Vow of Silver Dawn Chapter 41

====
PDF Link: https://mega.nz/file/7QsCTaoL#GxEoc_n07k-0W8aA3IzdEXW1dEiUFhJ6aJEpNj6cFvE
You know, you know
====
Chapter 41: Test Firing
By 国王陛下, Translated by 74translations
Notes at the end

	Having made his resolution, Shawn had not said anything, and just silently put his hand on the blaster on his hip.

	That was enough to immediately shut Uncle Xu up, and give An Ping cause to give a fairly satisfied chuckle.

	A short while later, the shuttle arrived at the edges of their target area. So close to the old decaying structures, the smell of rust pervaded the interior of the shuttlea.

	Ning Tao's villa was close at hand.

	An Ping patted  the pilot's seat, "Alright, stop here. No matter how lax their security could be, we're not going to be able to drive up in a shuttle. We go any further and they'll know we're here."

	Shawn stopped as instructed, and as he opened his mouth to ask what came next, out of the corner of his eye he glimpsed a scarlet energy bolt streak over from a distant hill, striking one of the manor's defensive guns!

	It took the Jedi Apprentice a moment to process the fact that the shot had come from Lü Nan.

	To think she'd take a shot!

	To think she wouldn't wait for any signal that the operation had begun, or even that the rest of the squad was ready to go!

	However, neither An Ping nor Uncle Xu seemed particularly bothered by this, and simultaneously, apparently without planning, both patted his shoulder, and split up, heading down different paths to approach the structure.

	Clearly, this sort of tacit understanding was just a basic element of being part of the Hongxing Squad. They understood and trusted Lü Nan, and Lü Nan trusted and understood them.

	For the time being, Shawn was still incapable of sharing this wordless understanding, and so simply shook his head, an opted to chase behind An Ping, running between the ruined remnants, quickly making for their destination.

	Meanwhile, Lü Nan was showing off her skill. As the villa's alarms went off, full-armed security began to spill out, including one clad in reinforced vests and scarlet cloaks who looked to be the officer in charge.

The moment he left the main structure however, before he could even begin to give commands, a blaster bolt made contact with his helmet, rendering the space where his head should've been into an empty space, afterwhich his body promptly crumpled.

	Lü Nan's sniping put the formidable power of the DF-q91 Rifle on display, while still displaying a ridiculous degree of precision at the limits of its effective range. With one shot, she had literally decapitated the security forces, throwing them into disarray.

	The disarray didn't last for long though, as these Security Bureau personnel were naturally quite well trained. They were incomparable to the usual disorganized rabble. It only took them a few seconds for them to come to the correct conclusions.

First, having judged the angle of the shot, they quickly scattered, rushing for cover. Next, a number of automatic defenses and bunkers rose out of the villa's courtyard, as well a pair of heavy gun turrets. They showered the distant mountain range with a torrent of blasts.

	Lü Nan's ability to snipe now suppressed, the Security Bureau personnel capitalized on the opportunity by summoning more men to get on speedersb to make for the distant mountains.

	As Shawn followed An Ping quietly, he grew more concerned for Lü Nan's situation.

	But it was at this point that he saw another red bolt fly over, striking one of the speeders. It penetrated its armour, hitting the fuel tank, igniting the speeder's high energy fuel, transforming the vehicle into a fireball.

	The speeder's crew of three wordlessly vanished into the flames, prompting the other two speeders to slam the brakes, not wanting to continue to rush forwards rashly.

	Shortly thereafter, the heavy gun turrets intensified their output, bringing a veritable torrential downpour of blaster fire upon the distant mountains, as if aiming to render the target area flat with firepower!

	This suppressing fire didn't even stop when the turrets overheated and turned red hot.

	The speeder crews, having slammed the breaks, now resumed their charge, having been given the confidence and signal that the path ahead was safe by the covering fire.

	It was at this moment however that yet another bolt struck a speeder, another impossible shot made on a fuel tank, turning yet another vehicle and its passengers into a fireball.

	Simultaneously, the gun turrets stalled, and stopped firing.

