Counter-invasion

入侵反制

Five sidereal hours had passed since the attack on the moon Quachil, and now all communication between the relay station there and Numinal had been cut. The truth that a full scale counter-invasion against a world they had only themselves recently conquered had not entered the strategic equations of the Taghmata Cyclothrathe, and the Magos were swiftly being forced to re-assess their position. Above Numinal, the Hammer of the Deep and its charges had already forced their orbital supremacy by destroying the protective Mechanicum escort squadrons, their warp dromons and macro-haulers having proved themselves armed and shielded far beyond what their design and appearance indicated. Further to the unfolding crisis, the Archmagos Draykavac had, only moments before the communications silence with Quachil, been forced to accede even to the retreat of his own orbiting warship, the Mechanicum forge-cruiser Sacra Astra, after it had proved heavily outmatched by the attacking galleass.

對于衛(wèi)星Quachil的進(jìn)攻已經(jīng)過去了五個恒星時，現(xiàn)在中繼站和Numinal之間的所有通訊都被切斷了。Cyclothrathe禁衛(wèi)軍的戰(zhàn)略方程式中并未考慮如何在一個被新近征服的世界上進(jìn)行全面的反入侵作戰(zhàn)，賢者們很快就被迫重新評估他們的狀況。在Numinal上空，深淵之錘號和船上的武器已經(jīng)摧毀了保衛(wèi)此地的機(jī)械神教護(hù)衛(wèi)艦中隊以奪取了軌道制空權(quán)，艦隊中的亞空間快船和貨運(yùn)巨艦也證明自己配備了遠(yuǎn)強(qiáng)于其設(shè)計和外表所表明的武力與防護(hù)力。而且就在與Quachil之間的通訊沉寂之前的片刻，為了進(jìn)一步應(yīng)對發(fā)展中的危機(jī)，大賢者德拉卡瓦克甚至被迫同意他自己停泊在軌道上的戰(zhàn)艦——機(jī)械神教鑄造巡洋艦“圣星號”撤退，在此之前這艘鑄造巡洋艦被進(jìn)攻的戰(zhàn)艦嚴(yán)重?fù)p失，落敗而逃。

Precipitating direct command override over all Mechanicum forces on Numinal, Draykavac issued rapid commands through his Taghmata's?djinn-skein to recall and amass his forces to meet the invaders, dispersed as they had been to carry out his general order for planet-wide population processing. As a result of this decision, the attackers made planetfall all but uncontested, the invaders concentrating their landings directly to the large and most sparsely populated archipelago chain in the planet's northern hemisphere a few hundred kilometres from the edge of the island cluster on which the Mechanicum was most densely based. At seven sidereal hours after planetfall the Taghmata, having amassed a sufficiency of force responded, swarming towards the area like antibodies to an open wound.

德拉卡瓦克對Numinal上所有機(jī)械神教部隊進(jìn)行直接命令覆蓋，他通過機(jī)神禁衛(wèi)軍的靈精信息束發(fā)出快速命令，召回并集結(jié)他的部隊以迎戰(zhàn)入侵者——機(jī)械神教部隊（在之前）為了執(zhí)行全球范圍人口處理命令而分散開了。部隊分散的結(jié)果就是進(jìn)攻者們在進(jìn)行行星登陸時幾乎未受到任何打擾，入侵部隊直接將登陸點(diǎn)集中在了北半球人口最稀少的大型群島鏈，此地距離機(jī)械神教部隊最密集的島嶼群邊緣僅數(shù)百公里。在行星登陸過去七個恒星時之后，集結(jié)了足夠力量的機(jī)神禁衛(wèi)軍做出了回應(yīng)，他們蜂擁向入侵者，就像抗體前去治愈開放傷口一樣。

Slowly at first, but with increasing intensity, the two sides engaged—the Taghmata sending fast-moving reconnaissance servitor drones into the area initially to assess their enemy at close range. The invaders were identified as Solar Auxilia forces operating at multiple cohort strength; likely in the region of 30,000-40,000 infantry troops and several thousand armoured vehicles. Draykavac's analysis indicated that their iconography comported to the long decommissioned 60th Expeditionary Fleet, but used observed unit markings and numerals which did not match historical records. The invaders were also not, as he had first projected, launching an immediate attack, but rather digging in; rapidly preparing prefabricated defence lines and supply dumps, sowing mine fields and excavating trench works with remarkable speed and efficiency to meet the incoming Mechanicum forces.

