The Island of Sodor was experiencing an unusually harsh winter that made life difficult. Not just for the Sudrians who called this island home, but the rebels and the Imperial Diesel Army as well. Even with their advanced technology, they struggled to stamp out the rebels with the raging blizzards impeding their efforts.

The rebels were struggling for a very different reason, the roads were often icy and the snow was deep. This meant that they couldn't get supplies as often and the rebels often had to ration their supplies until they were able to get more. But they were in luck on this particular day, as a supply train had been scheduled to make a supply run for the Imperial Diesel Army.

The only way that supplies could be transported in this weather was by rail. For the icy roads often caused the supply convoys to spin out, while both the airspace above Sodor and the various bodies of water were routinely patrolled for any threats to their control over the island. As six figures hid behind a signalbox, a train horn sounded and a diesel rumbled past.

Two of the figures then sprinted towards a coach near the front of the train and jumped on. Another two of the figures ran towards a goods van and held onto the ladder tightly as they struggled to open the door. The last two figures made a beeline for the brakevan once it was in sight and jumped onto the platform.

Once this was done, they opened the brakevan door and stepped inside. But the sound of rifles being loaded was heard and they froze upon seeing three soldiers standing there with harsh expressions on their faces. "Pitiful, these nuisance rebels don't know when to quit. In the name of Supreme Emperor Diesel 10, my comrades and I will end you."

One of the soldiers then fired at the figure on the left. But he ducked under the bullet and it grazed his hair as he rushed towards them. Pulling out a hidden blade, he jammed it in the soldiers leg and this elicited a pained shout from him. Following up with a knee to the groin, he snapped the soldiers neck.

The other two soldiers were visibly nervous, and the two figures knew it. With a fierce expression on his face, he lifted a soldier and tossed him through one of the brakevan windows. The remaining soldier was then tossed through the other window. "Come on Percy, we should meet up with the others."

"Okay Gordon, you lead and I'll follow." Nodding at him, Gordon opened the brakevan door and Percy followed after him as they made their way through the train.

—

Inside one of the coaches, two of the other figures silently crept up on the soldiers. While one of them hid in a compartment near the end of the coach, the other figure let out a rebel yell to get their attention onto him. Their reaction was instantaneous and they all stood up while looking around for the source of the noise.

Upon spotting him standing there, he gave them a rude finger gesture and took off. This spurred them into chasing him and they ran past the compartment, unaware of his presence until it was too late. The door swung open and he began picking off their numbers one by one. Random puddles of crimson were splattered in the end of the coach he was in and most of the next coach.

The two figures then walked towards each other and stopped. "James, that was an excellent distraction you provided. Risky, but excellent regardless."

"I know Henry, only someone really splendid like me could think of a distraction like that."

"Never mind that, we should go see how the others are doing." Nodding in agreement, James and Henry began walking through the train while keeping an eye out for any soldiers.

—

Meanwhile, the last two figures were loading up a bunch of sacks with supplies when the doors swung open and they reached for their weapons. Upon noticing that it was just Henry, Gordon, James and Percy, they relaxed and moved their hands away from the weapons.

"So Thomas, how many of the supplies did you get in the sack?"

"Well, there's plenty of weapons and ammunitions to last us a while."

"Great work Thomas, now we should probably get out of there before anyone on this train becomes suspicious."

"Yeah, you have a point Edward." The small group of six then jumped off the train with the stolen supplies and vanished into the howling blizzard.

—

As the train arrived at its destination, a large group of soldiers approached and searched the train thoroughly for any rebels when they noticed the scene of carnage in one of the coaches. "Great, he isn't going to be happy once he finds out that some of the soldiers in his employ were picked off by the rebels."

"That's not all, some of the supplies are missing and there's only one solider in the brakevan. But his neck looks like it's been snapped or something." The two soldiers then shuddered as a high ranking commander approached them.

"Lord Diesel 10 wishes to have a word with both of you only."

"A- As you wish, Commander Diesel."

Diesel merely turned away from them and strolled away without acknowledging what they said. The two soldiers then nervously made their way to his private chambers and knocked on the door. "You may come in now." Diesel 10's voice was refined and deadly calm, the soldiers knew it was never a good thing when Diesel 10 was calm.

Pushing the doors open, they stepped into a room that was cloaked in shadow. "I only realized what happened when all contact with the soldiers in the brakevan was lost. I will overlook this little lapse in security so long as 150 soldiers are present on all future supply trains."

