《背叛者》节译：帝皇级泰坦之陨
The Corinthian couldn’t be allowed to fire. Nothing else mattered. It had taken one monumental step to come free of its binding, and a second to reach the very edge of the city. Below, racing through the streets of the burning city, thirty Warhounds came on in a rush of crude mechanical precision. World Eaters and Word Bearers units raced with them, as did skitarii troop transports and skimmers in the Legio Audax’s dark red and black.
暗影远征军不能允许“科林斯人号”开火，其他事情都是无关紧要的。帝皇级泰坦已经迈出了摆脱束缚的重要一步，而下一步就是要抵达城市的最远边界。在它身下，三十台战犬泰坦带着种粗糙的机械精度猛冲出来，它们跑过熊熊燃烧的城市的街道，奔向帝皇级泰坦。吞世者和怀言者部队，以及涂着灰烬群狼军团的暗红黑配色的护教军运输车和滑行艇也追随着他们奔跑。
Ultramarines met the oncoming horde. Oberon skitarii, recently spilled from landers, joined their Macraggian allies. Enemy Warhounds lurched at Corinthian’s heels, raising weapons of their own.
极限战士们遇到了迎面奔来的敌群，刚刚从登陆艇中蜂拥而出的死亡霹雳军团护教军们也与他们的马库拉格盟友们共同御敌。敌军战犬泰坦向科林斯人号的足跟处倾身，举起了他们自己的武器。
But Lotara’s efforts left the forces making planetfall a fraction of what Guilliman’s armada had hoped to land. Without knowing the fate of their flagship above – beyond sporadic vox-transmissions of screaming and bolter fire – the World Eaters crashed through the thin lines of defence at the Imperator’s clawed feet. The defence towers that served as the Titan’s legs spat turret fire down in a ceaseless barrage. Audax Titans went down, crushing their infantry escorts as they toppled; setting fire to them as their plasma cores went critical in crowded streets. Every Audax Warhound poured fire upwards, their vulcan bolters glowing red-hot, then white-hot, still spinning and still spitting. Spent shells rained onto the streets below with foundry crashes. Warriors on the roads beneath the Titans fought shin-deep in steaming, empty shell cases.
不过罗塔拉舰长的努力干扰了极限战士的行星登陆计划，基里曼的舰队只能投放原本希望能登陆的部队的一小部分。吞世者们并不知道他们旗舰的命运，他们只能听到通讯器中传来的零星尖叫声和爆弹枪开火声。他们冲向了帝皇级泰坦利爪状巨足处细长的防御阵线。充当泰坦腿部护罩炮塔的防御塔开火，制造出不断的弹幕。灰烬群狼军团的泰坦倒下，并撞倒了自己的步兵护卫队;它们摔在拥挤的街道上，电浆核心变得不稳定，机体燃烧起来。每一台灰烬狼群泰坦都抬高武器倾泻着炮火，它们的火神爆弹炮（炮管）都变得红炽，继而变得白炽，但炮管仍在快速旋转。用完的弹壳如同雨点般落在铸造厂下方的街道上，战士们在泰坦脚下的道路战斗着，他们在滚烫的空弹壳之间相互搏杀。
Such was the force of the firepower turned against Corinthian that its void shields caught fire. Flames washed over the tormented energy screens, each bolt shell’s igniting impact flare blending with the others to bathe the entire kinetic barrier in orange fire. The force bubble shielding Corinthian – which wouldn’t have been out of place on a small space frigate – burst, the boom heavy and resonant enough to shatter every remaining window in a five-kilometre radius and adding a rain of glass to the tempest of shell-fall.
灰烬狼群军团的火力如此强大，以至于科林斯人号的虚空盾都着了火。烈焰冲刷着这层饱受折磨的能量防护屏，爆弹点火冲击爆炸的光焰彼此混合起来，将整个动态（能量）屏障沐浴在橙色的火焰中。护卫着柯林斯人号的气泡状力场炸开了——这层虚空盾用在小型太空护卫舰上也并无不妥，爆炸声沉重而响亮，足以震碎半径五公里范围内剩下的每一扇窗户，碎玻璃如同雨点一般，同暴风雨般的弹壳一并落下。
In the midst of this, as Khârn and Argel Tal fought back to back with blade and claw, Syrgalah sounded her war-horn. Alone, it was a pale blare against the roar of Corinthian’s deafening voice.
在这中间，卡恩和安格尔 塔背靠着背，用利刃和利爪作战。这时，希尔加拉号吹响了战争号角。但相比于柯林斯人号的震耳欲聋的咆哮，这单独的一声号角显得苍白无力。
But a second Titan took up the cry. And a third. Soon, all eighteen remaining Warhounds were howling up at their prey. Each of them was as tall as the Titan’s knee, but together they roared loud enough to eclipse its cry of freedom.
