Treachery at Port Maw

巨口港上的背叛

The situation in the Port Maw system was one of extreme and ruthless order holding back a tide of?chaos. The shell of the great artificial planetoid on which the vast naval base and void-forges had been built was choked by a swarm of vessels, both mighty and small, from a score of battleships girding themselves for war, to dozens of cruiser squadrons, countless hundreds of escorts, and thousands of servitor-drone tenders, victuallers and supply ships, troop transports and orbital lighters—all about their own business as the entire system stood on a state of high alert. In grim alliance, reinforcing fleets had come from the east, dark bronze warships bearing the fiery lantern-sigil of?the Agathean Domain, one of the most isolated of all the Imperium's clusters of civilization, lean pirate-killers from the Cerada Nebula and a trinity of huge storm-grey war-arks from the Mechanicum Forge World of Cyclothrathe, void-automata scuttling across their hulls like macabre insects. Into this morass of vessels, before the border fell silent, had also come the refugees from the storm. Some had been mercantile vessels, others great livestock conveyors or ore transports, fleeing from a dozen different systems under threat or under direct attack, and others were warships, the ragged survivors of the battles in the Cyclops Cluster and a handful had fled from as far afield as the murderous void battles at Isstvan, but of these no Space Marine vessels remained long at?anchor. Of this flotsam of war, most had been mauled by the enemy or driven past any safe operational ability in the desperate flight to reach safety, and all required aid and assistance of some kind. Some even had arrived in such a parlous state that they had to be scuttled or set to drift at the system's edge so they posed no danger to the vortex of ships that swirled around the port?station.

在巨口港所處的星系中，極端且無情的秩序阻擋了一波又一波的混亂。其上建筑有巨大海軍基地和虛空鑄造廠的大型人造小行星的外殼上停滿了大小各異的飛船，從二十艘（左右）整裝備戰(zhàn)的戰(zhàn)列艦，到幾十支巡洋艦中隊(duì)，數(shù)以百計的護(hù)衛(wèi)艦，以及數(shù)百艘由機(jī)仆駕駛的貨物供應(yīng)船、食品運(yùn)輸船、補(bǔ)給艦、運(yùn)兵船和軌道駁船——整個星系都處于高度戒備的狀態(tài)，所有人都在進(jìn)行著自己的工作。增援艦隊(duì)從東部區(qū)域趕來：來自全帝國最孤立的文明星群之一——Agathean統(tǒng)治域的暗青銅色戰(zhàn)艦，其上還帶有統(tǒng)治域的紋章：燃燒著的提燈；來自Cerada星云的海盜殺手艦；還有三艘來自機(jī)械神教鑄造世界Cyclothrathe的風(fēng)暴灰色巨型戰(zhàn)爭方舟，虛空機(jī)兵像恐怖的昆蟲一樣在船體上疾走。在邊境區(qū)域陷入沉寂之前，那些從亞空間風(fēng)暴中逃離的難民船也匯入了這片艦船的沼澤。其中一些是商船，另一些是大型牲畜運(yùn)輸船或礦石運(yùn)輸船，它們逃離自十幾個受到威脅或直接攻擊的不同星系。還有些飛船是戰(zhàn)艦，它們船身破爛，是獨(dú)眼巨人群星戰(zhàn)斗中的幸存者，也有一小部分是來自遙遠(yuǎn)的伊斯特萬星系，它們是從血腥的虛空戰(zhàn)斗中逃出生天的，但并沒有星際戰(zhàn)士的艦船在此長期停泊。在這些飽經(jīng)戰(zhàn)火摧殘的艦船中，大部分都遭到過敵軍的襲擊，或者是在逃往安全地區(qū)的絕望戰(zhàn)斗中繞過了所有安全操作，所以飛船都需要各種類型的急救和協(xié)助。有些飛船甚至是在極其危險的狀況下到達(dá)此地，以至于巨口港當(dāng)局不得不將其摧毀或讓它們停泊在星系的邊緣地帶，這樣它們才不會對港口空間站周圍盤旋的船只造成危險。

