HH6：肃清诺斯特拉莫星区4（完）

At the Empire's end

帝国的尽头

Having scoured in the archives of Terra over the course many Years and several expeditions to the lowest vaults seeking answers to the riddle of the Nostramo sector, it seemed that both the archives and the patience of their keepers has been exhausted by my search. little more would be uncovered for some years as forces within our battered Imperium moved to secure their power and those of us who were seen as relics of a time now past were pushed aside. The next, and perhaps final piece of the puzzle to emerge would come from the distant halls of Ultramar, passed into my hands by a loyal acolyte whose travels had led him down distant trails.

为了寻找诺斯特拉星区密秘的答案，我在泰拉档案馆搜索了数年之久，并且对最深处的储藏室进行了多次探索。我的研究似乎已经掏空了档案馆的资料，也已经耗尽了管理员们的耐心。随着我们备受凌虐的帝国中的各种部队转为储备自己的力量，我们这些被视为旧时代遗产的老家伙们也罕有人问津，所以在这几年中我们几乎没有发现更多信息。下面这份资料可能就是这个谜团（答案）的最后一部分，它来自遥远的奥特拉玛的资料大厅，一位曾经前往过遥远地方的忠诚军团仆役将这份档案送交我手。

Here presented is the record of one of the battle fought by those fragments of the Ultramarines that were separated from their brethren by the advance of the Word Bearers, left isolated after the fall of Honourum. In the final days of 011.M31, under the command of Arceas Odenathus of the 10th Chapter, the Ultramarines moved to assult the world of Desperation, on the coreward edge of the Nostramo sector seeking to establish a zone of Loyalist control in the Dominion of Storms. While the result of the battle is of little consequence to my investigation, the circumstances that brought its conclusion have much import on its answer.

我在此所展示的是一份极限战士军团散兵部队的战斗记录——他们在怀言者的进攻中与自己的兄弟们分散，并在Honourum世界沦陷之后陷入孤立状态。在011.M31的最后几天里，第十战团的指挥官阿尔凯斯 奥登苏斯指挥极限战士们前去攻击位于诺斯特拉莫星区朝向银心地带边境的绝望星，他们试图在风暴统治域中建立起一片忠诚派控制区。虽然这次战争的结果对于我的调查没有什么太大的影响，但其战局对于我的调查意义非凡。

ULTRAMAR, SECURED DATA REPOSITORY 346/SIGMA, ARTICLE 4/997/011/31

奥特拉玛，安全数据存储库西格玛346，文档编号4/997/011/31

INTERNAL LEGION DATA-MISSIVE #4445-893

军团内部数据公函，编号#4445-893

IDENT-IMPRINT: ARCEAS ODINATHUS, PRAETOR, 10TH CHAPTER

提交者身份：第十战团执政官阿尔凯斯 奥登苏斯

PREFACE

前言 

A WISE MAN DOES NOT FEAR, A MAN AFRAID DOES NOT THINK. CODICIL 1：18

智者无惧，惧者无谋。附录1：18

My Lord Guilliman, 

基里曼吾主

As per your standing orders, I have compiled a full report of our recent actions for analysis and dissemination within the Legion, though I do not know when this missive may reach your person as the fighting turns bitter in the Dominion of Storms. Our recent success in-battle against the garrison forces left by the Word Bearers and World Eaters has been marred by a defeat at the hands of the Night Lords and the loss of much of the 104th and 108th Companies. The remainder of the 10th Chapter remains fit for battle, and we shall endeavour to harry die Traitors and force them to continue diverting manpower and resources to this segmentum. 

