IA12节译：阿玛拉之战（4）（完结）

As the pulsing shockwave of the teleport transit cleared, Asterion Moloc and his bodyguard of thirty of his Chapter's Terminator armoured veterans, alongside two Contemptor Dreadnoughts of the Chapter, stood amid the black gale of venting atmosphere and confronted the lord of the Necron host. Between them there was no preamble, no warriors salute or declaration of challenge or intent , instead Moloc merely raised hs Black Spear and unleashed its las-blast at the sinister-fgure high on its throne-like dais. The golden-white bolt strong enough to pierce the armour of a battle tank , struck the machine - creatures shoulder and rocked the figure back , but did no more than elicit an eerie hissing howl , not of pain but of insulted rage. From the cold air a great glittering cleaver-like blade of pale obsidian materialised in the Necron Overlords outstretched skeletal hand and he threw himself from the dais like a bolt of thunder,slicing open the first Terminator in his path with a savage backhand blow as if the warrior's vaunted armour were as nothing.

随着传送所产生的脉冲冲击波渐渐消失，阿斯特瑞昂 摩洛克站到了喷涌而出的空气所形成的黑色旋风中，与之一并前来的还有三十名终结者老兵组成的卫队，以及两台蔑视者无畏机甲，众人直面着死灵大军的领主。双方没有讲开场白，没有互行战士的敬礼，也没有进行言语挑衅或高呼自己的意图，摩洛克只是举起自己的黑矛，向着高居于王座般高台之上的险恶人物射出激光爆能束。这道金白色的光矢强悍到足以击穿一辆战斗坦克的装甲，它击中了那只机械生物的肩膀，令其身形向后摇晃，但也只是引起了死灵领主一阵嘶嘶的长嚎——它没有感到疼痛，而且被激怒了。一柄闪闪发光的砍刀状巨刃在冰冷的空气中物质化，死灵霸主伸出骷髅手握住这柄苍白的黑曜石色利刃，如同一道雷霆那般从高台上跃下，一道凶狠的反手斩击便切开了挡在他道路上的第一名终结者，仿佛战士身上引以为傲的动力甲不存在那般。

So was the battle joined and in a moment all in the vast chamber was fury, the sound of churning storm bolters and roaring assault cannon bleeding away with the air into the open void above. From the darkness the Necron Praetorians and tomb guardians came, hulking armoured forms twice the height of a man,their gilded and corroded death masks glimmering gold and crimson in the fire-flash light of the Minotaurs weapons. In their hands they bore arcane staff weapons blazing with ghostly flame with which to blast their foes to ashes , or great cleaving blades and tall segmented shields able to repel the deadliest fire. Soon the Minotaurs were hard-pressed, a shrinking circle of warriors who had already accounted for twice their number only to see the fallen drag themselves back up from ruin or be replaced by another of their kind stalking implacably from the darkness. Moloc raged and slew as tirelessly as any machine - warrior that rose up before him , and with a far greater cold fury, his storm shield resounding with the blows of enemy weapons while the Black Spear tirelessly slashed and stabbed , punching through armoured torsos and severing mechanical limbs as he went.

双方的战斗就此展开，霎时间大厅中的所有战士都燃起怒火，风暴爆弹枪的激烈枪声与突击炮的怒吼声随着空气传递到了外侧的虚空中。死灵禁卫和墓穴守卫们从黑暗中走出，他们有着庞大的装甲躯体，身高是一名凡人的两倍；在米诺陶武器枪焰的映照下，其锈蚀的镀金死亡面具闪烁着金色和猩红声的光芒。它们手中要么握着奇异的战杖——其上燃烧着的幽灵般烈火能将敌人化为灰烬，要么装备着巨大的劈斩刀和足以抵御最致命火力的高大分段式护盾。米诺陶战团部队很快就陷入困境，星际战士们围成的防御圈正在缩小，他们已经消灭了两倍于己的敌人，但只看见那些倒下的异形拖着残躯再度起身，或者是被它们那些从黑暗中无情走出的同族们所替代。摩洛克暴怒不已，他就和那些在其面前起身的机器武士一样，不知疲倦地战斗着；而且米诺陶之主胸中燃着远为激烈的冷酷怒火，他端起风暴盾抵御敌人武器的进攻，阵阵巨响随之响起，手中黑矛也不知疲倦地突刺劈砍，击穿装甲躯体并切断机械四肢

