Vow of Silver Dawn Chapter 56

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PDF link: https://mega.nz/file/rdMAiIIK#vB5PG7ERuiJqrtsvIPuGrNHdMi4XynvIZbeWrICKO-s
A singular footnote, which in my books justifies going for the pdf over the pastebin
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Chapter 56: A New Life?
By 国王陛下, Translated by 74translations

	After they returned to the cockpit, An Ping got straight to the point, "As you saw, Zhuang isn't human. That said, not such a strange thing in the Galaxy. Aside from the horns though, there's nothing to set her apart from a human. So when she's got the hat on, she's a mundane, ordinary, human lady to you."

	Shawn wanted to say that a mundane, ordinary, human lady wouldn't be capable of waving around that tool weighing dozens of kilograms around like it were nothing, but evidently An Ping wasn't in the mood for getting into the specifics.

	That was it for now.

	"Okay, I won't dwell on it."

	An Ping smiled, "Mhm, don't dwell on it. With respect to Zhuang's biology, we can discuss that at a better time; For now, focus on what's in front of you."

	With that said, An Ping clapped his hands together, "Everyone, listen up. We're gonna get the ship up and running as quickly as possible, we haven't won yet."

	At nearly the same time, Ning Tao's exasperated voice piped up from the ship's comms.

	"Hey! Gutter trash! Do you mean to go back on your word? Didn't you promise to secure my safety!?"

	An Ping smiled, "There were ten fighters. We dealt with eight of them. Two should be no problem for an ace pilot like yourself."

	"Oh go to hell..."

	A series of scathing vulgarities then proceeded to spill from the communicator, at least until An Ping cut it off.

	"If he's that full of energy, he's probably not gonna die any time soon," An Ping said, chuckling as he dropped himself back into the pilot's seat, and leisurely rocking back and forth.

	Shawn wasn't able to be as calm as the captain was, staring at the radar with furrowed brow, keeping vigilant watch on all the little blips of light as the situation unfolded.

	Those two pirate fighters had already engaged the freighter, and the little green blip that it was flickered, evidently in jeopardy.

"No point in watching," An Ping said, "Before we can get the ship going, whatever's going on over there had might as well be fireworks; Nothing we can do but watch in silence."

	"I can at least be the first to know, in silence," Shawn replied.

	"Well said, may your silent observations go well."

	It was at that moment that all the lights within the cabin sprung to life, and the previously silent engine of the Hongxing began to rumble.

	"As quick as ever, Zhuang," An Ping praised.

	Shawn was quite astonished. Having gone into "Break out" mode, the ship had taken quite the pounding. Even if the camouflage was designed to give the ship that battered look, about half of it was genuine battle damage now.

	Based on what he learned aboard the Baiyin, the Hongxing would've needed a complete overhaul to recover from that, so for Zhuang to have completed that much work in just a few minutes was quite impressive!

	Though when the cockpit control panel emitted a small spray of sparks, Shawn feared that this emergency start up had likely skipped over a number of safety procedures. Given that, even if they got the Hongxing started again, he didn't think it'd ever be in fighting condition.

	Nevertheless the Hongxing's engines, urgent repairs having been completed, flared to life just as the situation began to change. Upon the radar, the two red blips representing their enemies suddenly left the area like frightened fowl——for some reason, the Qinglong's best had decided to turn tail and flee!

	It was as the Qinglong Fighters left that the Hongxing's engines cut out again, which was promptly followed by the sound of hasty repair being conducted.

	An Ping just shrugged, "Seems we're going to need a bit more time to get things going a second time, best we make good use of it. While Zhuang's fixing up the ship, the rest of us are gonna salvage what we can. This time "break out" has resulted in some pretty catastrophic damage.

	Though the Squad Captain had used the description of a "catastrophic damage," the expression he wore was more suited for an "incredible harvest."

	After all, it didn't really matter how catastrophically damaged the Hongxing was, as long as the freighter was still there, the squad would be making quite a profit.

	When they departed Dui-4399, An Ping had plundered the Qiankun Security Bureau's storehouse, and Ning Tao's supplies had so filled the freighter that it barely had space for the other 27 people.

	Now that the Qinglongs impromptu blockade had been smashed, their way forwards was unimpeded, and as long as they brought the freighter back to base safely, then their mission could be described as satisfactorily complete.

