Vow of Silver Dawn Chapter 14

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STAR WARS: Silver Vow
Chapter 14: The Informer
By 国王陛下, Translated by 74translations
Notes at the end
“Mostima” has been changed to “Mastema.” For more details, please see the translation notesa.

	Half an hour later, their incredibly boxy airspeeder taxi had made it to where traffic was the most intense; they had entered the planet's most bustling district. Looking downwards from the airspeeder, there were more lights than that were contained in the entire night sky. Here, tens upon thousands of airspeeders orderly flew along the airways, bringing the dense crowds of people along to their destinations.

	"Now this is what I'd call a flourishing civilization." Shawn might have been seated inside an airspeeder, but the effect was not lost upon him.

	Compared to Green Daylight of recent memory, the city lacked much of the ostentation, as there were neither towering skyscrapers that reached for the heavens nor was the entire thing draped in neon.

	But the success of the city below was genuine. It was not the product of an ego-serving project ordered on the whim of some ruler that required the gathering of a whole planet's wealth, but rather the result of the labour and wealth willingly contributed by its people.

	And there were 10 more cities just like Xiajing on Kun! Each city had a number of its own satellite towns, all interconnected by a highly-developed telecoms network, joining the planet together as one.

	Despite being similarly remote, the Bergamore and Qian Systems were as night and day, which gave Shawn a rather good opinion of the place.

	"Even though this place’s prosperity is often brought up, it's still quite something to see it for myself." Shawn said.

	"That is why you should read all that you can, but never simply stop at reading, and to always go out and experience it for yourself." Mastema said.

	"Yes Master," Shawn answered earnestly.

	While the two spoke, the R2-X7 began to beep and whistle, much to Shawn's surprise, "Have we already arrived? Whoa, Master, look! Over there!"

	Following the line of Shawn's finger, Mastema's gaze was drawn to where amidst the forest of steel was a patch of natural splendor.

	There was, built at the top of a skyscraper, a veritable hanging garden, utterly massive in scale. The green lush stretched beyond the edge of the building, dotted with flowers, and even a trickling waterfall to complete the image.

	"This was the place you recommended? Hey, thanks a lot!" Shawn directed to the droid with a thumbs up, to which he received a few happy beeps in return. It seems their ride would be discounted, as well.

	After only a moment, their airspeeder had landed at the edge of the forest on a wooden landing platform just outside. After Shawn had paid the fare, he and his Master stepped out. Once the speeder had flown off, its repulsors whistling into the distance, a pair of attendants, a young man and a woman, dressed in black and white, walked over. In the most respectful Qiankun, they greeted their honoured guests.

	Mastema stepped forwards, and in her own fluent Qiankun she requested a private room, while Shawn also stepped forth, and as natural as anything, deposited some Qiankun coins into the hands of the attendants, which gave cause for them to smile ever so slightly more sincerely.

	With the help of some Qiankun currency, the Master and Apprentice pair quickly got their private room despite the lack of a reservation.

	Shawn ordered a few light Xiajing speciality dishes up to their room. After the waiter had left, he first set a plate for Mastema before helping himself.

	Mastema on the other hand was in no rush to partake, and was instead silent for a while, lost deep in thought.

	A while later, Shawn was preparing to order a midnight snack as well, when he heard a knocking on the door.

	Immediately, Shawn focused his mind, and sharpened the gaze of his eyes.

	The stage was set: Showtime.

	Mastema, unconcerned, calmly smiled and said "please come in."

	The one who entered was in fact a rather nondescript-looking Togrutan attendant, holding in his hand a silk note, who said, "My apologies, please excuse this interruption. This is something that the gentleman next door requested I give to you."

	Mastema nodded, taking the note, and took the opportunity to hand over a coin. The attendant, however, laughed, and returned it, saying, "Apologies, but we're not allowed to accept that here."

	Mastema was rather taken aback, but she did not press the issue and took her coin back with the note, and pondered the situation.

	Shawn watched with great interest, before approaching from behind to get a look at the note. Upon the snow-white silk was a carefully written message: "Envoys of the Republic, please make your way to Jinlin so that we may speak."

	Shawn couldn't help but furrow his brows, and asked, "Why's it look so strange? Is this really from our contact?"

	"It could also be from the Qiankun Corporation, but whatever the case may be, it will be necessary to meet. Since we are here openly, there will be no need to take great pains to move in secrecy.”

	When she had finished, the Jedi Master stood up, and seemingly within the span of a few paces they had made it to Jinlin.

	Pushing open its doors, they were met with the sight of a tall, black-garbed man, sitting on a sofa, with his face conveying a fair amount of anxiety. Upon seeing Mastema, his nervousness grew even more obvious, and his voice too seemed quite intense.

	"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, honoured envoys of the Republic, though I hadn't thought the two of you would arrive so quickly..."

