The Battle of Phall is but one battle in an age of massacres and betrayals. The flame of its remembrance flutters weakly beside the flames of so many other greater acts of treachery which signposted the death of unity. What is Phall to the scale of losses at?Calth or the titanic conflict at Isstvan? All of these and many others were plans hatched by Horus to corrupt, cripple and destroy those who might oppose him in a war he intended to burn?bright and secure him swift victory before the Full might of his foe could be roused to wakeful wrath against him. Many of these plots and ambuscades succeeded, others failed, but all were intended to strike home before the Imperium realised it was in a fight for its very survival.

法爾海戰(zhàn)發(fā)生于背叛和大屠殺時期，不過相比于其他許多標志著人類統(tǒng)一之死的更為惡劣的背叛行徑，它并不顯眼。畢竟與考斯的損失規(guī)模與伊斯特萬星系中的慘烈戰(zhàn)爭相比，法爾海戰(zhàn)又算的了什么呢？所有這些和其他諸多事件都是荷魯斯暗中謀劃的方案，目的是要在帝國被激怒，拿出全部實力對抗他之前，腐化、削弱和摧毀那些可能會在他意圖焚滅光明并確保自己快速取勝的戰(zhàn)爭中與之對抗的勢力。這些陰謀和埋伏有很多都得逞了，其他的則失敗了，但這一切的意圖都是相同的，那就是要在帝國意識到自己正身處于生死存亡之戰(zhàn)前直搗黃龍。

In this wider context, Phall was just one more bloody pearl strung around the Imperium's neck at the moment of its betrayal. With hindsight, however, can the true significance of Phall be seen. There are many reasons why this is so. Pragmatically it would have a crucial effect on warriors and warships, bleeding two mighty battle fleets of the Legiones Astartes of much of?their strength at a time when either force left intact might have tipped the balance in favour of either side, and its attrition can be said to have perhaps been one coin that bought the ultimate outcome of a war that would last?for years, rather than for months. It was also a moment of supreme heroism, a stark shadow thrown by the light of loyalty into the shadow of deception. It was a disaster, a lost opportunity killed by that greatest and most timeless murderer：chance. Perhaps then it is for that cruellest of reasons that Phall is remembered as a byword for sacrifice and a scar on the soul of the Imperium still.

從更廣闊的背景來看，法爾海戰(zhàn)不過是帝國遭到背叛時從脖子上淌下的血珠之一，但我們在事后就能看到法爾海戰(zhàn)的真實意義。這場戰(zhàn)役的狀況是由很多因素造成的。從實用主義的角度來看，它對戰(zhàn)士和戰(zhàn)艦產(chǎn)生了關鍵性的影響。這場戰(zhàn)斗使兩支強大的阿斯塔特軍團戰(zhàn)斗艦隊受創(chuàng)，倘若當時有任何一方完好無損，其大部分力量可能就會使戰(zhàn)爭的天平傾向于某一方?？梢哉f，這兩只艦隊的損失可能導致了一個最終結果：荷魯斯叛亂的戰(zhàn)爭持續(xù)了數(shù)年而非僅僅數(shù)個月。但這也是一個極為英雄主義的時刻，忠誠之光射入欺詐的黑暗，留下一片光亮的影子。法爾海戰(zhàn)是一場災難，帝國喪失了自己的機會，而對其進行扼殺的就是那個最偉大也最永恒的謀殺者：可能性。大概正是出于最殘酷的原因，法爾才被人們銘記為犧牲的代名詞和帝國靈魂上的一道傷疤。

Rogal Dorn was the first Primarch?to learn of the treachery of his brother. Travelling back to Terra with the bulk of his forces, his fleet was caught by an upwelling of warp storms. Fleeing from the atrocity enacted upon Isstvan III, the Eisenstein was caught in the same storms, and somehow the paths of the Praetorian of Terra and the fleeing Loyalists crossed. None of those present ever spoke of the moment that Dorn learned of Horus?betrayal. Of his anger we can only guess, but his response was clear. He divided his fleet, part to remain with him to defend Terra, part to strike vengefully at Horus. Almost a third of the Legions strength in warriors and warships were sent under the command of Fleet Master Yonnad to this end, reinforced with auxiliaries and additional hunter-killer squadrons from the Sol systems Astra Militaris and the Saturnyne fleet reserve. Over five hundred ships dove back into the storms under this order of battle, and set course for the Isstvan system. It was a Retribution fleet, designed to be a?manifestation of justice bearing a brother's rage.

