Dynat's Gambit

迪奈特的開局

Bombardment and counter-bombardment between Paramar V and the Traitor ships in orbit continued unabated, but now for the Alpha Legion it served a different purpose; it held open the way for their ground invasion. Heavy Argo class assault landers, Stormbird carriers and Thunderhawk transporters paved the way, deploying hundreds of Alpha Legion tanks onto the rocky desert soil. Following them came the gigantic shapes of the mass conveyors of the Legio fureans, blotting out the three suns, the ground shuddering with the impact as the massive portals fell open and the Titans of the Tiger Eyes, hungry for battle, thundered forth. Behind them from the cavernous recesses of the mass conveyers streamed the beetle-backed hovering carryalls of the Taghmata Satarael, their Battle-automata and the other arcane war machines of the Warmaster's Mechanicum hung in complex iron latticework cages beneath them.

在帕拉瑪五號與軌道中叛軍艦船之間，轟炸與反轟炸行動有增無減，但阿爾法軍團現(xiàn)在有了不同的目標：他們要為地面進攻打開通道。沉重的阿爾戈級突擊登陸艇、風(fēng)暴鳥和雷鷹運輸機將數(shù)百輛阿爾法軍團坦克部署到了多巖的沙原上，為進攻鋪平道路?；⒀圮妶F的巨型運輸艦緊隨其后，它們巨大的身形遮蔽住了天空中的三輪赤日；巨大的出入艙門轟然倒落張開，地面都隨之顫抖，虎眼泰坦們前進入陣，腳步聲若雷霆。Satarael機神禁衛(wèi)軍的懸浮運輸車也出現(xiàn)在泰坦身后，從巨型運輸艦?zāi)嵌囱ò泯嫶蟮谋谂撝恤~貫而出，它們有著突出的背部運輸艙，車體下方還掛載著復(fù)雜的格柵鐵籠——其中運輸著戰(zhàn)斗機兵與戰(zhàn)帥派機械神教其他玄奧的戰(zhàn)爭機器。

This was to be no siege campaign but an armoured spearhead assault, and the Alpha Legion Harrowmaster was resting the chances of victory or defeat on a single throw of the dice; an all-out attack, holding back no reserves and digging no defences to fall back to if repulsed. The assault force was fully mechanised and with nigh preternatural speed and organisation it formed up and moved out without pause. Executing a complicated dance of destructive force and intricate interlocking movement, it rumbled and roared across the vivid red desert land.

將要發(fā)生的并非是一場攻城戰(zhàn)，而是一場裝甲矛頭突襲行動，阿爾法軍團獵襲之主孤注一擲，成敗在此一舉；阿爾法軍團全軍出動，不留預(yù)備隊，也沒有挖掘構(gòu)筑用于撤退喘息的防御工事。進攻部隊完全機械化行動，他們以近乎超自然的速度和組織度完成了集結(jié)編組，未做任何停頓便出發(fā)了。阿爾法軍團從鮮紅色的沙漠中咆哮著轟隆掠過，他們用破壞性的力量配合著錯綜復(fù)雜的連鎖運動，上演了一出復(fù)雜的舞蹈。

The amber and sable Titans of the Tiger Eyes led the way, striding forward at flank speed, contemptuous of any ally who might get underfoot in their headlong charge and behind them, taking advantage of the shadow of the Titans void shields came two vast strung-out echelons of Alpha Legion strike armour: Predators and Sicaran tanks and the deadly new Scorpius Whirlwinds. Behind these came the columns of superheavies: Fellblades and Glaives for the most, chosen for their speed as well as firepower, and behind them the dispersed squadrons of Land Raiders and Spartans, in which the infantry strength of the attack was carried, a hundred tanks strong. Above flew gunships and speeders in close air support, a hazardous task given the choking air. Further back from this vast conglomeration of apocalyptic armoured might, came the sinister and strange forces of the Taghmata Satarael creating their own spider-like formation, the air around them shimmering with the distortion of a mobile power field generator mounted on a hovering Ordinatus class platform at the centre of the mass of arcane war engines. Alongside the Taghmata came the bronze and crimson Knight walkers of House Perdaxia and the ghost-grey Knights of House Rajha, answering the deafening war sirens of the battle Titans with kindred answering cries of their own.