This hurricane of vessels, with its bewildering complexity and ever-shifting maze of hazards, was far too great a burden than any merely human mind could bear, and control of the vast armada was channelled through Port Maw's Mechanicum Astra Control Panopticon. This powerful broadcast tower, ten kilometres high, jutted spike-like from Port Maw’s southern pole. From here fleet orders and beacon signals were relayed, navigational co-ordinates checked and rectified, and centrally controlled cogitator- maintained data directly fed into the helms of the ships under the Port's watch, so as to swiftly reorganise their patterns and avoid collision. This system could, of course, be swiftly overridden by the ships themselves, but still represented a terrible vulnerability and so the Panopticons control frequencies had been proofed against treachery by a complete replacement of cyphers and encryption-djinn following the reveal, first of the Warmaster's treachery, and then changed again with panicked haste after the double blow of yet more betrayal at Isstvan V.This had been of even greater concern as a significant portion of both the Raven Guard and Iron Warriors fleets had made layover for resupply at Port Maw on their way to what would become the Dropsite Massacre, and both had been fully updated on the Port's codes and deployment schedules. All of this was deemed compromised and once again swiftly replaced wholesale and, due to this, the Port Maw void augury and geas-overide systems were then believed by the Armada Command to still be impregnable against outside influence. Indeed, perhaps they would have proved so, except that the spider at the heart of this vast web, the Archmagos- Astral Leit Mercuric, cyber-ordinator of Port Maw, was already secretly sworn to Horus.

（處理）這些巨量且龐雜的艦船，以及它們運(yùn)作時那令人困惑的復(fù)雜性和如不斷變化的危險迷宮般的隊(duì)列，遠(yuǎn)非是普通凡人所能承擔(dān)的重任?？刂七@支龐大艦隊(duì)的是位于巨口港的機(jī)械神教星際控制圓廳。這座功能強(qiáng)大的廣播塔足有十千米高，像根釘子一樣從巨口港的南極伸出。這里轉(zhuǎn)發(fā)艦隊(duì)指令和（導(dǎo)航）燈塔信號，檢查和矯正導(dǎo)航坐標(biāo)。這座塔會集中將沉思者保存維護(hù)著的數(shù)據(jù)直接輸送到巨口港監(jiān)視下的艦船的輪舵，這樣就能迅速重組艦船的（行駛）模式并避免發(fā)生碰撞。當(dāng)然，艦船本身也能快速超馳這套系統(tǒng)，這是一個可怕的弱點(diǎn)。所以當(dāng)戰(zhàn)帥戰(zhàn)帥第一次露出自己背叛的獠牙之后，控制圓廳就用密碼和加密鬼靈完全替換了控制頻率；當(dāng)荷魯斯在伊斯特萬五號做出更多背叛之舉，對帝國進(jìn)行雙重打擊之后，控制圓廳再次驚慌失措地匆忙更改了密碼。由于在前去參與被后世稱為“登陸點(diǎn)大屠殺”事件的途中，暗鴉守衛(wèi)和鋼鐵勇士的軍團(tuán)艦隊(duì)都有很大一部分在巨口港進(jìn)行過短暫停留以進(jìn)行補(bǔ)給，兩者都完整地更新了巨口港的密碼和部署時間表，因此巨口港當(dāng)局對這一情況進(jìn)行了更為密切的關(guān)注。（于是）所有這些信息都被認(rèn)為會令巨口港陷入危機(jī)，巨口港再次對其快速進(jìn)行全面替換，艦隊(duì)指揮部由此相信：巨口港的虛空鳥卜儀和指令覆蓋系統(tǒng)在應(yīng)對外部影響時仍是堅不可摧的。事實(shí)上，或許這些裝備和系統(tǒng)會被證明是可靠的，但身處這張巨大網(wǎng)絡(luò)核心處的那只蜘蛛——巨口港的智控網(wǎng)絡(luò)協(xié)調(diào)官、星辰大賢者雷特 梅爾庫里克已經(jīng)秘密宣誓效忠于荷魯斯。

The Web of?Deceit

欺詐之網(wǎng)

Under the hand of the treacherous Archmagos of Port Maw, a fiendish web of conspiracy and malevolence had been forming and its strands stretched far and wide across the Manachean Commonwealth and its worlds, and out to the dominions of Agathon and the dual suns of Cerada at the furthest extreme of the Coronid Reach. Now its hour was at hand.