The dark Overlord fought and killed his way towards the Minotaurs Chapter Master, leaving a trail of rent and severed Terminators in his wake, until suddenly the tomb ship shook to a resounding blow and it began to tilt crazily the artificial gravity field within it rippling and bucking. The Necron Overlord was thrown unceremoniously to his knees and looming there above him was Ancient Geryon, the Contemptor Dreadnought's great fist raised to strike , the lethal energy field that enwrapped it churning soundlessly in the now airless vault. The hammer-blow fell but the reapers blade was there to meet it and the Dreadnought's forearm exploded in flame and spinning shrapnel. The tomb ship tilted further still and Geryon reeled and staggered, the Dreadnoughts huge armoured feet skidding and losing purchase. The Overlord sprang bonelessly from the ground and laid into Geryon with his great blade in a rapid series of two-handed slashes , sending splintered ceramite and showers of sparks fountaining from the wounded Dreadnought.

那位黑暗阴鸷的死灵霸主也杀出了一条通往米诺陶战团长的血路，身后留下了一路被撕裂和切断的终结者（尸体），直到墓穴舰突然因一阵猛烈的进攻而颤抖起来，并开始疯狂地倾斜，船内的重力场也猛然震荡。死灵霸主被毫不客气地摔倒，而古战士格里翁也于其上方隐约现身；这台无畏机甲挥起重拳准备进攻，包裹在铁拳上的致命能量场无声地搅动在毫无空气的拱顶房间中。这一道重击轰然落下，但死灵收割者用利刃甩出一记精准的格挡，无畏机甲的前臂炸为了一团烈焰和飞旋的碎片。墓穴舰倾斜得更为严重，格里翁摇晃蹒跚，无畏机甲装甲巨足打滑，失去了抓地力量。死灵霸主从地面上灵活地一跃而起，它用双手握住巨刃，对格里翁进行了数次快速劈砍，陶钢碎片与火花从受创的无畏机甲身上喷涌而出。

Geryon fell , one knee actuator severed, brackish blood and silver amniotic fluid leaking from the rents in his armour. The Overlord rose up to deliver the final blow and the Black Spear found him. Moloc punched the ancient relic-weapon clean through the Ovelord's back and it exploded from the ankh-glyph that was blazoned across the Necron’s chest, wreathed in pale flame and amber lightning. Transfixed , the Overlord spasmed upon the spear, its death-mask thrown back as if in a silent scream .

格里翁倒下了，他的一只膝盖被切断了传动器，咸涩的血液和银色的羊水液从装甲机体的裂口处泄露而出。霸主站起身来，准备进行最后一击，而黑矛也（在这时）刺中了它。摩洛克用这件古老的圣物武器干净利落地刺穿霸主后背，矛尖从装饰在死灵胸口处的十字状象形符号处破膛而出，其上笼罩着苍白的火焰与琥珀色的电光。死灵霸主因惊愕而动弹不得，它在长矛上痉挛抽搐着，带着死亡面具的头部向后仰去，仿佛发出一阵无声的嚎叫。

Asterion Moloc smashed the dark Overlord of his spear-blade using his storm Shield to deal the blow just as the tomb ship rocked again with fresh impacts, the white flame of plasma weapon fire licking around the aperture in the vault chamber from the void beyond. By a warriors instinct earned on a thousand battlefields, Moloc reacted before his conscious mind detected the reaping blade falling from on high, raising his storm shield as the dark Overlord’s blade came down, the ancient device blocking a blow that would have cleaved Moloc’s head in two before it finaly shorted and spat ,quickly coming apart under the repeated wild blows of the Necrons glittering blade. The world tilted once more and they parted, Moloc feeling the burning cold hate of the deathless creature's baleful crimson eyes as the broken, skeletal figure retreated into the darkness. The master of the Minotaurs Chapter himself was swept out into the void , surrounded by the bodies of his dead warriors as if caught in a whirlpool.

