（小说翻译）黑曜星
Sunset fell over the peaks, drawing its light back over the mountains as the Thunderhawks dropped onto the platforms hidden by cunningly wrought spurs of rock. They had come down fast and hard from orbit, but warily, like scavenger beasts approaching feast-prey that should be dead, but might yet have life within it.
当雷鹰炮艇们降落在隐藏在精心雕饰过的岩台间的停机坪上时，夕阳正从山峰上垂落，将光芒重新反射到群山之上。这些炮艇快速而猛烈地从星球轨道上俯冲降落下来，但他们飞行得也很谨慎，就像一只食腐野兽在接近将死却未死的猎物。
Captain Daegan straightened his cloak as vortices of turbulent air threatened to tear it from the midnight curves of his battleplate. Behind him, two squads of Sable Swords formed up as he strode down the assault ramp to the landing platform. He kept his helmet hooked at his belt, one hand resting on its freshly-forged smoothness, the other on the textured grip of the bolter he had yet to fire in anger.
代根连长拉直了他的披风——猛烈的气旋可能把这件织物顺着他那午夜般漆黑的动力甲的弧形甲面上扯下来。当他大步走下攻击坡道，走向登陆平台时，他身后的两支黑剑星际战士小队列队站好。他将自己的头盔在腰带上挂好，一只手搁在头盔铸成不久的光滑表面上，另一只手则握住了爆弹枪那带有纹理的枪把——这柄武器还未曾喷射过他的怒火。
'No one here to greet us,' said Kaas, the youthful Apothecary with a disappointed grunt.
“没人来迎接我们啊，”卡艾斯说。这位年轻的药剂师失望地咕哝到。
"Would you welcome those who are to replace you?' asked Carden, Daegan's equerry and personal champion.
“你会欢迎一群前来取代你的人们？”卡尔登——代根的侍从武官和亲随勇士反问到。
'Enough,' said Daegan. 'This is a solemn business we are on. Do not sully it.'
“够了，”代根说到，“我们在执行的是一项庄严的任务，放尊重点儿。”
Both warriors nodded, understanding they had overstepped their bounds.
两位战士都点了点头，他们明白自己的言论越界了。
Daegan stepped from the shadow of the Thunderhawk's fog of exhaust fumes and atmospheric venting. The platform was deserted, as he had suspected it would be, but he knew that those who called this place home were watching them even now.
代根穿过了雷鹰的尾气烟雾和排气管所投下的影子。就像他预料的那样，停机坪上空寂无人，但他知道：哪怕现在，那些将此地称为家园的人们也在注视着他们。
Before him, a towering portal of timber and bronze stood unbarred, like the gate of an abandoned fortress that has long since been sacked. This was no war-way, but a ceremonial entrance, a route within the mountain that reached nowhere of strategic value. Its appearance was decorative only, a means of inspiring awe in the easily impressed.
在他面前，一座硬木和青铜制成的高大华门敞开着，它似乎是某座在很久之前就被洗劫一空的废弃要塞的正门。这并非一条战争通道，而是一个仪式性的入口，是群山间一条没有任何战略价值的通路。它的外表只是一种装饰，用来在那些容易受触动的人心中唤起敬畏之情的手段而已。
Daegan set off towards the portal, Kaas and Carden neatly falling into position at his sides, and the squads of black-armoured warriors marching in perfect lockstep behind him. Carden bore a shield of black in one hand, emblazoned with twin crossed swords in ivory, while his other rested on ; the pommel of a dark sabre belted at his waist. Kaas bore a dipped banner with the same heraldic device, a badge of honour that was yet new and felt ancient at the same time.
代根向大门走去，卡艾斯和卡尔登整齐地跟在他身旁，两支身穿黑色动力甲的星际战士小队则迈着完美的步伐跟在他身后。卡尔登的一只手上带着一面黑色的盾牌，上面装饰着一对象牙白色的交叉双剑，另一只手则放松着；他的腰间还系着一柄黑色的军刀。卡艾斯擎着一面带有相同纹章图案的军旗，这是一个新颖的荣誉徽章，却又同时让人觉得古老。
They were not the first to bear this device, but they would do it honour.
