本文摘选自 Andy Hoare 所著英文小说《Savage Scars》，该译文作为练习仅为个人与交流使用，不用作商业用途。 

为了重新控制那些因亚空间风暴活动和邪恶的灵族海盗掠袭而与泰拉统治长期隔绝的世界，人类帝国那最为光荣的部队于帝国历742.M41年发动了一场征旨在服厉泽希星区的远征。但不幸的是，人们发现更为糟糕的命运已经降临到了这些愚昧的世界上。沿着那被称为达摩克利斯湾的天穹异象的边缘，那一带的世界已经被一个之前不曾所知的、叫做钛星人的异形种族渗透了，他们动摇了那里的正当统治。而在发现这种两面派行为的人当中，最重要的当属阿卡狄乌斯家族的族长，行商浪人卢修安·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.

随着脱离掌控的世界变得越来越多，人类帝国无法置之不理，也不会袖手旁观。布里姆洛克的枢机主教伊索·古尼是一位煽动性极强的传教士，他鼓吹要对钛星人进行一场全面的远征，他认为必须要突破达摩克利斯湾，找到钛星人的母星，然后将整个种族灭绝掉。

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.

战斗的召唤响彻星区内外，并且得到了回应。来自钢铁之手、白色伤疤、极限战士和皇帝之镰的星际战士响应了召唤，十几位行星总督也是如此，他们为进行达摩克利斯远征的帝国卫队组建了新的兵团。行商浪人卢修安也响应了号召，他的行商许可为他在远征军议会中挣得了一席之地。

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.

但是审判官格兰德也参与了进来，而议会很快就分裂成两个阵营——那些以格兰德和古尼为中心、只想将钛族异形灭绝的，以及那些同行商浪人结盟的，后者追求的是程度各异的荣耀、荣誉或是利益，而非不光彩的屠杀。

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.

第一场战斗是在达摩克利斯湾的近畔打响的，接着，塞'尔'克尔相对轻易地就被征服了，钛族舰队在海达斯遭到了击败。但是议会早就被两败俱伤的内斗撕碎了，而格里特的女儿布里埃尔则在袭击了审判官后逃逃之夭夭，其目的未明。之后，她被认为已经死亡，这让她的父亲十分绝望，尽管他的儿子柯汶依然支持着他。

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.

在净化了维斯'伊尔之后，远征军穿越了达摩克利斯湾，他们怀着忠信者的正义之怒扑向了普拉'延。然而在那里，皇帝的战士们差点就大难临头，因为事后证明，钛星人的的威胁程度之大要远远超过之前的任何预想。钛星人并不是什么居住在单个世界上的渺小种族，他们拥有一整个恒星王国。

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.

正当远征军兵临达'利斯星系的首都世界达'利斯主星并准备将其虏获之际，更多的钛族部队逼近了。达摩克利斯湾远征的命运将掌握在三个人的手中——白色伤疤的老兵士官萨瑞克，行商浪人卢修安·格里特，以及他的女儿布里埃尔，她因自己的狂妄自大而落入钛族水氏大使奥拉的手中。

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.

远征军正在集结部队，这是为“冥王行动”——登陆达'利斯主星准备的。所有的一切都取决于这些登陆行动，以及这三个截然不同者的一举一动。

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《达摩克利斯远征的真相》序言

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

(未能发表，作者不详)

(unpublished, author unknown) 

PS：达摩克利斯远征（1）之所以会失败并不是因为虫巢舰队的突然出现（2），而是因为人类帝国实在是过于低估了钛星人的实力（3）。然而可悲的是，即使经历了这场惨败，人类帝国依然没有把错误的认知纠正过来（4）。

（1）这里的达摩克利斯远征指的是Andy Hoare的行商浪人三部曲系列，也就是500个星际战士&19个团的IG的那个版本。

（2）事实上，早在进攻达'利斯主星之前，也就是当帝国远征军以惨重的代价打赢了Pra'yen海战之后① ，他们就已经知道自己即将大难临头② 。

①捷尔拉夸宣布此战获得了胜利，但很显然远征军几乎再也无法承受一场这样的胜利了 。

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

②卢修安站在那里，抬头看着他儿子在主显示屏中的投影。舰队的广域频道立刻就因舰长们的千提万问而乱作了一团。卢修安于此时明白了，远征议会犯下了一个可怕的错误，那就是之前低估了钛星人。议会曾经确信远征军足以征服钛族。卢修安也承认他此前曾认为异形会提出议和而非直面远征大军的武力，这支舰队能够将沿途所遇的世界破坏殆尽，他自己也相信任何神智正常的对手都不会去冒险和具有如此力量的毁灭大军为敌。卢修安于此时终于明白了，不久之后，远征军将不得不进行战斗，不是为了征服，而是为了生存。然而他怀疑由枢机主教古尼领导的主流派是否会对此事持相同观点。卢修安知道远征军会继续莽撞地往钛星人的宙域里冲，直至它的攻势被消耗殆尽，然后钛星人会发起必然的反击。

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）远征军以为钛星人最多只有一两个星系③ ，而实际上…此时钛星人的疆域已经是一个横跨300光年的球状星团，其大小接近两个星区④。

③“如我所言，第四象区是一个主要世界，其人口密集程度和防御等级不亚于任何一个星区首府。而且它并非只有一个。通过我们所截获的通信网络，这一整个区域都极其活跃。父亲，这些钛星人不是什么仅仅限居于一到两个星系的渺小种族。他们有无数个星系，横跨整个星团。今天你们在此处所面对的不过是他们军力中微不足道的一部分。而且……” 柯汶的话语被另一阵激烈的咳嗽所打断了。

"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这片区域被一场突如其来的亚空间风暴隔绝了超过六千年之久，当第一批行商浪人重新返回这片宙域时，他们发现钛族已经从准石器时代进化成了一个高度先进、科技异端的文明，并且横跨了三百光年。

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）此战结束后，人类帝认为钛星人拥有数百个世界⑤ ，而实际上光是在战后响应钛族号召，前来帮忙重建达'利斯主星的异形种族就有成百上千之多了⑥。

⑤ 尽管以人类帝国的标准来看，钛帝国很小，但它依然由几百个世界组成，要将它们全部征服需要动用极大的兵力。

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成百上千的异形贸易伙伴和结盟种族响应了达'利斯的援助请求。

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

光是会来帮忙的异形贸易伙伴和盟友种族就有成百上千个之多，那作为东道主的钛星人应该有多少个世界呢？

当然，对于人类帝国来说，掩盖真相永远都是很简单的——只需将远征的真相封禁，并让想要说出真相的人统统消失即可。