Vow of Silver Dawn Chapter 12

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It looks a lot better! I recommend it over this!
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STAR WARS: Silver Vow
Chapter 12: Aboard a Passenger Ship
By 国王陛下, Translated by 74translations
Notes at the end

Once the communication had ended with Jedi Master Oslord, Mostima contemplated his words.

Sitting beside her, Shawn too had sunk into contemplation.

Given what they knew about the mission, it would seem that sending Mostima was the appropriate decision. She wasn't one of the Jedi Masters who was particularly well-versed in combat, but her erudition and gentle disposition, as well as her particularly meticulous way of thinking, made her quite adept at handling a variety of particularly troublesome issues. Thus came her reputation as the "omnipotent" Jedi.

And, it seemed to be the will of the Force that just last year the Master and Apprentice had made a study of the Applovis Sector and the Qiankun Language!

A short while after, Mostima finally spoke, "Master Oslord just sent us a more detailed dossier, we'd best have a thorough look-over. We should also take this time to brush up on our Qiankuna. Their language is fairly obscure, and given a whole year of disuse we're likely out of practise.”

"Yes Master," Shawn replied, nodding, as he pulled up Oslord's data and began to carefully read it.

Regarding the star system, Mostima had already summarized what they knew fairly well: It was a remote system, though still populous and with a booming economy nevertheless. It had its own fairly distinct culture, and it chose to keep the Republic at arm's length. That said, the materials that Oslord had sent over went into more detail. From that vast ocean of data, Shawn felt as though he could feel something of meaning in the undercurrent. For example, when it came to the question of language. In the Qian System, Galactic Basic Standard was a "foreign" language; The locals instead made use of the uncommon Qiankun.

The language's grammar greatly differed from that of Basic's, and to learn it was incredibly difficult. Last year, when Shawn and his Master had decided to study it, the endeavour was fraught with hardship.

If one were to search the whole of the Republic, putting aside those protocol droids with comprehensive language software, there would be a vanishingly small number of fluent speakers.

Fail to understand the language, and you fail to understand the culture. Fail to understand the culture, and you fail to understand the people. In its capacity as a nominal member of the Republic, the Qian System has maintained an incredibly high degree of independence. Going off of the material provided by Oslord, however, "Independence" was selling it a bit short.

The people of the Qian System were incredibly xenophobic, the result of its rather unusual ethnic distribution. On top of that, it seemed that there had always been a number of voices calling for them to leave the Republic. Under these conditions, it'd be nearly impossible for the pair's investigation to go smoothly.

Shawn couldn't help but wonder: Given all that, how did his Master plan on carrying out the investigation?

Would they be relying upon the supporters the late Nan Heli had left in the Qian System? With the aid of a local guide, their investigation could go much more smoothly than without. Take the Bergamore investigation for example. That went particularly well, and that time they had help from the Republic's top agent, Mr. Squawk, and his bold trial-and-error attempts at intel gathering. Though you couldn't compare the circumstances of Qian and Bergamore Systems, and it wouldn't be a good idea to be overly reliant on local help.

In the midst of Shawn's musings, his Master suddenly broke the silence.

"After we board our transport, let's spend a bit of time practicing our Qiankun with the other passengers. It wouldn't do to be too passive."

"In that case I'll handle our tickets," Shawn said as he turned on the holotable, and began to get in touch with a shipping company from the Qiankun System.

——

The master and apprentice pair chose to board a ship outside the Qian System on a tourism and trade world. As a hub world on the border of the Republic, the planet was possessed with a number of charmingly unique cultural customs. A pity that Shawn had no time to enjoy it——In order to get a discounted ticket, the boarding time they ended up getting required that they rush to board.

Right after the two had dealt with the ship they stole from Bergamore's President, they immediately boarded a transport ship over a kilometre long, and made their way to their rather spacious cabin. After they had boarded, Shawn had excitedly begun to examine as much of the ship as he could, and felt himself well up with emotion.

"Seems like the Qiankun Corporation's technological prowess isn't half bad; this ship's already looking to be quite modern."

As Shawn spoke, he couldn't help but reach for a pair of microdrills, ready to bore into the hull ever so slightly and take for himself a small sample of the alloy used.

Mostima, however, quickly broke Shawn's train of thought, and remarked to him that "the design of the ship is at least a generation more advanced than that of the publically-available schematics."

Shawn shifted his attention again, this time to a holopainting. Though it was a rather cheap piece, the black-and-white freehanded style was still rather eye-catching.

