Krieg

克里格

In the days following the initial assault, Amarah Prime had been blasted into a burning ruin?and each of the main hives had fallen to the invaders, the Necron hosts taking no prisoners and offering no quarter. Imperial resistance, however, was far from entirely spent, and as the havoc of the initial assault passed, ad hoc formations and rallying points soon formed on the ruins and in areas spared either by accident or design from the destruction that had been visited upon the world. Out on the Karalsa industrial plains, which ranged for tens of kitometres to the west of the shattered ruins at New Vassburg hive, the Death Korps of Krieg were waiting. A late arrival to the muster at Amarah, and with their reputation preceding them, the Death Korps had been deployed to several out-hive areas across the planet well away from the local forces, barrack stations. On the Karalsa plains, the 17th Line Korps had taken over an area of a hundred square kilometres of warehousing and manufactory to house their forces. Finding these structures far less secure than was meted by their doctrine, they had proceeded to exploit the underground utility tunnels that criss-crossed the area, setting their engineers to further expand them to create arms dumps and refuges.

在最初進攻之后的幾天中，阿瑪拉主星被炸成了一片燃燒著的廢墟，入侵者們攻陷了所有主要巢都，死靈大軍不留俘虜，也毫無停歇。但帝國的抵抗也遠非全然耗盡，在浩劫般的初次進攻過去后，帝國部隊很快就組建起了特別的編隊和集結(jié)點，它們要么是位于廢墟中，要么是處于那些被造訪了這個世界的毀滅行動所有意或無意放過的區(qū)域?？死锔袼劳鲕妶F正等待在Karalsa工業(yè)平原上，此地位于New Vassburg 巢城那破碎殘骸以西數(shù)十千米的區(qū)域?？死锔袼劳鲕妶F在阿瑪拉集結(jié)行動中姍姍來遲，不過他們的名聲先行抵達，因此他們被部署到了星球各處的數(shù)個非巢都區(qū)域，這些地區(qū)遠離當?shù)氐能婈牶捅鵂I。在Karalsa平原上，第17線列兵團已經(jīng)接管了一百平方千米的倉庫與工廠（區(qū)域）來容納自己的部隊。克里格士兵發(fā)現(xiàn)這些（建筑物）結(jié)構(gòu)遠不如他們的（戰(zhàn)斗）信條所要求的那樣安全，他們便開始利用起了該區(qū)域縱橫交錯的地下公共隧道，派遣工兵去進一步拓寬隧道，以此建造出武器存儲區(qū)和避難所。

When the onslaught came, this foresight saw the Line Korps survive almost unscathed by the initial attack and once the firestorm had passed, they emerged from their improvised bunkers in their tens of thousands into the smoking ruins, resolute in their determination to drive back the invaders. The Death Korps first dispersed into the wreckage of the industrial plain, sweeping methodically across the shattered ground, engaging the enemy, linking up with other imperial survivor groups and recovering armour and munitions wherever they could be found. It was Marshal Vinner of the Death Korps who took charge of the battlefield at this point, ordering the execution of several senior officers of the Orphean Guard he considered had failed in their duties and offering others the chance for glorious martyrdom in the front lines. Vennerr's command quickly grew to encompass over two hundred thousand Guardsmen as well as a dozen scratch-built squadrons of attack aircraft formed from a score of decimated formations, now dispersed into smaller groups for their protection and using cleared roadway concourses designed for macrocrawlers as airstrips.