他们并非是第一批佩戴上这个纹章的星际战士，但他们会为这个纹章增添荣耀。
The exterior of the mountain reeked of abandonment, and the interior no less so. Beyond the portal, a chamber with its vaulted roof lost in shadows echoed to the sound of their footfalls, where it ought to ring with the clamour of warriors preparing to sally forth on war-making. Dust hung heavy on the hooded statues and only the flickering glow of trimmed lumen- flames illuminated the once grand vestibule.
这座山的外部散发着一股被遗弃的气息，内部也是如此。门的另一边是有一间拱顶隐没在阴影中的房间，他们的脚步声在屋中回荡着——这里本该响起那些准备投入战斗的战士们的呐喊声。戴着兜帽的雕像上浮着一层浓重的灰尘，只有装饰用流明火焰放出忽隐忽现的微弱光芒，照亮了曾经宏伟的门厅。
A floating skull encased in electrum hovered in the centre of the chamber, its eyes unblinking blue orbs. An oil-burning lantern hung from the skull's jaws, and it flitted away with a hum of a miniature repulsor field as they approached. Daegan and his warriors set off after the skull as it floated just ahead of them, leading them ever onwards, through cavernous hallways and empty processionals.
一个包覆着琥珀金外壳的伺服颅骨盘旋在房间的中央，蓝色的电子眼一眨不眨。伺服颅骨的下巴上挂着一盏油灯，当星际战士们走近时，这台小机器发出一阵微型反斥力场的嗡鸣声，飞向一边。代根和他的战士们跟在伺服颅骨后方，伺服颅骨也漂浮在他们前方，带领着他们不断前进，穿过洞穴般的门厅和空荡荡的走廊。
The bobbing skull plunged deeper and farther into the mountain. Shadows retreated from its lantern, and the sightless eyes of the statues followed them as they descended grand stairways and triumphal avenues that no longer resounded to the battle chants of departing warriors and returning heroes.
上下浮动着的伺服颅骨领着星际战士们向山的更深处走去。雕像无神的双眼注视着他们走下宽阔的楼梯和凯旋大道——离去战士与荣归英雄们的战吼本该响彻这里。
A thousand warriors once lived and trained here, and the void of their presence clung to the interior of the mountain like an unwelcome blight. Daegan felt the aching sense of loss that bled from every stone of the mountain.
一千名战士曾在这里生活和受训，但他们现在缺席了，这种空虚感就像不受欢迎的恶病那般笼罩在这座山的内部。代根觉得山上每一块石头上都流淌着失落的痛苦。
'Death shrouds this place,' said Kaas, echoing Daegan's thoughts. 'We should not plant our flag in so ill-favoured a place.'
“死亡像裹尸布一样蒙住了这里。”卡艾斯的话应和了代根的想法。“我们不应该把自己的战旗插在这样一个不幸的地方。”
'Much honour was won by the warriors who dwelled here,' pointed out Daegan.
“但那些曾经居住于此的战士们也赢得了诸多荣誉”，代根指出。
Kaas shook his head. 'New beginnings should not start with death, no matter how nobly won it was.'
卡艾斯摇了摇头，“无论死亡是多么高贵，新的起点不应该以它作为开始，”
Daegan wanted to disagree, but his orders were without ambiguity.
代根想要否认，但他接受的命令也是明确的。
At length, the skull brought Daegan to a grand assembly hall, its gleaming walls painted with the colours of a dozen stained glass windows illuminated by an ingenious system of reflector wells that brought light into the heart of the mountain.
最后，头骨把代根领入了一个大会议厅，闪闪发光的墙壁上涂画着十几扇彩窗，一个精巧的反射井系统将光线引入到到山体内侧，照亮了墙壁。
Thirty warriors armoured in silver stood ranked on a stepped rostrum at the far end of the chamber, bathed in the ruddy embers of the dying sun. A Dreadnought towered over them, a proud Chapter banner fluttering in an unseen wind that filled the chamber like a sigh of regret.
三十名身穿银色动力甲的战士站在大厅遥远尽头那阶梯状的圣坛上，他们沐浴在夕阳余火般的红光中。一台无畏机甲耸立在他们中间，一面骄傲的战团旗帜在看不见的风中飘扬，这风充满了整个房间，仿佛是一声遗憾的叹息。
'I am Brother Thade,' said the Dreadnought. 'Master of the Astral Knights and lord of Obsidian.'