阿斯特瑞昂 摩洛克举起风暴盾，一把将黑暗霸主从自己的长矛上撞下；就在此刻，墓穴舰也因新遭受的冲击而再次摇晃，电浆武器的白色烈焰从外侧虚空舔舐着拱顶舱室的缝隙。凭借自己在一千场战斗中培养起的战士直觉，早在其察觉到收割利刃正从高处落下之前，摩洛克便做出了反应，举起风暴盾抵御黑暗霸主的利刃劈砍——这件古老的装置挡住了原本会将摩洛克劈为两半的一击，但在死灵那闪光利刃的反复猛攻之下，风暴盾最终短路并喷出火花，很快便被砍碎了。飞船再次倾斜，俩者彼此分开，当那破碎的骷髅形构造体退回到黑暗中时，摩洛克从那不死生物恶毒的猩红色双眼中感受到了冷酷的恨意。米诺陶战团长本人也被甩进了虚空中，他被麾下战士们的尸体所包围，仿佛身处漩涡之中。

The darkness shimmered as the vast shape of the stricken Dead Hand turned and blotted out the stars with its transit and began to accelerate away, revealing the burning hulk of the Minotaurs battle barge Fedelitas Lambda behind it . The ship's dying act had been to ram the Dead Hand and in doing so it had at last caused enough damage to force the colossal ships retreat . With their master's vessel on the move , the  black fleet disengaged, driven off but hardly defeated, leaving only death and fire behind them , whilst in a move completely unanticipated , the Sun Kiler and a dozen escorting raiders unexpectedly split from the body of the black fleet and made landing on the night-side of Auric , whose face was soon consumed by dark storms and pulses of unnatural radiance.

受创的死手号庞大的船体调转方向，挡住了星光，开始加速离去，微弱的光芒闪烁在黑暗虚空中。死灵舰船身后露出了米诺陶战列母舰“忠诚者拉姆达”号那熊熊燃烧着的船体。这艘星际战士飞船发动了垂死一击，撞击了死手号，它也由此对死灵巨舰造成了足够的损失，最终迫使其撤退。随着其主宰者的舰船离开战场，黑色舰队也脱离了战斗，它们被击退了，但也几乎未被击败，只在自己身后留下死亡和火焰。但弑阳者号与十二艘为其护航的掠袭舰最初了完全出人意料的举动，它们从黑色舰队的主体上分离出来，降落到了Auric世界的夜半球，而这颗星球的地表很快便被黑暗风暴与超自然辐射脉冲所吞没。

The rest of the surviving Necron ships and the wounded Dead Hand simply vanished without trace from the auguries of the handful of Imperial warships still able to track them; one second they registered , and the next they were gone.The Necron host , if not defeated , had been checked , but for most of the survivors that was a pyrrhic victory at best. Battlefleet Orpheus was shattered ; less than ten percent of its vessels were still in anything resembling fighting order and every single one carried the scars of the battle. As to the rest of the armada , it lay in vast arcing clouds of still burning hulks and tumbling debris, a pyre for the once glorious defenders of the sector visible across the entire star system.

其余幸存的死灵舰船和死手号则是纯粹不见了踪影，而在那寥寥数艘仍能追踪它们的帝国飞船的占卜仪上，这些死灵飞船毫无踪迹；前一秒还显示在屏幕上的飞船，下一秒就消失了。死灵的地面大军虽然未被击败，但也被压制住了，不过对大部分幸存者而言，这充其量就是一场惨胜。俄尔普斯战斗舰队四分五裂，只有不到百分之十的舰船仍勉强处于战斗序列，而且每艘飞船都是战疤累累；至于其他舰船，他们燃烧着的船体和翻滚的碎片组成了巨大的电弧云团，人们在整个恒星系的各处都能看到这座火葬堆——其中焚烧着俄尔普斯星区那曾经荣誉的保卫者们。

Amarah Prime , although rid of its principal invasion force , burned stil and was now the graveyard for billions ; such victories that had been claimed there had been bought at the most terrible price of all. Any surviving Imperial forces were evacuated as quickly as possible from the shambled ruins and pulled back to the outer worlds of Laymon and Calama to regroup, while the remnants of the civilian population there were regrettably left to their fate.

虽然摆脱了主要侵略力量的进攻，但阿玛拉主星仍在燃烧，它现在已是数十亿死者的陵园；人类是用最可怕的代价夺得了胜利。所有幸存的帝国部队都被从摇摇欲坠的废墟中尽快疏散，他们会前往外环世界Laymon和Calama以进行重组；而遗憾的是，剩余的平民被丢在当地，自生自灭。

The Battle of Amarah was over .

阿玛拉之战结束了。