當進攻開始時，正是這種遠見令線列兵團幾乎毫發(fā)無損地活過了最初的攻勢，而等到火焰風暴一經(jīng)過去，數(shù)以萬計的克里格士兵從臨時構(gòu)筑的要塞中現(xiàn)身，進入了冒著煙的廢墟中，他們驅(qū)逐入侵者的決心是堅定的。他們首先分散到了工業(yè)平原的廢墟中，有條不紊地穿行于破碎的場地中，與敵人交戰(zhàn)，和其他帝國幸存者團體取得聯(lián)系并回收自己在任何地方發(fā)現(xiàn)的甲胄和彈藥。死亡軍團的溫納元帥在此時接管了戰(zhàn)場，他下令處決了數(shù)名被其認為失職的俄爾普斯衛(wèi)隊高級軍官，并向其他人提供在前線光榮犧牲的機會。溫納指揮下的部隊很快就擴充到超過二十萬帝國衛(wèi)軍（的水平），而且還組建出了十數(shù)個倉促拼湊起的攻擊機中隊——這些飛行器來自于數(shù)十個被摧毀的飛行縱隊，現(xiàn)在它們被分散成了小規(guī)模戰(zhàn)斗群以保全力量，而且設(shè)計用于大型履帶爬行車（通行）的道路廣場也被清理出來，充當了飛機跑道。

The disciplined Death Korps troops, veterans of such broken battlefields as-Amarah had become, use the shattered cityscapes as cover from which to fight,using every tumbledown ruin as an improvised strong point and concealing snipers and lookouts amid the mounds of the dead. In the days that followed, fighting against the Necron forces was fierce, the armoured bodies of the enemy proving all but impervious to las fire and their implacable war machines preternaturally resistant to most heavy weapons in the Imperial arsenal. The Death Korps however, more than matched their relentless foe with their determination to fight, no matter the odds, and quickly they shifted tactics to a combination of long range indirect bomb with artillery and extreme close assaults, denying the Necron's own long range firepower as much as possible, seeing to overwhelm the foe with sheer numbers and bloody determination.These tactics met with great success, but often came at a very heavy cost in lives. Likewise their combat engineers, skilled in generations of tunnel fighting,used seismic detectors to shield their bunkers and tunnels from the ravening assault of the Necrons Canoptek Scarab swarms,with flamer and melta squads kept in?permanent readiness to respond to any sudden incursion from below.

阿瑪拉已經(jīng)變成了一片破碎的戰(zhàn)場，而紀律嚴明的克里格死亡軍團正在在此類環(huán)境中作戰(zhàn)的老手，他們以破碎的城市區(qū)域作為戰(zhàn)斗掩護，將所有坍塌的廢墟都用作臨時據(jù)點，并讓狙擊手和瞭望員隱藏在成堆的尸體中。在之后的數(shù)天中，克里格士兵與死靈展開了激烈的戰(zhàn)斗，敵軍的裝甲軀體幾乎不受衛(wèi)軍們激光槍火的傷害，它們冷酷無情的戰(zhàn)爭機器對帝國武庫中的大多數(shù)重型武器都具有不可思議的抵抗力。然而，死亡軍團的戰(zhàn)斗決心遠超過了他們無情的敵人，無論面對怎樣的困境都是如此。克里格部隊很快便改變了戰(zhàn)術(shù)，采取了火炮遠距離間接轟炸與極端近距離突擊相結(jié)合的策略，盡可能讓死靈的遠程火力發(fā)揮不了作用，并試圖用純粹的數(shù)量和血腥的決意壓垮敵人。這種戰(zhàn)術(shù)取得了重大成功，但通常也會造成極其嚴重的傷亡。同樣地，克里格戰(zhàn)斗工兵們精通隧道作戰(zhàn)，他們使用地震探測儀進行偵察，保護碉堡和隧道免受墓穴圣甲蟲群的掠襲進攻，并讓裝備了火焰噴射器與熱熔槍的小隊隨時準備應(yīng)對來自地下的任何突然入侵。

Marshal Venner knew that such gains as his forces had made were at best transitory and with no hope of reinforcements arriving, and with the Necrons in command of much of the planet's surface, it was only a matter of time before hrs forces were isolated, surrounded and destroyed as soon as they were deemed a sufficient threat. Venner decided that rather than see his command bled and destroyed without gain, he would instead attack and pursue martyrdom in the glorious destruction of the Emperor's enemies. All he needed was a target, and he would soon be provided with one.

