The Fury of?the Dark Sovereign

黑暗君王之怒

In the debris ring that orbited Xana I, a great and violent tempest was being enacted. One after another, the huge freight ships of the supply fleet, heavily laden with munitions and other volatiles, were torn?apart by the fury of?the Dark Angels warship's attacks or were set burning and left bleeding their disintegrating cargos into space. The macrotransports, some tens of kilometres long —never intended for war— had no arms or defences of?their own enough to answer such a deadly craft as the Dark Sovereign, while their ungainly bulk would have made escape impossible even if they had not been caught at station by the blade-like predator ship. As the Dark Sovereign reaved her way through the great arc of supply vessels, cannon blazing as she went, she reached the core of?the fleet, where the most valuable prize vessels were kept—brazen-hulled Mechanicum barques and stasis-vaulted dromons, now drawn up into a defensive toroid formation. Compared to the dull hulks of the macro freighters, these transports had teeth enough to answer their attacker, and as the Dark Sovereign plunged down amid them like a knife from the dark, the barque's co-ordinated batteries opened fire on their attacker, lancing the void with blazing streams of superheated plasma and golden beams of?coherent energy.

在環(huán)繞Xana I軌道的碎片環(huán)帶中，一場猛烈且兇暴的風暴正在進行著。補給艦隊中一艘又一艘滿載沉重彈藥和揮發(fā)物的龐大貨艦要么是被黑暗天使戰(zhàn)艦的狂怒進攻撕碎，要么就是被點燃，支離破碎的貨物從其傷口處泄露進了太空。雖然這些巨型運輸艦中也有些數(shù)十千米長的龐然巨物，但它們并非設計用于戰(zhàn)爭，它們自身的武器和防御都不足以對抗如黑暗君王號這般致命的艦船，但即便它們沒有被那艘尖刀般的掠食戰(zhàn)艦當場捉住，笨重的船體也令他們不可能逃脫。雖然黑暗君王號在巨大的補給艦間穿過，它的艦炮閃爍著火光，進行了一路的掠奪殘殺。它最終抵達了艦隊核心處，這里是那些最有價值的艦船——青銅色船體的機械神教巨艦和保存在靜滯庫中的快速戰(zhàn)艦的所在地，這些飛船現(xiàn)在都組成了環(huán)狀防御編隊。相比于那些龐大遲鈍的巨型貨艦，這些運輸艦的武器足以向進攻者還擊。隨著黑暗君王號如同黑暗中的利刃那般從它們當中猛然俯沖而過，巨艦的同步炮塔也向著進攻者開火，熾熱的電漿流束和金色的連續(xù)能量束劃破了虛空。

The Dark Sovereigns shields flared as the barrage found her, silhouetting the bladelike ship in a corona of?light but she came on undaunted, for this was a vessel of the Ist Legion and a veteran of centuries of nightmarish war amid the dark stars. Instead of the close pass to bring her weapons to bear with maximum effect, which naval doctrine dictated and the Mechanicum's logis-cogitators had no doubt also predicted, the Dark Sovereign dived into the heart of the defensive formation, her guns suddenly silent, all available power directed to her shields to weather the storm of counter-fire at point-blank range. She passed her first prey at a scant few hundreds of?metres and a talon of Kharybdis assault claws stabbed out from the Dark Sovereigns flanks to bury themselves in the Xanite barque's hull. The Dark Angels warship rolled as she sped by and more assault claws speared into a second barque, too close and too swift to be intercepted. A squadron of Caestus assault rams broke from the Dark Sovereign and peeled off in the wake of the warship's blazing engines to find prey of their own as the Dark Angels ship found her final target, a long, almost crystalline void dromond, designated now the Mu-571, a singular ship which was perhaps once of xenos origin before the Mechanicum had spidered their own steel-grey workings across its white-quartz hull. The Mu-571?own drives burned white hot as it tried to escape imminent collision, but did so in vain, the armoured belly of the Dark Sovereign smashed the Dromond's spine and flew on, shredding the Mu-571's void shields to nothingness and setting the ship tumbling out of control, as in its heart-chambers reality split open and the black-armoured figures of Dark Angels Terminators manifested in the lightning-crackle aftershock of their teleporter transit.