	To be shot at with impunity by an enemy sniper, who picked off their comrades seemingly unbothered by being targetted by heavy firepower, constituted quite the humiliation.

	In reply, the gun turrets further intensified their output.

	The firepower, strong enough to threaten even mid-sized starships, rained fire upon the mountains, and like ice under a torch the mountainous rocks melted into slag.

	It all made Shawn quite apprehensive.

	Conversely, An Ping was quite calm, and said, "Don't worry about Lü Nan, this is nothing."

	This seemed ridiculous to Shawn. This was still nothing? The mountains she was on were mostly liquid now!

	A sniper's greatest fear was to have their position revealed, and to draw return fire. It was for that reason most operations involving sniping were only undertaken if absolute concealment could be ensured. Lü Nan on the other hand seemed to proceeed with the aim to attract as much attention as possible, and from the very beginning made her position known. However, the firepower that was brought upon her far outstripped anything that individual soldiers could muster.

	"Relax, she wouldn't be so foolhardy as to just let herself be fired upon; she moved a while ago. She's shrewder than anyone in her field."

	Shawn thought back to their battle back in the underground base.

	While the Vice Captain was quite outspoken and quick to anger, her expertise in a fight was undeniably impressive.

	"And Security Bureau standard procedures are something she figured out a long ago."

	An Ping sighed, as if he had reached something he best not dwell on any further, and just waved at Shawn to get him to hurry up.

	Shawn too refocused, and put Lü Nan out of his mind.

	If he really wanted to be of help to her, then they'd best make the most the opportunity she gave them, and capture Ning Tao. Once they had him, the situation would very quickly shift in their favour.

	And there wouldn't need to be any more death.

	The two of them moved faster and faster.

	Lü Nan had drawn so much attention that their approach went entirely unnoticed.

	As Shawn was preparing to jump over the wall and enter the Manor grounds proper, An Ping grabbed him when he entered the bushes.

	"Look over there."

	An Ping pointed a finger towards the wall, where a pair of guards were stationed.

	Despite the alarm, the two of them remained at their post. It was clear they were quite curious about what was happening in the distance by the way their gazes remained transfixed at the mountains.

Though they would not dare abandon their posts, their minds were clearly elsewhere.

	Shawn took one look and understood An Ping's plan.

	As those two were clearly not the facility's best, An Ping had chosen this spot to breach.

	"Are we splitting up?"

	An Ping laughed, "Soon you won't need to laugh."

	Having said that, An Ping took the lead, throwing himself towards the two. The normally sleepy-eyed middle aged man was now staring ahead, eyes wide, his powerful legs throwing him forwards with incredible speed.

	Meanwhile, Shawn pressed on from another direction, and at a considerably slower speed.

	A moment later, An Ping was the first to be revealed.

	"Who is that!?"

	One of the guards had noticed An Ping out of the corner of his eye, and shouted in surprise, while bringing his blaster up to fire.

	Quickly however the guard discovered that his target moved at an unimaginable speed and peculiar rhythm and tempo, such that whenever he fired, his target would suddenly move, ensuring that no shot ever found its mark.

	Though the area directly outside the manor was a flat open area, no shots were landed despite ample opportunities provided.

The guard then elbowed his partner, as if to ask, "have you not noticed me struggling, are you still watching the show?"

	However, this had the effect of elbowing his partner off the wall.

	In surprise, the guard turned, only to see his comrade falling to the ground, sporting a brand-new blackened cavity in his head.

	A second later, a blaster bolt filled his field of view.

	And his world, too, went black.

Translation Notes
a Would metal structures on an asteroid rust, at all? I suppose there's an atmosphere, but would there even be enough water vapour to cause rusting?

b I'm going to be totally honest. 飞行艇 (fēixíng tǐng), literally "Flying vessel" or "Small Flying Ship," was used both here and for the vehicle the Squad used to get from the Hongxing to the area of operation. The Chinese being rather non-specific, I cannot say that the distinction between "Shuttle" or "Speeder" is terribly important here, but it's worth noting that the class of vehicle here is the same.

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,

https://74translations.wordpress.com/

Thanks for reading!