根据您的常规训令，我将最近的行动编撰为一份完整报告以供军团内部传阅和分析，但我不知道随着暴风统治域的战斗变得越来越艰难，这份公函何时会到达您面前。我们最近战胜了怀言者和吞世者留下的驻军，但之后我们被午夜领主们击败，第104和108连队损失惨重。但第10战团剩余的部队依旧适合作战，我们会尽力剿灭叛军，迫使他们继续向该星域转移人力和资源。

Section One：Of Preparation

阶段1：备战

Ruthlessness is the Kindness of the Wise. Codicil 3:94

无情是智者的仁慈。附录 3:94

Having established our regional command post on the Loyalist Forge World of Gulgorahd, our initial strategic aim has been to create a buffer zone Between Gulgorahd and nearby Traitor outposts. World Eaters units on Taur have been eliminated after being drawn into an ambush by Seeker squads from the 83th Company, and those Word Bearers companies on Caith Laes engaged in a protracted campaign of senseless genocide have been annihilated. The Night Lords stronghold of Kniun has fallen silent and Khrave nest ships have been sighted in orbit, and though it pains me to leave these foul xenos to butcher and raid unchallenged, we do not havethe manpower to fight both the Traitor Legions and reavers from the Ghoul Stars. This has left Desperation as the only major enemy stronghold within striking distance.

我们已经在忠诚的铸造世界Gulgorahd上建立了自己的指挥站，初期的战略目标是在Gulgorahd和周边的叛徒哨站之间创建缓冲区。第83连队的寻路者小队将Taur上吞世者部队引诱到伏击圈中进行歼灭，Caith Laes上那些陷入旷日持久的无意义种族灭绝战争的怀言者部队们也被肃清。Kniun上的午夜领主据点已经陷入沉寂，该世界的轨道上被目击到了卡拉夫人的蜂巢战舰。放任这些丑恶的异形不受阻碍地进行屠杀和掠夺令我痛苦，但我们没有与叛徒军团和来自食尸鬼群星的掠夺者们两线作战的兵力。这让绝望星成为了我们进攻距离内仅有的主要叛军据点。

Our last intelligence on Desperation, provided by stragglers from the 1st Legion fleet in 010M31, placed twelve companies of Night lords at Desperation as well as a small fleet contingent. As per our established doctrines, I mustered a force exceeding estimated enemy strength by at least fifty percent before engagement: ten companies of the 10th Chapter, seven taghma of the Taghmata Gulgorahd and a mixed compmany of Blood Angels and Iron Hands. This force was mustered on the recently captured world of Yaelis in 997011.M31 and subsequently moved to begin the assault in good order and provided with ample supply and fleet support.

第一军团舰队的掉队者们在010M31为我们提供了关于绝望星的最新情报：绝望星上有12个午夜领主连队以及一支小规模分遣舰队。根据我们的既定信条，我在交战前召集了一支军力至少超过敌军预计兵力百分之十五的部队：第十战团的10个连队，Gulgorahd禁卫军的7支禁卫队以及圣血天使和钢铁之手组成的一个混合连队。部队的集结地是在997011.M31被我们新征服的世界Yaelis，我们在调整好状态后便开始进攻，并且充分地补给了部队和舰队。

Section Two: Of Battle .

阶段2：作战

Wars are Won or Lost when the Battle Lines are Drawn.Codicil 18:03

战线已成，非胜即陨。附录18：03

On arrival at the outskirts of the Qetesh System, we found its fifth world, Desperation, to be more heavily defended than expected. Nine capital class craft and a score of lesser ships were set in defensive positions in high orbit, obviously placed to interdict long range bombardment at the planet and apparently well prepared for attack.Our own fleet, composed of six Legion strike cruisers of various types, five Gulgor assault barques and supporting small craft squadrons, held only a slight advantage in numbers. Yet as we retained the strategic initiative, our foe bound to protect die planet over which they orbited, it was decided that the fleet would press the attack. To that end the fleet was divided into three battle groups: two smaller battle groups composed of a pair of strike cruisers, each along with the majority of our more agile small craft, and a single larger formation that included all of the formidable Gulgor close assault ships and the largest of the two strike cruisers, a pair of Ancient Terran Excelsior class craft bristling with kinetic lance launchers. Utilising a variation of  standard Legion envelopment tactics, the two smaller squadrons made probing attacks from opposite vectors, attempting to draw the defenders into spreading their forces thin at the centre, where the third formation waited to drive home a crippling attack at short range.