經(jīng)由巨口港的叛變大賢者之手，一張由陰謀和惡意所組成的惡毒網(wǎng)絡(luò)正在形成，它的觸角延伸到了Manachean 聯(lián)邦和此地諸世界的各處，而且還向外延伸到了Agathon統(tǒng)治域，以及位于王冠深淵區(qū)域最遙遠(yuǎn)地區(qū)的Cerada雙星星系?，F(xiàn)在，它發(fā)揮作用的時刻即將到來。

This conspiracy had many layers, and many agencies were bound up within it, from the Traitor Archmagos-Astral Mercuric and her acolytes, to several officer cadres of the Imperialis Armada who had been corrupted by strange rites and secret societies brought into their midst while serving alongside the Sons of Horus and the Word Bearers Legions, to turncoats bribed through the more traditional means of festering dissent, greed, fear and hungry ambition, and purposefully planted spies and saboteurs hiding behind the identities of murdered men and women. Their numbers, particularly in relation to the billions of men and women under arms in the Manachean Commonwealth, were in comparison very few, but they were well placed, and with such a tainted network, it had been all too easy to ensure that forces and agents loyal to the Warmaster were where they would do the most harm when the time came.

這個陰謀有許多層次，很多機(jī)構(gòu)都涉及其中，從叛變的星辰大賢者梅爾庫里克和她的侍從們，到數(shù)名被奇怪的儀式和他們當(dāng)中的秘密結(jié)社（這種組織是在他們與荷魯斯之子和懷言者軍團(tuán)共同行動時被引入的）所腐化的帝國艦隊(duì)軍官，變節(jié)者們通過煽動異議，利用（人們的）貪婪、恐懼和野心等更為傳統(tǒng)的方式來進(jìn)行收買賄賂，并且有意安插以謀殺被害者身份作為掩護(hù)的間諜和破壞者們。他們的數(shù)量相比之下非常稀少，尤其是相對于Manachean聯(lián)邦中數(shù)十億男女武裝人員而言，但他們布置周密，而且通過這樣一套被污染的網(wǎng)絡(luò)，等時機(jī)一到，變節(jié)者們很容易就能確保那些忠于戰(zhàn)帥的部隊(duì)和特工們在自己所處的位置上做出最嚴(yán)重的破壞。

Like a fruit, wholesome to the appearance but canker-ridden from within, the Manachean Commonwealth's vaunted defences were already undermined, and its fate was to serve as an object lesson not in outright destruction —as that at the worlds of the Cyclops Cluster had been一 but in the surety of a blade in the back.

（現(xiàn)在的）Manachean聯(lián)邦就像一顆水果，外表完整光鮮，但內(nèi)部已經(jīng)滿是腐壞潰爛，他們自夸的（嚴(yán)密）防御已經(jīng)遭到破壞。聯(lián)邦的命運(yùn)將會成為一個實(shí)際的教訓(xùn)，而非一次徹底的毀滅——就像已經(jīng)發(fā)生在獨(dú)眼巨人群星各個世界上的情況那樣，不過發(fā)生這一切是因?yàn)槁?lián)邦在背后被人捅刀。

The Blade in the Dark

黑暗中的利刃

It was at 0044008.M31,0402 local standard time, some five hours before the system's white sun would dawn over the spires of?Hive Ilium, principal seat of power and governance of Manachea Vysidae, when the first reports of the attack came. Within minutes alarm klaxons were sounding and civil defence hailers were barking out orders all across the worlds eleven sprawling open- metroplex hive structures, and Manachea's billions were rousing themselves for imminent crisis. Ground-to-orbital defence laser batteries and sentinel auspex towers swept the skies. Great arterial roadways which thundered daily under the treads of millions of vehicles were cleared and fell silent but for priority military traffic, habitation blocks went under mass curfew, and countless militia units were mustered, armed and deployed, their Rhino carriers sweeping through the otherwise empty night-time streets. In the most vital strategic areas, transport termina, landing zones, mass-generatora stations and the thuggish Arbitrator block fortresses set against the threat of civil revolt, the scurrying of the militia was watched impassively by the visored helms of?the Solar Auxilia Cohorts deployed to defend the capital hive, the battle-hardened professional soldiers already alert and ready at their posts. But the clockwork precision with which the long-drilled defence plans of the Manachean state swung into action was belied by the horror and near anarchy that reigned in the command amphitheatre of the Palace of Light, as the fortified government spire of Hive ilium was known.

