Vow of Silver Dawn Chapter 32

====
PDF: https://mega.nz/file/KAMkzRIY#32tuSKflmGeXrZVZSSRwXP4PCcG22BLrKeS6TxtJWEA
As usual, above
====
Chapter 32: Not a Human
By 国王陛下, Translated by 74translations

Shawn followed Zhuang to the Hongxing squad's underground hangar, and was met with quite a busy sight.

Seven spherical droids about a metre tall each surrounded a ship, each carrying out routine maintenance.

	These were Dongyu Heavy Industries products, WB-35 Worker Bee-type skilled work droids, and were probably worthy of the title of representing a peak of this remote system's industrial achievements. Cheap, but of good quality, the QB-35 export model could be found widely in the surrounding sectors.

	When properly commanded, these kinds of skilled work droids were capable of much, and watching the efficiency with which these specific ones carried out their tasks, their commander must be capable indeed.

	The only problem was that given the exceptional quality of the maintenance work, the ship they were working on itself seemed a bit…

The ship resembled a cone turned on its side, measuring 30 metres long, 15 metres wide, and 6 metres tall. The overall construction seemed quite frail, and at several points in its structure it seemed to warping severely, as though they had been struck with great force. On the whole, it seemed that the whole thing might disintegrate at any moment.

Moreover, the ship was so utterly covered in pockmarks and scars that in some places he couldn't even make out its colour, and in others the ship simply lacked plating, leaving its innards out for all to see!

Shawn had only ever seen ships like this when he had overseen a recycling plant. Those ships had been smashed by meteorites, shot down by pirates, or had their low-quality engines implode, which is to say, ships that were awaiting disassembly, and were better for little else.

And this crumbling cone-shaped thing had written on its side in honestly quite impressive careful precision the two characters for Hongxing.

	This was the Hongxing? This was what he was about to ride out of the atmosphere?

Shawn inhaled very, very deeply, put a hand on his chest, and willed himself to be calm.


The Jedi Apprentice was prepared to, in the little time available to him, make use of all that he knew to assist Zhuang in making the space faring garbage even a little safer!

Zhuang was already at the front of the ship, had retrieved a multitool from her waist, and pointed it at a section of exposed piping. A moment later, light seemed to spew forth.

	The seven droids that had crowded around all seemed to tacitly understand, and proceeded to go repair the surrounding area.

	Rather than patching up the holes however, they instead peeled more plating off, exposing even more of the ship's innards, and proceeded to add more scorch marks with their high-temperature tools...

	Shawn watched, and instantaneously, understood.

	The dilapidated appearance was deliberate! The every last bit of damage were the result meticulous effort, an art form unto itself.

As for its purpose, well that was obvious.

	Given the Hongxing Squad's apparent propensity for "black eating black" action, this kind of flying garbage mound ship aesthetic was like bait, designed to draw in the unobservant pirate type.

	From this new perspective, Shawn had to admit that the ship had a certain charm to it, doubtless the alloy of the hull or the engine cost a substantial amount, and yet still the ship managed to seem utterly defenseless!

	As he thought about it, Shawn's steps grew slower.

	Because of his change in perspective, it then became rather easy to notice that the ship wasn't at all what it appeared to be.

	Given that more than half of the ship's exterior, with its crumbling armour and exposed piping, was part of the visual misdirection, the actual structure of the ship therefore had to be maintained very carefully.

	Looking it over again, the more he saw of the *Hongxing* the more impressive it seemed. The ship was already of a fairly obscure make, and after such heavy modification, the fact that it held together made it seem like art.

	Beneath it all, the ship's various components all came from different manufacturers, all mutually incompatible.

	All of it was expressly forbidden, at least as far as standard operations and procedures went, but on the Hongxing, such jury-rigging was common. Shawn's impression of the ship was that it rather seemed like an interplanetary fair, in miniature.

	But in the hands of an undoubtedly peerless engineer, all the disparate pieces of the Hongxing had been made to work together, in spite of what rationality would dictate.

	And those hands were Zhuang Yuanying's.

	——

	When Zhuang's team had finished adjusting the ship's outer "camouflage," they began the specific modifications for the upcoming mission.

	Obviously, time was limited, but their plan was equally audacious: In order to better suit the "look" of Li Station, they were going to replace the engine entirely!

	As the girl at the control console punched in commands, a pair of thick mechanical arms rose out from the floor, groaning as they did.

	The two arms carefully carried a cylindrical engine to the rear of the Hongxing. At Zhuang's guidance, the team detached the old engine with blistering speed, clearing a space, and prepared to install the new one.

	They moved with such practiced smoothness, and from Shawn's point of view, Zhuang and her team could be said to be flawless.

	No action was wasted, every movement precise, and executed without hesitation, even as sparks flew and lights flashed.

	Despite all the varying components, all the mishmash of pipes and connectors, the girl and her team perfectly fitted the new engine with ease.