	"The later we arrive, the further from the truth we would be, Mister Nan Qianyu." Mastema replied.

	At the same time, Shawn was plumbing the depths of his mind for information on this person.

	Nan Qianyu, youngest brother of Nan Heli, vice-chairman of Nanming Capital, a subsidiary of the Qiankun Corporation. Despite being the youngest child of the Nan family, one of the system's most rich and powerful, Nan Qianyu's most notable feature was his mediocrity. His talent, behaviour, and willpower were all mediocre, all second to his older brother Nan Heli, who shone with the power of ten thousand suns. Even compared to Nan Yujin, it was like Qianyu had been transparent since his childhood, and even his role in Nanming Capital was insubstantial, with him instead merely enjoying the perks of the position.
In regards to his profile, be it in the Republic of the Qian System, there were few that were more unremarkable.

It was hard to imagine that he would be the one to be here now to meet with the Jedi as their representative of vengeance... did the Nan family have nobody left?

Shawn couldn't help but have misgivings, but his Master was speaking now, and it wouldn't do for him to shoot his mouth off.

After their exchange of pleasantries, Nan Qianyu hastily brought them to the topic at hand, "My brother was murdered. I'm sure you've seen the Company's public statement that it was an unfortunate accident, but I hadn't believed that for even a single moment. He was killed in a plot against his life!"

Mastema, however, was in no rush to declare her position, and instead stared at the expensive ornamentation upon Nan Qianyu's chest, remaining silent all the while.

Nan Qianyu stared back for a little bit, before somewhat embarrassedly raising his hand to remove the ornament, and placed it flat on the table, "Apologies. As you can see, this is a fairly basic recording device. I've recently had cause to be a bit nervous, so I've taken to carrying this with me and keeping it on at all times. I'll turn it off."

Seeing Nan Qianyu's calm, Mastema instead found no cause for it, saying, "It's not a problem. We might as well consider it being on a sort of mutual understanding. Firstly, I wish to confirm something. The one who contacted the Republic for aid, that was indeed you, was it not, Mister Nan Qianyu?"

"It could be said that following my Brother's death, I am the Nan Family's representative." Nan Qianyu replied.

Prodding further, Mastema asked, "And what of Mister Nan Yujin?"

"My second brother has never really concerned himself with family business, probably because our eldest brother had been expected to inherit since childhood..." Nan Qianyu clearly had little interest in the topic, and quickly glazed over it, "In short, I now represent my family to the Republic's Envoy. Now it's my turn. I want to confirm, you two are indeed Jedi Knights?”

Taking the initiative and stepping forwards, "I am merely an Apprentice" Shawn said, while keeping an eye on the ornament and raising a hand.

Mastema then lifted her own hand, and pulling a bunch of flowers from a vase in the corner of the room, floated them over to in front of herself, before scattering the petals with a flick of her fingers.

Though it seemed like quite a simple trick, it in fact represented quite a fine application of the force. Of course, to most Jedi, this kind of display was little more than a sideshow trick. To those unfamiliar with the Jedi and the Force, however, to observe such a feat in person was nevertheless a sort of undeniable proof of identity.

Indeed, as Mastema scattered the flower petals, Nan Qianyu's breathing seemed to get ever so slightly heavier, "The legends of the all-powerful Force are true!"

Mastema's brows furrowed, "You are familiar with the Force?"

"No, not really. I barely know anything about the Force. My impression has always been that the Force was your unparalleled Lightsaber swordsmanship, and there's also those legends about you Jedi using the Force to destroy the Galaxy and so on." Nan Qianyu replied.

	The Jedi had long since grown accustomed to these sorts of misconceptions, and when it came to those from more isolated environments, there were all sorts of unrealistic flights of fancy regarding the Force. It was apparent that Nan Qianyu was no exception.

	But it wasn't a good time to correct him just yet, so Mastema merely nodded for him to continue.

	"My Brotherb did research on the Force."

	"He was always a well-read guy, and had an insatiable curiosity for all things, especially where it concerned the Republic. That's why he was always having dealings with you people. He was always getting a huge quantity of information from the Republic, and he was absolutely mad about studying the Force."

	"However, he himself clearly didn't have a shred of ability, and in his own words, on the scale of Force sensitivity he wouldn't even register. For a man like him to pay such little care to the family business yet insist upon studying some imaginary force, it really gave people pause."

	Nan Qianyu's words were a little meandering, but the Master and Apprentice pair listened intently, and it gave them a great deal to think on.

	“Of course, my Brother was talented like none other. He could distract himself with this on the one hand and then still bring the family business great prosperity on the other. For a leech like myself there wasn't a thing I could complain about him.” Nan Qianyu had a short laugh at his own expense, but his expression quickly grew solemn, "And now he's dead."