部隊初期（行動）速度緩慢，但隨著強(qiáng)度增加，雙方交戰(zhàn)起來——機(jī)神禁衛(wèi)軍一開始就向戰(zhàn)區(qū)派出了快速移動型機(jī)仆偵查無人機(jī)以近距離評估敵軍。入侵者被識別為太陽軍，兵力有數(shù)個兵團(tuán)之眾；該區(qū)域中可能有30,000-40,000名步兵和數(shù)百輛裝甲載具。德拉卡瓦克的分析表明這支部隊的標(biāo)志符合退役已久的第60遠(yuǎn)征艦隊，但被觀察到的單位標(biāo)志和編號與歷史記錄并不相符。就像他已經(jīng)預(yù)計到的那樣，入侵者并未馬上發(fā)動進(jìn)攻，而是在深挖戰(zhàn)壕；太陽軍們正在以顯著的速度和效率準(zhǔn)備預(yù)制防線和補(bǔ)給存放庫、設(shè)置雷區(qū)和挖掘戰(zhàn)壕攻勢，目的是迎戰(zhàn)來襲的機(jī)械神教部隊。

This led Archmagos Draykavac to a series of observations from the data: firstly, that this was a hostile Loyalist army dispatched from the Agathon Domain and, in addendum to that observation, no known Agathean liveried warships had yet been sighted as part of the force. The attackers had also refrained from the mass use of orbital bombardment, limiting themselves to a few strikes only against anti-orbital batteries which might have impeded their landing and had not yet attempted to breach the void-shielded bastions of the Mechanicum control centres. This resulted in a single conclusion; that the Agatheans intended to take the planet in as intact a state as they possibly could. Logic and strategic prediction indicated then to Draykavac that this invasion force was merely a beachhead for a much larger contingent to follow,a force mounted and protected in the absent Imperial cruiser squadrons the Agathon Domain was still known to possess.

這導(dǎo)致大賢者德拉卡瓦克對數(shù)據(jù)進(jìn)行了一系列觀察：首先，這是一支派遣自Agathon統(tǒng)治域的敵對忠誠派部隊，除了這一觀察結(jié)果之外，在這支部隊中還尚未發(fā)現(xiàn)任何帶有已知Agathean標(biāo)志的戰(zhàn)艦。進(jìn)攻者們也避免大規(guī)模使用軌道轟炸，他們只是對可能阻礙他們登陸的軌道防御炮塔進(jìn)行了少數(shù)幾次進(jìn)攻，而且至今也尚未嘗試突破機(jī)械神教控制中心的虛空盾基站。這導(dǎo)致了一個結(jié)論：這支Agathean部隊想盡可能地讓這個世界保持完整狀態(tài)。邏輯和戰(zhàn)略上的預(yù)測向德拉卡瓦克表明：這支入侵部隊僅僅是某支規(guī)模更大的特遣隊的先頭部隊，一支已知仍然屬于Agathon統(tǒng)治域的帝國巡洋艦中隊負(fù)責(zé)運(yùn)送和保護(hù)他們。

Based upon this analysis, Draykavac then drew his own plans accordingly. Determining that the beachhead should be destroyed at all costs, he reinforced the attacking waves en route to the landing site with the goal of maintaining pressure while he amassed a second force of sufficient power to destroy it.

基于這些分析，德拉卡瓦克針對性地制定了他自己的計劃，他決定不惜一切代價摧毀敵軍先頭部隊。他在前往登陸點(diǎn)的途中加強(qiáng)了攻擊部隊以保持進(jìn)攻壓力，同時他還聚集起第二支實力充足的部隊以毀滅進(jìn)攻者們。