"Interesting, is this a piece of traditional Qian culture?"

"Of a sort. There are many traditional art forms, though this particular style originates from thousands of years ago, so it doesn't have much particular influence on the modern Qian people,” Mostima explained, “That said, understanding it would add to your understanding of the culture, so during our journey you may wish to find some time to study it. But, remember to focus on the language. Neither of us have used it much this past year, and we are definitely out of practise."

Shawn knew all too well that upon the river of knowledge, if you failed to row then you would be pushed back down. Last year, when he had been studying Qiankun, he had done his best to study their texts and practise his speech. But come this year, all that work and knowledge had already become muddled and foggy.

"Go and have a walk around, you can't become fluent in a language from behind a closed door after all," Mostima said as she herself was on the way out.

Outside, the sound of hundreds of passengers, from those bustling around the corridor outside the cabin, those below in the dining hall, and those above in the theatre, could be heard. Among them was a Givin, as well as the Givin's partner: an Ithorian, and there was even a Nemoidian who was already looking for business opportunities on the ship.

But, the majority of the passengers were human, and possessed of particularly distinctive and uniform characteristics: Hair and eyes black like Shawn's, and speaking that unique language of Qiankun.

In fact, this cheaply-priced journey was originally just for Qian System natives, which was something Shawn had taken into consideration when buying tickets——he could've gotten even more discounted tickets otherwise.

With genuine native speakers to provide the correct linguistic environment, Shawn felt the twisted lump in his brain that was his Qiankun understanding grow much clearer. It was as though hands had been laid upon the lump, rapidly untangling it all.

When Sean had followed Mostima to the dining hall on the deck below, he could at least recall his studies from the year prior, and with some difficulty could order food with a bit of shaky and rigid Qiankun.

It was hard to get good food on interstellar voyages——especially on such a cheap affair. Even if the dining hall looked magnificent, most of what was available was in the form of canned provisions, with the added process of rapidly heating the food in a large bowl  and selling the product at considerable mark-up.

But in any case, even canned food bore the characteristics of the Qian System, and as Shawn sampled the food, in him grew a new sensation. It was as though that greasy meat and vegetable dish had roused some deep and long-hidden memory in his taste buds.

Mostima was in no rush to eat her meal, and instead seemed to be engrossed by Sean's reaction. When Shawn was half-finished, she told him "You seem quite adept with the utensils."

Shawn had discovered that he took to those Qian System utensils, the pair of thin rods they called "kuaizib," with a fair amount of ease, though it seemed that mastery might take a while more.

Shawn noticed out of the corner of his eye that all around him were tourists who were struggling with the kuaizi, and with no other recourse some had called over waiter droids so that they could exchange theirs for knives and forks. There was even a Twi'lek who had somehow accidentally knocked their tray over.

Shawn, on the other hand, proficient as he was, had already managed to get through half his fried rice.

Looking pensively at the kuaizi held between his fingers, Shawn asked "Master, should I be studying more advanced saber techniques?"

Mostima chuckled, and said "I'll think about it, but first let's make sure you've got the fundamentals."


Shawn nodded, and while he continued to take in the new sensations upon his tongue and fingertips, listened in to the idle gossip of those around him, and felt his familiarity with Qiankun grow all the while.

Not long after, once he had cleared his tray, Mostima stood up and said "let's have a look elsewhere."

Shawn accompanied his Master around the ship for a while——the library, the theatre, the ballroom, the tickets might've been cheap but this budget ship seemed to have everything under the sun.

For the duration of their journey, the master and apprentice pair interacted with a great deal of Qian people. There seemed to be quite the variance in appearance and temperament, so much so that whenever they spoke with someone new, they would invariably speak with a different accent. But, they all seemed to be unified by some sort of shared element, which could be described as the cultural soul of the Qian system, though what that might be was difficult for Shawn to put into words.

As Mostima put it though, "The people of the Qian System are relatively similarly culturally speaking, and whether you're just skimming over information or actually talking to them in person, it should be fairly apparent they put great importance on the family and their ancestors."

Mostima continued, "There are a few gigantic companies that exist under the banner of the Qiankun Corporation; It is not the case that a single family controls the entirety of the system. That said, the position of the Chairman of the Board is a hereditary one, and in other words, this entire system is an oligopoly under the rule of a few families. Despite all this, the Qian people still believe that 'all men are created equalc,' they still believe an individual's efforts can let them climb the social ladder, and alter their destiny. It's very contradictory, which makes it all the more fascinating.”