溫納元帥明白，他的部隊所取得的勝利充其量只是暫時的，增援部隊的抵達更是無望。死靈控制了星球地表的大部分區(qū)域，只要溫納的部隊被認為構(gòu)成了足夠的威脅，他們遭到孤立、包圍和毀滅只是時間問題。溫納做出了決定，他不會眼看著自己麾下的部隊無所作為地遭到血腥屠殺，他將會發(fā)起進攻，在消滅帝皇之敵的光榮戰(zhàn)斗中獻身殉道。他需要的只是一個目標，而且他很快就會得到一個。

Reconnaissance by elements of the Minotaurs Chapter, trapped on the planet's surface during the attack, had determined that in the rubble of New Vassburg hive something alien had manifested in the darkness. Where wreckage had been strewn hours previously, a step-pyramid of strangely-angled green-black stone, riven with veins of pulsing emerald light, now rose up into the night, drawing bolt after bolt of lightning from the troubled skies above to strike its apex and causing it to burn with glimmering ghost fire. Around this pyramid had formed lesser citadels of the same maleficent stone, these being studded with arcane weapons emplacements and strange battlements 一 connected to the main structure by angular trenches filled with glowing fog. Around the pyramid complex the skeletal figures of Necrons moved in tireless patrol and tides of scarabs and other constructs swarmed in and out. dragging a multitude of corpses and wreckage fragments with them to feed the pyramid's hunger. Against thts stronghold of the enemy Marshal Venner ranged his forces for attack,even as intelligence come in from fonward observers of alien stairs being seen in the rent-open storm above the pyramid through which blasted flares of emerald energy that surged its apex with deafening reports. As they moved into position,each of the men of the Death Korps assault brigades knelt in silent ordered ranks, crouching in the rubble and ash, waiting for the call to battle as the alien lightning flashed and flickered shrouded night. Between the ruins in which Death Korps marshalled and the Necron defences lay was a rough kilometre of open ground, blasted flat and scorched, marking the killing zone which they would have to cross to reach their objective. The signal was given at last and the Death Korps rose as one and began to advance across slowly, evenly gathering pace as they left the rubble and entered the blasted ground.?

幾支米諾陶戰(zhàn)團的分隊在進攻中被困在了星球地表，他們的偵查（報告）表明：在New Vassburg巢都的瓦礫中，某些異星事物已經(jīng)于黑暗中現(xiàn)身了。幾個小時前還散落著殘骸的地方，現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)出現(xiàn)了一座棱角怪異的綠黑石塊搭建的階梯狀金字塔，其上布滿了跳動著的翡翠色光紋。這座建筑物現(xiàn)在從黑夜中升起，混亂的天空中射出的一道又一道閃電擊中了它的頂部，令其燃燒出閃爍的鬼火。惡毒有害的相同石塊在這座金字塔周圍形成了較小的堡壘，其上布滿了神秘的武器炮臺和奇怪的城垛——它們由充滿發(fā)光霧氣的棱角分明溝槽連接到主體結(jié)構(gòu)上。骷髏狀的死靈士兵在金字塔復合體周圍不知疲倦地巡邏著，成群的圣甲蟲與其他構(gòu)造體在建筑物上進進出出，它們拖著大量的尸體與殘骸碎片來飼喂這座饑餓的金字塔。盡管來自前線觀察員的情報表明：人們能在金字塔上方的撕裂風暴中看到異星階梯，伴隨著震耳欲聾的爆炸聲，翡翠色能量的猛烈閃光涌動在它的頂端，但溫納元帥還是安排自己的部隊向敵軍要塞展開攻勢。隨著部隊移動進入陣地，死亡軍團突擊旅中的所有克里格士兵都安靜有序地做好跪姿，異星的閃電閃爍在夜幕中，而克里格人們蜷縮在瓦礫與灰燼中，等待著戰(zhàn)斗的召喚。在死亡軍團集結(jié)其中的廢墟與死靈的防御設(shè)施之間，是一片大致一公里（長）的開闊地帶，土地已被炸平并燒焦，克里格人將其標記為抵達目標的過程中必須穿越的殺戮區(qū)。進攻信號最終被給出，克里格士兵共同起身并開始緩慢前進，而隨著他們離開廢墟進入被炸平的開闊地，步伐也在勻速加快。

