本文摘選自?Andy Hoare?所著英文小說(shuō)《Savage Scars》，該譯文作為練習(xí)僅為個(gè)人與交流使用，不用作商業(yè)用途。?

為了重新控制那些因亞空間風(fēng)暴活動(dòng)和邪惡的靈族海盜掠襲而與泰拉統(tǒng)治長(zhǎng)期隔絕的世界，人類(lèi)帝國(guó)那最為光榮的部隊(duì)于帝國(guó)歷742.M41年發(fā)動(dòng)了一場(chǎng)征旨在服厲澤希星區(qū)的遠(yuǎn)征。但不幸的是，人們發(fā)現(xiàn)更為糟糕的命運(yùn)已經(jīng)降臨到了這些愚昧的世界上。沿著那被稱為達(dá)摩克利斯灣的天穹異象的邊緣，那一帶的世界已經(jīng)被一個(gè)之前不曾所知的、叫做鈦星人的異形種族滲透了，他們動(dòng)搖了那里的正當(dāng)統(tǒng)治。而在發(fā)現(xiàn)這種兩面派行為的人當(dāng)中，最重要的當(dāng)屬阿卡狄烏斯家族的族長(zhǎng)，行商浪人盧修安·格里特。

In the year of Our Emperor 742.M41, the most glorious forces of the Imperium launched a crusade of conquest into the Lithesh Sector, to regain control of those worlds so long estranged from the Rule of Terra by warp storm activity and the raids of the pernicious eldar. But woe, for it was discovered that far worse a fate had befallen those benighted worlds. A previously unknown xenos species called the tau had infiltrated and undermined the proper governance of a string of worlds along the edge of the celestial anomaly known as the Damocles Gulf. Foremost amongst those to have discovered this duplicity was the rogue trader Lucian Gerrit, patriarch of the Clan Arcadius.

隨著脫離掌控的世界變得越來(lái)越多，人類(lèi)帝國(guó)無(wú)法置之不理，也不會(huì)袖手旁觀。布里姆洛克的樞機(jī)主教伊索·古尼是一位煽動(dòng)性極強(qiáng)的傳教士，他鼓吹要對(duì)鈦星人進(jìn)行一場(chǎng)全面的遠(yuǎn)征，他認(rèn)為必須要突破達(dá)摩克利斯灣，找到鈦星人的母星，然后將整個(gè)種族滅絕掉。

The Imperium could not, would not, stand by as more worlds fell from the fold. The firebrand preacher Cardinal Esau Gurney of Brimlock preached a full crusade against the tau, holding that the Gulf must be breached, the tau home world located and the entire species exterminated.

戰(zhàn)斗的召喚響徹星區(qū)內(nèi)外，并且得到了回應(yīng)。來(lái)自鋼鐵之手、白色傷疤、極限戰(zhàn)士和皇帝之鐮的星際戰(zhàn)士響應(yīng)了召喚，十幾位行星總督也是如此，他們?yōu)檫M(jìn)行達(dá)摩克利斯遠(yuǎn)征的帝國(guó)衛(wèi)隊(duì)組建了新的兵團(tuán)。行商浪人盧修安也響應(yīng)了號(hào)召，他的行商許可為他在遠(yuǎn)征軍議會(huì)中掙得了一席之地。

The call to arms rang out across the sector and beyond, and was answered. The Space Marines of the Iron Hands, White Scars, Ultramarines and Scythes of the Emperor heeded that call, as did a dozen planetary governors who raised new regiments for the Imperial Guard to prosecute the Damocles Gulf Crusade. The rogue trader Lucian answered the call too, his Warrant of Trade earning him a place on the crusade’s command council.

但是審判官格蘭德也參與了進(jìn)來(lái)，而議會(huì)很快就分裂成兩個(gè)陣營(yíng)——那些以格蘭德和古尼為中心、只想將鈦?zhàn)瀹愋螠缃^的，以及那些同行商浪人結(jié)盟的，后者追求的是程度各異的榮耀、榮譽(yù)或是利益，而非不光彩的屠殺。

But so too did the figure of Inquisitor Grand, and the council soon split into two factions—those centred around Grand and Gurney, who desired only the complete destruction of the xenos tau, and those allied to the rogue trader, who sought in various degrees honour, glory or profit, but not dishonourable slaughter.

第一場(chǎng)戰(zhàn)斗是在達(dá)摩克利斯灣的近畔打響的，接著，塞'爾'克爾相對(duì)輕易地就被征服了，鈦?zhàn)迮炾?duì)在海達(dá)斯遭到了擊敗。但是議會(huì)早就被兩敗俱傷的內(nèi)斗撕碎了，而格里特的女兒布里埃爾則在襲擊了審判官后逃逃之夭夭，其目的未明。之后，她被認(rèn)為已經(jīng)死亡，這讓她的父親十分絕望，盡管他的兒子柯汶依然支持著他。

The first battles were fought on the nearside of the Damocles Gulf, and saw the world of Sy'l'kell conquered with relative ease and a tau fleet bested at Hydass. But already the council was being torn asunder by internecine rivalries and Gerrit’s daughter Brielle appeared to assault the inquisitor, for reasons unknown, and flee. She was assumed dead thereafter, much to her father’s despair, though he still had his son Korvane to stand by him.