“我是赛德修士，”无畏机甲发声到，“我是星界骑士的战团长，也是黑曜星的领主。”
'Brother Captain Daegan of the Sable Swords, First Company.'
“我是来自漆黑长剑战团第一连的修士连长，代根。”
'You come to claim stewardship of our fortress-monastery and all its chattels?'
“你前来接管我们的要塞修道院和其中的所有物件？”
'I do,' said Daegan. 'As decreed by the Emperor and the High Lords of Terra.'
“是的，”代根回答到，“这是帝皇与泰拉高领主们的旨意。”
The Dreadnought stepped down from the rostrum and said, 'An ignoble end to a litany of honour few can equal. This mountain has been home to the warriors of the Astral Knights for a hundred lifetimes and it has seen the Imperium's greatest heroes march to war through its gates. Tell me why I should yield such a place to you.'
无畏机甲一步一步地走下圣坛，说到：“这种结束方式对我们那几乎无人能及的一系列荣誉来说，可真是不光彩啊。一百代的星界骑士们都以这座高山作为家园，这座修道院见证了帝国最伟大的英雄们走出正门奔赴战场。我凭什么将如此圣所拱手让于你们？”
'Your numbers are too few to bear the burden of rebuilding your Chapter,' said Daegan, marching to stand before the Dreadnought. 'Your Chapter Master is dead. As are all your knights.'
“你们人数太少，不足以承担起重建战团的重担，”代根答到，他走上前去，站在无畏面前，“你们的战团长已经阵亡了，就像你们所有的骑士那样。”
'You tell me what I already know, whelp,' snapped Thade, and Daegan felt his warriors tense. This had always been the most likely outcome, that the decimated Chapter's survivors would not accept their fate.
“你说的这些我都已经知道了，小子，”赛德不耐烦地说到，代根也发觉他的战士们紧张了起来。这一直都是此类事件最有可能的结果：被毁灭战团的幸存者们不愿接受自己的宿命。
'Our brothers gave their lives so that billions would be spared the horror of the World Engine, and this is our reward?' roared the Dreadnought. 'To be stricken from the records and our holdings given to warriors with no history, whose blades are yet unblooded?'
“因为我兄弟们的壮烈牺牲，数十亿人才在那台恐怖的世界引擎面前保住了命，然后这就是帝国赏给我们的奖励？”无畏咆哮到，“把我们从历史记录中剔除，并把我们的东西丢给一群毫无历史的战士？他们手中的剑甚至都未沾染过鲜血！”
Daegan shook his head. 'The Sable Swords may yet be young and untested, but we are not without honour and not without reverence for those who have gone before us.'
代根摇了摇头，“漆黑长剑或许是个年轻且未经受过考验的战团，但我们对于那些在我们之前牺牲的人们也并非毫无崇敬之心。”
'Just words,' said Thade, looming over Daegan, his fists thrumming with power. 'What deeds do you offer to match them?'
“虚言罢了，”赛德说到，他逼近代根，挥舞着充满力道的重拳，“你会献上何等的事迹，让自己与他们相称？”
The Dreadnought could crush him in the blink of an eye, but Daegan met its steely gaze and said, 'I offer you the chance to continue the proud tradition of your order. Take ship from here and ply the stars as the Astral Knights once did, before they set down roots in stone and iron. Fight on in the Emperor's name until you can fight no more.'
无畏机甲能在眨眼间将他击碎，但代根迎上了对方钢铁般冰冷的注视，说到：“我会给你一个延续你们高傲传统的机会。你们可以乘船离开这里，在群星间航行征战，就像星界骑士们在扎根于这座磐石与钢铁构成的修道院之前所做的那样。你们会以帝皇的名义奋战，直到你们无力再战。”
The Sable Swords stepped aside, leaving a path to the chamber's exit.
漆黑长剑战团的战士们分列两侧，流出一条通往房间出口的路。
'And when that day comes,' said Daegan, 'know that in death your duty has ended.'
“当那一天到来时，”代根说到，“你要知道，死亡才能终结你的职责。”