Immediately the curving arcs of sentry pylons materialised on the walls of the citadels and turned to track the advancing army,arcs of power visibly flaring along the strange Necron battlement,the killing began. Howling beams of blasted great swathes of men from existence, while Tesla cannon spat volleys of lightning that left anything they touched as blazing cinders. Hundreds fell in the first moments but the Death Korps line did not waver in its advance and now, from deep in the ruins behind them, their own guns spoke. Impassively, forward artillery observers had noted the range and disposition of the Necrons' own heavy weapons and marked them for destruction. Venner had ordered that no munitions were to be spared, no cannon left in reserve, and the Death Korps Basilisks and Praetors answered his call with a furious bombardment, sending tonnes of shells into the air to fall like deadly rain on their targets.

弧形的哨兵炮塔立刻出現(xiàn)在了堡壘的城墻上，并且轉(zhuǎn)向追蹤著前進中的人類部隊，肉眼可見的能量電弧沿著怪異的死靈城垛閃爍著。咆哮著的爆炸光束令大群的士兵灰飛煙滅，同時特斯拉加農(nóng)炮也噴吐出出閃電齊射，任何被碰到的東西都變成了燃燒的灰燼。在最初的時刻便有數(shù)百人倒下，但死亡軍團的推進戰(zhàn)線并未發(fā)生絲毫的動搖，而且他們隱藏在身后廢墟深處的火炮現(xiàn)在也轟鳴起來。前線的炮兵觀察員們已經(jīng)冷漠地記錄下了死靈重型武器的射程與部署狀況，并將其標注為（應(yīng)被）摧毀目標。溫納下達了命令：動用所有火炮，耗光全部彈藥；死亡軍團的石化蜥蜴火炮和執(zhí)政官導彈車則用猛烈的響應(yīng)了元帥的號召，成噸的炮彈飛入空中，向目標降下一陣致命鐵雨。

Instantly the pyramid and its sub-citadels were wreathed in a mantle of flame as hundreds of shells burst against the alien structure. The pyramid flickered for a moment like a mirage on the horizon before becoming solid once again, one of its outlying obelisk towers blasted to fragments in a stream of arcing lightning. Soon, as the bombardment lashed out again, great chunks of black masonry were torn free from the structure and an eerie howl cut across the battlefield, dearly audible even over the thunder of the shellfire. The Necron firepower was quickly redirected upwards, sweeping the skies and blasting apart the shells before they could?reach their target, and in?the respite the Death Korps pressed their advantage, surging forwards while Venner's tank companies, held back until now, roared forth from the rubble at flank speed through the Death Korps lines towards their objective. As the Imperial troops closed to a few hundred metres, the ground before the citadels burst open, disgorging murderous Canoptek constructs directly into the oncoming Death Korps troops. The huge articulated bodies of the stalkers rose up and tore through the lines, whilst hundreds of smaller scarabs dragged men down, stripping the flesh from their bones. They were met with bayonet and lasgun, flamer and frag grenade, and the Death Korps flowed like a tide around the killing machines while the tank companies entered range and opened fire with their battle cannon into the ranks of the shambling Necron warriors that were beginning to stream from the citadel.

