（小说翻译）帝皇之选
The crusade fleet was eight hours from Sepharis Ultra when the Emperor spoke to Brother Reinhart.
当帝皇向莱茵哈特修士下旨时，十字军舰队距离Sepharis Ultra还有8个小时的路程。
He had spent the long day amongst his battle-brothers, first honing his fighting skills in the confines of the strike cruiser’s practice ranges, and then venerating the spirits of his wargear with rites of maintenance under the watchful eye of Techmarine Amalthus. Afterwards, the Fighting Company had gathered for evening prayers, and then Chaplain Karst had sent them to their cells, to recite the Litanies of Hate and meditate upon the battle to come.
莱茵哈特已经与自己的战斗兄弟们度过了漫长的一天，他首先在打击巡洋舰训练区的范围之内磨练了战斗技艺，然后在技术军士阿玛苏斯的监督下，他进行了维护仪式来向战争装备的机魂表达崇敬。在此之后，战斗连聚集起来进行晚祷，晚祷结束后卡尔斯特牧师让他们回到自己的舱室，去背诵仇恨连祷，并冥想即将到来的战斗。
Reinhart gave himself over completely to the task, as he did all his other duties to the Chapter. He had been an initiate for less than a year, and was keen to prove his worth to Karst and Castellan Vorhalt. For hours he knelt in his cell, hands clasped in the sign of the aquila, purging his mind of any hint of weakness or doubt. Only once his thoughts were pure, and his spirit brimming with righteous zeal, did he offer up a single prayer to the God-Emperor of mankind.
就像他为战团执行其他所有义务那样，莱茵哈特全身心投入到了这项任务中。他成为新徒只有不到一年的时间，热切地想要在卡尔斯特和沃尔哈特堡主面前证明自己价值。他在舱室中跪了数个小时，双手紧握摆出天鹰礼，净化掉脑海中所有关于懦弱或疑虑的污点。只有当思想变得纯净，精神中充满了正义的热忱时，他才会向人类神皇献上一段祈祷。
In the midst of my enemies, grant me courage. In the moment of decision, grant me wisdom. In the face of death, grant me strength.
置身万敌阵中之时，请赐予我勇气；做出决策之时，请赐予我智慧；面对死亡之时，请赐予我力量。
And there, in the darkness, the Emperor answered him.
而就在此地，就在黑暗之中，帝皇回答了他。
Moments later, Reinhart emerged from his cell. His eyes were wide and still half-blind from the wonders he had seen. The initiate paused a moment upon the threshold, composing himself, then made his way swiftly through the cruiser’s ancient passageways.
片刻之后，莱茵哈特跑出了他的舱室。他睁大了双眼，而且由于他所看到的奇迹，他的双眼仍然半明半盲。这位新徒在门口停了片刻，让自己平静下来，之后便迅速通过了巡洋舰古老的走廊。
He found Chaplain Karst in the ship’s reclusiam, kneeling before a shrine to holy Sigismund.
他在飞船的隐修室中找到了卡尔斯特牧师，后者正跪在供奉圣西吉斯蒙德的神龛前。
‘I have had a vision,’ Reinhart said, the words coming out in a rush.
“我已经得到了神示。”莱茵哈特说到，他的话语脱口而出。
Karst said nothing at first, his scarred head still bent in prayer. Then the Chaplain drew a deep breath, flexing his armoured shoulders, and rose smoothly to his feet. ‘Tell me,’ he said.
最开始，卡尔斯特一言不发，他仍旧低着自己遍布疤痕的头部，进行着祷告。之后他深吸了一口气，屈伸活动了一下被动力甲包裹着的肩膀，平静地站起身来。“跟我讲讲，”他说到。
Reinhart paused. Though the details were still etched laser-sharp in his mind, it was difficult to put it into words. ‘I was praying, and the Emperor appeared to me,’ he said. ‘He wore golden armour, and held a fiery sword in his hand. His wargear shone with the light of the sun.’
莱茵哈特顿住了。尽管那幅幻景的细节仍在他的脑海中刻下了深刻的印象，但将之组成语言表达出来是困难的。“我正在祈祷，帝皇现身在我眼前，”他说到，“他穿着一身金色的甲胄，手持一把燃着烈火的长剑。他的战争装备闪耀着太阳的光辉。”
Karst did not react. His dark eyes bored into the initiate’s soul. ‘Did you look upon his face, brother?’
卡尔斯特并未做出反应。他黑暗的双眼紧盯着这位新徒的灵魂。“你仰望他的面容了吗，兄弟？”
Reinhart bent his head. ‘I could not,’ he answered. ‘I did not dare.’
莱茵哈特低下了头。“我没有，”他回答道，“我不敢。”
The answer seemed to satisfy the Chaplain. ‘What else did you see?’