虎眼軍團的泰坦們一馬當先，它們琥珀色的機體上帶著黑色的飾紋，以最快速度大步前行，傲視著任何盟友——后者可能被它們在一股腦的沖鋒中踩在腳下；跟在它們身后的則是兩支龐大的阿爾法軍團裝甲進攻梯隊，它們由掠食者坦克、西卡然戰(zhàn)斗坦克與致命的新型天蝎式旋風(fēng)坦克構(gòu)成，載具們都沿一條線排開，躲在泰坦虛空盾的庇護之后。跟隨在坦克梯隊之后的是超重坦縱隊：其中大部分載具都是殘暴之刃和飛刃，它們因自己的速度與火力而被選中；分散開的蘭德掠奪者和斯巴達突擊坦克中隊緊隨超重坦縱隊之后，這一百輛坦克上運載著此次進攻的步兵力量。炮艇和速攻艇從上方飛過，提供著近距離空中支援，考慮到混亂到令人窒息的空中情況，這是一項危險的任務(wù)。而在這支啟示錄般裝甲力量構(gòu)成的龐大戰(zhàn)斗集團的后方，詭異不祥的Satarael機神禁衛(wèi)軍組成了蜘蛛狀的編隊，大量奇異的戰(zhàn)爭引擎將一臺安裝在懸浮式將軍炮級別武器平臺上的移動力場發(fā)生器簇擁在中央，周圍的空氣都因力場的扭曲形變效果而閃爍。隨著禁衛(wèi)軍而來的騎士機甲：佩達西亞家族的騎士披著青銅和猩紅兩色的戰(zhàn)袍，萊扎家族的涂裝則是幽靈般的灰色；戰(zhàn)斗泰坦們發(fā)出震耳欲聾的戰(zhàn)爭汽笛聲，騎士們也用自己相似的戰(zhàn)吼加以回應(yīng)。

Rearing up a vast swath of dust behind it like an oncoming hurricane, the army of the Traitor Legion and its allies thundered towards the Paramar Nexus.

叛軍軍團的部隊及其盟友如雷霆般殺向帕拉瑪樞紐站，他們?nèi)缤魂囈u來的颶風(fēng)，身后卷起大片的塵煙。

The Plain of?Fire

烈火燎原

It was the weapons of the Titans that spoke first, for they had found former brothers waiting for them. The War Griffons, the Titans of the Legio Gryphonicus, had stationed themselves in a five kilometre wide cordon across the vast ferrocrete-paved Landing Zone Secundus of the Paramar Nexus complex guarding the main approach across the open desert. With their own terrible war siren cries, they answered the bellowed challenges of the Tiger Eyes and marched forth to engage them on the open expanse, their great adamantium-shod feet shattering the ferrocrete and sending up grey plumes of dust to shroud their pale granite carapaces. Across the confined distance between the two phalanxes of Titans such a cataclysmic eruption of firepower was unleashed than had seldom been seen, even in the battles of the Great Crusade. Destructive force equal to levelling a city in a single sweep crashed and screamed as the very air between the two walls of rushing Titans was annihilated in a pulse of blinding, tortured light visible from orbit. Void shields split with shock wave thunder and collapsed, rock and stone boiled and vaporised and ceramite armour proof against atomic fire crumbled like chalk. The Tiger Eyes Warlord Lyakam simply ceased to exist, its reactor core rupturing in a hell-storm of plasma which blew the Warhound Blood Hunger which loped beside it into a spill of burning cinders, while the War Griffons Reaver Southron Shield came apart in a fury of las-blasts like a carcass on a butchers block. These were but the first of many God-Machines to die that day.