The Invader

入侵者

In the shale drifts and rocky wastelands of the northern archipelago, the Agathean Cohorts awaited their attackers. Cohort Lasrifle Tercios—interlocking squads of heavy infantry soldiers drilled to the highest order and discipline―and tracked rapier heavy weapons batteries dug in, formed up as firing squares and defensive echelons behind prefabricated redoubts and swiftly dug trench works. Under the watchful eye of Lord Marshal Ireton MaSade, every hill, shale bank and rock gully had been put to its most effective defensive use, providing channels of predicable advance and deadly killing grounds for what was to come. MaSade had fought upon a hundred worlds and against nightmarish xenos of countless forms and powers, and even the arcane technological might of the Mechanicum did not baulk him, for he had fought beside them in the past and knew both their strengths and their weaknesses. Back on Agathon, he had ensured above all else the manufacture and stockpiling of certain weapons in preparation for a battle such as this, the foremost being augmented blast-charger capacitors for his troops'las-weaponry. These devices —issued rarely and in dire resort against the most powerful of alien creatures during the Great Crusade— vastly increased the stopping power of his soldiers' small arms, but at the cost of near disastrously high stresses on the weapons that used them. But against the Battle-automata and augmented warriors of the Mechanicum, he knew they would prove invaluable. As the first waves of enemy forces began to batter against the Agathean Cohorts' defences, he would swiftly know whether or not his strategy would prove sound.

Agathean兵團(tuán)在北部群島的頁巖河岸和巖石荒地中等待著進(jìn)攻者的到來。兵團(tuán)中的激光槍步兵隊——他們是被訓(xùn)練出了最強(qiáng)的紀(jì)律性和秩序性的緊密相連的重裝步兵小隊，以及追蹤敵人的輕劍重武器炮臺進(jìn)入了戰(zhàn)壕，他們躲在預(yù)制掩體的后方，進(jìn)入快速挖掘而成戰(zhàn)壕中，組成了射擊方陣和防御梯隊。在領(lǐng)主元帥伊拉頓 馬薩德的警惕的雙眼中，每一座山丘、頁巖岸和巖石溝壑都被用于最有效的防御用途，為即將發(fā)生的戰(zhàn)斗提供進(jìn)行預(yù)想中推進(jìn)的通道和致命的殺戮場。馬薩德在一百個世界上奮戰(zhàn)過，對抗過擁有無數(shù)種形體和能力的噩夢般異形種族，哪怕是機(jī)械神教那玄奧的科技力量也不能另他畏縮，因為他在過去曾與機(jī)械神教一同作戰(zhàn)過，他知曉對方的強(qiáng)項和弱點(diǎn)。在Agathon上，他優(yōu)先確保這個世界制造并儲存了用于此類戰(zhàn)爭的特定武器，其中最重要的是配備到部隊激光武器上的增強(qiáng)型爆能充電電容器。這種設(shè)備能極大地提升士兵輕武器的停止力，但代價是會讓安裝它們的武器承受近乎災(zāi)難般的高壓；它在大遠(yuǎn)征時期很少被提供，被用于對抗最強(qiáng)大外星生物的極端情況中。不過馬薩德明白，在面對機(jī)械神教的強(qiáng)化戰(zhàn)士和戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)兵時，這種裝備將是無價之寶。隨著第一波敵軍部隊開始猛攻Agathean兵團(tuán)防線，他很快就會知道自己的戰(zhàn)略是否會奏效。

The Iron Horde

鐵群來襲

The Battle-servitors advanced pitiless and measured, without fear or remorse; hulking metallic bodies striding from the waters or clambering down from hover barges and short range transport lighters like an army of iron and brass statues come to life. Larger, manta-like Cyclothrathine aerodynes swooped in low, unleashing Triaros carriers and Krios tanks from their cage harnesses directly behind the advancing line. Silent save for the rumble of their engines and the rasp of their servo motors, answering ghost-commands from their djinn-network, which would have been mere howling static to human ears, the Taghmata Cyclothrathe moved by a single all-encompassing will; the will of?Draykavac.

戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)仆無情而慎重地前進(jìn)著，他們毫無恐懼或悔恨；巨大的金屬機(jī)體從水里大步走來或從懸停駁船和短程運(yùn)輸船上爬下來，這支由鋼鐵和黃銅組成的部隊就像獲得了生命一樣。狀如蝠鲼的大型Cyclothrathine航空器俯沖到行進(jìn)隊列正后方的低空，特里亞羅斯運(yùn)輸車和克里歐斯坦克被從貨艙挽具上釋放下來。除了引擎的轟鳴聲和伺服馬達(dá)的刺耳聲響，以及各單位對于來自靈精通訊網(wǎng)絡(luò)鬼魂般指揮命令的回答——而且在人類的耳中這只是嘈雜尖利的靜電雜音，現(xiàn)場再無其他聲響，Cyclothrathe機(jī)神禁衛(wèi)軍只會按照一個總括意志進(jìn)行移動，那就是德拉卡瓦克的意志。

