Vow of Silver Dawn Chapter 27

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PDF Link: https://mega.nz/file/3Y0i1b7B#ZTnWlIiXkmPginUCM_gA_v0uPwzx96_XpoB1LbeYDas
As usual~
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Chapter 27: The Basics
By 国王陛下, Translated by 74translations
Notes at the end, and also this note, right now:
"Xu Bai" is changed to "Uncle Xu," as that question has been clarified in this chapter. When this chapter goes up, I'll have updated the previous chapter and the links that point to it on pastebin/my blog, if you wish to redownload the fixed versions

	Shawn walked into the dining hall, and walked directly into eight rather complex gazes.

The four people inside stared at him like housewives who, while cooking lunch, were suddenly interrupted by the appearance of a wild monkey lizard. Within their surprise however was a curiosity, and with that curiosity was that gentle compassion and pity that civilized folk have for wild animals.

Being regarded like a wild animal made Shawn feel rather unwell, and he worried that perhaps he had failed his test spectacularly. Did he have no right to view these people as equals? Was he about to be ejected?

After all, when most housewives are met with wild animal intruders, it's cause for some alarm...

With this in mind, Shawn couldn't help but take half a step back.

Just as his foot began to move, all that was before his eyes became a blur.

"Squire, please, stay!"

The first to move, surprisingly, was the thick jacket-draped old Uncle Xu. Short and stooped, his face was a web of creases, and his wavy gray hair flowed from the edges of his hood down to his chest, apparently having long since left behind the line that separates middle from old age.

Yet still, his movement was fast and nimble, and seemed to echo that of the much more youthful An Ping.

While in truth he wasn't that fast, it was still quite surprising.

Shawn was stunned. His right hand had already been seized by the old man, and while he grasped Shawn's right wrist with his wizened old fingers, feeling Shawn's pulse, he was using his left hand to look over a screen upon which a waterfall of data was flowing.

"Your metabolism is quite impressive, and you seem to recover much faster than an ordinary person, no wonder you could survive three rounds of thrashing from the captain... though it's unlikely scientifically speaking, I still have to ask, does your ancestry contain any Devaronian?"

Shawn just felt a headache coming on.

Fortunately, the old man was quickly and forcibly pulled away by Lü Nan.

Though Uncle Xu did his best to struggle, the disparity in their strengths was simply too great, and he more resembled a duck, captured by a ferocious predator, that was left with nothing left but to scream.

"Lü Nan, no! Don't pull me away! This is a medical diagnostic! This is medicine, do you understand!? He was knocked unconscious by the captain, what if there's internal injury!? This is a matter of life and death!"

Lü Nan, in an incredible display of strength, matching that of Captain An Ping, carried the quite heavy Uncle Xu back to his seat, and rather dismissively replied, "Any newbie who can break the Captain's prosthesis doesn't need you worrying about his theoretical injuries."

An Ping, who had just been accidentally deflated a little by her words, embarrassedly rubbed his new arm, before coughing, "Well, since Xiao'en's here, let's all formally welcome him."

As An Ping spoke, he began to clap his hands, producing a rather unusual applauding noise.

As Lü Nan and Uncle Xu were still "busy," only Zhuang Yuanying, the small girl with the thick and fluffy hat, offered an enthusiastic clapping.

He wasn't sure if he was confused or maybe just still concussed, but Shawn could've sworn the sound of the girl's clapping was quite unusual.

In Shawn's opinion, the most ill-fitting at the table was the soft hatted-girl. She was probably a year or two older than Shawn, but in comparison to the others she was the youngest by far, and really didn't seem like the type of person you'd find in a mercenary base.

Shawn didn't get any impression that she was particularly dangerous either, she seemed just as completely harmless as any ordinary person.

But according to his theory, there shouldn't be anyone in this underground Hongxing Squad base that could be described as "ordinary."

The Hongxing Squad had a reputation, one he had heard a great deal about aboard the Silver from Chen Sanwan. It was safe to say that most of the Silver's crew had equal parts fear and fascination of the undoubtedly elite Hongxing.

But how many "elites'' did they have? With his "test," An Ping had already revealed himself to Shawn.

So the soft hat-wearing Zhuang Yuanying seemed a little ill-fitting.

Shawn mulled it over, before finally deciding to just make a guess: Perhaps she was An Ping's daughter? Just here to visit family?

An Ping sighed deeply, "That expression again, you also think Zhuang's my daughter! I don't even have a girlfriend!"

Frightened, the girl named Zhuang quickly grabbed her hat with both hands, and pulled it over her face, completely concealing herself beneath it.

Finally releasing Uncle Xu, Lü Nan began to laugh and laugh.

Ultimately, An Ping had to forcefully cough again, and finally restored some order to the dining room.

"All right,  that's enough messing about, let's get to business."

As An Ping's tone came down, so did the dining room's atmosphere.