率先用武器開火的是泰坦們，因為它們發(fā)現(xiàn)昔日的兄弟們正在等候自己。鷹獅軍團——“戰(zhàn)爭獅鷲”軍團的泰坦們已經(jīng)各就各位，它們把守住帕拉瑪樞紐站那由鐵凝土鋪就的次級降落場各處，形成了一條五公里寬的封鎖線，守衛(wèi)著穿越開闊沙漠的主通道。戰(zhàn)爭獅鷲泰坦們也拉響了恐怖的戰(zhàn)爭汽笛，以此來回應(yīng)虎眼泰坦們的怒吼挑釁，它們穩(wěn)步前進，要在開闊地帶迎戰(zhàn)敵人。泰坦們包裹著精金（裝甲）的巨足踏碎了鐵凝土地面，揚起的灰色沙塵覆蓋在了他們那蒼白花崗巖色的外殼上。在有限的距離之內(nèi)，兩個泰坦方陣之間爆發(fā)了極為災(zāi)難性的火力交鋒，交火規(guī)模前所未見，哪怕在大遠征時期的戰(zhàn)斗中也是如此。雙方的武器洪聲嘶吼，釋放出的能量能在一次進攻中就將一座城市夷為平地，兩排泰坦相對沖鋒，它們之間的空氣都在一道磨人眼球的刺目亮光中被毀滅耗盡了——人們甚至能在星球軌道中看見這道光芒。虛空盾在雷霆般的沖擊波中破裂并崩潰，巖石融化沸騰乃至蒸發(fā)，陶鋼裝甲也在原子火焰的炙烤下如同白堊般粉碎了?；⒀圮妶F的戰(zhàn)將泰坦“利亞卡姆”號被炸得灰飛煙滅，地獄風(fēng)暴般的電漿轟擊炸裂了它的反應(yīng)堆核心，并將飛奔在其身邊的戰(zhàn)犬泰坦“嗜血者”號化為焦黑殘渣；而戰(zhàn)爭獅鷲軍團的掠奪者泰坦“南境之盾”號也被一陣猛烈的激光爆能束所肢解，宛如畜肉被放到砧板上切分開。但它們只是第一批被摧毀的神之機械，今天還有很多泰坦將要隕落。

The two lines of Titans unleashing destruction against each other on an incomprehensible scale quickly formed a no-man's-land to the fore of the Nexus complex that no man or machine could hope to cross and survive. This factor had already been taken into account by the Alpha Legion attack plan, and the echelon forces of their strike armour divided in two behind the Tiger Eyes and streamed round the hell zone the Titan battle had created at maximum speed; one striking towards the main landing and provender complex to the south-west of the Terminus, while the other took the longer elliptical route to strike at the Terminus itself from the south-east. While these striking arms raced ahead, already coming under fire from the defenders, the following columns of superheavy tanks and mechanised infantry also bifurcated in turn, while minor detachments struck out independently for other targets of opportunity or areas of higher ground in which to deploy support weapons. What was to follow was to be a direct and pitiless battle, that were it not overshadowed by the calamity and slaughter of the Dropsite Massacre that had occurred so soon before, it would have gone down more infamously as some of the most intense fighting in the Imperium's history to that date. The battlefield was largely open, with little or no cover to be had, and without respite the hammer of the Alpha Legion's armour struck the anvil of the Mechanicums fortifications, bolstered greatly, particularly around the Terminus complex, by the rapidly constructed Castellum Strongholds of the Iron Warriors of the 77th Grand Battalion.

兩支泰坦軍團相互釋放著規(guī)模龐大到令人無法理解的毀滅，這很快就在樞紐站綜合體的前方形成了一片無人區(qū)，任何人或機械都無望活著此地。阿爾法軍團的進攻計劃已經(jīng)考慮到了這個因素，他們跟在虎眼軍團身后的裝甲進攻梯隊一分為二，以最快速度從戰(zhàn)斗泰坦們已經(jīng)創(chuàng)造出的地獄兩側(cè)繞行前進。其中一支裝甲梯隊攻向了航站樓西南側(cè)的主降落區(qū)和補給庫復(fù)合體，另一梯隊則沿著更長的橢圓形路線，從東南方向著航站樓進攻。在這些進攻部隊向前狂奔之時，它們就已經(jīng)遭到了守軍的火力進攻，跟在其后的超重坦和機械化步兵以依次分散開，而這些次級分隊要么是去獨立襲擊有機會攻下的其他目標，要么就是去攻占用于部署支援武器的高地區(qū)域。隨之而來的便是一場直接而無情的戰(zhàn)斗——倘若沒有被不久前發(fā)生于登陸點大屠殺中的災(zāi)難和屠戮所遮掩的話，這場戰(zhàn)斗將會變得更為惡名昭著，因為其是帝國歷史上最激烈的戰(zhàn)斗之一。這篇戰(zhàn)場極開闊，幾乎沒有可供使用的掩體，阿爾法軍團的裝甲重錘毫不遲疑地擊中了鐵砧般的機械神教防御工事——此地的防御工事被用鋼鐵勇士第77大營快速建造的堅堡要塞進行了大幅強化，航站樓周邊尤為如此。