當被彈幕擊中時，黑暗君王號的虛空盾閃耀出了火光。爆炸火光形成的光環(huán)顯示出這艘如同利刃般飛船的輪廓，但它仍在無畏前進，因為這艘第一軍團的艦船是在黑暗群星間經(jīng)歷過數(shù)個世紀噩夢般戰(zhàn)爭的老兵。黑暗君王號并未近距離通過（敵艦）來以此將武器效能最大化——這符合海軍信條規(guī)定，而且機械神教邏輯沉思者也是如此預測的；它直接扎入了防御編隊的核心區(qū)域，并且突然停止了開火，所有可用的動力都被導入了虛空盾，用于抵擋敵方風暴般密集的近距離反擊。黑暗君王號從第一只獵物的幾百米之外掠過，一支海妖突襲爪中隊從其側(cè)面飛出，它們點燃引擎，刺入了一艘Xana巨艦的船體。黑暗天使戰(zhàn)艦加速急馳而過，更多的突襲爪刺入了第二艘巨艦，它們距離太近且速度太快，對方無法攔截。一支拳套突擊艇中隊也從黑暗君王號中脫離出來，它們從戰(zhàn)艦燃燒著的引擎后方飛離，去尋找自己的獵物；同時黑暗天使的戰(zhàn)艦也找到了自己的最終目標——某艘修長且?guī)缀跏撬Р馁|(zhì)的虛空快船，它現(xiàn)在被命名為繆—571。當機械神教自身的鐵灰色造物如蜘蛛般爬滿其白石英般的船體之前，這艘飛船或許是源自異形種族之手?？姟?71的引擎劇烈燃燒到了白熱化，試圖逃避即將發(fā)生的碰撞，但這只是徒勞；黑暗君王號的裝甲船腹猛烈撞擊了這艘快船的船脊，并繼續(xù)向前飛去，它令繆—571的虛空盾化為烏有，并令其失去了控制，同時繆—571核心艙室中的現(xiàn)實空間也被分裂開，在一陣噼啪作響的閃電聲中，一群身穿黑甲的黑暗天使終結(jié)者被傳送到了船上。

The Logic of Survival

存活的邏輯

Deep within the protected forge-fanes of Xana II, city-sized conglomerations of manufactora, vaults and hive-warrens sunk far beneath the planet's surface, the remaining magos of the Vodian Consistory communed with each other in near-frenzied pulses of data, spanning the world's sub-surface networks. With preternatural speed it can be assumed that they gathered all available information about the catastrophe that was unfolding around them; betrayal, assault, mass destruction, a war on multiple fronts in which they had been comprehensively blindsided and led into trap after trap. How they with their vast machine-augmented intelligences had been so outwitted was an impossibility to ponder later, but for now action was required if survival, the primary directive of any Forge World, was to be guaranteed.

在Xana II受保護鑄造神殿的地下深處，分布著城市般大小的鑄造廠、倉庫和巢城街區(qū)集合體，剩余的監(jiān)鑄教廷賢者們通過近乎瘋狂的數(shù)據(jù)脈沖相互交流著，這些信息傳遞橫跨了鑄造世界的地下網(wǎng)絡。我們可以推知他們是以不尋常的速度搜集到了關于這場正發(fā)生在自己周邊的這次災難的所有可用信息；背叛，襲擊，大規(guī)模破壞，一場多線展開的戰(zhàn)爭——他們被完全蒙在鼓里，陷入了一個又一個陷阱。在他們看來，自己機械強化過的卓越智商被敵人如此徹底地智取是不可能的，但如果想要存活下去，他們現(xiàn)在就要采取行動，他們要取保執(zhí)行鑄造世界的主要指令。

In the face of such a shocking turn of events, paranoia now came to dominate their reasoning. Now, faced with the undisprovable possibility that even more attacking forces were on their way to besiege their Forge World, the Vodian Consistory despatched override signals of recall to their remaining war craft engaged in void battle to defend Xana II and rid it of?the 'Sons of Horus' grand cruiser which lurked in orbit of its moon like a waiting assassin. Withdrawal of the fleet from pitched combat was calculated to be a costly manoeuvre, but all costs would be borne in defence of the Forge World, and even the now half-burning munitions fleet was abandoned by the cold equations of survival.