Shawn pondered the fact for a while, all whilst slowly nodding. None of this had been in the dossier, and he felt as though he had struggled to comprehend what he had learned. With his teacher's guidance, however, it seemed that his understanding was gradually expanding.

"That said, these merely apply in broad strokes. This theory of family and ancestors constitutes a cultural backbone, but not what will be represented upon the surface, and you mustn't blindly attempt to interpret things that way. You need only look around this ship to find counterexamples."

As she explained, Mostima pointed to a family of three nearby.

There, an incredibly fat youth was berating his elderly parents, as the two of them had attempted to bring back to their cabins some of the dining hall's nice tableware, and were refusing to listen to him.

Both emotionally and rationally, the youth's complaints seemed justified, and those who stood around watching were nodding in agreement. Yet Shawn also noticed that the crowd did not lack for those who seemed to disagree.

"They're your parents, is it really necessary to go to this length for some bowls?"

"I think he's putting his parents down because he thinks they embarrassed him. Does the fact that they raised him mean nothingd?"

These sentiments gave Shawn much to think on, though he wasn't given much time, as his Master's patting of his shoulder roused him from his contemplation.

"Don't spend too much time dwelling on it, you need to see a lot more before you'd be ready to come to any conclusions." Mostima told Shawn, as she began to bring themselves back to their cabin.

Once they were back, the topic changed once again.

"Now, have you any thoughts on the Qian System murder case?"

"We've just walked past about a thousand people, and we've not heard a single thing about Nan Heli's death, and this was the death of a high ranking member of the board of directors!"

"Therefore, I think there are three possibilities:
	First, the Qiankun Corporation is too far removed from the daily lives of most people, and so they don't really pay it any mind.
	Second, it may be that this board member had kept a low profile for so long that his death simply went unnoticed.
	Or third, the Qiankun Corporation's ability to control the public opinion in the system is so strong that if they wanted people to think something, then the people would think that, and if they didn't want people to think something, then the people wouldn't even be able to entertain the idea of it."

"Very good, in all likelihood it is indeed one of those three. That said, we will still need to reach our contact before we can attempt to confirm any theories," Mostima replied.

"How are we going to get in touch?" asked Shawn.

"We've already been in touch," Mostima said, smiling, "Once we've arrived at the Qian System, we'll find a convenient place to speak, and wait for them to find us."

Shawn was surprised for a moment, before suddenly understanding.

When Shawn had booked the tickets, he had used his and his Master's real names, and on the ship just now they had probably been seen by more than a thousand people.

If their contact wanted to avenge Nan Heli, then they would know the Republic had already sent out its envoys.

If they couldn't even figure that out, then they were of no use, and that he and his Master ought to simply conduct their own investigation.































Translation Notes

a Once again, the Language will simply be named “Qiankun,” because “Qiankun Language” feels unwieldy and I hate the way “Qiankunese” sounds.

b “Why not just translate it as Chopsticks?” Well, here’s how I figure. The Qian System is portrayed as being a strange, foreign, isolated place, and chopsticks seem to be a thing that Shawn and Mostima are encountering for the first time. In the Chinese, it’s not just “a pair of thin rods they called chopsticks.” It’s “a pair of thing rods they called ‘chopsticks’” It’s clearly meant to be a strange, novel thing, and to help sell this unfamiliarity, they will be rendered as kuaizi. Think like the first Europeans to get to China. It would be strange if they right away had the word for Chopsticks upon seeing what the Chinese were using.

c In the original text, the quote was 王侯将相宁有种乎 (wanghoujiangxiang you zhong hu), which is from the Records of the Grand Historian (史记, siji). Liu Bang, the future Emperor Gaozu of Han, the founder of the Han Dynasty, asks if those “princes and generals” were born with the right to rule. In that it implies that it is action and not bloodline that gives people the right to have authority, I went with a similar (in broad strokes) English-language allusion, and hopefully that overall feeling of “merit over birthright” is communicated.

d They refer to the youth and his parents’ face here, which isn’t as foreign a concept as people make it out to be since in English we also have the concept of “saving face,” but it is true that the Asian notion of “face” is a bit more broad. At any rate, I opted for a slightly different wording just in case. If you’re curious, a more straight translation might read “I think he seems to believe that he’s lost face, and as a result is paying little mind to his parents’ face.”

As always,

https://74translations.wordpress.com/

Thanks for reading!