By the third hour of the battle the duelling Titan Legions warred on, but their numbers had been savagely reduced and much of the vast landing zones where they had fought was obscured by a pall of dense smoke and radioactive fallout from the wreckage of the God-Engines that had already fallen in battle. The Provender and supply complexes to the south-west had already fallen to the Alpha Legion, and here they had secured their swiftest and surest victory, Armillus Dynat himself having led the attacking spur here by extant record. Now the ruins of the complex were being used as a firebase from which to attack the Terminus itself, and Alpha Legion headhunter squads were now scouring the area, purging it of survivors and seeking ingress to the subterranean complexes known to lie beneath. Across on the far side of the Titan battle, the attackers had suffered a major reversal of fortune however, when a large detachment of Iron Warriors super-heavy armour, supported by several talons of Dreadnoughts, had attacked from positions of concealment in underground macro-silos, effectively cutting the western attack spur in half. The Iron Warriors superheavies, primarily Stormblades, Falchions and Typhon siege tanks, had devoted the bulk of their firepower against the lighter Alpha Legion strike armour from the rear and the result had been carnage. At the same time the Iron Warriors Dreadnought talons, reinforced by Legio Gryphonicus Battleautomata, had charged into the Alpha Legion super-heavies to attack them at close quarters, and while many had been destroyed in the charge before they could reach their targets, once they got amongst the lumbering war machines they wreaked havoc, attacking in hand-to-hand combat and tearing open the enemy tanks where the primary weapons of the super-heavies could not engage them.

等戰(zhàn)斗進行到第三個小時，泰坦軍團之間的對決仍在繼續(xù)，但它們的數(shù)量已經(jīng)嚴重下降，歿于戰(zhàn)火的神之機械殘骸散發(fā)出大量濃密煙霧和輻射塵，被泰坦們用作陣地的巨大降落場上的很多地方都變得模糊不清。西南側(cè)的補給庫復(fù)合體已經(jīng)落入了阿爾法軍團之手，他們在這里取得了最迅速也最有把握的勝利——現(xiàn)存記錄資料表明，阿爾梅留斯 迪奈特親自領(lǐng)導(dǎo)了此地的進攻分隊。現(xiàn)在，阿爾法軍團將復(fù)合體的殘骸用作重火力點，向航站樓發(fā)起進攻；獵頭者小隊們正在搜索該區(qū)域，肅清幸存者，并尋找通往地下復(fù)合體的入口。然而，在這遠離泰坦混戰(zhàn)（戰(zhàn)場）的一側(cè)，進攻者們遭遇了運氣的重大轉(zhuǎn)折；就在此刻，一支鋼鐵勇士超重型裝甲載具組成的大規(guī)模分隊，在數(shù)支無畏機甲分隊的支援下，從地下巨型發(fā)射井的隱蔽陣地中發(fā)起進攻，有效地將東側(cè)的阿爾法軍團進攻分隊一切兩斷。鋼鐵勇士的超重型載具主要是風(fēng)暴之刃、彎刀和提豐攻城坦克，它們用龐大的火力從后方進攻阿爾法軍團那更輕型的裝甲攻擊部隊，進行了一場屠殺。同時，在有鷹獅軍團自動機兵增援的情況下，鋼鐵勇士無畏機甲分隊們也沖向了阿爾法軍團的超重型坦克，對其發(fā)動近戰(zhàn)攻擊；雖然有很多無畏與機兵都被摧毀在了沖鋒過程中，（甚至）沒能接觸到目標，但只要接近了這些笨重的戰(zhàn)爭機器，它們便會以肉搏戰(zhàn)的形式大肆進行破壞并撕開敵軍坦克（車體），而超重型坦克的主武器在這種情況里是無法與之交戰(zhàn)的。

Both sides had finally been thrown back with heavy casualties when repeated energy blasts from a squadron of Glaive superheavies?Volkite carronades had accidentally penetrated deeply buried underground fuel lines, drowning the area in an eruption of burning promethium and for a time splitting the battle line apart.

