九版圣典节译：异形毁灭者

Spread throughout the galaxy, the Deathwatch are the Imperium's greatest protection against the numberless xenos species that seek to destroy or enthral Mankind. They are a Chapter of Space Marines, their warriors augmented post-humans whose thick power armour is painted in the black of life's ending, and whose blades are sheened with the viscera of their hated foes. 

死亡守望们分散在银河各处，他们是帝国对抗无数试图毁灭或奴役人类的异形种族的最优秀武器。他们是一个星际战士战团，其中的超人类强化战士们身穿的厚重动力甲被涂为了黑色——那是标志着生命终结的颜色，手中的刀剑是用他们痛恨的敌人的内脏所擦亮。

Since their inception millennia ago, the Deathwatch have maintained an unstinting vigil. Monitoring vast tracts of the Imperium, the Chapter watches for xenos activity and dispatches elite strike forces to stem rapacious alien attacks. Though awed survivors sometimes witness the Deathwatch's decisive actions, the Chapter's warriors often work unseen, or at least unrecorded. Their duty does not only consist of crushing aliens who invade Human worlds. With dogmatic fervour, the Imperium preaches that the xenos' very existence is a vile insult and a threat to Mankind's right to absolute dominion. Thus, the black-armoured Space Marines of the Deathwatch forge into the dark and isolated places of the galaxy to take the fight to alien territories, onto worlds the xenos claim are theirs and into lairs where such evils plot and multiply. 

自从于数千年前被创建开始，死亡守望们便一直在进行着无限制的监视守望。该战团监视着帝国的广阔区域，他们监测着异形种族的活动，并派出精锐的打击部队去阻止异星人的贪婪进攻。尽管心存敬畏的幸存者们偶尔会目睹死亡守望的果断行动，但该战团中战士们的行动通常是不会被外人所见，或者至少是不会被记录的。他们的职责不仅是击溃入侵人类世界的异星人。帝国以教条主义的狂热宣扬到：异形的存在本身就是对于人类绝对统治（银河）权力的卑劣侮辱和威胁。因此，身披黑色动力甲的死亡守望星际战士们会进入银河系中黑暗孤立的区域，在异星人的领土上战斗，袭击异星人声称属于他们的世界，捣毁这些邪恶生物们进行密谋和繁殖的巢穴。

Every Deathwatch Space Marine is a veteran, hailing originally from another Chapter. All but a few have been pledged by their original brotherhood in a solemn tithe. In this way, the Deathwatch are unique among Space Marine Chapters, for their warriors bear varying genetic heritages. Without exception, they are battle-brothers who bind themselves in service to the vital duty of exterminating the xenos, with specialist skills that raise them above the Space Marines of their former Chapters. Through intuition and over long campaigns, these combatants have become expert alien killers. Some come to the Deathwatch knowing exactly where to ram a blade among unnatural anatomies to ensure efficient kills, while others have fought so often against jinking xenoforms that their aim borders on the preternatural. Many have seen battle-brothers slain by aliens so often that their hatred is a tangible asset - a deadly weapon in itself. Whether such warriors are adept in slaying one particular species or several, the Deathwatch accept their service and the Chapter grows stronger with their expertise. 

每位死亡守望星际战士都是来自另一个战团的老兵，除了少数成员之外，他们所有人都是其母团庄严承诺贡献出的什一税。所以死亡守望在星际战士战团中是独一无二的，因为战团中的战士们有着不同的基因遗传（谱系）。他们毫无例外都是投身于消灭异形这一重要职责的战斗修士，其专业技能也令他们在自己的母团中脱颖而出。凭借直觉和长期的战斗，这些战士已经成为经验丰富的异星人杀手。某些加入死亡守望的星际战士（已经）确切地知道要将刀剑刺入异星人身体结构中的哪些部位来确保高效的杀戮，而其他人则是经常与那些迅疾的异形种族交战，以至于瞄准（射击）能力接近了超自然的水平。很多星际战士目睹异星人杀害自己战斗兄弟的次数是如此频繁，以至于他们的仇恨都化为有型的事物——其自身都成为了一种致命的武器。无论这些战士擅长于杀死一种还是几种特定的异形生物，死亡守望都会接纳他们，而他们的专业技能也会让战团变得更加强大。

This pool of knowledge forms a repository of the greatest alien-killing tactics in the Imperium. The Chapter's strength is in sharing and drawing upon each warrior's acumen. To do this, battle-brothers must overcome stark differences. Each hails from a proud brotherhood steeped in its own culture, and clashes amongst newly inducted battle-brothers sometimes occur. Such tensions are surmounted as these Space Marines fight at each other's sides, recognising in their fellows the same dedication and desire to see every hateful alien wiped out. 