在如此驚人的事件轉(zhuǎn)折面前，他們的推理開始被偏執(zhí)所占據(jù)?，F(xiàn)在，面對著更多進攻部隊正在趕來圍攻鑄造世界這一無解的可能性，監(jiān)鑄教廷發(fā)出了超馳信號，命令卷入虛空戰(zhàn)斗的全部殘余戰(zhàn)艦回來防守Xana II世界，并且解決掉“荷魯斯之子們”的超大型巡洋艦——這艘戰(zhàn)艦如同等待中的刺客那般潛藏在鑄造世界衛(wèi)星的軌道中。將艦隊從激戰(zhàn)中撤出被認為是一項代價高昂的行動，但賢者們會為了保衛(wèi)鑄造世界而承受一切代價，冷酷的生存算式甚至連彈藥運輸艦隊都放棄了——其中只有半數(shù)在熊熊燃燒。

All over Xana II, weapons and scanner arrays were pointed skywards;defensive grids and void shields were realigned to defend against orbital attack, while far below, subterranean mag-lev railtrains screamed at speeds past tolerance to re-arm the planet's recently spent missile silos from auxiliary stockpiles held deep beneath the world's seas. All of Xana had mobilised to repel an attack from the void, but this was not from where the attack came.

Xana II全球各處的武器和掃描陣列都對準了天空；防御格柵和虛空盾被重新調(diào)整以抵御來自軌道的進攻，同時在地下深處，磁軌列車以超出極限的速度呼嘯著沖向剛剛耗盡了彈藥的導彈發(fā)射井——導彈被從深藏于海底深處的輔助儲存庫中運輸出來，供發(fā)射井重新裝彈。Xana上的一切都動員起來以抵御來自虛空中攻擊，但進攻行動最后并非是自那里而來。

The Vengeance of the Fallen

亡者的復仇

At the orbital transfer ports of the greatest of Xana's forge-fanes: Tephra, Escorial and Setna, the Warmaster'?gifts stood waiting; several hundred cargo containers divided between them, sealed and inert, ranging in size from metre-square STC pattern handling modules of a kind found in their billions across the Imperium, to megaton-capacity armoured void transit carriers intended to survive the rigours of interstellar travel intact. They had been thoroughly scanned by auspexes on their arrival and no sign of life or active power sources had been found within. Furthermore, echo scans had revealed mass and resonance readings, indicating the presence of just what had been promised; the broken bodies of?the Legiones Astartes and their machineries of war. With this being the case, true to the diplomatic bargain that had been struck, not a single container had been yet breached or opened. What was to happen next remains a matter of contention by those who have looked back on this incident, and must be reassembled only by fragments of ancillary data, scattered pict- and vox-capture data from seized enemy archives and hearsay well after the fact, the truth perhaps dying with so many other truths in the losses incurred during the Siege of Terra where so much else was lost. But by all available evidence, the dead walked on Xana II.

在Xana最大的三座鑄造神殿——Tephra, Escorial和Setna的軌道運輸港中，戰(zhàn)帥的禮物仍在等待被開封；這七百個貨柜集裝箱被分發(fā)給了三座神殿，這些容器密封且被充入了惰性氣體，從數(shù)以十億計遍布帝國各處的數(shù)平方米（面積）的STC型處理單元塊，到旨在經(jīng)受住星際旅行嚴酷考驗的百萬噸容量太空裝甲運輸艙，其尺寸應有盡有。自從它們到達后，機械神教教士們便用鳥卜儀對其進行了徹底掃描，他們也未從其中發(fā)現(xiàn)生命跡象或活躍的能量源。此外，回聲掃描儀還探測到了眾多且共振的讀數(shù)，這表明其中盛放的只會是戰(zhàn)帥承諾的禮物：阿斯塔特軍團戰(zhàn)士殘破的遺體與軍團戰(zhàn)爭機器的殘骸。在這種情況下，賢者們遵循了雙方已經(jīng)達成的外交協(xié)議，這些集裝箱都未被打開。對那些回顧這一事件的人而言，接下來會發(fā)生的事情仍是一個有爭論的話題；我們必須僅僅依靠輔助性數(shù)據(jù)的碎片、被繳獲的敵方檔案中破碎的音頻與圖像捕捉信息與藏在真相背后的傳言來重現(xiàn)該事件，而事實或許已經(jīng)和其他很多真相一并消失在了泰拉圍城戰(zhàn)中——同樣在這場戰(zhàn)爭中遺失的還有其他很多資料。但所有可獲取的證據(jù)都表明：亡者曾行走于Xana之上。