"This is the Hongxing Squad, and I'm it's Captain, An Ping, responsible for command and coordination. When it comes to fighting I'm focused on frontline stuff, close quarters combat, simple firearms, and survival skills."

He then motioned towards the tall woman, "This is Lü Nan, currently our Vice Captain, and our firearms expert. She's good with almost every kind of gun imaginable, and is especially skilled with sniping. She's a sniper unit unto herself, and aside from that, she's also quite an adept pilot. She's quite valuable in a pinch, so you could say...."

Not wanting him to overdo it, Lü Nan waved her hand dismissively at An Ping, "All right all right ease up on the flattery will you? Move on to the next one."

An Ping was left with nought but to sigh and move on, motioning towards Uncle Xu, "This here's Uncle Xu, though his name's not Xu, and he's not got seniority, we just call him Uncle Xu. Currently, he's our medic, and knows all sorts of treatments, as well as being quite good with electronics, so he's in charge of our medical droid as well. If it comes to it, he's a good help in a fight, but his prices are exorbitant so be careful not to rack up too great a bill."
Uncle Xu puffed out his chest and proudly declared, "Captain you wound me! For the Squad, you know I would brave any fire!

Lü Nan, who did very much want to wounda him, followed up by asking, "Don't you just want to get injured as an excuse to break out the drugs to get high!?"

Full of self-righteousness, he replied, "Don't you dare try and sully my innocence! I'll have you know that in my thirty seven years, I've never waited until after an injury to get high!"

That stunned Shawn. How many years did he just say he had lived?

Thirty seven years? Not seventy three years?

Uncle Xu stared at Shawn and demanded, "What are you looking at? Never seen such a handsome thirty-seven-year-old?"

Shawn's brows furrowed as he assessed the thirty-seven-year-old man whose face was criss-crossed with wrinkles. Perhaps some percentage of his ancestry was Bith?

The ever-willing-to-delight-in-the-misfortune-of-others Lü Nan then added, "You shoot up any more, and you could probably head into town and apply for aid for the elderly! Just show your face and they'd probably send you off with a gift package."

Uncle Xu just waved his hand dismissively, "Forget it, the welfare office's been abandoned for years, and all they can afford to put in those gifts are peaches and some other garbage. Not even a bit of cash."

This shocked Lü Nan, "You actually tried!?"

"Obviously, didn't get zilch though. I don't have a Captain or Vice Captain's salary, so I've gotta get creative with income you know..."

An Ping, who was listening from the side, felt a headache coming on as he despaired at his subordinates.

Couldn't they have waited for the newbie to get settled in before they revealed themselves for who they were? Weren't they just afraid of scaring him away!?

Though if he could take three rounds, then theoretically he should be able to take the mental strain.

While lost in thought, An Ping noticed that at the end of the table, there was still a worthy team member.

Zhuang Yuanying was calmly sitting beside the corner of the table, sizing up Shawn with equal parts curiosity and shyness.

If they could all be as well-behaved as Zhuang Yuangying, An Ping thought, then things would be good.

"Zhuang Yuanying is our youngest member, aside from you, though don't underestimate her because of that. She's charged with the maintenance and repair around here, and there's no one better. Any broken machinery you've got, find her. When the boss likes to get in trouble out there in space and gets the Silver all banged up, he comes running to Zhuang here for help."

Butting in once again, Lü Nan interjected, "If it weren't for Zhuang, then Li Yu would've been flayed alive by Bai a long time ago."

Uncle Xu also sighed, "You could call Zhuang the Boss's saviour. Hey Captain, maybe next time you should bring that up to him, maybe he'll give us more funding, my drug research has reached another bottleneck...."

This didn't please An Ping much, "Don't think you can use Zhuang for your own personal gain! If you're that desperate for money, how about you go show your face to a few more welfare offices then!"

Zhuang Yuanying, upon whom the spotlight was now focused, grabbed her hat and once again buried her head inside, "You guys... are... exaggerating..."

With such gentle speech, again Shawn felt that she was of an incredibly harmless sort.

Watching the others heap praise upon her, Shawn couldn't help but think that perhaps the Hongxing Squad were not as cruel or dangerous as he had thought.

Just as the thought came to him, An Ping began to speak again, "All right then, now that we've gone over the people, next let's go over the Hongxing Squad itself...  I expect you've already asked yourself this question: What's up with the weird name?"

Shawn nodded.

Within the context of the Qiankun language, the two words Hong and Xing together were evocative of the proverb Hongxing Chu Qiang, or "The red apricot tree leans over the garden wall," which figuratively described a wife having an affair.b

Given the elite reputation of the Hongxing Squad, this kind of name didn't seem to fit no matter how Shawn looked at it.

Although the head of the Silver Knights, Li Yu, might be the kind of person to decide names at his whim, it didn't necessarily mean he would give his trump card such an incongruous name.

An Ping smiled, "The essence of the Hongxing Chu Qiangc proverb describes the sort of person who doesn't play by the rules, and that is our squad's core ideology: We most definitely do not play by the rules."