当抵达Qetesh星系的边缘时，我们就发现星系中的第十五个世界——绝望星的防守比我们预想得更为严密，九艘主力舰和二十艘轻型舰船在高轨道进行防御，明显是要阻止对于行星的远距离轰炸，显然敌军准备完善。我们自己的舰队包含六艘各种型号的军团打击巡洋舰，五艘古尔戈突击舰和几支小型支援舰中队，我方只在数量上有微弱优势。由于我方拥有战略主动权，敌军则要负责保护他们环绕的固定世界，所以我决定用进攻。为此，舰队被分为三个战斗群：两个小型战斗群包含两艘打击巡洋舰，已经大量更为灵活的小型舰船，另一个大型战斗群包含所有强悍的古尔戈突击舰和两艘最大的突击巡洋舰——她们是遍布移动光矛发射器的古泰拉的精进型战舰。我们使用了某种包抄战术的变种：两个小型中队从相反的方向进行试探攻击，试图引开敌方守军，使其中心地带防守薄弱，此刻第三支编队就能对其直接进行近距离残酷突击。

At first it seemed that the strategy had succeeded, with squadrons of Night lords craft splitting off from the main force to counter our probing attacks. Indeed, the clumsy manoeuvring of the VIIth Legion craft would suggest a dire lack of a cohesive command element, wih the sudden shifting of their formation causing some disarray within the fleet. With our flanking elements fully engaged, the main force of the fleet moved to engage the Night Lords ships，advancing at flank speed towards Desperation. Yet those squadrons not engaged with the smaller battle groups, upon detecting the advancing phalanx of capital craft, either turned on our embattled flanking groups or fled local space entirely; making no attempt to defend the planet or engage our main force in complete defiance of established military logic.

起初这套战略似乎奏效了，一支午夜领主舰艇中队脱离出主力部队，前来反击我们的试探性进攻。事实上，第七军团舰船笨拙的机动显示出出他们极其缺乏一个有凝聚力的指挥团队，它们编队的突然变动在舰队中造成了混乱。随着我们的侧翼部队全面进入战斗，舰队主力也以侧翼速度驶向绝望星，前去对抗午夜领主的战舰。然而，在发现了主力舰前进的方阵后，那些并未与小型战斗群交战的中队要么转向我军被围困的侧翼战斗群，要么完全逃离了当地空域;他们完全无视既定的军事逻辑，并未试图保卫星球或与我们的主力舰队交战。

There was little that could be done to avoid the loss of two of our cruisers, the Amaranthine Vigil and the Heart of Valour, overwhelmed by Night Lords vessels that closed to point blank range to cripple and board them. The collapse of one of the flanking actions left a clear vector for the remaining Night Lords craft to disengage and regroup on the far side of Desperation's binary moons, shielded from our guns by the two conjoined planetoids. Unwilling to retreat with the remains of the Night Lords fleet menacing our formation, the heavy assault craft began deploying landing craft and gunships, the initial stage of our conquest of Desperation. These craft took heavy casualties from surface-based defence lasers and macro cannon batteries, which the Night Lords had sited within the heavily populated hive cities of  Desperation in an attempt to discourage orbital suppression with the spectre of collateral damage to the infrastructure and populace. These orbital-defence batteries were the primary targets of the initial assault groups, composed mostly of Ursarax cohorts commanded by the grim bronze-masked adepts of Gulgorahd, and Ultramarines of the 22nd Chapter, the destroyers of the Nemesis Charter accompanied by hulking Leviathan pattern siege Dreadnoughts. As the assault groups fell prey to cunningly wrought ambushes, sabotage and entire towers rigged for destraction, the fighting bogged down into vicious, isolated street fights. We were also subject to near-continuous raids by small squadrons of Night Lords craft in orbit, targeting isolated craft and the lumbering transport barges. We were unable to fully suppress these raids while bound to protect those troops we had landed on the surface, placed in an invidious position by our own success in the initial stages of the assault.

