Vow of Silver Dawn Chapter 42

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You know, you know
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Chapter 42: Chapter 42: Single-handeda
By 国王陛下, Translated by 74translations
Notes at the end.

	After seeing the guard topple, An Ping gave Shawn a thumbs-up.

	Two quick bursts, not a single beat of opportunity wasted.

	Nor were Uncle Xu's words of advice wasted.

He just hoped that when the mission was over, he'd be able to keep calm when Uncle Xu billed him for the counseling time...

	While he thought, he quietly followed behind An Ping along the exterior wall, arriving in front of the main door. Turning over a dead body and relieving it of its armour and clothes, An Ping doffed his new attire.

	Shawn did the same, and moved even faster than An Ping who had much practice in this regard, which An Ping found quite surprising.

	The kid, as An Ping saw it, looked quite delicate and with an honourable sort of look, how was it that he was able to so quickly lift the clothes off a dead man? Did he perhaps previously work in the funeral business?

	Thus, Shawn was the first to fully transform himself into appearing to be just a door guard, and was the first to run off towards the manor's interior grounds.

	The Apprentice's new set of clothes were quite loose-fitting, but by managing to appear simply quite flustered, with an exaggerated sway to his step, such imperfections in the disguise could be hidden.

	Trailing behind, An Ping, who was still struggling with zippers, looked on, dumbstruck.

	How was this kid so good at this?

	While Shawn was running, he felt like he was back on Bergamore, like he was infiltrating the President's Manor, going through the same motions...

	What was different this time though was that he wasn't following his omnipotent teacher, and that he was no longer acting in accordance with a meticulously choreographed plan of attack, but in what could be summarized in a single word: Improvise!

	What annoyed Shawn the most was this kind of action without a plan, though this time he had no choice. The Jedi Apprentice tried to feel the Force for guidance, while resolving to move forwards without hesitation.

	Soon, he was in the middle of the courtyard, where he encountered two similarly-uniformed security guards. Upon seeing Shawn, there was no acknowledgement of him as a comrade, but rather suspicion and raised blasters, shouting at him, "Halt! Identify yourself, which squad are you from?"

	Obviously, those weren't questions Shawn was able to answer, as he hadn't the foggiest idea which squads were even on Dui-4399, nor if there were any code phrases which he was supposed to say.

	But that wouldn't stop him from giving the best possible reply.

	Sniper's just a distraction! The real attack's coming from the other side! Forget about the sniper, hurry and reinforce us, the line's collapsing!"

	Yet still they trained their blasters on Shawn, and while regarding the calm main manor gates with suspicion, asked Shawn, "If this was so urgent, why did you not radio in instead?"

	With exasperation, Shawn replied, "Isn't the whole comms net down? What's the point of using my damned communicator!?

	The Jedi Apprentice spoke with a firm conviction, and with a hand extended towards the two, filled his words with an unfathomable power. The two gun-toting guards stared back at him blankly, but now could not help but feel as though the voices they were hearing in their communicators were nothing but imagined.

	That momentary distraction was all Shawn needed.

	Taking half a step forwards, he thrust both hands forwards, and as fast as lightning, struck them both in the carotid artery.

	The two instantly went slack, and collapsed.

	Shawn gently sighed. Even his inexperienced mind trick could yield significant gains.

	But it was too early to relax, as out of the corner of his eye Shawn could see more security forces running over from the back of a bunker, from which they came face to face with Shawn.

	Shawn was quick to react, leaning over to pick up the unconscious men, whilst yelling at the newly arrived security personnel, "There's an assassin on the grounds! We've got injured! We need help!"

	His voice, coming across loud and clear, served to distract security for a moment.

	Shawn's sudden outburst was quite a surprise to the elite security forces, to whom such a cry bordered on asburd.

	Qiankun Corporation Security Forces operate under very strict combat protocols. Surprise attacks, injured personnel... there were standard procedures for all of it, but none of those procedures included shouting about it.

	But as anyone with genuine combat experience would know, the people who died the quickest were those who rigidly followed procedure.

	As one of them opened their mouths to ask a question, Shawn cut him off by pointing to a distant copse of trees and shouting again, "The assassin's hiding over there!"

	An Ping, who had just until a moment ago been sneakily following behind Shawn, cursed under his breath.

	"Xiao'en," he thought, "You dare sell out the captain!?"

	Though, he did feel quite gratified. Although the kid had a bit of a shameful display, he was still adapting quite quickly.

	Of all the ploys the Hongxing Squad employed, working up to this one was perhaps the most important. At these important junctures, being able to "sell out" a teammate without the slightest hesitation was to display an absolute trust in one another.

	And it would be a poor showing as Squad Captain to not live up to the trust the newcomer was displaying.

	An Ping's sleepy eyes shot wide open, their usual languidness absent, and he emerged from the thicket, straightening up to full height. Immediately, his silhouette caught the attention of the security personnel.