	Turns out there weren't too many twists and turns.

	Half an hour later, Zhuang had completed repairs without a hitch, and once more the ragged-looking Hongxing was ready to re-enter the fray——Though the repairs had skipped over quite a number of safety procedures, and electrical arcs continued to spark from all over the ship, as the continual pounding of the engineer's tools could attest to the *Hongxing* would be able to get them all home.

	And none among them would doubt the judgment of Zhuang Yuanying.

——

	The journey was uneventful, and without a word said.

	Even the typically jovial Uncle Xu sat quietly in his seat, utterly silent.

	The feeling that persisted the whole way back was one of exhaustion. The mission had been unexpectedly taxing, so much so on both the body and mind that even the joy of total victory seemed dampened by it.

	As of that moment, there was no treasure that could have possibly compared to a warm bed.

	When Xun finally came into view, the cabin was filled with 'applause'.

	"Congratulations everyone, mission complete, we return in triumph."

	"Yeah."

	"Home at last!"

	Amidst the happiness, only Shawn seemed to remain calm, who spoiled the mood with a question.
"Is the freighter behind us going to be able to land smoothly? It's not going to be stopped?"

	After all, it was a Qiankun Security Bureau cargo freighter that was not supposed to be there.

	"This time, we'll just have to count on the abilities of our illustrious Sub-Bureau Chief Ning Tao," An Ping said.

	For Ning Tao, hosting people-hunts and colluding with pirates on Dui-4399 in secret, sneakily flying an unregistered cargo freighter to Xun and to the abandoned district really didn't compare.

	And as if to prove the point, the former Bureau Chief Ning Tao, ever capable of keeping himself safe, flew the freighter through Xun's defense satellite net, and safely brought the ship through the planet's atmosphere, landing in an empty stretch in the abandoned district.

	The whole way down, no-one displayed any interest in them and no alarms were set off. It was like the freighter was nothing but one of the thousands of other civilian ships just passing through.

	And at where they set down were people awaiting their triumphant return.

	The Hongxing landed first, and when it did so the flying hunk of junk let out an ungodly roar, those anti-gravity modules and pneumatic struts clearly failing to do their intended job and letting the ship simply slam into the ground like an asteroid, sending up a plume of dust and a spray of spaceship fragments.

	Fortunately, those who had been awaiting their arrival were prepared for this, and before the dust had settled they had already crowded around and begun repairs, one by one putting back everything where it belonged or replacing that which was simply too damaged, enabling fairly efficient repairs.

	It was clear that as far as the recovery of the Xuanming was concerned, the Hongxing Squad were returning in triumph, and the Silver Knights were treating them as heroes.

	Behind the Hongxing was the freighter from Dui-4399, and with the weight of kilotons of loot it too hit the ground with an almighty crash. Around it too quickly crowded crews who erased any vestige of its Qiankun Security Bureau markings, rendering it visually nondescript, while quickly unloading its cargo hold full of spoils.

A moment later, the passenger cabin opened up, and one by one out came the twenty seven survivors.

	Most of them looked lost, and not particularly like those who had just managed to escape disaster. Some even fell to the ground and wept.

	They were alive though, thanks to Shawn's humanitarian tendencies, and the Hongxing Squad's incredible escape from Dui-4399.

	But that was it. Aside from their lives, they had lost everything.

	Their legal identities, the comfort of their homes and families, their work and careers, all of it was gone. All they could do was try to start over here in the abandoned district, from the bottom dregs of society. To many of them, this had might as well be death.

	As Shawn disembarked and saw the crowd of mournful survivors, he found that he had nothing he could say.

Translation Notes
No notes! Instead, have an aside: Does Wookieepedia still call stuff like the Qiankun System like “The Heaven-Earth System” or whatever? I know I’ve harped on about this before but calling it that is like translating every instance of Beijing and Tokyo as “Northern Capital” and “Eastern Capital.” I care enough to complain, but not enough to do anything about it.

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
宁涛 - níngtāo - Ning Tao, ex-Qiankun Corp Military big shot
龙头 - lóngtóu - Longtou, ostensibly a title more than a name; the Dragon’s Head of the Qinglong

https://74translations.wordpress.com/

Thanks for reading!