但第二架泰坦也发出了战吼，接着是第三架。很快，目前剩余的十八架战犬泰坦都向自己的猎物嘶吼着。虽然它们的身高都只到帝皇级泰坦的膝盖而已，但它们合在一起的咆哮声盖过了后者为挣脱束缚而发出的呐喊。
The Imperator took another step into the city – a great stride of protesting metal and straining servos, bringing down a low-rise habitation block and flattening a World Eaters Bloodhammer tank beneath its tread. Under way now, Corinthian brought its hellstorm cannon to bear, panning across the cityscape in a slow arc. Every warrior’s teeth itched in the sky-shaking whine of accruing power.
帝皇级泰坦又向城市迈出了一步——这一大步令泰坦的金属结构发出吱嘎的抗议声，伺服系统也在全力运转；这个过程使其摧毁了一座低矮的居民楼，踩扁了脚下的一台吞世者血锤坦克。柯林斯人现在处于行动中，它用自己的地狱风暴加农炮缓慢扫过了城区。武器聚集力量时发出震天的响声，震得在场的每名战士牙齿发痒。
Syrgalah fired first, and Audax followed. Ursus claws loosed skywards, harpoons punching home in Corinthian’s weapon-arms, drilling and magna-locking in place. The Warhounds back-pedalled, withdrawing in straining union, their reinforced chains lashing taut at once.
希尔加拉率先开火，灰烬群狼们紧随其后。熊爪武器向空中射出，鱼叉正中柯林斯人号的武器挂载臂，叉头钻穿了装甲，磁锁到位，吸紧了机体。战犬泰坦们后退了，它们是在极其一致地撤退，加固过的锁链同时绷紧。
They’ll bring it down,’ Argel Tal called to the World Eaters around him. His deathmask was awash with skitarii blood. ‘They’ll bring it down on top of us.’
“他们会拽倒这玩意儿，”安格尔 塔对身边的吞世者们呼到，他的死亡面具上沾满了护教军的血。“那玩意儿会倒在我们头上。”
Khârn incinerated an Ultramarine with a kicking burst from his plasma pistol.
卡恩从电浆手枪中射出一团爆炸的电浆团，烧死了一名极限战士。
‘Wrong again,’ he called back.
“又错了，”他回答道
Yet more harpoons fired, ramming home with leaden clangs, their chains whipping tight alongside those cables first to land. With the sound of almost divine protest, Corinthian’s massive arms – each the size of a hab-spire – began to lower. The great god-machine’s war-horn sounded again, sounding more furious than triumphant this time. Argel Tal doubted such inflection of emotion was possible, yet the impression stuck all the same. He found himself laughing through the pain, the cursing, and the grind of armour against armour.
更多的鱼叉被发射出去，它们带着铿锵有力的声音正中目标，它们拖在身后的铁链与之前那些鱼叉的线缆一并绷紧。柯林斯人号巨大的手臂（每支的尺寸都与巢都尖塔相当）也进行了抵抗，并发出了近乎神圣般的抗争声响，但其还是被拉低。这台伟大的神之机械再次吹响了战争号角，这次听起来更像是怒吼而非胜利欢呼。安格尔·塔怀疑泰坦不可能产生这种情绪的变化，但这一场景给他的印象仍然如此。周围仍是痛苦呻吟、咒骂和动力甲相互摩擦碰撞的声音，但他也发现自己笑出了声。
The immense guns came lower, lower, forced down to aim at the ground – at the flooded streets beneath the Titan’s own feet. If it fired to destroy the closest Warhounds, it would annihilate its own infantry as well as its own legs. And still it struggled. Despite the incremental strength of so many smaller Titans leashing its arms in place, the Corinthian kept trying to turn and bring its fortress guns to bear. All recognised it for what it was: a move of desperate futility.
帝皇级泰坦巨型火炮的炮口越来越低，被迫向下瞄准地面——泰坦的武器现在对准的是自己脚下被水淹没的街道。倘若柯林斯人号现在开火摧毁距离最近的战犬泰坦们，它自己的双腿和友军步兵也会被一并消灭。尽管有如此之多的小型泰坦增加了合力来牵制住它的手臂，但科林斯人号仍然试图转身并用堡垒火炮们来抵抗它们。但所有人都能看出来这本质上就是一种绝望的徒劳之举。
She was shackled. They’d bound an Emperor-class Titan.
它被束缚住了，战犬们绑进了一架帝皇级泰坦。
The voice that came across the vox was wickedly assured, and every warrior heard the smile in the woman’s words.