Almost as one the cargo containers were broken and blasted open from within, ceramite-clad fists-smashing through to grasp the air as if called forth by some unheard summons. Darkly armoured figures came forth in grim and silent advance, bearing the livery of?the fallen Loyalists, of the Raven Guard and Salamanders Legions, even of the Imperial Fists and White Scars, but most bore the scorched and rent livery of the Iron Hands, of Clan-companies slaughtered wholesale on the black sands of Isstvan V and more sinisterly also of Clan-companies that had fallen long before, during the darkest days of the Great Crusade. Of this army of the dead, there was no leader to be discerned, no command signals or command vox transmissions were recorded, pnly an oscillating electro-spectral field of unknown origin which seemed to pulse relentlessly from the tomb-containers from which they came. With them followed scores of Dreadnoughts from the larger cargo units, their shells as damaged and abused as the armour and bodies alongside which they walked, but they were no less functional for it, and behind them rumbled forth halfwrecked tanks and rapier weapons platforms, humming with power and the rattle of loading shells. Those nearby automata and tech-thralls that met this sudden onslaught were overwhelmed in moments and the silent army quickly fanned out, ramshackle and here and there stumbling on broken limbs and reeling as it went, but still with deadly speed and murderous purpose. Soon alarms sounded and the defenders of Xana, their unceasing vigilance set skyward, turned to make swift counter-attack to the invaders in their midst and found themselves facing a foe of?singular, suicidal ferocity.

貨柜集裝箱們幾乎就是同時從內(nèi)部被擊破和炸開，仿佛被某種聽不見的召喚聲呼喚了那般，包裹在陶鋼中的拳頭砸穿了箱壁，緊緊握住空氣。身穿黑色甲胄的人形物體冷酷而沉默地前進著，他們身上佩戴著死去的忠誠派戰(zhàn)士的紋章；其中有暗鴉守衛(wèi)和火蜥蜴軍團戰(zhàn)士，甚至還有帝國之拳和白色傷疤的成員，但其中大部分都佩戴著被燒焦且已變得朽爛的鋼鐵之手紋章——他們中有些是死于伊斯特萬五號黑色沙地上大規(guī)模屠殺的氏族連隊成員，有些人的身份則更為邪惡恐怖：他們在很久之前便已死去，早就死在了大遠征最為黑暗的歲月中。這支亡者大軍沒有可被識別出的領袖，他們之間也并未被記錄到指揮信號或指揮通訊傳輸，只是在它們從中鉆出的墓穴集裝箱中，似乎有一個振動中的電光力場在無情地散發(fā)著脈沖波。數(shù)十臺無畏機甲也從更大型的集裝箱內(nèi)鉆出，跟在亡者們身后，它們的裝甲外殼也像同行的尸體那樣飽受損壞和凌虐，但它們的功能并沒有減弱；半殘骸化的坦克和輕劍武器平臺也跟在無畏機甲身后隆隆駛出，它們還發(fā)出了充能的嗡嗡聲和炮彈裝填的咔噠聲。這支亡者大軍突然襲擊了旁邊的自動機兵和技術(shù)契奴，它們在頃刻間便將敵人擊潰；這支死寂的軍隊迅速散開，他們蹣跚而行，拖著殘破的肢體磕磕絆絆地走向四處，步伐搖晃，但他們?nèi)匀挥兄旅乃俣群蛢磹旱哪康?。警報聲很快響起，原本不斷警惕著天空的Xana守軍們轉(zhuǎn)而迅速反擊處于自己中間的入侵者們，結(jié)果發(fā)現(xiàn)自己正面對的是一種極度兇惡、不顧自身死活的敵人。