这些知识构成了人类帝国中关于杀戮异形战术的最伟大宝库。死亡守望战团的优势在于分享和利用每一位战士的智慧。每位战士都是来自一个沉浸于自身文化中的高傲兄弟会，新加入死亡守望的战斗兄弟们之间偶尔也会发生冲突。但这种紧张感很快就会被克服，因为这些星际战士们会彼此并肩作战，他们会意识到自己的的同伴们在做出同样的贡献，也同样渴望看到所有可恶的异星人被抹除掉。

The Deathwatch maintain and continually expand a corpus of data on xenos species, a freedom that officially does not exist in the Imperium. This knowledge is a precious resource, guarded with the utmost care in hidden vaults by dreaded sentinels. Vile new alien strains are catalogued. The sinuous tactics these breeds employ are documented. The heretical technology used by different alien races is unpicked with distaste until every abhorrent element is understood, and every weakness identified. 

死亡守望保有并不断拓展着一座关于异形物种的资料库，这是一种并不公开存在于人类帝国内部的自由。这是知识是珍贵的资源，它们被存放在隐藏的宝库中，由可怕的哨兵们以最谨慎的态度看守着。邪恶的新兴异星人在这里被分类编目，用于（消灭）这些物种的曲折战术也被记录于此。在这里，不同种类异星人所使用的异端科技都被厌恶地拆解研究，直到其所有可憎的要素都被理解，所有弱点都被发现。

Such knowledge is not gathered to emulate the aliens' achievements or foster closer relations. It is hoarded and employed solely to hasten their destruction. Despite the stultifying inertia that grips the Imperium, the Deathwatch continue to develop their tactics and armaments to better eliminate known aliens, and to combat new species as they are discovered. The Chapter employ specialist ammunition types originally created to combat specific alien strains. Some liquidate biological tissue or punch through toughened hide, while others slay at greater distances those skulking in the shadows. The Deathwatch also make use of specialist augurs to detect creatures hiding from Imperial judgement, mass teleportation arrays unknown to other Chapters and disruptive fields to baffle xenos attacks. 

但死亡守望收集这些知识并不是为了模仿异星人的成就或培养更密切的关系，他们囤积和使用这些技术是为了加速异形的毁灭。尽管帝国存在着令人麻木的惰性，但死亡守望仍在继续发展自己的战术和武器，以更好地消灭已知的异星人和对抗他们发现的新物种。该战团使用的专用类型弹药最初就是用于对付特定的异星物种，其中某些能清除生体组织或穿透坚硬的外皮，而其他的则是用于在遥远的距离外杀死那些躲藏在阴影中的目标。死亡守望使用的其他装备还有用来探测那些隐藏起来躲避帝国审判的生物的专用鸟卜仪，不为其他战团所知的密集传送阵列和用于阻挡异形进攻的分解力场。

The Deathwatch's responsibility is exercised across the entire Imperium, and it cannot afford costly wars of attrition. Instead, the Chapter's officers wield their warriors like a scalpel, striking at the enemy with unrivalled clinical precision by identifying critical agents of opposing forces and swiftly eliminating them. Using their knowledge of xenoform physical and mental weaknesses, the Deathwatch assault specific elements, the loss of which will cause the most immediate and lasting damage to the aliens' strength. This could be the assassination of the creatures' leaders, the purging of the xenos' own specialists or the sabotage of their war engines. 