此刻传来的声音中带着一股邪恶的确信感，所有战士都听到了那个女人话语中的笑意。
‘This is Moderati KeedaBly of the Syrgalah to all infantry forces. Everybody into the water, begin boarding-siege at once. Repeat: lay siege to the Corinthian. Try to remember that we want her alive.’
“我是希尔加拉号的控制主管科塔波莉，我在向所有步兵单位讲话。所有人都行动起来，立刻进行跳帮围攻。重复：围攻柯林斯人号。记住，我们要活捉它。”
（机仆：然后ADB就转移视角去写砍王升魔了，天上下起血雨，基里曼风紧扯呼，视角回到安格尔 塔处时柯林斯人号已经倒了…）
Khârn fought in the blood rain, butchering skitarii along the battlements. The fortress on Corinthian’s back was already drenched in the downpour, with blood sluicing from the gargoyles and rain gutters to fall to the city below. Looking over the edge revealed blood waterfalls streaming in cascades, as well as the packs of Audax Warhounds now moving free from their ambush. With the Imperator Titan’s bridge crew dead – Kargos swore he’d be keeping the princeps’s skull as a trophy for his tally – nothing remained bar purging the skitarii castle on the god-machine’s shoulders. After the leg-towers and the savagely outnumbered defenders on the command deck, the fighting was thickest here in the fortress. The defenders mustered from their barracks for a last stand, despite the fact they’d already lost the battle for their Titan.
卡恩在血雨中奋战着，他沿着城垛向护教军排头砍去。柯林斯人后背上的要塞已经被倾盆的血雨淋湿，鲜血流过其上的石像鬼和雨槽，落到下方的城市中。从要塞向下边缘看去，鲜血瀑布飞流直下，同时还有成群的灰烬群狼战犬泰坦结束了伏击任务，正在自由行动。帝皇级泰坦舰桥中的成员们已经战死了——卡尔格斯曾发誓自己要夺下柯林斯人号机长的头颅作为战利品，除了扫荡神之机械肩膀上护教军的人群之外，这里已经什么都不剩了。除了腿部防御塔和指挥甲板上寡不敌众的守军，堡垒里的战斗最为激烈。虽然它们已经输掉了这场泰坦保卫战，但守军们仍然从兵营中集合起来，进行了最后的抵抗。
Skitarii cybernetics ran the gamut of contextual usefulness and lethality. The Legio Oberon’s fleshsmiths and mechnicians had a penchant for augmenting their war-slaves’ arms with heavy rotary cannons, which gave off the powdery reek of fyceline as they chattered with the bloom of muzzle flares.
智控护教军们全面分析了武器致命性和杀伤性。奥伯龙军团的凡人工匠和机械神教教士们喜欢用重型旋转炮来强化他们的战争奴隶的武力，当他们的不停开火的武器发出嗡嗡的（旋转）声音时，空气中也会弥漫着一股氟瑟林物质粉末的气味。
Khârn cleaved his way through them, his retinal display lighting up with damage warnings and runes marking his left knee-joint as compromised to the point of instability. Smoke trailed up from the egregious gunfire pockmarks covering most of his armour. These rotary cannons lacked penetration, but they made up for it by sheer volume of fire.
卡恩从他们中撕开了一条道路，这时他的视网膜显示器上亮起了损伤警告和符文，表明他左膝关节处已经变得很不稳定。他身上动力甲的大部分区域都被射出了惊人的弹坑，浓烟从其中冒出。这些旋转炮缺乏穿透力，但其强悍的火力弥补了这一点。
The battlements were wide, more like gantries and iron bridges than anything like a fortress from a feudal world. The bloody downpour left the metal platforms slick and treacherous.
城垛很宽阔，它们更像是龙门架和铁桥，而非来自封建世界的堡垒。倾盆的血雨令金属平台变得湿滑而危险。
With the last of the skitarii slain, the World Eaters went through the cowering slaves and brain-dead servitors lingering in the habitation quarters. While the Legio’s indentured servants begged and cried out as they were butchered, the cyborged slaves simply stared in slack-jawed apathy.
随着最后一名护教军被杀掉，吞世者们穿过了居住区——畏缩着的奴隶与无心智的机仆们徘徊在那里。军团中的契约奴隶们在被宰杀时尚且还会哀求哭嚎，而那些生化机械奴隶们则只会毫无表情地呆呆瞪着眼睛。
Lacking any more enemies, the World Eaters took to the battlements, raising their axes and yelling their triumph to the blood-red sky.
在敌人都被消灭后，吞世者们登上城垛，他们高举起手中的利斧，朝着血红的天空发出阵阵胜利的欢呼。