Already, long range barrages from batteries of concealed Earthshaker cannon were falling among their ranks, sending up great sprays of sand and rock as their shells exploded. But up from the craters the Battle-automata and Thallaxii rose, scarred but indomitable, all but impervious to wounds that would have torn mortal flesh to rags. The fleshless army advanced across an eleven kilometre wide front, through the mines and on into a storm of cannon shells and las-fire that would have melted even a Legiones Astartes attack before it. Some of the Battle-automata staggered under the weight of fire; some fell, but few, very few. Now the guns of the Mechanicum answered; thundering bolt cannon spat fire and lightning guns jetted their incandescent fury, blasting gouges in the defence lines and sending sundered bodies spinning into fragments. Through it all the Agathean Cohorts did not waver, their ranks closing over the breaches made by the dead. They fired and fired again, answering the disciplined cries of their sergeants with measured volleys, making the very air crackle and burn before them. The duel went on, and the lines began to close.

隱藏起來的撼地炮進(jìn)行了長程炮擊，炮彈落在機(jī)械教部隊中，炸開的同時掀起了大量沙石。但戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)兵和死隸機(jī)兵們從彈坑中起身，它們彈痕累累卻仍在前進(jìn)，能將凡人肉體撕得支離破碎的傷口幾乎影響不到它們。這支無血無肉的機(jī)械軍隊穿過十一公里寬的戰(zhàn)線，趟過雷區(qū)，頂著前方風(fēng)暴般的炮彈轟擊和甚至能熔化一名阿斯塔特軍團(tuán)戰(zhàn)士的光槍齊射不斷前進(jìn)。某些戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)兵在太陽軍炮火重壓之下步履蹣跚，也有某些機(jī)兵倒下，但那只是九牛一毛。現(xiàn)在機(jī)械神教要以槍炮還擊了；聲如雷霆的爆彈炮噴吐著火舌，閃電槍噴出他們熾熱的怒火，爆炸能量轟鑿在防御陣線上，被炸中的尸體旋轉(zhuǎn)起來，被撕扯成碎片。但經(jīng)歷了所有這一切的Agathean兵團(tuán)沒有動搖，他們的隊伍正在接近死者們打開的突破口。他們一次又一次地開火，以有節(jié)制的齊射回應(yīng)軍士們紀(jì)律性的呼喊，連他們面前的空氣都噼啪作響地燃燒起來。對決繼續(xù)進(jìn)行著，雙方陣線開始接近。

The lines were only a few hundred metres apart now and from within the Taghmata ranks, Vorax-automata darted forward at breakneck speed on their sickle-gaited mantid-legs, power blades humming in expectation of the kill. Then MaSade at last issued the order. With practised haste, power feeds were jettisoned from steaming lasrifles and the bulky blast-chargers fitted in their place. As one, the infantry Tercio troopers primed, raised and fired. It was as if a destroying hand had slammed down from the heavens as the air burned with a crackling roar. The Vorax-automata at the vanguard caught the brunt of the fire, all but disintegrating in rippling explosions and sprays of molten metal. Behind them the Castellax stumbled forwards as if they were men caught in a sudden powerful headwind, defensive energy fields snapping like angry hornets and their ceramite plates cracking and splintering in dozens of locations as overcharged lasbolts found their way through. The Auxilia firing line quickly rotated, one trooper stepping back to eject the smouldering and spent blast-charger as another took their place.Keen-eyed Agathean gunners zeroed in their rapier batteries on the Castellax which showed the most damage, focusing their heavy weapons fire until they were smashed to debris. Beside them,? multi-lasers raked their staccato beams back and forth?across the beaten ground where damaged servitors and shattered, smoke-bleeding automata strived to drag their broken bodies towards the Agatheans' lines. A second wave of blast-charger fire hammered into the Taghmata, then a third and a fourth, until suddenly only the heaviest of the Mechanicum units remained; the few surviving Krios tanks, their overworked flare shields rippling, trading shots with the dug-in Auxilia support tanks, and behind them the hulking Thanatar Siegeautomata, scorched-black and superficially damaged, but largely impervious even to the augmented fire of the Auxilia. The Thanatar held the line, but now advanced no further, their bulbous plasma mortars slinging white fireballs of gelid, high-density plasma into the Loyalist defence works, making a burning hell wherever they landed. The broken ground between the Siege-automata and the Agatheans was now a wasteland of ash, wreckage and fused silica glass whilst behind the bulwark of Siege-automata, the lesser Magos of the Taghmata Cyclorhrathe lurked alongside their baroquely armoured bodyguards, unwilling to risk themselves in the storm before the Agathean fortifications, and unwilling to press forward until further reinforcements arrived. For the time being, the Mechanicum assault had been stymied.