羅格 多恩是第一位得知他的兄弟發(fā)動叛亂的原體。他率領大部分部隊返回泰拉，但軍團艦隊遭遇了一股上升的亞空間風暴，而從發(fā)生于伊斯特萬三號上的暴行中逃出生天的愛森斯坦號也遭遇了相同的亞空間風暴。不知何故，泰拉禁衛(wèi)官和逃亡的忠誠者們的路線交叉了。當時在場的人都未曾提過多恩得知荷魯斯背叛帝國那一刻的表現(xiàn)。我們只能猜測多恩是何等的憤怒，但他的回應很明確：他把艦隊一分為二，一部分跟隨他去防守泰拉，另一部分去對荷魯斯進行報復性進攻。所以，軍團中大約三分之一的戰(zhàn)士和戰(zhàn)艦兵力被調(diào)配給艦隊之主約納德進行指揮，而且他們還得到了太陽系星界民兵和土星預備艦隊所提供的輔助軍和獵殺中隊的增援。在這條戰(zhàn)斗命令下，超過五百艘戰(zhàn)艦掉頭返回亞空間風暴中，啟程前往伊斯特萬星系。這就是報應艦隊，旨在體現(xiàn)承擔著一位兄弟的怒火的正義。

The Retribution fleet would never arrive at Isstvan. Soon after its departure, it was engulfed by the tortured Empyrean, which seemed to the astropathic auguries of Terra to convulse around the fleet and swallow it whole. Its fate was a tortured one, shorn and driven. It was torn apart by the warp storms, and its broken wreckage and surviving ships given little option for survival save to fleeing to a single calm shore, as if they were some crew of unfortunate souls swept along by a deadly cataract after a shipwreck in the tales of the ancient age of sail. That sole refiige proved to be the Phall system. Of the ships and warriors sent by Dorn, barely two-thirds survived the passage through the warp storms, with the larger Legiones Astartes vessels perhaps unsurprisingly fairing the better, but of these many were still damaged and suffered casualties. Those warships that did survive found themselves cut off from the Empyrean, becalmed in an island of cold silence. With the Warp surrounding them, ringed by the churning fury of the unabated storms, they could not make passage out of the Phall system without certain calamity, and their surviving Astropaths could neither receive nor send messages through the storm's barrier, which did no more than reflect their own messages back at them, twisted as if in mockery. Worse still was the fact that Yonnad, one of Dorns most trusted commanders —a strategist and leader whose record was almost without peer among his Legion— had died in the storms.

但報應艦隊永遠也不會抵達伊斯特萬星系。在出發(fā)后不久，他們便被飽受折磨的至高天所吞沒。在泰拉的星語占卜師們看來，亞空間在艦隊周邊抽搐痙攣，將他們整個吞噬。艦隊的命運倍受非物質(zhì)宇宙的折磨，他們歷盡波折，隨波漂流。亞空間風暴令艦隊四分五裂，除了逃到一個平靜的海岸外，破碎的殘骸與幸存的艦船幾乎沒有（其他的）生存選擇，他們就像是古代航海故事中那些在遭遇了一場海難后又被致命的大瀑布所卷走不幸靈魂。在多恩派出的艦船和戰(zhàn)士中，僅僅有三分之二的兵力從穿越亞空間風暴的航程中幸存下來，阿斯塔特軍團的大型戰(zhàn)艦或許狀況會更好一些，但其中依舊有很多都出現(xiàn)了艦體損壞和人員損失。這些幸存下來的戰(zhàn)艦發(fā)現(xiàn)自己與至高天隔絕開來，他們停航在了一片冷寂的孤島上。他們周邊的亞空間被風暴未減弱的翻騰狂怒所環(huán)繞著，這種特定災難使艦隊無法離開法爾星系，而且幸存的星語者們也無法穿透風暴的阻礙來接收或發(fā)送信息，他們自己發(fā)送的信息又被反映給他們，扭曲程度就像在嘲弄他們一樣。雪上加霜的是：約納德，這位多恩最信任的指揮官之一，功勛記錄在軍團中幾乎無可匹敵的戰(zhàn)略家和領導者，已經(jīng)死在了亞空間風暴中。

