HH6节译：战争铁砧之上的锤炼（4）（完结）

Autilon Skorr and his Alpha Legion headhunter cohorts were already beginning their own attack on the main spindle-spires of the Mezoan forge. With the majority of the Loyalist forces drawn away to engage the Iron Warriors assault, and the Alpha Legion units still relatively intact, having been spared the brunt of the fighting, the Alpha Legion infiltrators were quickly able to annihilate the depleted automata maniples in their path and mount a direct assault on the central chambers of the Mezoan forge-fane, endangering the Norn-regents themselves.

而奥帝龙 斯考尔和他麾下的阿尔法军团猎头者部队，也已经开始进攻梅左阿铸炉主轴尖塔了。由于忠诚派主力部队被吸引去应对钢铁勇士的袭击，阿尔法军团单位又相对完整——他们避开了战斗的主要压力，第二十军团的渗透者们很快便能歼灭挡住其道路的严重受损的机兵中队，并对梅左阿铸造神殿的中央区域发动直接突袭，威胁到了三尊摄政的安全。

All that stood in their path were a few dozen Domitar class battle-automata, and though fearsome engines of war, they could not last against the sheer numbers of Alpha Legion troops now loose within the defences. There were also some fifty of the Disciples of the Flames present within the central halls as an honour guard to Cassian Dracos, whose battered form was still sealed within the fabrication vaults, but these warriors had received strict orders from Dracos to guard the vaults, sparing no men for the battle raging but a short distance from them. Disobeying these orders, some few of the Disciples, led by the Raven Guard Kirhane, did join the defence of the Norn-regent, holding the great spoked portals of the chambers as a horde of multi-limbed servitors struggled to evacuate the Norn-regents. Yet despite their efforts, Autilon Skorr himself and a score of his personal guard were able to penetrate the hall, bringing down one of the great Norn-regents with lascutters and meltaguns.

挡在他们道路上的，只有十几台多米塔尔型战斗机兵，虽然后者们都是可怖的战争引擎，但在数量庞大的阿尔法军团部队面前，机兵们也撑不了太久。中央大厅中也有大约50名烈火门徒，他们担任着卡西安 德拉库斯的荣誉卫队——复仇之龙破烂不堪的机体仍被封存于地下铸造拱顶中，但这些战士们收到了德拉库斯的严格命令：保卫拱顶，只要有人接近就不能放过。但在暗鸦守卫军团战士——基尔哈恩的领导下，有少量烈火门徒前去保卫三尊摄政——在大群安装了多条肢体的机仆手忙脚乱地运送三尊摄政撤退的同时，星际战士们把守着那扇装有轮辐的巨门。但尽管众人殊死抵抗，但奥帝龙 斯考尔和他的20名亲卫还是杀入了大厅，用激光切割器和热熔枪击杀了一位摄政。

With the death of one of the triad of ancient tech-magos that exerted complete control over Mezoa, utter chaos was loosed among the defenders. Battle-automata either lapsed into catatonic collapse or flew into berserk and fratricidal fury, while the Skitarii and thallax cohorts found themselves cut off from all external direction. Traitor units surged forwards to attack all across the war zone, and only at Tertial-05, where the Solar Auxilia and the Disciples of the Flames held the Iron Warriors in a grim crossfire, was the enemy kept in check. It seemed that the end had arrived for Mezoa.

梅左阿原本受到三位古老技术贤者的完全掌控，但随着其中的一位死去了，守军部队中出现了彻底的混乱。战斗机兵要么陷入紧张性崩溃，要么陷入狂暴并自相残杀；护教军和死隶机兵部队则发现自己被切断了外部指挥。叛军们蜂拥前进，向战区各处发起进攻，只有Tertial-05要塞还能挡住敌人——把守此地的太阳军和烈火门徒部队用残酷的交叉火力压制着钢铁勇士们。梅左阿的结局似乎已经到来了。

It was at this moment that Dracos returned to the fray; emerging from the fabrication vaults restored to his former splendour by the arts of Mezoa's forge wrights. Yet rather than lend his strength against Autilon Skorr and the Alpha Legion warriors ransacking the central spires of Mezoa, he led those of the Disciples of the Flames who remained at his side towards Tertial-05 and the Iron Warriors. As the ancient Dreadnought charged forth, those automata he passed were pulled along in his wake, shaken from whatever feedback-induced mania had seized their cortex and slaved to the indomitable will of the Iron Dragon. With flames erupting all across the spires of Mezoa, Cassian Dracos reached the shell-scarred battlefield of Tertial-05 at the head of nearly 1000 battle-automata. Yet rather than leading a charge into the remaining Iron Warriors, now entrenched in a formidable makeshift fortress of broken rockcrete and iron, he approached alone, calling on the enemy commander to show himself.Dracos passed through the ranks of the Iron Warriors' bound automata, the machines refusing all orders to engage him, and confronted Narik Dreygur, who stood tall upon the fortifications. What passed between the two is largely unknown, however The Prophecies of the Flames records that "Wheresoever is found the craft of the forge, the avatar of our lord Vulkan has power, even in the works of the enemy, even in the flesh of the enemy where it has felt the touch of the forge. So he turned foe to the cause of righteousness."