隨著數(shù)以百計的炮彈炸開在異星人的構(gòu)造物上，金字塔與它的次級堡壘頃刻間便籠罩在了一層烈焰中。金字塔如地平線上的海市蜃樓那般閃爍了片刻，之后又再次變?yōu)閳怨虩o隙（的整體），外圍的一座方尖碑高塔則在一陣閃電弧光中被炸為碎片。很快，隨著轟炸再次襲來，大塊大塊的黑色磚石從建筑物上脫落下來，一陣怪異的尖嚎聲響徹了戰(zhàn)場，這陣聲響即便在雷鳴般的炮火轟鳴中也是清晰可聞的。死靈的火力很快就重新瞄準了天空，光束掃過天空，在炮彈擊中目標前便將至炸碎；而死亡軍團也在這短暫的喘息中乘勝追擊，猛沖向前。溫納的坦克連隊們之前一直保持原地不動，現(xiàn)在也以最高速率咆哮著沖出廢墟，它們穿過了死亡軍團的戰(zhàn)列線，沖向了自己的目標。當?shù)蹏婈牼嚯x金字塔只剩幾百米時，堡壘前側(cè)的地面驟然張開，直接向著襲來的死亡軍團釋放出致命的冥工構(gòu)造體。這些追蹤者支起了自己巨大的鉸鏈式軀體，撕穿了克里格人的戰(zhàn)列線；同時數(shù)以百計的小型圣甲蟲也將士兵們拽倒，從他們的骨頭上剝下皮肉?？死锔袷勘鴦t用激光槍、刺刀、火焰噴射器和破片手雷迎戰(zhàn)它們，他們?nèi)绯彼惆鼑诉@些殺戮機器。同時坦克連隊們也進入武器射程內(nèi)，坦克的戰(zhàn)斗炮向著步履蹣跚的死靈武士們開火——后者正開始從堡壘中涌出。

On the left flank, a squadron of Macharius Omega plasma tanks unleashed blasts like miniature suns towards the defence pylons;?heedless of their overheating cannon in their determination to strip the citadel of its defences. While on the right,?Centaur carriers sped forth through a storm of gauss fire, which blasted scores of them to shrapnel in order to deploy their quad launchers as close as possible to the enemy. Thousands fell, tanks erupted into fire and a blizzard of shells was hurled against the black pyramid which began to break and crack, smoke billowing and actinic lightning playing sickly across its splintering surface.

一支馬卡里烏斯歐米茄電漿坦克中隊在左翼發(fā)起進攻，它們用如同迷你恒星一般的電漿團炸向了防御炮塔；士兵們?nèi)徊活櫥鹋谶^熱，一心只想摧毀防御堡壘。同時，半人馬運輸車們在右翼迎著風暴般的高斯炮火加速沖去，這些運輸車想要將自己（拖著的）四管迫擊炮部署到盡可能接近敵人的區(qū)域，而它們中也有數(shù)十輛被炸成了碎片。數(shù)以千計的士兵倒下了，坦克爆炸起火，大量的炮彈被拋向了黑色金字塔——后者也開始破裂開來，散發(fā)出滾滾濃煙，光化閃電也病態(tài)地扭動在他破裂的表面上。

Behind the Imperial lines the companies of troops left behind to defend the artillery position found themselves beset and in a desperate battle to stave off twisted, blade-handed flayers that came for them from the shadows, just as Necron attack craft shrieked from the skies to strafe them into oblivion. The squadrons of imperial Lightnings and Avengers that tore through the night to intercept the lethal Night Scythes of the Necrons were few, but bravely they dove straight into the heart of the enemy squadrons, their weapons blazing in the darkness, each pilot commending their soul to the Emperor and knowing that this would be their final battle.