The Mantle of Command

指揮衣缽

The Imperial Fists are a Legion bound by discipline and unbending respect for oaths of honour. Yonnad was dead but in life he had anointed his lieutenant and pupil with responsibility for his command should he fall in battle. Alexis Polux was a captain of his Legion of relatively recent ascension to command rank; born of Inwit and marked for his great stature and stone-like demeanour, but one whose fame was not such that many beyond the ranks of Dorns sons had come to know of him. Cold, calculating and direct, his decades of war had marked him to some as a worthy warrior, but within the ranks of the fleet, there were Imperial Fists whose fame and experience yet exceeded Poluxs own, captains such as Tyr, Pertinax and Scallus with tallies of victory to their name that far exceeded those of the younger Polux. But Fleet Master Yonnad had seen more in the man he had chosen, and is said to have expressed to Rogal Dorn himself that Polux had the spark of genius in his understanding of warfare, a spark which had yet to kindle fully to the flame of its potential. We cannot now know what might have become of Polux had the command of the Retribution fleet not fallen to him, but as the proverb of the ancients was to have it "Commeth?the Hour; Commeth the Man".?This was to prove true in the case of Alexis Polux, and we can see now that Poluxs command altered the future of his entire Legion.

帝國之拳是一個由紀律和對榮譽誓言的執(zhí)著尊重綁定起來的軍團。盡管約納德已經(jīng)戰(zhàn)死，但他在生前便指定他的學徒和副官——亞歷克西斯 波拉克斯在自己犧牲后負責指揮部隊。波拉克斯是軍團中的一位連長，他晉升到指揮階層的時間相對較短；他生于因維特，以高大的身材和磐石般的舉止而著稱，但他的名聲并不顯赫，以至于除了多恩的子嗣之外，很少有人知道他。波拉克斯冷酷、精明而且直率，數(shù)十年的戰(zhàn)爭經(jīng)歷將他塑造為了一名優(yōu)秀的戰(zhàn)士，但在艦隊中也有名聲和經(jīng)歷超過波拉克斯的軍官，比如泰爾、博帝納克斯和薩魯斯等諸位連長，他們每個人的取勝次數(shù)都遠超年輕的波拉克斯。但艦隊之主約納德在自己選中的學徒身上看到了更多的特質(zhì)，據(jù)說他曾向羅格 多恩表示：波拉克斯在理解戰(zhàn)爭方面有著某種天賦火花，這絲火花尚未完全點燃其潛力的火焰。倘若當時指揮報應艦隊的責任并未落在波拉克斯肩上，那么他會變成怎樣一個人物，我們現(xiàn)在不得而知，但就如同古老的諺語所言：英雄造時勢，時勢造英雄。這句話在亞歷克西斯 波拉克斯身上應驗了，而且從現(xiàn)在來看，波拉克斯的指揮確實改變了整個帝拳軍團的未來。

Accepting mastery of the Retribution fleet, Polux's first act was to put it into a state of preparedness for attack. Reserves and supplies intended to sustain a long campaign were immediately expended to bring the surviving warships into a state of full repair and battle readiness without equivocation —a colossal feat of organisation in which Polux himself was to take the principal hand in organising. His warships he arranged into a constantly shifting sphere at the systems edge; the fleet became a fortress in the void, vigilant and constantly ready to respond to attack, and also positioned ready to cross into the Warp if a passage through the storms should clear. For days extending into months the Imperial Fists maintained their readiness, charting every gravitational tide and celestial synchronicity of the planetary system, making it a potential battlefield known to them in every detail.

接管報應艦隊后，波拉克斯的第一項舉措就是命令全體進入進攻防備狀態(tài)。原本用于維持長期戰(zhàn)役的儲備資源和補給被立即消耗，以使幸存的戰(zhàn)艦毫不含糊地進入全面修復和備戰(zhàn)狀態(tài)——這項壯舉需要龐雜的組織規(guī)劃安排，而波拉克斯本人將在組織工作中發(fā)揮主要作用。他在恒星系邊緣將戰(zhàn)艦們排列成一個不斷變化的球體，艦隊成為了虛空中的一座要塞，他們保持警惕，并隨時準備對進攻做出回應；而且他們也各就各位，準備在穿越風暴的航線清晰顯現(xiàn)后進入亞空間。艦隊停留在此地的時間由數(shù)天延長為數(shù)月，帝國之拳軍團依然保持著戰(zhàn)備狀態(tài)，他們繪制行星系統(tǒng)中的所有引力潮汐點和天體同步軌道，讓自己知道這片潛在戰(zhàn)場中的所有細節(jié)。

The Imperial Fists drilled tirelessly in every aspect of readiness from personal combat to coordination of fire between every part of the fleet, practicing manoeuvre and stratagems against every eventuality with a thoroughness that might have shamed even a commander of the XIIIth Legion. Though repeated attempts were made to break through the storms, they all failed.