死亡守望的职责遍及整个帝国，他们承受不起代价高昂的消耗战。相反，战团中的军官们是像使用手术刀那般调用着自己麾下的战士们，通过识别敌方关键要素并将其快速消灭，他们以无与伦比的冷酷精度打击敌人。利用自己关于异形生理和精神上弱点的知识，死亡守望进攻敌人的具体要素——这些资源的损失会对异星人的力量造成最直接且最持久的伤害。这些手段可以是刺杀异形的领袖、清除异形种族内的专业人员或暗中破坏他们的战争引擎。

These tactics are as adaptable as the Deathwatch's fighting formations, which are tailored to combat known alien warrior breeds and doctrines. The Chapter's commanders - its Watch Masters and strategium officers - select from their experienced warriors those most suited to the mission at hand. Often, this will be those who are skilled in combating the xenos they expect to confront, or who have previously triumphed over a similar strain of beast. Warriors with no direct experience draw upon hypno-indoctrinated reflexes and contribute with specific combat expertise, or more esoteric arts. 

死亡守望的战术就和他们的战斗编队一样具备适应性，也是为了对抗已知的异形战士和（适应）战斗信条而量身订制的。战团中的指挥官们——守望之主和重要军官们——都是从那些最适合手边任务的经验丰富的战士中挑选而出。通常来说，这些军官会是那些擅长与他们将要面对的异形战斗，或者那些曾经战胜过类似种类恶兽的人。那些没有直接经验的战士则会接受催眠灌输，并贡献特定的战斗专长或（其他）更深奥的技艺。

In this way, individual Space Marines may fight with different squads from one mission to the next. The Deathwatch also regularly operate in versatile squads called kill teams. These combat units comprise warriors bearing varied weapons and equipment, each specialist complementing every other. This enables even small teams to adapt to changing mission briefs mid-battle and destroy varied targets. Such hybridised squads fly in the face of the Codex Astartes' edicts, yet the galaxy harbours infinite horrors. When the Codex's author, Roboute Guilliman, learned of the Deathwatch, he understood the need for the Chapter to maintain their unique flexibility. 

因此，在一个又一个的任务中，星际战士们可能会在不同的小队中作战。死亡守望们也经常以被称为“杀戮小队”的多功能小队进行运作，此类战斗单位中包含使用各种武器和装备的战士们，每个人的专长都能对其他人的进行补充。这使得即使是小型团队也能在战斗中适应不断变化的任务，并摧毁各种目标。这样的混合型小队公然违抗了阿斯塔特圣典的法令，然而银河系充满了无尽的恐怖，当圣典的作者——罗伯特 基里曼了解到死亡守望时，他也理解了该战团保持自身独特灵活性的需要。

Though the Deathwatch are considered a Chapter by those within the Imperium's echelons of power who know of them, they maintain no single home world. They are spread across a number of watch fortresses, each isolated and independent, from which they prosecute hidden wars to defend the Imperium. Like the daemon-hunting Chapter known as the Grey Knights, the Deathwatch does not conform to the rigid limitations of power prescribed in the Codex Astartes. Their numbers are undisclosed and may be impossible to know, even to the Chapter's own Watch Masters. 

尽管在那些知晓他们的帝国权贵们看来，死亡守望是一个战团，但该战团并没有一个独立的母星。他们分散在诸多偏远且独立的守望要塞中，并从这些地方进行自己捍卫帝国的隐蔽战争。就像猎杀的恶魔的灰骑士战团那样，死亡守望不符合阿斯塔特法典中严格的兵力限制，他们的人数不对外公开，也不可能被获知，哪怕对于战团自身的守望之主们也是如此。

Each watch fortress maintains several companies, and their existence is known only to a handful of other Watch Masters. No single hierarchy commands the Deathwatch as their duty is too wide, too immense for such considerations. This has not stopped some Inquisitors from theorising that, if the Deathwatch were ever to gather their entire strength, they would constitute a power many times the size of any other Chapter. 

每座守望要塞中都包含数个连队，只是少数其他守望之主知晓他们的存在。死亡守望并不存在在单独的指挥团体，因为他们的职责太过宽泛，无法考虑进行统一指挥。但这并没有阻止某些审判官提出这样的理论:如果死亡守望能够集结全部兵力，那他们的力量将是其他任何一个战团的若干倍。

For most who hold this view, the idea is one of fragile hope. Xenos swarm on every side, and if the Deathwatch were to fail in their duty, the Imperium would surely be lost. 

对于大多数持这种观点的人来说，这个想法是一种脆弱的希望。异形在从各处向帝国蜂拥袭来，如果死亡守望们失职，那人类帝国就必然会灭亡。