这个答案似乎令牧师感到满意。“你还看到了什么？”
‘I saw… so many things,’ the initiate said. ‘I saw the foe that awaits us on Sepharis Ultra. I saw the renegades who serve him and the daemons who do his bidding.’ Reinhart shook his head. He still could not believe the rest. ‘I… saw what I must do to defeat him.’
“我看到了…太多的东西”，新徒说到，“我看到了在Sepharis Ultra上等着我们的敌人，我看到了伺候那名敌人的变节者们，以及听他命令的恶魔们。”莱茵哈特摇了摇头。他仍旧无法相信剩余的那些内容。“我…看到了自己为击败他而必须做出的事情。”
It seemed impossible. He still could not quite bring himself to believe it. ‘I am only an initiate,’ he said to Karst. ‘How can this be?’
这似乎是不可能的。他仍然无法使自己完全相信这一点。“我只是区区一名新徒而已，”他对卡尔斯特说到，“怎么会是我？”
The Chaplain reached out and laid a hand on Reinhart’s shoulder. ‘Deus Imperator vult,’he said gravely. ‘Because the God-Emperor wills it.’
牧师伸出一只手，抚在了莱茵哈特的肩膀上。“帝意欲此，”他严肃地说到，“因为此乃神皇所愿。”
A green icon in Reinhart’s helmet display counted down the seconds to impact. At the last moment, he breathed out, relaxing his body into the shock harness just as the drop pod struck the surface of Sepharis Ultra.
莱茵哈特头盔的显示屏上显示着撞击倒计时的秒数。在最后的时刻，当空降舱撞击到Sepharis Ultra的地表时，他呼出一口气，摆脱了夹紧他身体的防震固定器。
The landing alone would have killed a normal human outright, even with the shock harness in place. Reinhart hardly even paused. He was moving the instant the harness disengaged, charging down the descending assault ramp into the maelstrom of war.
即便有防震固定器，但是着陆（的冲击力）就足以令一名凡人当场死亡。但莱茵哈特甚至都几乎没有停顿一下，防震固定器一松开，他便行动起来，冲出了下降中的进攻坡道，奔入战争漩涡中。
A tidal wave of sight and sound crashed over him. Streams of crackling lasgun fire snapped back and forth across the battlefield, punching through billowing clouds of ochre dust and leaving streamers of static lightning in their wake. Boltguns hammered, spitting fiery streaks of rocket-propelled shells that burst in miniature thunderclaps when they found a target. Renegade troops, many clad in mismatched pieces of flak armour, ran in every direction, firing as they went. The fighting company’s orbital drop had taken the enemy completely unawares, sowing panic and confusion amongst their ranks.
景象和声音如同潮水般向他涌来。劈啪作响的激光枪枪火在战场上来回扫射，激光束穿过汹涌的赭色尘埃，留下静电构成的流线。爆弹枪猛轰着，喷射出一连串火箭助推弹，当这些爆矢弹击中目标时，会发出轻微的雷声。变节者部队们从各个方向本来，其中很多人都包裹在错配的防弹甲胄中，他们在奔跑的同时开火。战斗连的轨道空降行动完全令敌人措手不及，在他们的队伍中散播开了恐慌和混乱。
Reinhart’s vision had dictated a change in strategy for the Black Templars. Instead of landing in the highlands overlooking the renegade host and engaging them in a conventional assault, Castellan Vorhalt had chosen to drop the company into the midst of the enemy. The tactic had but one objective: to give Reinhart the best chance possible to fulfil the task that the Emperor had set for him. If he failed, his brothers would pay a terrible price.
莱因哈特所获得的神示决定了黑色圣堂的战略改变。沃尔哈特堡主并未降落在高地上俯视着变节者的部队，也并未对其进行常规进攻，而是选择将连队空降到敌军部队当中。这种战术只有一个目标：给莱因哈特提供完成皇帝下达的任务的最好机会。如果他失败的话，他的兄弟们将会付出惨重代价。
Reinhart had spent the rest of the night in the strike cruiser’s reclusiam, while Karst stood over him and read from the Litanies of Hate. An hour before the drop they were joined by Techmarine Amalthus and a solemn procession of servitors, bearing the sacred wargear of the Emperor’s Champion.
莱茵哈特在打击巡洋舰中度过了自己剩下的夜晚时光，同时卡尔斯特站在一旁监督着他，并选读着仇恨连祷。在距离空降行动前一个小时的时候，技术军士阿玛苏斯和一队姿态庄重的机仆也加入了——他们带来了帝皇勇士神圣的战争装备。
The Armour of Faith was magnificent, a masterwork of martial craft, its plates etched with elaborate wards to protect its wearer from harm. Ribbons of parchment, some hundreds of years old, were affixed to breastplate and pauldrons with seals of red or golden wax, proclaiming holy oaths sworn by his predecessors in ages past. Reinhart had added his own, fixed with red wax to the breastplate, just over his primary heart.