從個人戰(zhàn)斗到艦隊各個部分之間的開火配合，帝國之拳們孜孜不倦地鉆研著戰(zhàn)備的各個方面，他們以一種甚至可能讓第十三軍團的指揮官都感到自愧不如的徹底性來練習應對各種可能性的機動動作和策略。艦隊也屢次嘗試沖破風暴，但都失敗了。

Polux's decision to put his command into such an active defensive condition, over say, conservation of strength on one hand or attempting to brave the storms regardless as soon as he was able on another—given the dire orders which they had been given and were sworn to obey— might seem strangely prescient, but such an assessment misses a number of factors both concerning the Retribution fleet's situation and the nature of the Imperial Fists themselves. When faced with uncertainty, defence is the VIIth Legions natural response nor is inaction part of their nature. Rogal Dorn is quoted repeatedly as saying that "if one waits for an enemy to declare their intent to attack then a gift is made to them of victory before battle has begun'. Poluxs caution was also not without cause. The Phall system, though obscure, was noted in the records of the Great Crusade as being home to two inhabited planets. Phall I and II were both agri-worlds, one covered in oceans, the other with fungal forests. Their populations, although not great in number by the standards of many worlds, were nevertheless well-established, peaceful and recorded to be in steady communication with the wider Imperium，?to whom they supplied regular provender.

波拉克斯決定將他的指揮置于非常積極的防御狀態(tài)，他一方面保持力量，另一方面又試圖在他有能力的情況下立即勇敢地穿越風暴，考慮到他們已經(jīng)被下達并宣誓服從的可怕命令，波拉克斯的舉措可能看起來奇怪地有先見之明。但這種看法也是忽略了許多關于報應艦隊的狀況和帝國之拳自身天性的要素，在面對不確定性時，第七軍團的自然反應就是進行防御，無所作為不是他們的天性。羅格 多恩的一句名言被他們反復引用過：“如果能等到敵方先聲奪人，那我們在戰(zhàn)前就已經(jīng)取勝?！辈ɡ怂沟闹斏饕膊粺o道理。盡管鮮為人知，但根據(jù)大遠征時期的記錄，法爾星系中也有兩顆有人類居住行星——法爾I和法爾II，他們都是農(nóng)業(yè)世界，一顆遍布海洋，另一顆覆蓋著真菌森林。雖然相比于很多帝國世界的標準，它們的人口數(shù)量并不眾多，但這兩個世界也是穩(wěn)固平和之地。它們被記錄與人類帝國之間存在著穩(wěn)定的聯(lián)系，定期為后者提供糧食。

When the Retribution fleet arrived at Phall, both worlds were found to be bare of human life, with no cause of this sudden calamity evident, nor even remains of the dead to be found. This, of course, was immediately cause for alarm and deep suspicion, and served only to further provoke caution on the part of the Imperial Fists on their unexpected arrival. In retrospect, it can be clearly seen as yet more evidence that suggests now that Phall was no random place of battle, but a place prepared or perhaps predestined by the dark powers beyond as both a trap and a place of ambush; a killing ground intended to doom a Legion. That such a thing —the manipulation of the Warp to so drive a fleet from its course, to shipwreck and bedevil it, and bring it exhausted to a single mote of cosmic space and there deposit it——was previously utterly inconceivable as reality, does not make it any less so. It was also likely true that the activity of mounting continuous defensive manoeuvre and relentless drill served a secondary purpose; it channelled the inherent restless aggression and intemperate bile that had been raised in the hearts of the Imperial Fists since the unbelievable facts of Horus' betrayal had come to light. To?the Imperial Fists, honour was above all else, and the Traitors by their very existence were now a slight to that honour that could only be expunged by blood. The chance for the Legion to do so would come from an unexpected quarter, and far more shockingly and suddenly than any realised.

