Vow of Silver Dawn Chapter 33

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You know how it goes
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Chapter 33: The Warmth of the Squad
By 国王陛下, Translated by 74translations

	So astonished was Shawn that for a time he couldn't help but regard Zhuang as though he had witnessed one of the galaxy's most unusual mysteries with his own eyes.

	To Zhuang however, to be regarded with such fascination was a more painful experience than to be raked over hot coals.

	But Shawn's early suggestion helped her endure and push through the terror.

	"Why add a flow regulator?"

	And her reply helped Shawn snap to, and realize that he had been scaring her.

	Apologetically shaking his head, and taking a few steps back to try and put her at ease, Shawn finally replied, "Because a flow regulator would be an easy way to compensate for that 5% loss. Your fix was brilliant, but your approach to the piping is out of date. The Mon Calamarians recently came up with a way to compensate for that kind of loss in complex systems, and the engineers aboard the Silver had been making a study out of it, and I thought this would be a good opportunity for me to show what I'd learned”

	In truth, in his limited time aboard the Silver what Shawn had been able to learn was similarly limited, but as luck would have it, just before he left, Chen Sanwan had given him a lesson specifically regarding Starship Engine pipework.

	So Shawn had taken the opportunity to explain all that to Zhuang Yuanying.

	Zhuang seemed quite astonished, "Mister Chen? Had he been working on that problem this whole time? And going over my schematics? That's quite impressive, when I get the chance I'll have to thank him."

	"But he always seems so frightened by the idea of meeting in person," one of the droids noted.

	This put a damper on Zhuang's mood, "Right, that's why he had Shawn relay this. It wasn't his fault, really..."

	It was Shawn's turn to be surprised again.

	This was planned? Chen didn't want to meet with Zhuang directly, so he taught Shawn a new Mon Calamarian technique so that he'd pass it on to Zhuang?

	Come to think of it, it didn't make much sense to teach a student such a specific fix to a problem with no wider application.

	Shawn didn't mind being made a messenger. He had learned something new, and had managed to help others, and that was always a good thing.

	It was just a shame that there was little else he could do. Seeing Zhuang, even if he wanted to help there wasn't much for him.

	It was at this point that he noticed the girl closely watching him back.

	"You're quite impressive as well."

	"Hm?"

	"You looked at what Mister Chen did, and quickly identified the fix to the third lead, which means you fully understand the system."

	Shawn shook his head, trying to downplay things, "It took me several days, and it's with some difficulty I only understand it in broad strokes, it's nothing to brag about."

	"Even that is still quite impressive," Zhuang praised quite sincerely, "I hope you'll continue to help out for this mission!"

	"I'll do my best."

	As they spoke, a rather surprised voice came from the doors to the hangar.

	"Whoa, so close already? Turns out all it takes is a pretty young face to get past that fear of strangers, eh Zhuang?"

	Team Medic Uncle Xu, wearing an immensely thick coat, carrying a rucksack half the height of himself on his back, casually walked over with a surprising lightness to his step.

	As Uncle Xu came over, Zhuang, who had been quite excited until a moment ago, immediately shrank back, pulled her hat down, and quietly moved to hide behind Shawn.

	It made Uncle Xu rather regretful.

	"Oh Zhuang, we've been friends for years now, and still I rate less than a newcomer!"

	The words had barely left Uncle Xu's mouth before the sound of Lü Nan's mockery followed from behind.

	"The longer people are friends with you, the more they want to beat the snot out of you."

	It was now the handsome 37 year old Uncle Xu's turn to cower behind Shawn, as he protested to Lü Nan, "It's not just want with you now is it!? And not just once or twice you know? I warn you, violence against medical personnel is a cardinal sin! You'll pay for that!"

	As he spoke, Lü slowly walked through the door, her rifle ever at her side. Every step seemed to register with Uncle Xu, who trembled with each one.

	But in truth it was clear that Lü Nan had no intention to trouble Uncle Xu as she walked past him sparing only a single sound of acknowledgement. Following behind her were a pair of floating racks, filled with blasters, apparently all that she would be needing for the mission.

	Last to arrive was the captain, An Ping, who seemed remarkably relaxed compared to the rest of the squad.

