Even without hearing her remarks under her breath, I knew there was the highest probability that she would not listen. However, us fighting would not serve in my duties, and using my authority as her superior would not likely have stopped her either. The best I could hope for would be to solve this quickly before she received damage, or to at least draw fire from her. Unfortunately, our most potent weapons were locked within the safe. It was foolish to trust a compartment with an electronic lock. I had to make do with a smaller laspistol I had kept on my person, and my modified pallasch was stored in the closet, something I nabbed on my way out of the door. 

Stepping into the dim hall of the car, decked in military honors with a handgun in my life and my sword in my right, I looked every inch a lieutenant of Ultramar. 

The first thing I noticed was the cold. Unsurprisingly, there had been a massive breach somewhere, and judging by the wind it was further up the fore. There was screaming ahead, the wail of grief and fear. I stalked ahead, stepping lightly so as not to make a sound. Outside the elongated windows, snow flurries banked across my vision. A pottery of flowers had crashed to the floor, and a red light flared around the corner. I stepped into the lounge area, and to my surprise I saw the emergency hatch had been opened, chairs strewn and four well dressed corpses on the floor. At the far end of the car was a gaping hole the size of a large ground car. Even from here, I saw the innards of the next car, its tail ending have ruptured from the extend of the blast, that had evidently occurred upstairs. 

I smelled the putrid scent of piss tinged with gasoline. Ammonium nitrate and fuel oil? An emulsion explosion. 

A standard, if exceptionally powerful concoction. Whoever did this was either local, or they did not want to use something more foreign to tip off authorities. Quickly I went to the open doorway, making certain the coast was clear. The wind whipped in my face, drowning out any sounds I might have picked up. I grimaced, and pulled the heavy door shut. 

"Freeze, grox shit!" 

I slowly turned, presented with three coachmen and two security officers aiming their laspistols with shaky hands. I held myself for a moment, before one of the securitymen recognized me, and bade his fellow lower his pistol. "Admiral, forgive us. It's not saf-" 

"My good man, I have fought the enemies of mankind from the Segmentum to Obscura." I said, honest to the word. I used my pallasch for emphasis, indicating the back of the car. "There was a dining car upstairs. Check for survivors." 

"Sir, with respect. We have to advise you to return to your suite." 

Glass shattered, three dark figures in armored bodygloves and winter gear kicked through the windows behind the employees of the train. They hit the ground in practiced rolls and opened fire with their lascarbines. The coachmen did not even have time to scream before they were killed, all five slaughtered in two beats of the heart. I fired thrice as I evaded, being given a split second warning before the unfortunate coachmen. The Emperor was with me, my second shot taking one of the assailants in the face, burning through his mask like a scythe through wheat. He fell without a word, but the other two turned to fire. I leaped behind a fallen table, superheated air igniting around my position. I slid to the opposite end of the table on my back, firing through the gap between the curvature of the table and the floor. I hit the rightmost man twice in the chest, but I could not be sure he was dead as he fell back. The other had disappeared. I scrambled to my feet as he came around the corner, and with a snap kick he knocked my laspistol out of my hand. Realigning his carbine, I activated the rune on my pallasch and cut his weapon from stock to barrel. As the lasgun was split in two, he had the frame of mind to duck under my accompanying thrust, but he could only backpedal so quickly, and I opened his stomach with a bakchanded cut, entrails spilling onto the upholstery carpet. He fell to his knees, desperately trying to put his organs back into his stomach as his body began to fail. 

I ignored him, making my way to the prone form of the third man, glancing down the corridor to make sure I was not about be flanked. The second cost me. In that single moment, the wounded man had bitten down on a device that made an audible crunch, and I watched as his eyes clouded over and his body began to jerk, blood and foam erupting from his gaping mouth. 

Cursing, I glanced upwards, before looking to the other car. Across the gap, a score of meters from my position, various other workmen were watching me with awe and fear, along with who I assumed was the conductor. I saluted with my sword, and made my way to their position. 

We needed to get the electricity back, and rescue efforts needed to be organized.