	A dozen or more blasters zeroed in on him, but in a flash, a dozen or more blasters lost sight of him.

	An Ping dived into the trees with astonishing speed, diving out of the way of a shower of blaster fire. The greenery that Ning Tao had had so meticulously planted now served as excellent cover for An Ping, who now appeared like a ghostly monster, appearing out of and disappearing back into the flora, utterly unbothered by all the firepower being directed his way.

	A whole team of elite troops, continually raking the area with blaster fire, and yet all to no effect against the shadow in the trees.

	Sensing something strange about all this, the commanding officer raised his communicator, and prepared to radio into his superiors the situation, and to request assistance.

	But at that moment, a red blaster bolt came streaking over from a narrow crack in a distant mountain, hitting him square in the temple.

	This was quite a surprise to Shawn, as well.

	Lü Nan!? She was still alive... or rather, she was still alive and capable of providing supporting fire!?

	Shawn cocked his head in confusion. Her earliest hiding spot had already been reduced to a sea of fire by the Manor's defenses, and they hadn't stopped firing since.

	And yet somehow still, Lü Nan had found a way to offer support to her teammates.

	But, startled as he was, Shawn didn't let the opportunity provided go to waste. Having suddenly lost their leader, the opportunity was there to further spread the panic.

	"Spread out! Don't just stand around, there's more than one sniper! We're surrounded!"

	The confused soldiers instinctively followed Shawn's command, and although they were well trained and moved swiftly, it was clear that this was plainly the wrong tactic to employ.

	From the middle of the thicket, An Ping covered the scrape on his shoulder and grinned, "It just gets more and more interesting."

	Meanwhile, while Shawn was carrying the two unconscious men, and preparing to drag them over to the main base, he spotted a small silhouette rush over.

	They were dressed in a white combat uniform, and held in their hands a white medicine box, and like a cat, skillfully moved through the various bunkers in their way, and quickly made their way to Shawn's side.

	Shawn looked at the wrinkled face before him with disbelief.

	So it was Uncle Xu, Shawn thought, when did he, no, why did he... no, that wasn't it either... but given the strict procedure of the security personnel…

While Shawn was busy with his questions, Uncle Xu had already produced a Qiankun Corporation Security Bureau diagnosis device, and scanned the two unconscious personnel, producing a sharp cry from the device.

	"These two are in critical condition! Someone help me bring these back to the infirmary, hurry!"

	While he shouted, Uncle Xu also opened his communicator, "This is 43287b, requesting access to infirmaries three and four, we've got badly wounded!"

	The communicator was silent for a moment, before a quick reply came back, "Request granted."

	The whole dialogue struck Shawn as being especially ridiculous.

	The thinly built man before him really did come across like a member of the Security Bureau, and not like the pill-obsessed druggie that he normally was.

	"Enough daydreaming, kid."

	It wasn't until he heard him speak from right beside him that Shawn fully accepted that it was Uncle Xu who was standing beside him, and not some kind of strange clone...

	"I'm going to take this opportunity to sneak into their HQ, and then find a way to help the captain... the two of us should be enough to capture Ning Tao, unless you have a different task."

	Having said that, Uncle Xu pointed to one of the heavy guns and said, "Take that one down as soon as you can."

	Shawn didn't understand. Take down one of the turrets? Why?

	As he went to open his mouth to ask for clarification, he suddenly felt a rumbling from beneath his feet, and the rumbling of a distant engine starting.

	Outside the manor in an old dilapidated hangar, slowly an old stained floor opened up, and up rised a pair of pitch-black long-winged fighter craft. their vector engines flared to life, aglow with blue light, and they slowly rose into the air.

"Lü Nan won't be able to deal with those, so grab a turret and help her out," Uncle Xu explained.

	Shawn's eyes swept over the massive presence that was guarding the gun, which included a significant guard detail, and not a few automated defense turrets that ceaselessly combed the area... and he felt incredibly calm.

	Uncle Xu wanted him to single-handedly take that kind of position? Who did he think Shawn was? A Jedi Master?

	"Relax, Lü Nan will assist you," and after a pause, Uncle Xu added, "And I'll be with you in spirit!"

	And what, Shawn thought, was that worth? Had Uncle Xu perhaps also become a Jedi Master?

	But before Shawn could say anything, Uncle Xu had already grabbed the two unconscious guards from Shawn's hands, and was well on his way towards the headquarters.
	"Someone, quick, help! I'm putting anyone who watches without helping on a blacklist, you can bandage yourself in the future!"

	Surprisingly, Uncle Xu's bold declaration seemed to have moved a number of the nearby security personnel, who with some hesitation congregated around him, and helped him transport the injured.

	Seeing this, Shawn had nothing else to do but to make for the heavy gun encampment.

Translation Notes
a Originally 单枪匹马 (dānqiāngpǐmǎ), meaning "with a single spear and horse," which of course means, "single-handed(ly)."

b In truth, I'm not quite clear what 前方编号43287 actually means

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,

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Thanks for reading!