	Shawn looked on as though stupefied, though there was little else for him to do but look stupefied. He had originally come with the intent to help, but instead found that there simply wasn't any space for him to meddle.

	Even just standing at the periphery and offering moral support seemed superfluous.

	No wonder Chen seemed to hold the Hongxing Squad in such high esteem!

	Objectively speaking, the Silver's engineer was quite skilled himself, but in comparison to this soft-hatted girl, he did seem to be lacking something, somewhat.

	Watching the Zhuang direct the engineering team before him carry out their retrofit with artistry put Shawn in a rather contemplative mood.

	What was he missing?

	That passed quickly, and in the wink of an eye Zhuang and her team had finished.

	Now, once the two mechanical arms had finished putting the piping in place, the ship would be ready to go.

	The girl punched in a few last commands into the control console, and as she saw the arms slowly rise, took the opportunity to wipe the sweat from her brow, and smiled.

	And then sighed.

	One of the spherical worker bee droids at her side chirped out a question, "Is there a problem?"

	"It's a shame that for all our effort, we're only able to get 95% of the new engine's power output." Zhuang answered.

	"But that is already sufficient."

	Zhuang gave a slight nod, and her hat gently shook with it.

	"Of course, but I still want to do better. It's weird, there shouldn't be any problems, so why is there still some power loss? It keeps happening, and I don't know why. Maybe it's to do with the turbine installation..."

	As she spoke, she absent mindedly twirled the multitool in her slender hand, tiny arcs of electricity drawing graceful arcs as she did.

	But that absent minded dance in her hand, repeating itself again and again spoke of the confusion to which the girl regarded the 5% loss in power output. To her, a most unsettling riddle.

	At this point, Shawn finally couldn't help but speak up.

	He knew the answer——Although he could only generally understand most of what Zhuang had done, as for the final layout of the piping it was something with which he was oddly familiar.

	It just so happens that while he was aboard the Silver, he had been taught a better layout.
	"Perhaps you should add a flow regulator to the third lead?"

	Shawn's voice was met with a shriek.

	As her attention was completely focused on her work, Zhuang Yuanying had not realized that there was someone else present, and as such been extremely startled to learn otherwise. As she recoiled, the multitool slipped from her fingers, and clattered to the ground.

	Shawn felt quite embarrassed, "Er, sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, just..."

	As he spoke, Shawn stooped down to pick up Zhuang's dropped multitool.

	Shawn could feel the warmth of her palms on the tool, evidently carefully and finely machined to precisely suit the needs of its owner.

	As Shawn moved to raise his arm, he found that what he held in his hands was far, far heavier than he had imagined, and with the surprise exertion, felt as though he could hear the muscles in his waist tearing.

	The Jedi Apprentice's refined self-control allowed him to quickly rebalance and soothe the pain, though the multitool remained on the ground as it had been.

	Shawn regarded the half-metre long multitool with disbelief.

	How much did this thing weigh!?

	Given Shawn's arm strength, even without using the Force, even a few dozen kilograms he should've been able to lift single-handedly, and yet the multitool hadn't shifted an inch!

	While he was busy being startled, Zhuang had leant over, "Sorry, my multitool is specially-made, the average person probably wouldn't be used to..."

	And as she spoke, the girl deftly picked up the tool in her slender fingers, and reattached it to her waist.

	Shawn watched Zhuang move in a daze, and only then did he realize that her belt, and the hooks on it, were specially reinforced to bear weight!

	Recalling how she was previously just waving it around like some toy... the amount of strength put into every movement had to have been staggering!

	Shawn had puzzled over the question of what the difference between Chen Sanwan and Zhuang Yuanying was, and now he felt like he had an answer.

	Chen's arm strength was less than a tenth that of Zhuang's!

	For a skilled engineer, most tasks one could rely upon one's tools and machinery, there isn't much need for any incredible physical strength. For for the best of the best, for the absolute pinnacle of achievement, that was only achievable with one's own two hands.

	And it was clear that Zhuang's Multitool was not something that Chen would have been able to lift.

	Looking at the incredibly shy person before him, Shawn felt rather ridiculous.

	To think he thought she was the normal one... Of all the Hongxing, she was perhaps the least normal.

	The others, be they the Captain, An Ping, or the Vice Captain, Lü Nan, were of course without peer, but their talents were still within the realm of common sense.

	An Ping's explosive strength derived from a technique that derived strength from self-mutilation, Lü Nan's peerless shooting was a combination of incomparable skill and the best equipment money could buy.

	And given the size of the Galactic Republic, Shawn had seen before masters of similar skill.

	But where was Zhuang Yuanying's strength coming from? There wasn't a way for a human with such slender fingers to exert such strength, at least not any human that Shawn had ever heard of.

	So perhaps this shy girl wasn't human?



Translation Notes
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,

https://74translations.wordpress.com/

Thanks for reading!