在凈化了維斯'伊爾之后，遠(yuǎn)征軍穿越了達(dá)摩克利斯灣，他們懷著忠信者的正義之怒撲向了普拉'延。然而在那里，皇帝的戰(zhàn)士們差點(diǎn)就大難臨頭，因?yàn)槭潞笞C明，鈦星人的的威脅程度之大要遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超過(guò)之前的任何預(yù)想。鈦星人并不是什么居住在單個(gè)世界上的渺小種族，他們擁有一整個(gè)恒星王國(guó)。

Having purged the world of Viss’el, the crusade pierced the Damocles Gulf, and fell upon the world of Pra’yen with the righteous fury of the faithful. But disaster almost befell the Emperor’s warriors there, for it proved that the tau were a far greater threat than any had imagined. The tau were not some minor race residing on but a single world, but were possessed of an entire stellar realm.

正當(dāng)遠(yuǎn)征軍兵臨達(dá)'利斯星系的首都世界達(dá)'利斯主星并準(zhǔn)備將其虜獲之際，更多的鈦?zhàn)宀筷?duì)逼近了。達(dá)摩克利斯灣遠(yuǎn)征的命運(yùn)將掌握在三個(gè)人的手中——白色傷疤的老兵士官薩瑞克，行商浪人盧修安·格里特，以及他的女兒布里埃爾，她因自己的狂妄自大而落入鈦?zhàn)逅洗笫箠W拉的手中。

As the crusade pressed in to capture the capital world of the Dal’yth system, Dal’yth Prime, more tau forces closed in. The fate of the Damocles Gulf Crusade would come to rest in the hands of three individuals—the White Scars Veteran Sergeant Sarik, the rogue trader Lucian Gerrit, and his daughter Brielle, who had fallen by her own hubris into the hands of the tau water caste envoy called Aura.

遠(yuǎn)征軍正在集結(jié)部隊(duì)，這是為“冥王行動(dòng)”——登陸達(dá)'利斯主星準(zhǔn)備的。所有的一切都取決于這些登陸行動(dòng)，以及這三個(gè)截然不同者的一舉一動(dòng)。

Mustering its forces, the crusade prepared for "Operation Pluto"—the Dal‘yth Prime landings. All would depend on those landings, and the actions of but three very different individuals.

——摘自《達(dá)摩克利斯遠(yuǎn)征的真相》序言

?—Extract from preface of The truth of the Damocles Gulf Crusade

(未能發(fā)表，作者不詳)

(unpublished, author unknown)?

PS：達(dá)摩克利斯遠(yuǎn)征（1）之所以會(huì)失敗并不是因?yàn)橄x(chóng)巢艦隊(duì)的突然出現(xiàn)（2），而是因?yàn)槿祟?lèi)帝國(guó)實(shí)在是過(guò)于低估了鈦星人的實(shí)力（3）。然而可悲的是，即使經(jīng)歷了這場(chǎng)慘敗，人類(lèi)帝國(guó)依然沒(méi)有把錯(cuò)誤的認(rèn)知糾正過(guò)來(lái)（4）。

（1）這里的達(dá)摩克利斯遠(yuǎn)征指的是Andy Hoare的行商浪人三部曲系列，也就是500個(gè)星際戰(zhàn)士&19個(gè)團(tuán)的IG的那個(gè)版本。

（2）事實(shí)上，早在進(jìn)攻達(dá)'利斯主星之前，也就是當(dāng)?shù)蹏?guó)遠(yuǎn)征軍以慘重的代價(jià)打贏了Pra'yen海戰(zhàn)之后① ，他們就已經(jīng)知道自己即將大難臨頭② 。

①捷爾拉夸宣布此戰(zhàn)獲得了勝利，但很顯然遠(yuǎn)征軍幾乎再也無(wú)法承受一場(chǎng)這樣的勝利了 。

The battle had been a victory, Jellaqua had announced, but it was obvious the Imperium could scarcely afford another such win.

②盧修安站在那里，抬頭看著他兒子在主顯示屏中的投影。艦隊(duì)的廣域頻道立刻就因艦長(zhǎng)們的千提萬(wàn)問(wèn)而亂作了一團(tuán)。盧修安于此時(shí)明白了，遠(yuǎn)征議會(huì)犯下了一個(gè)可怕的錯(cuò)誤，那就是之前低估了鈦星人。議會(huì)曾經(jīng)確信遠(yuǎn)征軍足以征服鈦?zhàn)?。盧修安也承認(rèn)他此前曾認(rèn)為異形會(huì)提出議和而非直面遠(yuǎn)征大軍的武力，這支艦隊(duì)能夠?qū)⒀赝舅龅氖澜缙茐拇M，他自己也相信任何神智正常的對(duì)手都不會(huì)去冒險(xiǎn)和具有如此力量的毀滅大軍為敵。盧修安于此時(shí)終于明白了，不久之后，遠(yuǎn)征軍將不得不進(jìn)行戰(zhàn)斗，不是為了征服，而是為了生存。然而他懷疑由樞機(jī)主教古尼領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的主流派是否會(huì)對(duì)此事持相同觀點(diǎn)。盧修安知道遠(yuǎn)征軍會(huì)繼續(xù)莽撞地往鈦星人的宙域里沖，直至它的攻勢(shì)被消耗殆盡，然后鈦星人會(huì)發(fā)起必然的反擊。