"But, my lord, some of those soldiers may be needed elsewhere to keep an eye out for any rebel cells."

"150 on all future supply trains, the subject is not up for debate. But if you need further persuasion, then look no further than my hand." A loud creaking sound like rusty metal then echoed around the chambers and the soldiers paled by a couple notches.

"150 per train as requested my lord, we will see to it at once."

"Very good, you two are dismissed for now." The two soldiers then stumbled over themselves as they hurried out of his private chambers. "It may take a while, but those foolish former steam engine drivers shall not get away with their resistance against my forces."

—

As they headed towards their hidden residence, the blizzard got even worse and they could barely see in front of them. "Somehow I don't think we'll make it to our residence. So we should try and find somewhere else to stay until this blizzard settles."

"Yeah, I agree as well Edward."

"But where are we supposed to go? I don't see any other places around here." No one had an answer to the question that James asked, not even Edward could think of an answer. But as Percy looked around, he spotted a barn in the distance that was adjacent to a house.

"Look everyone, there's a barn over there that we might be able to stay in until the snowstorm passes." Following his gaze, looks of relief appeared on their faces and they began trudging through the deep snow to reach it. Once they arrived at the barn, it took all six of them to force it open since the bottom of the door was stuck in a couple inches of snow.

But they were unaware of a pair of eyes watching them suspiciously. Once they got settled in the barn, the group of six sat on some hay bales. A couple minutes passed, and James was about to speak when a warning shot was fired into the air. Scrambling to their feet, they noticed a woman walking towards them with a suspicious expression on her face.

"Why are you trespassing on my land?"

"It's an honest mistake miss, we were just looking for some refuge from from this snowstorm."

"I don't know whether I should send you away or have you arrested for trespassing."

"Please don't, all I ask of you is to provide us with a place to stay until this weather subsides." As Edward waited for an answer from her, an awkward silence overtook the group.

"Fine, you can stay in the house for now. But the bags stay in the barn."

"Thank you very much miss?"

"Oh, excuse my manners. My name's Ashima. And you six are?"

"I'm Edward. And the ones with me are Thomas, Henry, Gordon, James and Percy."

"Nice to meet you all." After leaving the bags in the barn, she placed a padlock on it and gestured for the six to follow her. They did so and headed towards the house after they struggled through the snowy field. "Leave your shoes outside please, I don't want the carpet to get damp from the snow." Nodding at her, they removed their shoes and headed inside.

"Whew, it's a lot warmer in here than it is out there."

"Of course it is James, it has a heating system after all." James turned bright red in response to this and Ashima giggled at what Edward said. Henry then glanced at the clock briefly.

"Wow, it's 1:00 already," he mused.

"1:00? It doesn't seem like it's that late in the day yet."

"So tell me about yourselves."

"Well, we travel around the Sudrian countryside."

"Oh? Doing what exactly?"

"What do you think Edward? Should we tell her or not?" After giving it some thought, Edward made up his mind.

"Don't freak out, but we're trying to free Sodor from his control." Ashima looked confused for a couple seconds before realizing who Edward was talking about.

"You mean Diesel 10?"

"Yes, I do. But you can never tell anyone that I told you about this." Ashima matched Edward's serious expression with one of her own.

"Diesel 10, anyone who opposes him is alright in my book. And besides, I owe that power hungry tyrant for what he did to me."

"Um, what exactly did he do, if I may ask."

"He kidnapped my friends, the spineless coward."

"Would I happen to know these people?" Edward inquired uncertainly.

"I doubt it, there was Vinnie, Carlos, Raul, Yong Bao, Frieda, Gina, Etienne, Axel, Shane, Rajiv, Ivan and one other. Vinnie may be a jerk sometimes, but I know he's got a good heart deep down. Carlos has a good head on his shoulders, but he sometimes falls for something that he shouldn't."

"Raul is an extremely hard worker. Yong Bao has plenty of ambition, but he doesn't speak English very well. Frieda is proud of her homeland, which happens to be Germany. Gina hails from Italy, but I'm not sure where in Italy she hails from. Etienne can be a show off sometimes. Axel has an affinity for going fast. Shane is laid back and easygoing."

"Rajiv is the most loyal person you could ask for. Don't even get me started on Ivan. He's a real comedian and enjoys pranking others. As for the last person, I only know him by the name Scot." Upon hearing this, Gordon practically vaulted out of his seat and looked at her.

"You know Scot?!"

"Uh, yes? Why do you ask?"

"Because, Scot is my brother."