hh3节译：阿尔法军团指挥等级体系与战争配置

Command Hierarchy

As with so much concerning the Alpha Legion, precise definition of their command structure cannot be determined with certainty, but certain patterns can be deduced as —if not constant— then repeated enough to have been deemed important. The first of these is specialisation. In any given deployment, a chain of command was obeyed unquestioningly, but this chain of command was a fluid one, both conditional and highly decentralised in its nature. While a force would be notionally under the control of an officer such as a captain, the authority held by specialists in particular, such as siege masters or vigilators, was deferred to as a matter of course and was regarded as absolute and not to be questioned in their area of expertise.

就像关于阿尔法军团的诸多事项一样，我们无法准确地对他们指挥结构进行精准定义，但是我们可以推测出某些模式——如果某种行动模式并非恒定的但重复的次数足够却足够多，那么我们可以认为这些模式（对阿尔法军团而言）是重要的。其中首要的特质是专门化。在任何给定的部署情况中，指挥链都必须被成员们毫不质疑地遵守，但这条指挥链也是灵活可变的，而且有高度分散和视情况而定的性质。虽然一支部队理论上是由诸如连长之类的（普通）军官控制，但诸如攻城大师或守夜官之类的专家拥有指挥权也被视为是理所当然的情况，而且他们在自己所擅长的领域并不会遭到质疑。

Likewise, each unit within the Legion was expected to operate as a self-motivated and self-governing 'cell' without need of exterior command, and expected to display initiative and pursue its part in the wider battle plan under its own cognisance and in any way it judged to be expedient. Such was the emphasis on unity of action and initiative the Alpha Legion placed on its warriors, that the battlefield co-ordination and responsiveness to changing circumstances the Alpha Legion displayed was arguably superior to that of any other of the Legiones Astartes. The Alpha Legion's commanders seldom were observed to operate as champions or warlords in the conventional sense as might be expected of the Legiones Astartes, craving it seemed neither personal glory nor the experience of sublime clash of arms.Instead they were wont to observe a battle unfold impassively, watching the patterns of force and bloodshed it revealed, intervening only when needed by issuing orders that would tip the outcome in the Alpha Legion's favour, or by direct action, striking personally at the point of vulnerability where they would inflict the greatest damage.

同样，军团中的每个单位都被要求成为一个不需要外部命令、能够自我激励和自我管理的“细胞”，他们也被期望能够按照自己的认知以任何有利的方式表现出主动性，并在更广泛的作战计划中发挥自己的作用。阿尔法军团对战士们所强调行动与主动性的统一性，所以相比于其他任何阿斯塔特军团，阿尔法军团所展示出的战场协调性和对不断变化环境的反应力都可以说是更为优越的。人们几乎从未见到过阿尔法军团的指挥官们如同传统意义上的阿斯塔特军官那样，以冠军或者军阀的身份率领战士们作战，似乎他们并不渴望个人荣誉，也不渴望披坚执锐与敌人搏杀的崇高体验。相反，他们习惯于冷眼旁观战斗，观察部队的行动模式以及他们如何让敌人血洒当场。他们只会在必要的情况下才会发布命令来干预行动，以使结果有利于阿尔法军团；或者他们会直接采取行动，亲自进攻那些能够对敌人造成最严重伤害的薄弱点。

In terms of honorifics and titles, the Alpha Legion seemed to have used a shifting set of terminology to convey authority and role. At times the Alpha Legion appears to have deliberately aped the systems used by other Legions (such as the Sons of Horus and the Blood Angels) although whether this was done to incorporate a proven pattern of organisation as part of a particular strategy or as some form of mockery remains unknown. Aside from these patterns, close scrutiny of the records also reveals several distinctive additional divisions of command not shown by other Legions, One such unique title known to have been used by the Alpha Legion was that of'Horrowmaster' or 'Jhariuk' as the leading commander given overall control of all Alpha Legion forces in a given war zone. Although their nominal rank might vary, it was the task of the Harrowmaster to keep track of encompassing the shifting events of a conflict in minute detail and shape the actions of the Legion's forces accordingly, creating and aborting battle plans and stratagems with bewildering speed. The position of Harrowmaster was known to be held as a supreme accolade by the Alpha Legion, and their infamous skill at battlefield control was highly regarded (even as the Legion itself was often mistrusted) by the commanders and stratagos of the other Space Marine Legions. It is noteworthy that the Harrowmasters were among the few of the Legion, save its equerries, whose personal names are left to the open record, although whether these have any basis in reality or are merely guises worn by a single warrior or perhaps a series of individuals remains unknowable.

在敬称和头衔方面，阿尔法军团似乎会使用一组不断变化的术语来表示权力和角色。某些时候阿尔法军团似乎会故意模仿其他军团（比如荷鲁斯之子与圣血天使）的头衔体系，不过他们这样做是为了让经过验证的组织模式作为特定战略的组成部分，还是为了进行某种形式的嘲弄，我们就不得而知了。除了这些模式之外，对于记录档案的严密审查也为我们揭示出a阿尔法军团几个未向其他军团展示过的独特额外指挥军衔。已知阿尔法军团使用的“苦痛大师”或者“贾留克”就是一个此类的特殊头衔，这个称呼指的是负责全权（指挥）控制特定战区中所有阿尔法军团部队的领袖指挥官。尽管他们名义上的等级可能会有所不同，但苦痛大师的任务是跟踪冲突中所包含的（各种）不断变化事件的细节，由此来规划军团部队的行动，并以令人眼花缭乱的速度制定和中止作战计划与战略。已知，苦痛大师这一职位被阿尔法军团视为至高无上的荣誉，他们在战场控制方面的著名技艺受到了其他军团的重视（尽管阿尔法军团本身经常不被信任）。值得注意的是，苦痛大师在阿尔法军团数量稀少，但除了军团中原体的侍从武官们之外，其他苦痛大师的姓名都留存于公开记录中，但至于这些姓名是否有任何现实依据，或者仅仅是单个或一群战士披上的伪装，我们不得而知。