Adsecularis techguard clades and servothralls barracked near the starports were the first troops to respond, but quickly proved no match for the grim tide of death pouring from the cargo containers, their bodies broken by unwavering volleys of bolter fire or simply ripped apart in hand- to-hand combat too one-sided to deserve the name. Taghmata Castellax maniples and Tech-Priest-commanded heavy weapons detachments soon reached the fray but found themselves dealing with Legiones Astartes who fought and died with cold, unyielding fury which seemed to transcend injury and death even more than the fame of the Legiones Astartes proclaimed. Dark armoured bodies shorn of limbs or severed in half by mauler cannon still dragged themselves onward to the attack, while tanks which should have been rendered inoperable thrice over by damage hauled themselves on as burning wrecks, their weapons still firing even as their own munition stores began to cook and detonate. The Xanite battle-automata were set upon by crawling phosphex and enervated by rad missiles, weakened prey before the marauding talons of?Dreadnoughts which tore them limb from limb or pounded them into ruin. The vengeful fallen pressed on, there was no attempt made to secure the port facilities or to consolidate a line of battle, the army's imperative was simply to destroy, to kill and keep on killing, until they themselves were slain. By the time the Vodian Consistory, reeling from this fresh assault, realised the true danger of what was happening, it was too late. The breakout was underway and the invaders could not be contained.

技術(shù)契奴衛(wèi)隊和駐扎在星港附近的伺服契奴是第一批做出反應的部隊，但他們很快就證明自己匹敵不了這支從集裝箱內(nèi)洶涌而出的兇惡死者大軍；他們要么是被不可阻擋的爆彈槍齊射撕碎，要么就是過于一邊倒的徒手近戰(zhàn)中被阿斯塔特戰(zhàn)士們扯碎。機神禁衛(wèi)軍的堡星機兵中隊和技術(shù)神甫指揮的重武器分隊很快也趕來參戰(zhàn)，但卻發(fā)現(xiàn)自己面對是一群阿斯塔特軍團戰(zhàn)士，而且后者正在帶著冷酷且頑強的怒火奮戰(zhàn)和死去——阿斯塔特軍團戰(zhàn)士們以頑強而著稱，但這些戰(zhàn)士似乎已經(jīng)超越了傷病和死亡的限制，甚至比自己的同胞兄弟們都更為強悍。即便是被砍斷肢體，或是被重槌型爆彈炮炸成兩截，這些穿著黑色動力甲的尸體也仍在前進；那些坦克也本該因遭到多次損毀而不能移動，但這些熊熊燃燒著的殘骸仍然拖拽著自己向前駛?cè)?，而且哪怕車體內(nèi)的彈藥已經(jīng)因過熱而殉爆，它們的武器也仍在開火。四處蔓延的磷火和輻射導彈進攻并削弱了Xana的戰(zhàn)斗機兵，令其成為虛弱的獵物，之后無畏機甲會用兇悍的利爪扯下機兵們的肢體，或是將它們砸毀。滿懷復仇怒火的死者們向前挺進著，他們并未試圖保護港口設施或鞏固戰(zhàn)線，這支軍隊急需進行的只有破壞以及不停殺戮，直到他們自己也被殺掉為止。這場新出現(xiàn)的襲擊行動震驚了監(jiān)鑄教廷，他們此刻才意識到：當下正在發(fā)生的事情才是真正的危機，但為時已晚。入侵者正在突破鑄造世界的防線，而且他們也無法被阻擋。

Slowly but inexorably, the invading Legiones Astartes spread through the upper reaches of the forge-fanes, massacre and mayhem their only strategic goal. Savants and soldiers,servo-thrall and battle-automata, Tech-Priest and slave; all were left slaughtered. In their wake fires burned beyond control, crawling phosphex seeped through ventilation shafts and ate hungrily at anything it touched, power transition systems were blasted and sabotaged, fuel lines set to blaze and vox towers toppled. The surface levels of the great forge-fanes of?Xana began to burn.