現(xiàn)在是當(dāng)?shù)貥?biāo)準(zhǔn)時間0044008.M31,0402，大約五個小時之后，星系中那顆白色的恒星將會從Manachea Vysidae主要的權(quán)力和政治所在地：Ilium巢都的塔尖上方升起——這就是第一次進(jìn)攻報告發(fā)出的時間地點(diǎn)。幾分鐘之內(nèi)，警報的電子喇叭聲響起，民防系統(tǒng)的高音信號播放器在位于世界各地的十一座向四周蔓延開的開放型大都會式的巢城構(gòu)造體中大聲播放著命令。Manachea的數(shù)十億人都在為應(yīng)對這次迫在眉睫的危機(jī)而奮起抵抗，地對軌道激光防御炮塔沖著天空掃射，哨戒鳥卜塔搜索著蒼穹。平日里，巨大的主干道上有數(shù)百輛載具駛過，發(fā)出雷霆般的聲響，現(xiàn)在道路被清空且陷入沉寂，行駛優(yōu)先權(quán)被給予軍用交通工具，居住區(qū)實(shí)行大規(guī)模宵禁，無數(shù)的軍事單位被集結(jié)、武裝和部署下去，他們的犀牛運(yùn)輸車行駛在夜晚空曠的道路上。在最為重要的戰(zhàn)略地點(diǎn)、運(yùn)輸航站、登陸區(qū)、大型發(fā)電站和兇悍的仲裁官們的駐地——為了應(yīng)對內(nèi)部暴亂而設(shè)立的仲裁官要塞中，被部署前來保衛(wèi)首府巢都的太陽軍兵團(tuán)進(jìn)駐了這些地方，帶著遮住面部頭盔的太陽軍們冷漠地看著民兵們匆忙跑過——這些久經(jīng)沙場的職業(yè)軍人已經(jīng)在各自的崗位上做好了警戒和戰(zhàn)斗準(zhǔn)備。Manachean聯(lián)邦長時間操練過的防御計劃一旦付諸行動，就會如同時鐘一般精準(zhǔn)，但光明宮殿——ilium巢都要塞化的政府尖塔的指揮圓廳中恐怖且近乎混亂的狀況表明這一切都是假象。

Here the Imperial Commander of Vysidae and Lord Protector of the Manachean Commonwealth, Pryamus Beket, a born patrician whose noble line had ruled this world since the Age of Strife could do nothing but look on in disbelief and dawning terror at what was displayed in the huge holo-occularis which lit up the central space of the echoing amphitheatre. Around him his generals and staff officers bickered and argued, almost in a frenzy, whilst civic officials wandered in confusion. The Tech-Priest strategos linked to the sensorium through thick umbilical cabling howled screeds of lingua-technis at each other while their slaved servitors spewed reams of data-parchment as they checked and re-interrogated readings and reports, which should not... could not be true. The very stars of the night skies over Vysidae were being blotted out by the warships of the enemy approaching and despite this, the orbital mines had not detonated and the defence monitor ships had answered no vox- hail, although they appeared to sail on serene and oblivious to the danger on the auspex- scanners. All of this is recorded in the deepcore archive of Hive Ilium, recovered from its ruins many years later when the ashes of the Commonwealth were raked over by the forces of the Great Scouring, shedding light on a tragedy that until then had remained just one more mystery of this great and unknown war.?