War Disposition

战争配置

Exact figures for the martial strength of the Alpha Legion at the outset of the wars of the Horus Heresy are impossible to obtain. Sources and estimates vary wildly, some making extravagant claims which may both overestimate or undervalue the Alpha Legions manpower. Most contemporaneous accounts from around the time of the Dropsite Massacre put the Alpha Legion at between 120,000 and 130,000 Legionaries strong, placing it within the middle tier of Legion strengths. Some theorists have posited this figure as far lower, somewhere in the 90,000 range based upon the largest concentrations of Alpha Legion forces ever seen in operation in a single theatre. With hindsight and diligent corroboration however, evidence of multiple simultaneous battle groups operating in far distant locales suggests a far higher figure than either of these estimates, well into the range of perhaps 180,000 Legionaries which, if accurate, would make it one of the most formidable Legions in sheer size alone, a factor un-guessed at by both sides of the war that was to follow.In terms of its access to wargear and star-faring vessels, the Alpha Legion was formidably equipped. Again, true estimates are difficult to arrive at, but most pictorial and second party reports show the Alpha Legion as possessing extensive access to the most modern forms of Legiones Astartes equipment, not limited to Maximus and Tartaros pattern armour, the new Sicaran pattern battle tanks and their sub-types，as well as extensive stocks of plasma and conversion beam weaponry and specialised munitions unknown outside the Legion. In terms of warships, the Alpha Legion was known to possess a very extensive and diverse fleet, although lacking in large numbers of heavy capital ships and planetary siege craft in comparison to most other Legions.The main strength of the Alpha Legion's fleets then was found in a plethora of different intermediate and escort vessels, with range and speed being their primary focus. The Alpha Legion was also suspected of utilising a number of captured xenos vessels, and indeed incorporating xenos technology into their warship designs ——a practice strictly forbidden without the sanction of the Meehanicum一 but given the Legions frequent activities far beyond the Imperium's borders and its hidden strengths and bases of operation, such a suspicion was impossible to prove.

我们不可能获取到荷鲁斯叛乱爆发时阿尔法军团军事实力的具体数据。我们获取到的资源与进行的估算结果千差万别，有些人夸张地声称我们或许高估或低估了阿尔法军团的兵力。大部分与登陆点大屠杀事件同期的报告声称阿尔法军团的兵力介于120,000 到130,000名军团战士之间，这在各军团中处于中等水平。某些理论家则认为这个第二十军团的兵力数远要低于普遍预测，基于在单个战区中所见到的阿尔法军团部队的最大集中度，他们认为阿尔法军团兵力大约为90000。不过，我们在事后也进行了勤奋的调查考证：有证据表明阿尔法军团同时有多个战斗群在遥远的战场上作战，这一情况阿尔法军团人数远高于以上两种预测，可能有180,000名军团战士之众。倘若这一数字准确的话，那么仅就规模而言，阿尔法军团是最为可怖的军团之一，这是随后的战争双方都未预料到的因素。在战争武备和星际飞船上，阿尔法军团装备精良。对这些项目进行真实估算同样是困难的，但大多数的图片资料和第二方报告都表明阿尔法军团拥有大量最先进型号的阿斯塔特军团装备，这些武备不仅限于冥府型和马克西姆斯型动力甲，还包括新型的西卡然战斗坦克及其次级型号，以及电浆武器、转换光束武器和不为军团之外的人所知的特化弹药的大量库存。在战舰方面，我们已知阿尔法军团拥有庞大且舰种繁多的舰队，但与大多数其他军团相比，阿尔法军团缺乏大量重型主力舰和行星攻城舰。阿尔法军团的主力舰队中出现了大量不同的中级舰和护卫舰，它们主要注重航程和速度。阿尔法军团也被怀疑使用了大量（被）俘获的异形舰船，而且事实上将异形科技融合到了他们的舰船设计中——倘若没有机械神教的许可，这一行为是被严厉禁止的。但考虑到阿尔法军团在远离帝国边境的银河外域的频繁活动，已经他们隐藏起来的兵力和行动基地，我们不可能证明这种怀疑。

As the war of the Horus Heresy raged on, the Legion demonstrated an enviable ability to replace its battlefield losses. While the war continued and many Legions saw their strength shorn away, the Alpha Legion appeared to grow stronger throughout the conflict, despite several seemingly serious defeats. Much like the hydra of myth, where one head was cut from the Legion's body, two more appeared to grow in its place.

随着荷鲁斯叛乱愈演愈烈，阿尔法军团展现了令人羡慕的弥补战场损失的能力。在战争继续，很多军团（只能）看着自己兵力缩减的同时，阿尔法军团尽管也遭受了几次看似严重的失败，但他们却似乎通过冲突发展得更为强大。阿尔法军团极其类似神话中的九头蛇——你在它身体的某处砍掉一个头，相同的地方便会长出两个新头。