我们的两艘巡洋舰“长明守望号”和“勇气之心”号被午夜领主战舰所压制，敌军进入了（舰炮的）空白范围内以瘫痪它们并进行跳帮，我们几乎无法避免这两艘船的损失。（而且）我们某一侧翼的进攻行动失败了，这就留给了剩余的午夜领主舰船们一条前往绝望星双子月亮的远端进行脱战和重整的安全航线，那两颗连体小行星能让它们避开我们的炮火。我们不愿意在午夜领主的残余舰队（依然）威胁着我们编队的情况下撤退，重型突击舰开始部署登陆艇和炮艇，这是我们占领绝望星的第一步。地基防御激光和宏炮炮塔让这些舰艇损失严重，午夜领主们在人口众多的巢都中设置这些防御设施的目的是阻止轨道压制，以免空袭对基础设施和民众造成附带损害。第一批进攻部队的首要目标就是这些轨道防御炮台，部队主要由（带着）青铜面具的Gulgorahd技术修士指挥的苍熊机兵大队、第22战团的极限战士们、复仇女神战团的毁灭者部队与陪同他们的巨大利维坦攻城无畏机甲们组成。随着进攻部队遭遇了敌军狡猾的伏击，计划被打乱，防御塔被用于进行毁灭，战斗陷入僵局，双方展开了残酷孤立的巷战。我们也在轨道上遭遇了午夜领主舰艇小型中队近乎持续的掠袭，它们瞄准的是孤立的舰艇和缓慢笨重的运输巨舰。我们无法在保护地面登陆部队的同时全力压制对方的掠袭进攻，在进攻初期阶段获取的胜利让我们陷入了两难境地。

Section Three： Of Betrayal 

阶段三：背叛

Hesitation in War is a Warrior's Greatest Betrayal .Codicil 6:14

战时迟疑是最大的背叛。附录6:14

At this point in the fighting, we had lost the initiative both in orbit and on the ground. In an effort to regain some mennentum, the remainder of our landing craft were deployed, despite the destruction of less than half the enemy's ground defence batteries, heavy casualties being deemed Better than complete failure. The additional forces began to shift the battle back in our favour, with Legiones Astartes of the 10th Chapter establishing safe zones for the deployment of heavy Gulgorahd artillery-automata. In orbit, the relative parity of strength Between the two fleets left us with fewer offensive options, however, the intercession of a fleet of unmarked warships of Imperial pattern was to shift the balance in our favour.Emerging from warp space at some distance from Desperation, this unknown fleet, comprised of six capital class vessels, older Hoplon pattern assault cruisers of Jovian design, moved to engage the Night Lords ships. Caught Between our own ships and the unidentified ebon-hulled craft, the Night Lords cruisers fell victim to a withering crossfire that left them in ruins. Only three craft managed to escape the conflagration, using the deaths of their brethren to mask the signatures of their engines as they pushed to overload in the effort to escape our effective auspex range.

此刻，我们在轨道和地面上都丧失了主动权。为了努力重新获取到一些进攻势头，尽管地面部队只摧毁了敌军不到一半的地面防御炮塔，我们仍然部署了剩余的登陆艇，伤亡惨重总好过彻底失败。新增的部队开始将战斗转向对我们有利的方向，第十战团的阿斯塔特们为Gulgorahd重型炮击自动机兵的部署建立了安全区。在轨道上，双方舰队的军力（对比）相对平等，这让我们拥有了少量的进攻选择权。但一支由无标识帝国型号舰船组成的舰队的（突然）介入让战斗形势转向了对我们有利的一方。这支未知的舰队在较为远离绝望星的区域离开了亚空间前去与午夜领主舰队交战，其中包括六艘主力舰，它们是木星设计的陈旧的圆盾型突击巡洋舰。午夜领主巡洋舰们夹在了我们的战舰和身份未确认的乌黑舰船之间，毁灭性的交叉火力让它们化为残骸。只有三艘舰船成功从冲突中逃出，他们超载引擎来逃出我们鸟卜仪的有效侦测范围，利用兄弟（舰船）的死亡（残骸）来隐蔽自己的引擎信号。