就在雙方都遭受了嚴重傷亡，雙雙撤退之際，一支飛刃超重型坦克中隊爆燃臼炮重復(fù)射出爆能束意外擊穿深埋于地下的燃料管線，熊熊燃燒著的钷素噴涌而出，該區(qū)域陷入一片火海，戰(zhàn)線一時被分裂開。

The Nexus Falls

樞紐站之隕

By the fifth hour of the battle, the speed and overwhelming force of the Alpha Legion's attack had taken its toll and the battle was swinging full force in the Traitors' favour. Although the cost in tanks and Legionaries had been heavy, bastion after bastion, defence line after defence line had fallen to the invaders' onslaught and now only the Terminus remained to resist them. It had been the Siege-automata of the Taghmata Satarael. shielded by the pressing bulwark of the Patraxis Cerastus-Lancer Knights that had finally broken the Iron Warriors cordon of Castelkim Strongholds that guarded it. Even with their walls shattered, the grim Legionaries of the IVh would not retreat, raining their last supplies of grenades down upon the thallax who overwhelmed their position before they at last fell back. Their Warsmith, Kyr Vhalen, his body smashed, was finally dragged from the rubble by his apothecaries still spitting his hate and invective at the foe, as the towering figures of the dozen surviving battle-worthy Titans of the Legio Fureans loomed out of the black fog of war to seal the doom of the Terminus.

等戰(zhàn)斗持續(xù)到第四個小時，阿爾法軍團的進攻速度和壓倒性力量已經(jīng)（對守軍）造成了損失，戰(zhàn)況正在完全倒向叛軍一側(cè)。盡管損失了大量坦克與軍團戰(zhàn)士，但入侵者們?nèi)匀还フ剂艘蛔忠蛔?，攻破了一道又一道防御線，現(xiàn)在只有航站樓還仍在抵抗。在帕特拉西斯家族賽拉斯托斯長槍騎士們的護衛(wèi)下，Satarael機神禁衛(wèi)軍的攻城機兵最終攻破了鋼鐵勇士們用堅堡要塞構(gòu)筑的防線。但哪怕護墻已被擊碎，這些第四軍團的冷酷戰(zhàn)士們?nèi)晕闯吠?，在最終英勇就義之前，他們將最后的手雷如雨點般丟向擊潰自己防線的死隸機兵。戰(zhàn)爭鐵匠凱爾 瓦倫的身軀被碾碎了，當藥劑師最終從廢墟中將其拖出時，他仍在痛罵著敵人。十二臺仍然具備戰(zhàn)斗能力的虎眼泰坦幸存下來，其高聳的身影在黑色的戰(zhàn)爭濃霧中若隱若現(xiàn)，他們前去完成對于航站樓的毀滅。

What followed was the simple mathematics of force. Against the massed firepower of the Tiger Eyes Titans, the Terminus could not stand. Armillus Dynat stood impassively atop the broken wreckage of his own Legion's Fellblades and looked on in silence as the Myrmidons of the Taghmata Satareal sundered the gates of the Panopticon and exterminated everything within without mercy. But of the surviving Iron Warriors that had retreated within, their wounded master, or of the Archmagos Suyria Nihhon whose domain this had been, there was no sign found save the echoing darkness below. To the Alpha Legion, however, such things did not have real importance, for their primary objective had been achieved; the Paramar Nexus had fallen and with it Paramar V belonged to the Warmaster, its stockpiles and industry intact.

之后便是純粹的力量運算。航站樓自然無法抵擋虎眼軍團泰坦們的強大火力。阿爾梅留斯 迪奈特面無表情地站在一輛阿爾法軍團殘暴之刃殘骸的頂端，一言不發(fā)地看著Satarael機神禁衛(wèi)軍的契奴兵們切開圓廳的大門，并且無情地消滅了建筑內(nèi)的一切。但無論是撤退到圓廳內(nèi)的幸存鋼鐵勇士和他們受傷的統(tǒng)帥，還是曾經(jīng)統(tǒng)治此地的大賢者蘇利亞 尼洪，叛軍都未發(fā)現(xiàn)其跡象，只看見一片回蕩在地下的黑暗。但對阿爾法軍團來說，這些事情已經(jīng)無關(guān)緊要了，因為他們已經(jīng)完成了主要目標；帕拉瑪樞紐站已然淪陷，帕拉瑪五號也歸戰(zhàn)帥所有，其上儲備的物資和工業(yè)設(shè)施也被叛軍完整奪取。

