IA10节译：噬人鲨战团之秘的本质

The Nature of the Carcharodons Enigma

For a faction of the Imperium's armed forces to disappear for centuries, even for millennia, either from its official records, or from reality itself (the latter being a curse of Warp travel and other rarer non-Euclidian forces), is a rare but not unknown phenomena. The reappearance of such lost forces can be the cause of both joy and misery as the fates turn. Such occurrences can cause the mighty to pause and make a liar of accepted history. Accordingly, precious little can be said in this record of certainty about the Carcharodons Chapter's true origins or history, except what can be pieced together from fragmentary and unreliable sources. supplemented by the observations of those who fought beside them in the Badab War. 

帝国武装力量中的某个派系，在数个世纪甚至一千年的岁月中，同时消失于官方记录与现实宇宙中（后一种情况是由于亚空间和其他更罕见非欧几里得力量的诅咒），这种现象是罕见的，但也并非闻所未闻。随着命运发生转折，这些迷失部队的重新出现可能同时造成喜悦和痛苦。此类事件会让享有权势之人停止（掌权），并让公认的历史成为谎言。因此，在这份信史记录中，除了那些从碎片化的不可靠资料中拼凑出的内容，我们对于噬人鲨战团的真实起源和历史几乎无话可说。

It seems likely that rather than the more conventional Crusade Chapter pattern used by many fleet-based Space Marine forces (which seeks to consciously imitate the example of the Space Marine Legions of old), that instead the Carcharodons follow the rarer, so-called 'Nomad-Predation' pattern. This is used almost exclusively by Space Marine Chapters operating for long durations beyond the Imperium's borders and by certain Rogue Trader fleets, and refers to entirely self-contained forces which operate without recourse to the Imperium for support at all. These nomad-predation fleets voyage without end, pausing only to attack targets that are within their means to destroy without threatening their own viability as a fighting force. This way the fleet may obtain resources to sustain itself and exterminate future threats to the lmperium, and at the same time avoid or raid enemies too powerful for them to directly attack in force. The most common form of recruitment for Space Marine Chapters given to this mode of operation is to cull potential initiates from the young of the survivors of their assaults where practical, with intensive effort given to erasing any past loyalty or weakness that remains, and replacing it with the will of the Chapter. 

噬人鲨战团似乎并未遵循更传统的远征战团模式——该模式被很多舰基星际战士部队（它们试图有意识模仿古代星际战士军团的范例）所采用，而且采用了更罕见的所谓“游牧—掠食”模式。采用“游牧—掠食”模式的几乎只有那些在帝国边境之外长期行动的星际战士战团，以及特定的行商浪人舰队；这些部队完全自给自足，在运作中完全不依赖人类帝国提供的资源。游牧—掠食舰队的航程没有尽头，他们停顿下来，只是为了在不危及自身作为一支战斗部队的生命力的情况下，进攻处于己方（攻击）能力范围之内的敌人，以将其毁灭。通过这种方式，舰队可能获取资源以维持自身，并消灭对人类帝国不利的未来威胁；同时，对那些过于强大到无法直接进攻的敌人，他们会避开或进行掠袭。考虑到其运作模式，这些星际战士战团最常见的征兵形式，便是在可行的情况下，从挺过他们进攻的年轻幸存者中挑选潜在新兵，尽全力抹除他们残存的任何昔日忠诚与弱点，并用战团的意志将其替换。

This evidence, taken together with their recorded actions, builds into a profile both sinister and suggestive, and perhaps presents a truth about Space Marines in general. Beyond their martial trappings and the endless roll of glorious victories, doomed last stands and courage in the face of a hostile universe. A Space Marine fundamentally is a superhuman engine built, bred and trained for war; an Angel of Death - a monster by any other name. In the case of the Carcharodons, it is well that such monsters belong to the Imperium rather than are counted in the ranks of its enemies. 

通过这些证据，连同他们被记录下来的行动，我们勾画出了一个险恶且带有暗示性的轮廓，或许还在整体上揭示出了一个关于星际战士的真相。抛去他们的军事标志、无尽的光荣胜利、注定要进行的最后坚守与面对遍布敌意宇宙的勇气，星际战士在根本上就是为战争而建造、培育和训练的超人类引擎；他们是死亡天使——（或者）被冠上了其他任何名字的怪物。至于噬人鲨战团，还好这些怪物们属于人类帝国，而非被列入了（帝国）敌人的行列。