	"You believe his research on the Force has something to do with his death?"

	"It's not what I believe, but rather what my brother thought. He was already acting strangely before he died!" Nan Qianyu said, “He'd abandoned his company responsibilities, missed 5 meetings, and the whole sort of aura about him was wrong. Then he'd gone and shut himself up in his remote personal estate as if he was hiding from something!"

	"And what has this to do with the Force?" Mastema asked.

	"My brother had the habit of keeping a diary, and after he died, I had a look at what was left. Inside he left behind quite a confusing entry." Nan Qianyu replied, “It read: I've always known that to step foot into this kind of forbidden knowledge would end up getting me killed, so I was hoping that I'd be able to look away, though that's a bit unrealistic at this point."

	"Two days after making that entry, he was found dead in his personal estate. That property was hidden in the asteroid belt, and was protected by defensive satellites. And inside the property was a special, all-hours private security force keeping watch!  He probably already felt that someone wanted him dead, and yet in the end, he still died."

	Mastema watched Nan Qianyu carefully, and asked, "And you blame the Jedi?"

	"I..." Nan Qianyu seemed to avoid Mastema's gaze, and as though his throat had suddenly gone very dry.

	He inhaled deeply, and grabbed the liquorc bottle that sat on the table and poured himself a shot——about the size of his fingerd——and downed the contents in a single gulp, and it seemed to give him newfound courage with which to begin speaking.

	"I do have some doubts about you lot. I believe this to be a rational conclusion to draw. I know little of the Force, and my knowledge of the Jedi is limited to that which exists in legends. I'm also almost certain that my older brother died because of his research on the Force, so even just based on that little fact, of course your lot would enter into my thoughts. And that's to say nothing of how despite the fact that he had quite good relations with the Republic, during a time of crisis he opted to hide himself away instead of reaching out for help!”

	"Yet as representative of your family, you still reached out to the Jedi." Mastema noted.

	"In all the galaxy, you understand the Force the best." Nan Qianyu replied, "Regardless of whether or not you are the assassins, I still wanted to see with my own eyes what Force-users were like."

	"Now that you've had a look," Mastema said, "Do you still believe us to be assassins?"
	Nan Qianyu was silent for a time, before finally speaking, "I don't know, I'm not my Brother. I am completely ignorant of the Force, and even though we might be sitting here face to face, I can't tell what you're thinking at all. Just the fact that you so promptly and openly came to Xiajing astonishes me. I didn't think you'd come at all."

	Mastema muttered something to herself quickly, before replying, "Mr. Nan Heli had always been an important person to the Republic. His unexpected death was highly suspect, and that is why we have come to personally conduct an investigation. Mr. Nan Qianyu, I understand your reservations, but at this moment I need you to be calm, and to rationally go over everything."

	At the sound of Mastema's voice, Nan Qianyu's nerves, tightly wound, gently began to ease, and as he poured himself another shot of liquor, he let out a long sigh. "Of course, you're right, I should calm down..."

	Mastema laughed, and said, "I had heard the Qian System culture had two most distinct characteristics:
	First was the cautious attitude towards outsiders. Even after all these years you still hold such a mistrust for non-natives, and it is for this reason your relationship with the Republic has remained so chilly;
	And second: Liquor on the table can break through any misunderstanding. So long as a drink is shared, all peoples can become friends."

	And with that, Mastema grabbed the bottle, and filled her vessel, though her glass was not for shots, but for full cups.
























Translation Notes
a I realized recently that “莫斯提马” (mòsītímǎ) was the transliteration of “Mastema,” an angel from the Book of Jubilee, a Jewish religious text that, as far as I understand it, isn’t regarded as canonical by many major religions. Mastema himself is, as WIkipedia puts it, an angel who  carries out punishments for God, as well as tempting humans and testing their faith, so maybe the author is going for some allusion. In either case, since “mositima” already exists as a transliteration of a thing the way “xiao’en” is a transliteration for Shawn or Sean, I figure I ought to correct that.

b in all contexts, where Nan Qianyu makes reference to his brother, in the original he refers to the dead man as 大哥, dàgē, which just means eldest brother, but is also a respectful form of address for another man who’s of similar age but of a higher position. For the weebs, this would be sort of like aniki in Japanese.

c while 酒 (jiu) could refer to any alcohol, what I was personally imagining was something like Maotai baijiu, a kind of Chinese liquor that to me feels weirdly endemic as like a sign of status. It’s a 76 to 106 proof drink and is absolutely terrible, but is very expensive and apparently something people counterfeit. Now, it’s ubiquity aside, the reason why I think it’s a Chinese maotai-like baijiu is also because…

d ...Those tiny little, finger-sized shot glasses are super common where Maotai is concerned.

At any rate,

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Thanks for reading!