The Devil is not Mocked

魔鬼是不會被嘲弄的

When news reached Horus of the conquest of Paramar V, it came not as a report of an unalloyed victory, but as a barbed gift. Swiftly following on the heels of the news of the Alpha Legion's success came fresh entreaties for aid and reinforcement from the Traitor Mechanicum which now garrisoned it. The Alpha Legion had departed seemingly as swiftly as they had come, but not before taking what they had wished from Paramars stockpiles for their own. The Taghmata Satarael protested it did not have the manpower alone to hold the system, and feared both revolt by the menials of their new possession, and attacks by escaped Loyalist elements which had not yet been found, not withstanding any threat of a Loyalist counter-attack to reclaim the system. The Warmaster then was in turn forced to divert additional forces to Paramar to hold the system, forces which he had desired to use elsewhere, as having gained this great prize he could not afford for his enemies to regain it. This fear would be proved accurate as the system would see an attempted counter-invasion two years later and further catastrophic warfare during the dark years of the Scouring.

當帕拉瑪五號被征服的報告被遞交給荷魯斯時，它并非是一場純粹勝利，而是一件帶有諷刺意味的禮物。在阿爾法軍團獲勝之后，目前占領(lǐng)著帕拉瑪五號的機械神教叛軍部隊也馬上發(fā)來新的懇求，希望戰(zhàn)帥給予幫助和增援。阿爾法軍團離開得似乎和他們到來時一樣迅速，但他們在動身之前洗劫了帕拉瑪五號上儲存的物資，將之據(jù)為己有。Satarael機神禁衛(wèi)軍提出抗議，表示自己沒有足夠的人力來控制帕拉瑪星系，他們既害怕新屬地的奴仆們發(fā)起反抗暴動，也害怕逃走的?；逝煞肿觽儼l(fā)動襲擊——這些殘軍還尚未被發(fā)現(xiàn)，更抵御不了保皇派們?yōu)閵Z回該星系而發(fā)起的任何反攻。隨后，戰(zhàn)帥被迫向帕拉瑪轉(zhuǎn)移額外的部隊以守住該星系，而他原本希望將這些部隊用作他處。既然已經(jīng)獲得了這個重要的戰(zhàn)利品，荷魯斯就不能讓敵人重新奪回它。事實證明這種擔心是正確的，因為兩年后，該星系就將見證帝國試圖進行的一場入侵反制行動，在大肅清的黑暗歲月中則還會發(fā)生災(zāi)難性的戰(zhàn)爭。

As a further addendum to this account, there exists an entirely unsubstantiated report of Horus' barely suppressed fury with the Alpha Legion and their Primarch following the events at Paramar. He is said to have sent Alpharius a missive demanding an explanation for his actions. By this account the Primarch of the Alpha Legion offered a response in two parts: the first open, stating that he and his Legion had done all that had been asked of them to the letter of their order; they had been ordered to take Paramar, never to garrison it. The second was said to have been encrypted in the substance of the first, and took the form of an ancient Terran proverb in a tongue long millennia dead; "MaIekara?Nul Ky'a Jay"?or in the modern form "The Devil is not Mocked'.

我對本文還要進行一項補遺：跟一份完全未經(jīng)證實的報告所稱，帕拉瑪事件發(fā)生后，荷魯斯幾乎抑制不住對于阿爾法軍團及其原體的憤怒。據(jù)說他向阿爾法瑞斯發(fā)送了一道公函，要求后者解釋自己的所作所為。而據(jù)該報告所稱，阿爾法瑞斯的回答包含兩部分內(nèi)容：第一部分是公開的，內(nèi)容是阿爾法瑞斯表示自己和第二十軍團已經(jīng)按照荷魯斯的命令，完成了所有任務(wù)；第二部分內(nèi)容則是被進行了加密，混入到了第一部分內(nèi)容當中，那是一句古老的泰拉諺語，而且是用某種已消亡千年的語言寫成的——“MaIekara Nul Ky'a Jay”，其在現(xiàn)代語言中的說法為：魔鬼是不會被嘲弄的。