hh4节译：剧毒之舰

One of the most fearful developments of the engulfing 'Age of Darkness' which followed the initial calamities at Isstvan, Phall and elsewhere in the early years of the war, was the creation of what have become known as the 'poison ships'. These were Traitor vessels, many operated by members of the Death Guard Legion and the Dark Mechanicum, but not exclusively so. Most were either frigates or second line cruisers in classification, outfitted to operate alone on deep range independent missions and retrofitted to bear the deadliest cargos: toxic, pathogenic and viral weaponry. Their task was to each carry out a dark pilgrimage across the stars, conducting raids and visitations, often covertly, on isolated colony worlds, Imperial outposts and lynchpin sectors, spreading contagion, contaminating water supplies and tainting biospheres. Although these attacks were on many worlds to slay millions, not simply by plague and poison, but by the civil unrest, famine and anarchy that would often follow in their wake, their purpose was not one of wholesale annihilation. Instead it was to create panic, to spread fear, to wound and weaken the Imperium ahead of the Traitors’ advance, rather than to outright destroy; for a wounded world demanded costly aid and assistance from its allies, whereas a dead world required nothing. Furthermore, a world already reeling from such a scourge that could not find succour from the Imperium was ripe to fall to the Traitors' cause. For this reason, Exterminatus class weaponry was rarely employed by the poison ships, but more insidious and subtle agents were instead used, many of them bred and manufactured by Magos Biologis in the Warmaster's faction or within the bio-weapon vaults and labratoria of the dreaded Death Guard world-killer, the Mia Donna Mori, which had been darkly infamous for its stockpiles of such weapons long before the outbreak of the war.

在大叛乱战争的早期，伊斯特万、法尔和其他地区都发生了这场战争中最初的灾难，随之而来的就是“黑暗年代”，这一时期最为恐怖的事物之一就是某种被称为“剧毒之舰”的造物。这些叛徒舰船中的大多数是由死亡守卫军团和黑机械教使用，但也并非绝对如此。她们大多数的分类都是护卫舰或二线巡洋舰，按照独立执行长距离任务的要求进行了装备，并且经过改造来携带最为致命的货物：毒素、病原和病毒武器。他们的任务是在群星间进行黑暗朝圣，隐秘地对偏僻的殖民地世界、帝国哨站和关键星区进行闯入和掠袭，他们会散播传染病、污染净水补给和污腐生物圈。在很多世界上这种进攻将会杀害数百万人——不仅是瘟疫和毒物，还有进攻之后到来的内部骚乱、饥荒和无政府混乱状态。他们的目的并非进行全面的毁灭，相反，他们是要制造恐慌，散播恐惧，在叛军挺进之前伤害与削弱帝国，而非彻底摧毁目标；因为一个受损的世界需要从盟友处获得高昂的救助，而死亡世界什么都不需要。另外，那些已经遭此劫难的世界如果无法从从帝国处得到救援的话，他们就会在时机成熟时倒向叛军，因此，剧毒之舰几乎不会部署灭绝令级别的武器，相反，他们会使用更为阴险狡诈的装备，其中大多数都是由战帅派系中的生化贤者们培育或铸造，或是来自于死亡守卫军团可怕的世界杀手舰——“吾之死亡女士”号的生化武库或实验舱中——早在大叛乱爆发很久之前，这艘船就因其生化武器库存而极为恶名昭著。

Once the nature and tactics of the poison ships became widely known to the Loyalists, they unsurprisingly became a priority target for destruction, and were hunted to destruction wherever they were encountered. The desire to purge the threat of the poison ships was so great that specific hunter-killer missions were launched against them by several separate Loyalist factions and Legions during the Age of Darkness, and Terra itself placed a high bounty on the destruction of such vessels, drawing the attention of avaricious Rogue Traders and even unaligned renegade and corsair forces to the task.

忠诚派一经广泛确知剧毒之舰的特性和战术，便不出意料地将他们定为优先摧毁目标，无论在哪里遇到此类舰船，他们都会进行追踪以将其摧毁。帝国消除剧毒之船的意图是如此迫切，以至于在黑暗年代中，有多支分散的忠诚派分队和军团被派去执行具体的猎杀任务。泰拉也对摧毁此类舰船布下了高昂的赏金，这吸引了贪财的行商浪人，甚至不结盟的变节者甚至海盗势力对于此类任务的注意。