Now in control of oibital space above Desperation, we attempted to make contact with the craft that had come to our aid. The battle-scarred craft had disabled their ident broadcast signals, and did not display any sign of Legion heraldry on their hulls, yet their actions would have us suppose them enemies of the traitor Warmaster. Our attempts at communication, intended to secure their co- operation in the reduction of Night Lords' positions on the surface in the Emperor's name, met with curt rebuff a commtmication transmitted across audio-only vox channels by a praetor who gave his name as Kirine:"The Emperor consigned us to the care of a tyrant who sought to see us dead and forgotten; now the Raven Lord himself is dead,we care not to see the collar of servitude clasped around our necks once more, neither in service to the turncoat Warmaster or a failed empire"

现在我们控制住了绝望星上空的轨道空域，我们试图与这些施以援手的舰船进行联系。这些战疤累累的舰船关闭了它们的身份识别广播信号，船体上也并未展示出任何军团纹章的标记，但他们的行为让我们假定他们为叛徒战帅的敌人。我们试着与他们进行沟通，意图让双方以帝皇之名合作剿灭午夜领主们在地表的据点。对方断然拒绝了我们的提议，一位自称基林的军团执政官通过一个只供收听的无线电频道发送给我们一条通讯：“帝皇将我们丢给一名暴君，而后者只想看着我们死掉和被遗忘；现在渡鸦之主已死，我们不会眼看着自己的脖子再次套上奴隶的枷锁。我们不侍奉那位变节的战帅，但也不会给一个失败的帝国卖命。”

Section Four: Of Defiance

阶段四：反抗

Doubt is the Greatest Weapon of our Foe. Codicil 3:48

怀疑是敌人最好的武器。附录3:48。

Despite such slander of the Emperor and His chosen Primarchs, the craft under Kirine's command did not attempt to target or engage our ships, but instead approached the planet and began to launch their own landing craft. Eager to avoid a three-way conflict, those Loyalist craft in the area were ordered to keep their distance unless locked onto by targeting augurs, however my attempts were to prove to be in vain. The dropcraft of the cast-off Raven Guard vectored towards the principal armorium of Desperation's sprawling hive, an area mostly under the control of pathfinder units of the 10th Chapter. These dropcraft disgorged a host of Legiones Astartes clad in worn battle plate bearing a heraldry of black and red. Organised into small fast moving units, these Legiones Astartes engaged in a brutal strike and fade assault against the Ultramarines in the area. Though far from unprepared for such a treacherous attack, for we had all learned lessons from the fall of Honourum and Calth, the sheer ferocity of the assault carried it home. With our surviving squads falling back to sound defensive positions, the Raven Guard were able to occupy the armorium, bringing up their landing craft with the apparent intent of looting the store of arms and munitions kept within.

尽管基林对于帝皇和被帝皇选中的原体进行了如此严重的诽谤，但他指挥下的舰船并未试图瞄准或攻击我方舰船，相反，他们接近了绝望星并开始发射他们自己的登陆艇。为了极力避免三方混战的发生，我命令该区域的忠诚派舰船（与基林舰队）保持距离，除非被对方用瞄准卜仪锁定。但我的努力被证明是徒劳的。这些被流放暗鸦守卫的空降艇冲向了绝望星杂乱巢都中的主要军火库，这片地区主要由第十战团的寻路者部队控制。空降艇释放出一群身披带有红黑色纹章的破旧战斗装甲的军团阿斯塔特，他们组成了小型的快速移动单位，对该地的极限战士们发动了凶狠的突击。尽管我们都吸取了考斯和Honourum陨落的教训，对于此类背刺进攻也远非毫无准备，但这种纯粹凶悍的进攻仍让极限战士们招架不住。我们幸存的小队们撤到了完好的防御据点，暗鸦守卫们现在攻占了军火库，他们的登陆艇降落下来，意图明显是要洗劫仓库中储存的武器弹药。