就在此时，德拉库斯返回了战场；他从地下拱顶中走出，梅左阿铸造工匠的技艺令其恢复了昔日荣光。但他并未助力梅左阿中央尖塔中的防御行动——守军们正在对抗洗劫此地的奥帝龙 斯考尔和阿尔法军团战士，而是率领那些仍旧跟在其身边的烈火门徒们赶往了Tertial-05要塞。这台古老无畏冲锋前进，当他从自动机兵们身边经过时，那些战争机器都被吸引到了德拉库斯身后——无论其大脑皮层之前是被哪些（精神）反馈引发出的躁狂所占据，他们现在都摆脱出来，被钢铁之龙的不屈意志所奴役。随着梅左阿的尖塔各处都冒出火焰，卡西安 德拉库斯也抵达了Tertial-05要塞遍布炮弹疤痕的战场，身后还跟随着将近1000台战斗机兵。但复仇之龙并未率领大军发起冲锋，击溃残余的钢铁勇士部队（他们目前正固守在岩凝土碎块和钢铁搭建而成的强悍临时堡垒中），而是独自接近对方阵地，招呼敌军指挥官亲自显身会面。当德拉库斯从钢铁勇士们控制着的自动机兵部队中穿过时，这些机械拒绝了向无畏机甲进攻的一切命令，面对着屹立在防御工事高处的纳雷克 德雷古尔。人们基本不知晓两者间的谈话内容，但《烈火预言》中记录了这番话：“凡铸造之物，无论现身于何处，吾主沃坎皆得施展权能，纵使敌手之造物、血肉，亦可感受铸炉之碰触。是故，其可化仇敌为共襄义举之盟友。”

The private journals of Consul Dreygur do not speak of the incident; in fact after that day he made no more private recordings and eschewed all company save that of Dracos and his automata. What is known is that as the two met, they exchanged some few words and Dreygur turned to address his men, speaking but a few words:

在其个人日记中，军团领事德雷古尔也并未谈论该事件；事实上，自那天起，他也不在进行私人记录，而且除了德拉库斯和自己麾下的自动机兵，他也避开了任何人的陪伴。我们所知的是，两人相遇后仅交谈了寥寥数句，之后德雷古尔便转身面向自己的下属，对他们简短地说到：

"Brothers, once more an oath to us stands broken. The Alpha Legion has abandoned us once again. Now we shall show that we do not renege on our vows. The dead of Stranivar and Mezoa both call for vengeance, and we shall grant it to them.'

“兄弟们，他人再次失信于我们了。阿尔法军团再次抛弃了我们。现在，我们要表明一点，那就是我们不会违背自己的誓言。Stranivar和梅左阿是死难者都在要求复仇，那我们就为他们报仇。”

That which Remains

残余之物

With victory within his grasp, Autilon Skorr found himself trapped at the centre of the Mezoan forge spires. At his back were the battle-automata and auxilia cohorts of the Mezoan priesthood, now returning to the control of their overlords, and to his fore an onrushing horde of automata and Loyalist Legiones Astartes warriors, with the remains of the Iron Warriors that had once fought under his command at their head. His rear areas and landing zones were under direct assault by Solar Auxilia armoured columns, and in space above Mezoa, the Loyalist squadrons had emerged from hiding amongst the moons of the outer planets to strike at the Traitors' cruisers, now dispersed in optimal bombardment positions, and unprepared for any attack.

奥帝龙 斯考尔原以为胜券在握，但他发现自己目前被困在了梅左阿铸造尖塔的中央。梅左阿技术神甫们麾下的战斗机兵和辅助军部队，正在重新被自己的领主们控制住，它们从奥帝龙背后杀来；而在阿尔法军团部队的前方，一大群战斗机兵和忠诚派阿斯塔特战士们正在袭来，而一马当先冲在最前端的，就是那些曾在他麾下作战的钢铁勇士残部。后方区域和空降区也遭到了太阳军装甲纵队的直接进攻，而在梅左阿上空的宙域中，忠诚派中队们也从自己位于外环行星的（多颗）月亮间的藏身处中现身，攻向叛军的巡洋舰们——后者们分散在各个最佳轰炸点位，对任何攻击都毫无防备。