华美的信仰之甲以军事工艺造就的精品，它的板甲面上刻着精心设计的防御符文，用于保护穿戴者，令其免受伤害。羊皮纸带被用红色或金色的蜡粘附在胸甲和肩甲上——某些纸带已有数百年的历史，其上宣告着前辈勇士们在过去所发下的神圣誓言。莱茵哈特也将自己的誓言纸带用红蜡粘在了胸甲上，而且就在主心脏处。
I shall uphold the honour of the Emperor, no matter the cost.
我将维护帝皇的荣光，无论代价为何。
Yet as glorious as the armour was, it paled in comparison to the weapon he held in his hands. The greatsword was nine thousand, four hundred and twenty-eight years old, wrought in the forges of distant Mars and consecrated at the foot of the Golden Throne itself. The blade and its two-handed hilt were black as night, offset by a fiery ruby the size of a raptor’s egg set into the sword’s pommel. The jewel symbolised the blood shed by the Emperor at the Battle of Terra, ages past. The blade represented the Emperor’s justice: cold, implacable and absolute.
然而，命运之甲尽管荣耀华美，但相比于他手中的武器仍旧相形见绌。这是一柄有着九千四百二十八年历史的双手剑，它被打造于遥远火星上的铸炉中，并曾在黄金王座的脚下接受过圣化。剑身和双手剑柄如同夜晚般漆黑，剑柄底部还镶嵌了一颗烈火那般耀眼的红宝石作为配重球，其尺寸与猛禽的卵相当。那颗宝石象征着帝皇曾在泰拉之战中流下的鲜血。这柄剑代表了帝皇的裁决：冷酷、不可改变且绝对。
The renegades call themselves the Lords of Desolation,Karst had told him.They are led by a sorcerer from the Word Bearers named X’hal Urus. He is the black heart of the enemy host, ancient and wicked beyond human ken. A thousand worlds have burned beneath his feet. Take this sword, Brother Reinhart, and make an end of him. The Emperor has shown you the way.
卡尔斯特告诉他，那些变节者自称为荒芜领主，领导他们的是一个名为哈尔 乌鲁斯的怀言者巫师。这名巫师是敌军的黑色心灵，也是自绝于人类之外的古老且邪恶的叛徒。执此长剑，莱茵哈特兄弟，终结了他。帝皇已经向你展示了方法。
And so he had. The details still shone mirror-bright in Reinhart’s mind. The Emperor had shown him how the duel would unfold. X’hal Urus would die, his armoured body split asunder by the power of the Black Sword – and then, an instant later, so would Reinhart. The sorcerer’s blade would pierce his side, its power snuffing out his life force like a candle flame.
怹的确如此。那些细节仍在莱因哈特的脑海中闪闪发光。哈尔 乌鲁斯将会败亡，黑剑的力量会撕碎他裹在动力甲中的躯体——而在片刻之后，莱茵哈特也将战死。巫师的刀剑会刺穿他的身侧，那把武器的力量会像掐灭烛火一样熄灭他的生命力。
You have been chosen, brother. With X’hal Urus dead, his daemons will return to the warp, and our victory over the renegades will be assured. The fate of Sepharis Ultra lies in your hands.
你已经被选中了，兄弟。随着哈尔 乌鲁斯死掉，他的恶魔们也会滚回亚空间，我们也将确保对于变节者们的胜利。Sepharis Ultra的命运系于你手中。
Reinhart’s fingers tightened around the hilt of the Black Sword. His battle-brothers were at his back, boltguns hammering. Ahead, he could see grim, armoured shapes looming through the swirling dust – the traitor Space Marines of the Lords of Desolation. They were led by a towering figure in baroque, ornamented power armour, his broad shoulders and bare, misshapen skull wreathed in arcs of flickering, unholy fire.
莱茵哈特的手指紧握住黑剑的柄，他的战斗兄弟们跟在他身后，爆弹枪轰击着敌人。透过滚滚的尘烟，他看见身着动力甲的狰狞人形们就站在前方——是荒芜领主的叛徒星际战士们。率领他们的是一名身着巴洛克式装饰风格动力甲的高大人物，闪耀的邪火所放出的弧光环绕着他宽阔的肩膀和光秃畸形的头颅。
X’hal Urus advanced on the Black Templars. A huge sword of jagged, dark-grey metal was raised in challenge, daring the servants of the Emperor to try their skill against his own.
哈尔 乌鲁斯向黑色圣堂星际战士们发起了进攻。他抄起一柄带有锯齿的灰色金属巨剑，发起了挑战。他竟敢与帝皇的仆从们较量一番。
Brother Reinhart raised the Black Sword in reply. He felt no fear, only grim certainty, and a kind of savage joy.
莱茵哈特修士举起黑剑应战。他没有感到恐惧，只是感觉到了冷酷的确定性和某种野蛮的喜悦。
‘Deus Imperator vult!’
“帝意欲此！”
the Emperor’s Champion cried, and made an end of the scourge of a thousand worlds.
帝皇勇士怒吼着，终结了一千个世界的灾祸。