Vysidae的帝國指揮官兼Manachean聯(lián)邦的護(hù)國尊主——普里亞摩斯·貝克特此刻就身處指揮圓廳，這位貴胄出身自一個從紛爭紀(jì)元開始就統(tǒng)治著這個世界的貴族家系，但他現(xiàn)在只能帶著懷疑和逐漸浮現(xiàn)的恐懼看著巨大的全息顯像器中所展示的東西，這道投影照亮了回響著各種人聲的圓廳的中央空間。圍繞在他身邊的將軍和參謀們在近乎瘋狂地爭吵，而文官們則在困惑慌亂地來回踱步。負(fù)責(zé)軍事指揮的技術(shù)神甫們用粗重的臍帶電纜連接著感覺器官，他們彼此在用冗長的技術(shù)語怒吼喝罵，而在他們檢查和重新查詢讀數(shù)與報告的同時，受他們操控的機(jī)仆們也吐出了大量的數(shù)據(jù)羊皮卷，但上面的內(nèi)容不應(yīng)該…不可能是真的。逼近中的敵軍戰(zhàn)艦遮蔽住了Vysidae夜空中的所有星辰，但軌道空雷并未被引爆，防御監(jiān)測船也未回應(yīng)任何音頻呼叫，盡管它們似乎是在平穩(wěn)運(yùn)行，而且對鳥卜掃描儀上顯示的危險渾然不覺。所有這一切都被記錄在Ilium巢都深核區(qū)的檔案館中，數(shù)年之后，當(dāng)大清洗的部隊(duì)前來搜索聯(lián)邦的余燼時想，他們從巢都的廢墟中回收了這些記錄文件。這些資料為我們闡明了一場悲劇，而在這之前，這場悲劇僅僅是那場規(guī)模宏大且未知的戰(zhàn)爭中的又一個謎題。

At this very hour, in a feat of co-ordination that ought to have been impossible over distances separated by weeks of Warp travel from each other in normal circumstances, the skies of other worlds yet untouched by the war were being darkened by other war fleets moved by the Warmaster's hand. In orbit of the frontier world of Subinus, an expected relief convoy, flanked by escorting frigate squadrons, opened fire on the patrol cruisers they were to have resupplied, before turning their batteries on the few cities of the world below, pounding them to rubble. Elsewhere, at the vast open-cast carbide mines on the shattered planetoid of Cryxa, the lone Fourth Horseman of the Death Guard Legion attacked, crashing through the outer workings to unleash an entire company of Grave Warden Terminators directly into the mine's populated gallery levels, commencing a month long season of slaughter which purged the planetoid of human life. At distant Numinal, key to the Coronid Reach, an armada of more than a hundred vessels bearing the arachnid-machina heraldry of the Taghmata Cyclothrathe tore out of the Warp and declared the entire star system forfeit to them on pain of death. Even further out, at Maxilla Planus, the arrival of Rogue Trader warships bearing the Eye of Horus on their flanks was the signal for a mass workers revolt that set the continent-spanning fields of the agri-world ablaze, while at the nearby colony world of Bredac Junction, the reaver Knight House of Aerthegn swept down from the stars to plunder, enslave and kill, bearing that same serpent's eye upon their banners.

就在此時此刻，其他那些尚未被戰(zhàn)爭所觸及的世界的天空也（同時）被戰(zhàn)帥移動到此地的戰(zhàn)艦所遮蔽——這些世界艦相隔著亞空間航行數(shù)周才能穿越的（遙遠(yuǎn)）距離，在正常情況下，這種壯舉般的協(xié)調(diào)本應(yīng)是不可能發(fā)生的。在邊境世界Subinus的軌道上，一支由護(hù)衛(wèi)艦中隊(duì)們護(hù)航的預(yù)計中的救濟(jì)艦隊(duì)來到此地，但它們向自己本要為其提供補(bǔ)給的巡邏巡洋艦開火，之后這支艦隊(duì)將炮塔轉(zhuǎn)向了下方世界上為數(shù)不多的城市，將其轟為瓦礫。在破碎的小行星Cryxa上巨大的露天碳化物礦場中，死亡守衛(wèi)軍團(tuán)的“第四騎士”號戰(zhàn)艦獨(dú)自發(fā)動了進(jìn)攻，它撞穿了礦場的外層作業(yè)區(qū)，將整整一個連隊(duì)的墓葬守衛(wèi)終結(jié)者直接釋放到了人口密集的礦道層中，在進(jìn)行了長達(dá)一個月的屠殺之后，整顆小行星上的人口都被清理掉了。在通往王冠深淵地區(qū)的關(guān)鍵（節(jié)點(diǎn)）區(qū)域——遙遠(yuǎn)的Numinal星系里，由超過一百艘攜帶著Cyclothrathe禁衛(wèi)軍機(jī)械化蛛形綱生物紋章的艦船組成的艦隊(duì)撕開亞空間來到此地，他們宣稱整個星系都?xì)w自己所有，違抗者將痛苦死去。在更為遙遠(yuǎn)的Maxilla Planus世界處，在船身兩側(cè)攜帶著荷魯斯之眼標(biāo)志的行商浪人戰(zhàn)艦們到達(dá)此地，艦隊(duì)的到來是地面上爆發(fā)大規(guī)模工人起義的信號，這個農(nóng)業(yè)世界上橫跨大陸的農(nóng)田陷入一片火海；同時在附近的殖民地世界Bredac Junction上，阿爾澤恩騎士家族的掠奪者們自群星而來，進(jìn)行掠奪、奴役和殺戮，他們的戰(zhàn)旗上也帶著同樣的蛇眼標(biāo)志。