但當報應艦隊抵達法爾星系時，他們并未在兩個農(nóng)業(yè)世界上發(fā)現(xiàn)活著的人類，這場突如其來的災難沒有明顯的原因，甚至連死者的遺骸都找不到。當然，這立即引起了艦隊的警覺和深切懷疑，也只會讓帝國之拳對自己意外到達此地更為警惕。我們從事后可以看到更多證據(jù)證明法爾星系并非一片隨機的戰(zhàn)場，而是一個由外界的黑暗力量準備或預定好的地方，這里既是陷阱又是伏擊區(qū)，是一片意圖摧毀帝拳軍團的殺戮地。操縱亞空間（活動）使艦隊偏離航向，令其沉沒并陷入困境，最后還要將這支精疲力盡的艦隊帶往宇宙空間中的一個角落，并把他們困在此地——這種事情在以前是完全不可想象的現(xiàn)實，但這并不會減弱這一切已經(jīng)發(fā)生的事實。不過真相也可能是：進行連續(xù)防御機動和無情演習的活動是帝拳軍團的次要目標；自從得知荷魯斯發(fā)動叛亂這一令人難以置信的事實后，帝國之拳軍團戰(zhàn)士們心中便升起了固有的不安分侵略性和無節(jié)制的憤怒。帝國之拳軍團認為榮譽高于一切，如今對那只能用鮮血抹去的榮譽而言，叛徒們的存在就是一種奇恥大辱。帝拳軍團將會從一個意想不到的地方得到捍衛(wèi)榮譽的機會，而且比任何人意識到的都要令人震驚和突然。

Death Scream

死亡之嚎

Polux's caution was eventually vindicated when the Retribution fleet came under unexpected and deadly psychic assault. Visions of pain and ethereal screams ripped through the warships with tortuous effect. At the time it seemed to the Imperial Fists as though this event was an attack in itself, but later discoveries and the perspective of history tells us that this was not the case, but the Empyreal scream served a different purpose. Scattered through the Phall system in places of concealment were hundreds of machines, each containing a comatose Astropath. Mutilated and bonded to psy-amplifying devices of unknown origin, each psyker was woken to full horrific wakefulness when the machine was triggered. The Astropaths' overloaded minds swept the void, scouring it for information before they perished and their death screams cut through the warp storms, as both beacon and message. Who had prepared the strange booby-trap and who received the messages sent by the murdered psykers was not known to the Imperial Fists, but one thing was put beyond doubt as the devices were analysed; someone was coming for them.

當報應艦隊遭到一次意想不到且致命的靈能攻擊時，波拉克斯的謹慎最終被證明是正確的。痛苦的幻象和來自以太界的非自然的嚎叫聲以扭曲的效果突然在戰(zhàn)艦猛得傳播開來。當時在帝拳軍團看來，這件事本身就是一次襲擊，但之后的調(diào)查探索和歷史觀點告訴我們：事實并非如此，但這次至高天尖嘯另有用途。艦隊（后來）發(fā)現(xiàn)法爾星系的隱蔽處散落著數(shù)百臺機器，每臺都關押著一名昏迷的星語者。當機器被觸發(fā)時，每個靈能者都會遭到肢解并被綁定到不明來源的靈能放大裝置，他們被喚醒到極其可怕的清醒狀態(tài)。星語者們超負荷的意識會掃過虛空，在這些靈能者死亡之前搜尋信息，之后他們的死亡尖叫劃破亞空間風暴，這聲靈能嚎叫既是燈塔又是信息。帝拳軍團并不知曉是誰準備了這個拙劣的陷阱并接收到了被謀殺的靈能者們傳遞的信息，但對于這些裝置的分析讓他們得出了一個毋庸置疑的結論：某些人正在為了他們而來。

In truth it now seems likely that Phall was a trap long prepared. The scouring of the system of life, the seeding of the machinebound psykers, even the clearing of the warp storms to allow the Retribution fleet into the system, all point to their marooning having been at the least planned for. So it was, to quote the writings of the Navis- Archonite Lyssian Haldaine, whose treatise on the Empyreal disturbances of the Horus Heresy era and their occult relationship to the Traitors?cause has since become judged as the greatest authority on these matters: "...the Imperial Fists waited, and prepared for a battle they did not know would come, while all around them the Warp laughed, and the playing pieces of catastrophe were moved into place to seal their ending."

事實上，現(xiàn)在看來法爾很可能是一個早就準備好的陷阱。對于星系中生命的肅清，對于機械束縛靈能者的事先隱秘安置，外加清除亞空間風暴以允許報應艦隊進入法爾星系，這一切都表明他們陷入困境至少是被計劃好的。我們在此處引用要導航尊者莉西亞·霍爾丹作品中的內(nèi)容，霍爾丹尊者寫作了關于荷魯斯叛亂時代的亞空間中騷亂現(xiàn)象及其與叛徒行動間神秘關系的論文，這些著作從此被認為是解釋此類問題的最權威的資料。引用內(nèi)容如下：

“…帝國之拳們等待著，準備迎接一場自己并不知道會即將到來的戰(zhàn)斗做。而他們周邊的亞空間則發(fā)出陣陣嘲笑，至高天將一枚災難的棋子移動到了合適的位置，來結束這盤游戲。”