were always rather lax, it would be wasteful not to seize this opportunity.

The day before they would act, it was imperative that they conserve their strength, and so when night fell, Shawn lay in bed, eyes shut and deep in thought, feeling somewhat not at ease.

After who knows how long, Shawn opened his eyes, and saw his master calmy standing at the door to the bedroom, where she made a quick gesture with her hands.

Time to get ready.

Shawn rose with a start, muscles still tense, and raised his head to look at the surveillance camera placed outside his door, only to see that gently flashed a light indicating that it was dormant. It suddenly occurred to him that his Master must have been successful in infiltrating the Manor's control room, and disabling the omnipresent monitoring systems.

Quietly hopping off his bed and silently following his Master, he began to carry out a simple conversation with her with his hands.

"Master, have you got it?"

"Not yet. I've found a hidden room though. From the looks of it, it's some kind of small research station."

Shawn couldn't help but shiver. This was definitely more important than whatever secret the bedroom held. He couldn't help but ask, "So this place, that's where his so-called 'forbidden research' took place then?"

"It's still too early to say, so we'll have to take a look for ourselves," Mastema signed easily, after which she then warned Shawn "This is going to be quite dangerous, so be careful."

Shawn felt ashamed. It was probably precisely because of the risk that his Master would deem this a task for the two of them——she didn't want to leave it to Shawn alone.

"Don't overthink it, this was the correct decision," Mastema explained, "You should've noticed that at this hour, not a single ship is still here. What do you think that means?"

Shawn thought it over for a moment, before articulating his reply, "In the worst case scenario, this Manor's about to be destroyed."

"The likelihood of that is low. It seems more likely so they might keep an eye out for any escape attempts. But should that extreme case come to pass, the hidden room was built quite sturdily, it should suffice as a place of last resort."

Shawn remained silent, and thought of the Manor's innocent and uninvolved staff.

But, just as the thought came, a sudden, violent explosion came echoing from afar!

In this moment, even the Jedi Master was astonished, as she looked to the origin of the sound.

Had they been discovered, or was it merely a coincidence?

Then came the sounds of more explosions, from all directions, one after another. The Manor was then filled with the mournful ringing of the alarm, as the hallways filled with a frighteningly gloomy red light.

Mastema made a snap decision. No matter what may come, there was only one thing to do at a time like this.

"Shawn, with me."

Upon saying this, a beam of green light blossomed forth, as the Jedi Master ignited her lightsaber. Cutting a cross-shape into the neighbouring wall, she then extended a hand and pushed forwards. The brick wall gave way as though it were nothing more than a sandcastle met with the tide, instantaneously crumbling, leaving behind a cavity 2 metres in diameter.

In an instant, the Manor's automated defense systems activated. On the lawn outside, an automated gun turret sprung up, spun to face the breech, and fired.

Lightsaber in hand, Mastema parried shot back at it, showering it in a hail of blaster bolts. Severely damaged, it crumpled.

Now that the Jedi could see that beyond the wall, they could now see that all around the estate had become inundated with blaster fire: There was a battle raging outside!

From the courtyard, the forest, and even more distant spots, several hundred automated turrets were spewing forth bolts of light. Atop the Manor, hundreds of security personnel brandishing all manner of weapons were firing ceaselessly into the air.

Above, dozens of high speed fighter craft zipped around the sky like bolts of lighting, diving down, and destroying unprepared defenses in a shower of energy bolts.

Every minute an automated turret was destroyed; every second a guard was slaughtered.

Met with such a nimble force, the meager security personnel were nothing.

"We're being attacked?" Shawn asked in disbelief.

"Pirates?" Mastema had already ascertained their identity from the identical designs emblazoned on all the ships.

The Qian System might have been a civilized, orderly one, but at its edges darkness still remained. Pirates, it seemed, lurked among it. The news broadcasts would on occasion extol the triumph of Qiankun Corporation security forces action to eliminate a pirate base or similar.

But in the area surrounding the asteroid belt the Manor was built on, there shouldn't be such a large pirate presence.

"Are they here to silence us?" Shawn asked.

Though shortly thereafter, he shook his head, "No, no, there'd be no need for it."

If the Qiankun Corporation wanted to be rid of them, they could get one of their agents on the inside to overload the reactor, or they could fire a proton torpedo at the estate, and have it all disappear like a grand display of fireworks. There was no need to deploy this disorderly mob.

The worse it got outside, the more likely it was that skilled individuals, like the Jedi, could take advantage of the chaos.

Shawn quickly noticed that in the courtyard where the automated defenses had been destroyed, a squad of pirates had been deployed!

The Jedi quickly glanced at each other and saw one word: Opportunity!a

	Regardless of why the pirates had come here, if they took out a few, and infiltrated their ranks, then the Jedi could then quite easily escape!

	But before the Jedi could take even a few steps, a fighter flew by, throwing a few blasts onto the roof of the Manor.

	After the explosion had passed, countless wails of terror began to come from within the manor.

	Shawn's heart sank, he had no idea these pirates would be so utterly unscrupulous!

	Mastema too stopped dead in her tracks, and looking towards the aftermath of the explosion, saw with astonishment as the fighter turned around, headed straight for where it had just fired upon. They were planning to kill them all!

	The Jedi Master muttered something softly, before extending her left arm towards the fighter. Engulfed by the Force as though it were a storm, the fighter craft abruptly froze in midair, before suddenly being thrown off to the side, as though it had been struck with a great force.

	With a loud bang, two fighters collided head-on, transforming into a sphere of fire, and becoming a hail red-hot metal fragments.

	Finally letting her breath out, Mastema put a hand on Shawn's shoulder and told him, "You'd best go on ahead."

	Shawn paused for a moment, "And you, Master?"

	"I can't go," Mastema replied, "There needs to be someone to keep these people safe. These pirates, they're not here for us, they're there for them!"

	"And if they all die, we will most certainly be accused of having simply run for it, so we cannot afford to take this lightly. This situation is quite similar to the one in the Bar in Xiajing, except this time, you and I have the ability to split up."

	Shawn was silent for a moment, and in his heart felt that there were so many thousands of things he wanted to say, but in the end he simply nodded, "I understand, Master. May the Force be with you."

	With that said, Shawn felt for the Lightsaber on his waist, and looked to the pirates that had landed a short distance away. They were like lightning as they ran back and forth, before disappearing.

	Mastema watched her apprentice go with some deep feeling, through the Force she knew that this time she and him parted ways, it would be a most trying time for Shawn, and yet also a most important event in the grand scheme of the balance of the Qian System.

	After that, she returned to the Manor's interior.

	She wasn't in a rush to assist the wounded, but rather to follow the original plan, and investigate the hidden room.

	She wanted to help them, but throwing herself into the line of fire was not going to be of much help. There were dozens of fighters lighting up the heavens, and ever more pirates were landing and making their way into the Manor. This was not something that one person alone could handle, though neither was it something that she needed to handle by her lonesome.

	Ultimately, it would seem that the pirates would have to have come to obtain that very same secret as she, so as long as she herself had it in her hands, their attention would be shifted towards her. It would be impossible to not capitalize on this opportunity. More importantly though, the safest part of the manor had yet to be excavated.

















Translation Notes
a technically, what they saw in the original was 天赐良机 (tiāncìliángjī), which means "a golden opportunity bestowed by heaven." That seemed a bit wordy, so I've cut it down.

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