Lucian stood, looking up at the image of his son upon the main pict screen.The fleet wide channel broke out in chaos as those masters who had listened in demanded a million answers to a million questions, all at once. Lucian saw then that the crusade council had made a terrible error in underestimating the tau as it had. The council had decreed that the crusade would be sufficient to conquer the tau. Lucian had to admit that even he had believed the aliens would sue for peace rather than face the might of the crusade, somehow having convinced himself that no sane foe would risk the utter devastation the fleet could wreak upon any world it encountered. Lucian saw then that the crusade might soon have to fight, not for conquest, but for its very existence. He doubted the dominant faction, led by Cardinal Gurney, would view the matter in quite the same way, however. Lucian knew that the crusade would continue blundering on into tau space until it ran out of momentum entirely and the tau unleashed the inevitable counter-attack.

（3）遠(yuǎn)征軍以為鈦星人最多只有一兩個(gè)星系③ ，而實(shí)際上…此時(shí)鈦星人的疆域已經(jīng)是一個(gè)橫跨300光年的球狀星團(tuán)，其大小接近兩個(gè)星區(qū)④。

③“如我所言，第四象區(qū)是一個(gè)主要世界，其人口密集程度和防御等級(jí)不亞于任何一個(gè)星區(qū)首府。而且它并非只有一個(gè)。通過(guò)我們所截獲的通信網(wǎng)絡(luò)，這一整個(gè)區(qū)域都極其活躍。父親，這些鈦星人不是什么僅僅限居于一到兩個(gè)星系的渺小種族。他們有無(wú)數(shù)個(gè)星系，橫跨整個(gè)星團(tuán)。今天你們?cè)诖颂幩鎸?duì)的不過(guò)是他們軍力中微不足道的一部分。而且……” 柯汶的話語(yǔ)被另一陣激烈的咳嗽所打斷了。

"As I said, the fourth body is a major world, as populous and as well defended as any sector capital. And it's not the only one. By the comms traffic we intercepted, this entire region is swarming with activity. Father, these tau are not some insignificant little race limited to one or two systems. There are millions of them, spread across the whole cluster. Whatever you faced here today is only the smallest part of their forces. And..." Korvane broke into another fit of violent coughing.?

④這片區(qū)域被一場(chǎng)突如其來(lái)的亞空間風(fēng)暴隔絕了超過(guò)六千年之久，當(dāng)?shù)谝慌猩汤巳酥匦路祷剡@片宙域時(shí)，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)鈦?zhàn)逡呀?jīng)從準(zhǔn)石器時(shí)代進(jìn)化成了一個(gè)高度先進(jìn)、科技異端的文明，并且橫跨了三百光年。

A sudden warp storm had cut the region off for over six thousand years, and when the first rogue traders pushed back into this area of space, they found that the tau race had evolved from a virtual stone age to a culture of high sophistication and technological heresy, spanning three hundred light years.

（4）此戰(zhàn)結(jié)束后，人類(lèi)帝認(rèn)為鈦星人擁有數(shù)百個(gè)世界⑤ ，而實(shí)際上光是在戰(zhàn)后響應(yīng)鈦?zhàn)逄?hào)召，前來(lái)幫忙重建達(dá)'利斯主星的異形種族就有成百上千之多了⑥。

⑤?盡管以人類(lèi)帝國(guó)的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)來(lái)看，鈦帝國(guó)很小，但它依然由幾百個(gè)世界組成，要將它們?nèi)空鞣枰獎(jiǎng)佑脴O大的兵力。

Also the Tau Empire, although small by the Imperium's standards,still consists of some hundred worlds and the forces required to conquer them all would be immense.??

⑥成百上千的異形貿(mào)易伙伴和結(jié)盟種族響應(yīng)了達(dá)'利斯的援助請(qǐng)求。

Hundreds of alien trade partners and alliedraces responded to Dalyth's call for aid.

光是會(huì)來(lái)幫忙的異形貿(mào)易伙伴和盟友種族就有成百上千個(gè)之多，那作為東道主的鈦星人應(yīng)該有多少個(gè)世界呢？

當(dāng)然，對(duì)于人類(lèi)帝國(guó)來(lái)說(shuō)，掩蓋真相永遠(yuǎn)都是很簡(jiǎn)單的——只需將遠(yuǎn)征的真相封禁，并讓想要說(shuō)出真相的人統(tǒng)統(tǒng)消失即可。