The Wolves of?War

戰(zhàn)爭群狼

In the amphitheatre of the Palace of Light on Manachea, garbled facts were at last taking shape just as the planetary defence lasers were beginning to open fire at maximum range against the vanguard of the encroaching fleet, sending spears of blinding light into the night skies. A fleet of ships had somehow bypassed the system's outer ring of defences entirely, and in doing so had passed through none of the expected Warp termina transfer points from the galactic west or south, instead they had come in from the northern shipping channel—from Port Maw itself .In doing so, these new arrivals had impossibly carried with them Port Maw identification cyphers which had blinded the servitors and picquet ships far from visual range to their hostility until it was too late.

在Manachea世界上光之宮殿的指揮圓廳中，就在行星防御激光開始在最大射程內(nèi)對入侵艦隊(duì)的先鋒開火，令人目盲的光矛穿透夜空時，被篡改的事實(shí)終于成形了：一支艦隊(duì)依靠某種方式完全繞過了星系外側(cè)的防御環(huán)帶，而且在這個過程中，他們并沒有通過銀河系西部或南部任何一個預(yù)期中的亞空間傳送終點(diǎn)，相反，他們是從銀河北方的航道——也就是巨口港本身來到此地的。這支艦隊(duì)也不可能攜帶著巨口港的身份識別密碼——這套密碼能使遠(yuǎn)離他們視線范圍的機(jī)仆和哨衛(wèi)艦察覺不到他們的敵意，直到一切為時已晚。

Waves of near silent boarding torpedoes, assault rams and Dreadclaws sent hurtling towards their targets as mute and cold as lead shot in the void had done the rest.

一波又一波幾乎悄無聲息的魚雷、突擊艇和恐懼爪沖向了目標(biāo)，它們就像虛空中被射出的鉛彈一樣悄無聲息、冰冷無情。

The frost-rimed assault craft, using neither life support nor power in order to conceal their approach, slammed into the hulls of defence monitors and gun platforms undetected until the last, and soon the void war for the control of Manachea's orbit was over before it had even begun. It was only now, as the main body of the invading task force drew close, that the cogitators and lexmechanics reached their conclusions and put names to a handful of the warships poised like spear tips over Hive Ilium: the Desolation, King Eater, the Oblivion, Gore Prow, and the infamous Bone Jackal; all heavy warships of the XVIth legion——warships of the Sons of Horus.?

船體邊緣覆蓋著冰霜的突擊艇停用了生命維持系統(tǒng)和動力（系統(tǒng)）來隱藏自己的接近，它們撞穿了防御監(jiān)測站和火炮平臺的外殼，直到最后才被發(fā)現(xiàn)；不久，爭奪Manachea軌道控制權(quán)的虛空戰(zhàn)甚至還未開始就結(jié)束了。直到此刻，入侵特遣隊(duì)逼近Manachea世界時，沉思者和詞錄儀才得出了結(jié)論，顯示出了幾艘像矛尖一樣懸在Ilium巢都上空的飛船的名稱：荒蕪號、噬王者號、血首號以及臭名昭著的白骨豺狼號，所有這些重型戰(zhàn)艦都來自第十六軍團(tuán)——是荷魯斯之子軍團(tuán)的戰(zhàn)艦。