The Battle for Mezoa was lost. Skorr's daring gamble had failed and now threatened to see him defeated in detail by the Loyalist forces. Within the space of a few hours, most of the Traitor forces on Mezoa were destroyed, the automata of Mezoa showing no mercy to the defeated. Less than 3,000 of the enemy escaped to return to the cruisers waiting above, including a badly wounded Autilon Skorr, one arm smashed after an encounter with Xiaphas Jurr during the retreat from the forge-fanes of Mezoa. While the Traitors retained orbital superiority, high speed passes and raids by Loyalist squadrons, and blazing chunks of the planet itself launched from below, soon forced them to retreat to the outer planets, and then from the system entirely. Cassian Dracos was hailed by some as the saviour of Mezoa and mistrusted by others for both the strange orders issued during the siege and his unseemly influence over automata and certain sects of the Mechanicum's priesthood itself.He was to lead a number of bloody raids against neighbouring systems now under the control of the Warmaster, raids which would spread the influence of the cult of personality that sprang up around him in the wake of the victory at Mezoa. Narik Dreygur was to become a close confidant of the Iron Dragon, rarely seen except in his presence, a silent and brooding warrior who would serve as Cassian Dracos' right hand throughout the wars of the Horus Heresy.

奥帝龙 斯考尔输掉了梅左阿之战，他的大胆豪赌失败了，而且现在可能要亲眼目睹自己被忠诚派部队击败的详细过程。在寥寥数小时之内，梅左阿上的大部分叛军部队就被歼灭了，自动机兵们对于战败者们毫无仁慈。逃回到巡洋舰上的敌人只有不到三千名，其中也包括身负重伤的奥帝龙 斯考尔——在撤出梅左阿铸造神殿的过程中，他和夏法斯 朱尔发生了遭遇战，火蜥蜴牧师击碎了他的一条手臂。虽然叛军舰队仍然保有轨道优势，但忠诚派中队从其身边快速飞过并发起掠袭行动，下方的星球也在抛射着燃烧的岩块，这很快就迫使叛军们撤往外环行星，并在之后完全逃出该星系。卡西安 德拉库斯被一些人称颂为“梅左阿的救世主”；但由于他在围城战期间发布的奇怪命令，外加他对自动机兵和机械神教神甫中某些派系的不恰当影响，其他人对复仇之龙并不信任。他将会领导多次血腥的劫掠，袭击那些目前受战帅控制的周边星系——在夺得梅左阿战役的胜利后，那个兴起于卡西安周围的个人崇拜教派的影响力，也会被这些行动传播开。纳雷克 德雷古尔将会成为铁龙的知己密友，除非卡西安在场，否则人们几乎不会见到他；在整场荷鲁斯叛乱中，这位沉默且森然的战士都将担任卡西安 德拉库斯的得力助手。

Yet even though the invasion had failed, the damage to Mezoa was great. Autilon Skorr and his Alpha Legion warriors had caused severe damage during their battles at the forge's heart, leaving it incapable of easily replacing the losses sustained during the fighting. Worse yet, one of the three governing tech-priests, the Norn-regents, had been slain during the fighting, causing much strife amongst the various Mezoan orders as they struggled to re-adjust. While Mezoa would remain free from the Warmaster's control, it would be unable to provide any substantial assistance to other Loyalist enclaves for the duration of the conflict. It did, however, remain a thorn in the side of the Traitor efforts to push on the Imperium's core, providing a safe haven for various independent companies of Legiones Astartes, most operating under the aegis of the Disciples of the Flames. While many in the Divisio Militaris at the time of the Horus Heresy discounted the effectiveness of such companies, the exploits of the Disciples of the Flames and other notable groups were perhaps key in preserving a number of Loyalist strongholds and delaying the Warmaster's inevitable strike at Terra and the heart of the Imperium.

但是，尽管叛军的入侵遭遇失败，梅左阿也损失惨重。当他们在铸炉的中心区域作战时，奥帝龙 斯考尔和他的阿尔法军团战士们对其造成了重创，让机械教士们无法轻易替换战斗中遭受的损失。更糟的是，统治铸造世界的三位技术神甫——三尊摄政之一在战斗中被杀，而当他们努力重整时，也在梅左阿的各种秩序中造成了许多冲突。虽然梅左阿仍然不受战帅的控制，但在这场冲突期间，它也无法再向其他忠诚派飞地提供任何实质性支援。不过，在叛军们向帝国核心区域推进的过程中，它仍是对准其身侧的一根尖刺；梅左阿为各种各样的阿斯塔特军团独立部队提供了安全天堂，其中的大多数人都是在烈火门徒的保护下行动。在荷鲁斯叛乱时期，虽然军务庭的很多成员都低估了这些部队的功效，但烈火门徒和其他著名团体所做出的壮举，或许就是很多忠诚派据点得以被保全，以及战帅对于泰拉和帝国中心区域那不可避免的进攻被推迟的关键原因。