現(xiàn)在雙方戰(zhàn)線僅有數(shù)百米之遙，鋸齒蟻型自動機(jī)兵從機(jī)神禁衛(wèi)軍部隊中脫出，邁著鐮刀狀螳螂腿以驚人的速度向前沖去，它們的動力刃嗡鳴作響，滿含殺意。馬薩德也最終下達(dá)了命令，太陽軍們嫻熟快速地從發(fā)熱冒煙的激光步槍上卸下能量匣，換上體積龐大的爆能充電電容器。步兵隊中的士兵們整齊劃一地準(zhǔn)備、抬槍和開火，空氣被焚燒出了噼啪的尖嘯聲，那場面宛如毀滅之手從地獄猛然擊下。沖鋒在前的鋸齒蟻型自動機(jī)兵首當(dāng)其沖，它們幾乎全部在此起彼伏的爆炸中解體，成為熔化的金屬碎片。它們身后的堡星戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)兵們（被沖擊得）步履蹣跚，就像是被卷入突如其來的強(qiáng)勁逆風(fēng)中的凡人那般；當(dāng)過載的激光束通過時，能量防御立場像暴怒的黃蜂般猛然啟動，它們的陶鋼護(hù)甲板破裂開，身體上出現(xiàn)了十?dāng)?shù)個破裂處。太陽軍的射擊隊列快速輪換，一排士兵退后一步將悶燒并耗盡的爆能充電電容彈射出去，另一排士兵接替他們的位置。目光敏銳的 Agathean炮手們將他們的輕劍炮臺對準(zhǔn)了受損最嚴(yán)重的堡星戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)兵，這些遭到重武器集火的機(jī)兵被擊成了一灘碎片。炮臺旁邊的多管激光炮間或向前方倍受蹂躪的戰(zhàn)場上來回傾瀉著激光束——受損的機(jī)仆和破碎冒煙的自動機(jī)兵在努力將它們破碎的軀體拖向Agathean部隊的陣線。第二波爆能激光束又像重錘般擊向禁衛(wèi)軍，之后是第三波和第四波，直到機(jī)械神教突然間只剩下最重型的單位；極少數(shù)幸存克里歐斯坦克的過度運(yùn)行的閃焰盾涌出閃光，它們與躲在戰(zhàn)壕中的太陽軍坦克互相對射；克里歐斯坦克的背后還站著巨大的薩納塔爾攻城機(jī)兵，它們表面受損并被烤得焦黑，不過這些機(jī)兵在很大程度上仍然不會被太陽軍的增強(qiáng)激光火力所擊潰。薩納塔爾機(jī)兵們守住了陣線，但他們現(xiàn)在沒有進(jìn)一步推進(jìn)，它們（背后）的球根狀電漿臼炮把白色的凝膠狀高密度電漿火球噴投進(jìn)入了忠誠派的防御工事，火球降落的地方會化為一片熊熊燃燒的地獄。攻城機(jī)兵與Agathean部隊之間的破碎戰(zhàn)場現(xiàn)在就是一片灰燼、殘骸和熔融石英玻璃構(gòu)成的廢土，Cyclorhrathe禁衛(wèi)軍的低階賢者們躲在攻城機(jī)兵堡壘般的巨大軀體之后，他們潛伏在自己身覆巴洛克式裝甲的保鏢身邊，不愿親自冒險去面對Agathean防御工事風(fēng)暴般的火力射擊，在進(jìn)一步的增援抵達(dá)之前，他們不愿繼續(xù)推進(jìn)。目前，機(jī)械神教的進(jìn)攻已經(jīng)受阻。