入侵的阿斯塔特軍團戰(zhàn)士們緩慢但也不可阻擋地分散到了鑄造神殿上層區(qū)域的各處，他們唯一的戰(zhàn)略目標就是屠殺和制造混亂。無論對面是技術(shù)專家還是凡人士兵、是戰(zhàn)斗機兵還是技術(shù)契奴、是技術(shù)神甫還是奴隸，他們都將之全部屠殺掉。他們在身后留下了失控的火災，蠕動著的磷火鉆入了通風井，饑渴地吞噬掉自己遇到的一切；能量傳輸系統(tǒng)被炸毀，燃料管線被點燃，通訊塔也被推倒。Xana龐大鑄造神殿位于地表的部分開始陷入火海。

Breakout

突圍

By the fifteenth hour after open hostilities had begun, the Xana System was awash in flame and spiralling wreckage. The remaining Xanite war fleet, which had engaged the Amphion's battlegroup, was now hurtling back to Xana II.?The Mechanicum fleet was now about a third only of its early strength, having sustained further heavy losses in disengaging from the Loyalist capital ships, which had used the surviving fire ships against them as they tried to withdraw. The surviving Loyalist battlegroup, including the battered but unconquered Amphion, did not pursue, instead taking the opportunity to disengage themselves, their own arsenals having been all but exhausted by the protracted void battle and each one having sustained great damage from the fight. In the debris belt of Xana I, now aglow with burning hulks and torn?by storms of?exploding munitions, the outcome for the vast arms fleet had been even more disastrous as more than two thirds of the macro-transports had been either destroyed outright or sent burning to plunge into the gravity well of the gas giant or to tumble helplessly into the void. The architects of?this disaster, the Dark Sovereign and the Legions Astartes of the Ist Legion, were also departing for the system's edge, one of the great barques and the dromond Mu-571, now the Dark Angels' prizes, struggling to keep up with the warship's escape velocity. The fires raged also on the surface of?Xana II, though now the whole Forge World had risen up against the invaders they had allowed into their midst.

在公開的敵對行動開始十五小時后，Xana星系中已經(jīng)遍布了火焰和旋轉(zhuǎn)的殘骸。剩余的Xana戰(zhàn)爭艦隊（它們之前曾與安非昂號率領的艦隊交戰(zhàn)）現(xiàn)在正飛速撤往Xana II?，F(xiàn)在，機械神教艦隊的兵力僅剩下了之前的三分之一，它們在擺脫忠誠派主力艦時進一步遭受了嚴重損失——在它們努力撤退時，對方用剩余的縱火船攻擊了他們。幸存的忠誠派戰(zhàn)斗群（其中有包括安非昂號，它受損嚴重但未被征服）并未追擊，而是也利用這個機會脫離戰(zhàn)斗了，畢竟他們自己的軍火庫也已在這場曠日持久的虛空戰(zhàn)中耗盡，每艘艦船也都在戰(zhàn)斗中遭受了嚴重損傷。在Xana I的碎片環(huán)帶中，運輸艦們被船體燃燒的火光照亮，彈藥密集的爆炸也撕裂了它們，這支運輸軍火的龐大艦隊的結(jié)局更為悲慘：超過三分之二的巨型運輸艦要么是被徹底摧毀，要么就是燃燒著扎入氣體巨星的重力井中，還有些是無助地墜入了虛空。而這場災難的始作俑者——黑暗君王號和第一軍團的阿斯塔特戰(zhàn)士們也正在動身前往星系邊緣處，黑暗天使們還將某艘龐大的機械神教戰(zhàn)爭巨艦和戰(zhàn)爭快船穆—571掠為了戰(zhàn)利品，它們也努力更上軍團戰(zhàn)艦的逃逸速度。盡管整個鑄造世界的人們都奮起反抗那些被放入自己中間的入侵者，但戰(zhàn)火也在Xana II的地表蔓延肆虐著。

Of the three great forge-fanes, only Setna had come through its attack all but intact; the invaders having penetrated as far as the vast, sub-surface galleries before being met by Setna's most bellicose guardians, a contingent of Knights of?House Malinax, long veterans of?war far from Xana's soil.Here the grim Legiones Astartes had been met by a score of Mechanicum-patterned Knights, and though nearly half of the Knights present had perished in countering the onslaught, the invaders had been burned and crushed in their hundreds, the fighting halting only when the last of the Space Marines had been bodily broken beyond whatever bitter thread of life propelled it. The other two great forgefanes of Xana had not fared so well and of the two, famed Tephra had suffered greatly, with one of its mighty reactors breached and detonated, rending several square kilometres of its heart into radioactive slag at the cost of tens of thousands of lives lost and vast resources of?machinery destroyed before the invaders were finally overwhelmed through sheer weight of numbers. The damage to its sister forge-fane of Escorial was not as great, but widely diffuse, the enemy having spread to its tangled arteries of tunnel-way and gantry, and the last remnants ofthe invaders, though reduced to a mere handful of?ruined bodies, were still causing havoc in the depths.