For the next few hours, the site of the armorium became the focus of the fighting on Desperation, with the Raven Guard mounting a stubborn defence of the complex, now besieged by fresh Ultramarines units from the 10th and 22nd Chapters, and with Night Lords terror squads launching probing attacks and ambushing isolated units of either side. All the while, a stream of Raven Guard shuttle craft emptied the armorium under the watchful eye of squadrons of Fire Raptor gunships and smaller fighter craft, whilst in orbit a tense war of manoeuvre saw our capital ships attempting to force the enemy out of geo-synchronous orbit of the armorium. While we were unable to displace the enemy cruisers, and remained unwilling to endanger our remaining undamaged capital craft, a breakthrough in the defences thrown up around the armorium was forced by the Destroyers of the 22nd Chapter, their Leviathan Siege Dreadnoughts battering down the hastily erected barricades under heavy fire. With a hole punched in their fortifications, the Raven Guard were forced into a fighting retreat, evacuating as many of their units as possible as the noose was closed. The last of their units, a squad of Cataphractii Terminators, sealed the doors of the armorium behind them, though when it was later prised open they were gone, having most likely teleported to the waiting cruisers above. In the wake of the Raven Guard's evacuation, Night Lords units began a hive-wide counter-attack, surging forwards into the exhausted Ultramarines units across the city.

在之后的几个小时中，军火库区域是绝望星上争斗的焦点。暗鸦守卫们对巢城复合体进行了顽强防御，来自第10和第22战团的新增援极限战士部队围困着他们，午夜领主的恐惧小队也进行了试探性进攻，并伏击了另外两方的落单部队。在火焰猛禽炮艇和小型战斗机的护送下，一艘接一艘的暗鸦守卫运输艇最终搬空了军火库；同时在轨道上也进行着一场紧张的机动战争：我方主力舰试图逼迫敌军离开军火库（上空）的同步轨道空域。但我们无力赶走敌军的巡洋舰，也不愿意让我们剩余的完好主力舰陷入危险，这时第 22 战团的毁灭者部队强行突破了军火库周围的防御工事，他们的利维坦攻城无畏机甲顶着猛烈的火力摧毁暗鸦守卫们匆忙架起的路障。由于防御工事被打出了突破口，暗鸦守卫们被迫进行战术撤退，他们在极限战士大举进攻时尽可能多地疏散了部队。他们最后的部队——某支铁骑终结者小队封锁了自己身后的军火库大门，不过之后等我们撬开大门时，他们已经消失了——很可能是被传送到了上方等待着的巡洋舰中。在暗鸦守卫们撤退后，午夜领主们发动了巢都范围的反击，冲向城市各处精疲力竭的极限战士部队。

Summation 

总结

Knowledge is the Truest Weapon in a General's Arsenal. Codicil 9:23

知识是一位统帅最真实的武器。附录9:23。

In defence of our own troops, we were forced to evacuate those forces on the ground, suffering heavy casualties in the process. By necessity this left us unable to oppose the retreat of the Raven Guard cruisers, which left orbit in possession of a sizable store of munitions, but having paid for them in the blood of their fallen brethren. On Desperation the Night Lords once again controlled the hive city, which had been mostly reduced to rubble during the day's hard fought battles, and our only recourse was to bombard the city from orbit. While we assume that many Night Lords units were able to seek sanctuary in pre-prepared shelters in the hive's lower levels, the remainder will be combat ineffective and unable to leave the ruins with their fleet destroyed or scattered.

为了保护我方人员，我们被迫撤回地面上的部队，在这个过程中我们损失惨重。这必然使我们无法阻止暗鸦守卫巡洋舰的撤退，它们在离开轨道时带走了大量弹药，但这是用他们阵亡兄弟们的鲜血换来的。午夜领主们再次控制住了绝望星上的巢都，但这一天的艰苦鏖战已经让城市的大部分都化为瓦砾废墟，我们也只能从轨道上轰炸这些城市。我们姑且假设许多午夜领主都已经躲入了巢都下层事先准备好的避难所中，但由于他们的舰队已被摧毁或逃散，这些幸存者们（之后）将无法有效战斗，也不能离开废墟。