在帝國戰(zhàn)列線的后方，那些被留下保衛(wèi)炮兵陣地的步兵連隊們發(fā)現(xiàn)自己遭到了圍攻，他們發(fā)起了絕望的戰(zhàn)斗，試圖暫時避開那些身形扭曲且有著刃狀手部的剝皮者們——后者是從陰影中向他們襲來，就像那些尖叫著從空中撲下以將他們掃射到湮滅的死靈攻擊飛行器那樣。由閃電戰(zhàn)機與復仇者戰(zhàn)機組成的帝國飛行中隊穿過夜空，前來阻截死靈致命的夜鐮戰(zhàn)機；帝國戰(zhàn)機數(shù)量稀少，但它們勇敢地直接沖入敵軍中隊的核心處，武器在黑夜中閃爍著火光。所有帝國飛行員都將自己的靈魂托付給了帝皇，他們都知道這會是自己的最后一戰(zhàn)。

The die was cast, the battle was held in the balance and there could be no holding back. Already tens of thousands lay dead on the blasted plain before him. but Venner did not falter in ordering forth the second wave. Raising his sword high and leading the charge himself across the deadly ground, the Death Korps filled the battlefield like a living tide of steel and fire, and crushed and toppled the remaining Canoptek Stalkers that barred their path, trampling the scattered scarabs into the earth. The Death Korps reached the outer citadels of the pyramid complex just as their own shellfire began at last to falter, but for the Necrons it was too late, the enemy was already upon them, the human soldiers swarming like ants across the alien fortifications. Surrounded, the Necron Warriors were brought down in murderous crossfires and the machinecreatures were driven back and destroyed one by one. as for every Krieg the Necrons slaughtered, a dozen more took their place. Everywhere across the structure breacher charges were slammed into place and melta bombs were hurled into energy conduits and cracks in the armoured edifice. The violent detonation of the black pyramid blinded onlookers five kilometres distant and carved an ash-white crater out of the wasteland that was clearly visible to vessels in orbit above the battle-savaged world.

戰(zhàn)況木已成舟，參戰(zhàn)雙方陷入僵局，局勢也無可挽回。已經(jīng)有數(shù)萬名士兵戰(zhàn)死在了溫納面前的平原上，但他毫不猶豫地下令進行第二波攻勢。元帥高舉起自己的佩劍，親自率領(lǐng)部隊沖過了這片致命的戰(zhàn)場，死亡軍團部隊遍布在戰(zhàn)場上，如同鋼鐵與火焰組成的活生生潮水一般。他們擊倒并碾碎了那些擋住道路的剩余冥工追蹤者，散落在各處的圣甲蟲也被踩進了土中。就在他們自己的炮火最終開始減弱時，死亡軍團也抵達了金字塔復合體的外側(cè)堡壘處；死靈的反擊則太遲了，敵人已經(jīng)撲向了它們，凡人士兵如同螞蟻那般向著異星防御工事各處蜂擁而去。死靈武士們遭到了包圍，它們被兇猛的交叉火力擊倒，克里格士兵擊退了這些機械生物，并將其一個接一個地摧毀掉。每當有一名克里格人被死靈所殺，便有十數(shù)人沖上來接替他的位置。在結(jié)構(gòu)體的每一個地方，破壞者炸藥包都被投放到位，裝甲巨廈的裂隙和動力管道中都被丟入了熱熔炸彈。黑色金字塔的猛烈爆炸使五公里外的旁觀者都雙目失明，并在荒原上挖出了一個灰白色的巨坑——位于這個飽經(jīng)戰(zhàn)火蹂躪的世界軌道上的飛船（的人們）都能清晰看到這道痕跡。

Although elsewhere the Imperial detenders also saw degrees of success, holding off if not repelling the invaders, the Necron invasion had been murderously effective. Each of the three major hive cities was in ruins, the planets principal star port was overrun and its keystone defence facilities had been reduced to rubble. The death toll had climbed into billions and Amarah Prime burned.

雖然帝國守軍們在其他區(qū)域也取得了一定程度的成功，即使不能擊退入侵者也能將其抵擋住，但死靈的入侵行動仍然是極其有效的。三座主要巢城全部化為廢墟，行星的主要星港被攻占，其關(guān)鍵的防御設(shè)施也被化作瓦礫。死亡人數(shù)已經(jīng)攀升到了數(shù)十億，阿瑪拉主星也在熊熊燃燒。