在三座龐大的鑄造神殿中，只有Setna幾乎毫發(fā)無損地挺過了進攻；入侵者們已經(jīng)攻入了神殿廣闊的地下走廊，之后他們遭遇了Setna最為好戰(zhàn)的保衛(wèi)者——馬里納克斯家族的一支騎士分隊，這群經(jīng)歷過漫長戰(zhàn)爭的老兵們來自遠離Xana的世界。二十臺機械神教形制的騎士出陣應戰(zhàn)冷酷堅定的阿斯塔特軍團戰(zhàn)士們，盡管參戰(zhàn)的騎士有將近半數(shù)在反擊的過程中被摧毀，但他們還是燒焦和碾碎了數(shù)以百計的入侵者。當最后一名星際戰(zhàn)士的軀體都被擊碎，終于擺脫了驅(qū)使他們前進的痛苦生命之線后，戰(zhàn)斗才停止了。Xana上的另外兩座大型鑄造神殿則沒這么幸運：著名的Tephra神殿受損嚴重，該神殿中的某一部反應堆被攻破并引爆，數(shù)平方公里的核心區(qū)域被摧毀成了放射性廢墟，在入侵者們最終被機械神教部隊用純粹的數(shù)量壓垮之前，Tephra損失了數(shù)萬名人員，而且有大量機械資源被毀。Tephra姐妹神殿Escorial的損失雖不及它嚴重，但受損面積頗為廣闊，敵人們已經(jīng)擴散到由龍門架和隧道構(gòu)成的錯綜復雜的通道中，盡管只剩下寥寥數(shù)具被損毀的尸體，但殘余的入侵者們?nèi)栽谄渖钐幰l(fā)了浩劫。

Matters on Xana-Tisiphone had ended in an even bloodier state；the prison-forge itself had fallen under the assault of the Loyalist Legiones Astartes under Endryd Haar's command and the firepower of the captured Ordinatus, the population descending to violent anarchy and revolt which further allowed Haar's forces to ransack the weapons testing facility there before being suddenly and savagely beaten back by a counter-attack from below. The forces which assaulted them, brazen-armoured Legio Cybernetica cohorts, had slumbered deep beneath the Sheaol penitentiary and was strange, hitherto unknown patterns whose almost diabolic appearance were at odds with any recorded Mechanicum pattern. Moving with unheard-of speed and predatory instinct, these battle-automata drove back the Loyalist Legiones Astartes, killing many and forcing a retreat when all that the Loyalists had gained was soon endangered, the counterattack culminating when one of?the prized Ordinatus, the Nepothax?was assaulted and destroyed in an attempt to recapture it. Reluctantly Haar's forces withdrew, taking their surviving prizes with them and departing the planet, their ship, the Tyrannis, herself sustaining heavy damage in her escape, barely outrunning the returning Xanite fleet.

Xana-Tisiphone上的事件則有著更為血腥的結(jié)局：恩德瑞德 哈爾指揮著忠誠派阿斯塔特軍團戰(zhàn)士發(fā)起了進攻，結(jié)合著被俘將軍炮的火力（支援），監(jiān)牢鑄爐被攻陷了；當?shù)厝丝谙萑肓藷o政府暴亂狀態(tài)，并開始反抗機械神教的統(tǒng)治，這令哈爾的部隊得以進一步洗劫當?shù)氐奈淦鳒y試設施，但之后一場來自地下的反擊突然且殘忍地擊退了他們。襲擊忠誠派們的部隊是一支青銅色裝甲的智控軍團大隊，這些機兵（原本）沉睡在Sheaol監(jiān)獄的深處，而且屬于某種怪異且至今都不為人所知的型號，其近乎惡魔般的外表與任何有記錄的機械神教自動機兵模式都不相符。這些戰(zhàn)斗機兵以人們聞所未聞的速度與獵食本能行動著，它們驅(qū)逐了忠誠派星際戰(zhàn)士，哈爾的部隊損失了很多兵員并被迫撤退，他們之前所取得的一切很快就變得岌岌可危。在試圖奪回涅博薩克斯的過程中，這臺珍貴的將軍炮遭到進攻并被摧毀，反擊行動在此刻達到高潮。哈爾的部隊不情愿地撤退了，他們帶走了幸存下來的戰(zhàn)利品并離開了這個星球；他們的艦船“創(chuàng)痕暴君”號在逃跑過程中受損嚴重，勉強擺脫了歸來的Xana艦隊。

The Xana incursion was over.

