The high-pressure steam whistle of Captain Miller's heavy locomotive shrieked across the grand plaza of the Imperial Capital, its concussive roar echoing off the five-story granite facades of the central banking houses.
At precisely eleven-forty-five, the engine did not slow down for the perimeter switches. It smashed straight through the iron barricades the Syndicate's legal wardens had chain-locked across the terminal tracks, sending twisted iron rails and timber posts flying across the cobblestones like splintered toothpicks.
The forty-ton engine ground to a violent, sparking halt thirty yards from the sweeping marble staircase of the Sovereign Court of the Empire, its twin smokestacks venting massive plumes of white steam into the grey winter sky.
