//------------------------------//
// IV 
// Story: Ave Imperator 
// by Imperaxum 
//------------------------------//

The airship came the next day. I woke to the rattle of propellers and the shouts of stevedores trying to muscle the airship down with guiding poles, the pegasi shoving at the sides from the air. It was pretty amusing, seeing the xenos trying to ape one the Imperium's strengths, large amounts of brute labor to accomplish great tasks. The airship itself was nothing to be excited over, parched canvas and a cheaply ornate gondola. The engines were quaint, rattling and venting steam, the most steampunk thing I'd seen in this Victorian age. 

"We need help!" one of the stevedores cried, and idle ponies grabbed lines and strained. The airship was my way out, so I jumped up and grabbed a rope. Eventually, the airship came down to a rough landing, a gangplank went down, and a stream of xenos crowded it. 

I joined them, lasgun slung over my shoulder, and the Emperor watching over me. 

"Bits," a uniformed xeno in faded gold braid demanded, holding out a hoof, barring my entry. 

"What?"

"Currency, lad," the xeno said flatly. I didn't have bits, but if the xenos passing by dropping shiny coins into his hoof was any indication, I might have something that worked.

I reached into a pouch on my belt and retrieved a single Throne, a golden coin with the visage of the Emperor stamped into it. Normally, Haufen workers got payed in credit chits, paper things worthless off-world, but PDF troopers on the frontier got payed in a precious few Thrones. I was lucky to be one of them, as I doubted this xeno would accept a slip of paper, even with an often off-center "Imperialis Gloria" printed onto it.

I dropped the Throne in the xeno's hoof, and pushed past him. I boarded the airship, pressing through the throng of xenos, and into its packed gondola. Faith in the Emperor would be my soul companion here- the press of xenos was noxious and the chatter deafening in the enclosed space. I hugged my lasgun close, and thumbed a frag grenade clipped to my belt - if it came to that, I could probably wipe out every xeno in the gondola with the shrapnel. Of course I'd die too, were I still alive at that point, but it was death enshrined to the Emperor.

I didn't want it to come to that, though. Ashamed as I was to admit it, a ragged sense of curiosity persevered in me. I appeared to be able to travel freely among them, and surely there were more arcane, grotesque wonders to be found in this world. It wasn't like I had much else to do. I consoled myself with thoughts of service - in the Emperor's name I would go.

~

Hours later, the sun high in the sky, and two stops in forlorn outposts. I remained against the wall of the gondola, snatching gasps of fresh air from the window above me. God, I missed my family. I missed the smell of home. This place was a terrible imitation of the reality of Washington's forests, the smell was slightly but maddeningly divorced here - Jesus, I haven't even thought of my family - my sister in Seattle, aging parents in Darrington.

I quivered slightly, glancing around at the varied and impossible creatures around me, the pegasi, unicorns, earth ponies, minotaurs, yaks, deer - each sentient and each utterly alien. Christ, this was madness. Cold fear gripped me, unwelcome and mostly foreign in this far away land so far.

I shook my head, slammed it against the wall at my back. Shame upon me for such doubt. I had a helmet and lasgun, Primer and pouches of real rations and real equipment. The Emperor protects, just look it! Damn it all, I had inexplicable things and had only the Emperor to thank - clothing, weaponry, a chance. All by the benevolence of Him Upon the Golden Throne. Who was I, but an infinitely, unthinkably replaceable man, a mortal, compared to such grace? Yes. 

The fear of all that was around me vanished, and a quiet hatred replaced it. To look upon this mad array was just that, to see the filth of xenos to mankind's splendor. I knew of it, Haufen had testaments uncounted to the glory of the Imperium and the Emperor. The spiraling arches, soaring heights, clamor and roar of machinery. I'd nearly gone deaf one day, marching between to manufactorums, deaf at the industry of Man. A glorious experience. Yes. 

"The Emperor protects," I said, not mumbling in the enclosed space but saying the phrase loudly, shining with pride. I drew a dozen stares, but  I couldn't care, not in honesty to the Emperor.

These kind of thoughts had been overdue, long overdue. There was but one logical conclusion, and that was the Emperor above. With shaking hands, I opened The Haufen Trooper's Uplifting Primer and flipped to the section filled with the litanies of praise. Truly, praise the Emperor. 

"What is humanity's flame in the darkness of the galaxy?" I said, reading, exalting His name. "And what is a lowly mans spark, infinitely small and utterly short in this night? We are nothing if we do not accept our part and our life in the Emperor's pyre, his sacrifice and his legacy. I share in it, I glorify it, I..."

I drew many, many stares. Mostly around me, but some sharp-eared xenos at the corners gave me uncertain looks. An airship guard, a barbaric spear at his side, was particularly suspicious. I praised His name genuinely and with the whole of my heart, but the virtues of intolerance and vigilance were always applicable. The guard looked at me as if I would start violence. 

I laughed inwardly at the thought. This airship ride would pass quickly, the Primer's section of praise was long. A litany ended, and I looked around again. This Marstown would be an interesting place to end up in, if the variety of xenos was anything to tell. It didn't daunt me in the slightest, though, not with this final revelation to the truth of the Emperor. The golden aquila on my lasgun was proof enough, but my cup of faith was overflowing regardless.

"Ave Imperator," I said, with feeling.