Xana入侵行動結(jié)束了。

Aftermath

后續(xù)

The operation known as the Xana Incursion remained a secret of the Age of Darkness, one more battle fought unremembered and largely unknown, although a battle stranger than most, and ever afterward it has been an engagement shrouded in sinister mystery and rumour. The great provender of Xana, a bounty that may perhaps have tipped the war for either side, had been delivered into the hands only of death, save for a select portion which it is believed the Loyalists would use to their own ends during the Titandeath and the Siege of Terra itself although the true gains of this victory or whether they were worth the great cost it took to achieve them is a judgement none can now make. Of equal enigma was the means by which the victory was gained, and in particular the true nature of the 'army of the fallen',?which was used to such lethal effect in the seemingly suicidal attack on the Forge World itself.

這場被稱為“Xana入侵行動”的事件仍是黑暗年代中的一個秘密，另一場未被記錄也很大程度上不為人所知的戰(zhàn)斗；不過這場戰(zhàn)斗比大多數(shù)的都要怪異，而且從此之后，此事件也籠罩在了邪惡秘密與謠言之中。Xana所產(chǎn)出的大量戰(zhàn)爭物質(zhì)本可能會讓戰(zhàn)爭天平向著某一方傾斜，但它們現(xiàn)在幾乎全部毀于一旦；這些物資中只有被選中的一部分留存了下來，人們相信忠誠派部隊將會在泰坦之死和泰拉圍城戰(zhàn)期間將之用于自己的目的；不過，現(xiàn)在還沒有人能夠判斷出這次勝利的真正收獲，以及這些收獲是否值得人們?yōu)橹冻鼍薮蟠鷥r。忠誠派們?nèi)俚氖侄瓮瑯邮莻€謎題，那支“亡者大軍”的真實本質(zhì)尤為如此——在這場對于鑄造世界的自殺式進攻中，它們發(fā)揮了極其致命的效果。

Ultimately, the alliance of Xana with the Traitors'?cause had not been thwarted, only delayed by years, and perhaps that was enough. The Xana which was rapidly rebuilt and re-fortified and finally began to supply the Traitors with a great perfusion of?ever stranger and more savage war machines in the Horus Heresy's final years —a true example of what became known as the Dark Mechanicum—was hardly recognisable from what had gone before and charged a heavy price for its support. There are some who have gone so far as to opine that in toppling Xana's existing ruling synod, the Vodian Consistory being murderously deposed from within the Forge World's own ranks soon after the incursion, caused a fer darker and more dangerous order of masters to come forth. And that they took what was left on the battlefield and used it for their own infernal ends, meant it was the Imperium's own deceit and savage weapons that gave rise to the nightmare that was to come.

最終來看，Xana與叛軍的結(jié)盟并未被挫敗，只是拖延了數(shù)年而已，或許這也就僅此而已。Xana很快便進行了重建和重新強化，該鑄造世界最終開始在荷魯斯叛亂末期向叛軍們提供了大量更為怪異且殘忍的戰(zhàn)爭機器——Xana機械神教成為了所謂“黑暗機械神教”勢力的真實案例，他們與之前相比幾乎判若兩人，并為其支持叛軍的行為付出了沉重代價。有些人甚至更為激進地認為：在這場入侵行動之后不久，Xana內(nèi)部有人推翻了該鑄造世界當時的統(tǒng)治議會，監(jiān)鑄教廷被以兇殘的手段罷免掉，這導致了一群更為黑暗且危險的主宰者們的出現(xiàn)。Xana的新主人們回收了那些留在戰(zhàn)場上的物品和遺體，并將之用于其自身的可惡目的。這也就意味著：是帝國自身的詭計和野蠻武器造成了那些即將到來的噩夢。