	Light armour and a backpack amounted to all that the Captain saw fit to bring.

	The sleepy-eyed middle aged man did a quick sweep of the hangar, and upon seeing that everyone was present, said with a satisfied nod, "Everyone ready? Let's be off, then."

	Shawn wanted to say that he hadn't had any opportunity to prepare, but on consideration there wasn't anything for him to prepare. The most important thing was his lightsaber, which had never left him, and as for anything else, well it didn't really matter. He was good to go.

	Shawn's silence was met with praise from An Ping.

	"Not bad, newcomer, just as the Boss said, you're not one for wasting words. Those who waste words die on the battlefield quicker."

	"Captain, are you targeting me specifically?" Uncle Xu protested.

	"Target you?" An Ping sneered, "Worry about the Vice Captain, first."

	The team boarded the Hongxing, bantering all the while, and soon it rose from the underground base, broke free of the atmosphere of Xun, and made it to deep space.

	——

	Li Station was an important link between the politically important Kun and the economically important Xun.
	Ever important, Li Station's reputation in the galaxy at times had even exceeded Kun, the capital's, on account of it being an entire artificial city in space.

	A long, long time ago, Li Station was nothing but a fairly insignificant installation, but after two thousand years of expansion, of new modules being installed after one another, the present day Li Station had a permanent population of a colossal several million, and at any moment there were ships from all over the station docking or taking off.

	The cone-shaped Hongxing joined a group of cargo ships in approaching the port area.

	Shawn sat in the hold of the ship and looked out the window to see the station resembling a gigantic human eye. Pointed at either end with a bulge in the middle like a spindle, with a massive hollow silver spheroid in the centre.

	The moment he saw the spheroid, Shawn felt his breathing speed up a bit.

	For a Jedi Apprentice with strong self-control, this reaction was rooted in quite an intense flaring of curiosity that proved quite hard to suppress..

	This was Buzhou, the core of the whole city, where the best of best of the Qian System's scientific and industrial sectors met.

	In there were thirty-two hypermatter reactors, providing nearly limitless power for the entire station. Allowing the station in the depths of the darkness of space to light up like a star, as a city that quite literally never slept.

	Buzhou also provided the city's gravitational field, enabling the environment for a population of several million people.

	In other words, without Buzhou, there would be no Li Station either.

	Long before he had arrived in the Qian System, Shawn had read about this core with great interest. Now that he could see it up close for himself, he wasn't about to let the opportunity slip by him.

	The spheroid rotated at a great speed, and its surface glittering and glimmering with heat, its energy flowing forth like a star. All around it was a complex frame that bound the spheroid, absorbing that energy, and transporting it throughout the station.

While the Qian System's level of technological achievement had not reached that of the Republic's Core, Buzhou provided an excellent example of the potential displayed under restrictive conditions.

	If he could get inside Buzhou, and get a closer look at it, then...

	His thoughts were interrupted by a gentle pat on his shoulder.

	"Don't let your imagination run off too much, we'll be getting off shortly. You'll have plenty of chances to oggle the big silver ball since a ton of our missions end up coming to Li Station. You run by a few more times and soon you'll be sick of seeing the damned thing," Uncle Xu said.

	This was about what Shawn had expected. The time it took for them to get from the base to Li Station seemed quite fast, and had made him wonder why they seemed so accustomed to it.

	Obviously, they had made the trip back and forth quite often.

	In fact, given how little they bothered to prepare, it wasn't hard to see that the squad took to Li Station like fish to water.

	If it meant he could see it more, then all the more reason to make sure the mission went off without a hitch.

	Shawn also had a number of questions regarding Li Station as well, but before he could ask, was cut off by Uncle Xu beginning to speak.

	"Oh right, seeing as this is your first mission with us... There won't be any hand holding. Once we disembark, you're on your own, alright?"

	Huh?

	This stupefied Shawn. What sort of logic was that!? Was this bullying?

	"It's just how we do things," Uncle Xu said, sighing, "Think about it. When the apricot grows over the wall, it won't be nearly as safe and cushy as it was behind it right? But once you get used to it, then you'll be as free to dally with women as I am."

	To that, Shawn had no response.



Translation Notes
Wow no notes again

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

At any rate,

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Thanks for reading!