Pausing for a moment, An Ping then continued, "The Boss said you were to settle your debt, so I'd best make this clear: Hongxing Squad members' earnings far exceed that of the others. Take me for example. Last month, I completed one team mission, one squad mission, and three individual missions, which earned me 720,000 Qiankun credits. This is a figure that other teams' members would have to save for a lifetime to accumulate.”

Motioning to Lü Nan and Uncle Xu again, "These two's earnings aren't anything to scoff at either. As for Zhuang here, well it hardly needs to be said. Given how many times she's saved Li Yu, she contributes a lot.

With a bit of mirth, An Ping then asked, "You're probably wondering why we get paid so well then, right?"

"Because you're strong?" Shawn offered.

"Ever succinct, but yes, you are correct. We are treated according to our strength, and every member of this squad's strength far exceeds that which you could call "average." But the question then is, what is this so-called strength?"

Giving it some thought, Shawn again offered, "Enough to complete your missions?"

"Correct, it is our ability to complete missions. Time and time again we complete the impossible."

"So you're rewarded accordingly?"

An Ping smiled, "Again, correct, on the money, but also not quite. The pay does seem to be the reward, but it's also necessary. The impossible demands a high cost, and this cost is indifferent to one's own subjective assessment. The Boss has no shortage of hard workers, or hard work to be done, but there are things they simply cannot do, and that's because they lack the basic material structures."

Suddenly, An Ping put his right arm prosthesis upon the table, and asked, "If you and I were to arm wrestle right now, do you think you could beat me?"

Shawn shook his head.

As he was currently, even with the Force, he'd probably struggle against a mechanical arm in an arm wrestle.

"The disparity in our strengths lies not in our willpowers, nor our perseverance, but in that I possess a mechanical arm worth 50,000 Qiankun credits, and you possess only flesh."

An Ping paused briefly, before continuing, "Similarly, Lü Nan's sniping is second to none in the Qian System, and that's helped because she's taken the time to work on a priceless Dongfeng model DF-q91 Sniper Rifle——And listen close, that gun is her most treasured possession; you leave so much as a fingerprint on that rifle, and she'll beat you so bad that not even Uncle Xu'll be able to fix you."

"So, the question is: With so few people, how are resources divvied up? For instance, I just used up 50,000 Qiankun credits' worth of mechanical arm to test you, while even the chief engineer aboard the Silver only makes a few hundred in a day. Do you think they'd approve of my squandering of funds?"

"Obviously, he wouldn't, but if he ever didn't, I wouldn't be able to get prostheses worth 50,000 Qiankun credits, and then they wouldn't be able to rely on me for miracles. After all, even the cleverest housewife can't cook without rice."

"And that's how we resolve that contradiction; The Hongxing Squad is financially autonomous, with our takings hinging solely upon our ability to contribute, and with no-one but ourselves to foot the bills. The other squads might effectively be quite collectivist, but our squad is, well, are we not the red apricot that hangs over the wall?"

Before his voice could even fade, Lü Nan cut in, "You're quite right about this fiscal responsibility thing, why not think about that next time before you go scrapping another arm, intending to reach into our coffers to pay for it."

An Ping was left at a rather loss for words, and only managed, "Do you have to be so mean?" after a short pause, with a pained smile.

	Lü Nan shot him a look, "Since we're all being fiscally responsible, and you took it upon yourself to test the newbie, do you really expect us to help you cover the cost?"

	An Ping was silent for a while, before turning a pleasant expression to Zhuang Yuanying, and calling out "Hey, Zhuang...."

	Before he could get it out though, Lü Nan had grabbed a metal cup and thrown it at him, "You'd even beg Zhuang for a loan!? O Great Squad Captain, have you not even a shred of shame!?"

	An Ping, his face sullen, had no recourse but to accept his shame.





Translation Notes
a.This is a bit of liberty in translation. In the original text, Uncle Xu says, literally, "never be so polite to me," and Lü Nan's comment is described as "without any trace of politeness," but that scans awfully in English and doesn't really get across what's happening, so I've modified it.

b Yes, the awkwardness of this sentence is the result of translating into English a Chinese text depicting a character who is supposed to be speaking (Space)English discussing the vocabulary of (Space)Chinese. I feel as though I've encountered a strange ouroboros of language.

c Normally, when presented with Chinese idioms and the like, I translate by providing equivalent English ones, or reword. In this case, because it is specific to the conversation and an important part of a proper noun, I've left it as is. For the curious: The proverb is written 红杏出墙 (hóngxìngchūqiáng).

Anyways here’s a quick list of characters for reference because I figured I ought to put it down. Chinese, like Korean, Japanese, Hungarian, and Bajoran, are ordered Family name before Given name. Chinese names are typically a single character family name and a two character given name, but a single-character given name is not that unusual. Two-character family names used to be more common historically, but are rare in modern times.
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 (?)

At any rate,

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Thanks for reading!