Change of Plans

The Old Ugly barely managed to take off the field when soldiers came storming in. The urgent ringing of bells had echoed out from the Iron Palace prompted the goblins stripping down the helo to quicken their hands and they finally managed to pack the entire helo up for transport and tow it into the Old Ugly when the earth started rumbling.

Companies of cavalry and steam wagons came rolling out of the city walls with orders to prevent any docked airships around the surrounding airfields from leaving but the urgent ringing of bells in the middle of the night had awoken the city and crew of the ships. The captains and merchants seeing the soldiers and military airships swooping down to impose a lock down, panicked as it would mean they might be trapped and their goods would be left unsold.

Crew members roused out of taverns and pubs while those ships having a majority of their crew quickly made steam to leave the capital before they were trapped here and profits lost. Following that, word of an all out invasion spread and in moments, chaos descended on the city as people came out on the streets and others sought to leave the city when the skies were still dark and dawn hours away.

All the chaos helped the crew of the Old Ugly, as the huge hull of the CH - 1 Griffin was covered up and towed on its own wheeled carriage by a disguised truck. While it was huge, the other ships' crew were too busy with the chaos to pay attention to the oversized cargo. When the Old Ugly rose to the skies, she joined the few other airships that scrambled away into the skies with the warships of the Iron Kingdom Sky Fleets swooping over to stop them.

Using their superior speed, the Old Ugly gave a burst of speed that left the pursuing military airships in wonder and helpless to catch up. After a token chase, the Iron Kingdom ships could only give up as the distance between them drew so wide, that made it a waste of time to continue the chase, allowing the ugly looking airship to disappear into the brightening horizon.

-----

The Old World, Capital of the Iron Kingdom, The Iron Palace

Prince Najja still half dressed in his sleepwear with just a coat over his shoulders, paced anxiously around his study chamber as he awaited for Lord Sincia to arrive. Earlier his servants had woken him up from his sleep and informed him of the invasion of the Protectorate and that was not all, his thrice cursed brother had escaped from his confinement!

His half brothers had always been dominating and overachievers since young. And he, the son of a favored concubine, grew tired of trying to outdo them to gain their approval, instead sought to enjoy life instead. But when his eldest brother, the Crown Prince vanished, and him not even considered to be the next in line, a proposal from his royal uncle greatly tempted him.

It was to take over the Crown Prince position and rise up to be the next Iron King! Oh, how wonderful it would be for him if he was the King. Able to indulge in all fine things in life, from women to delicacies to endless wealth and power. But now, it seemed like nothing planned has gone right for him!

The door to his study chamber opened and an impeccably dressed Lord Sincia entered. Despite his age, the old man still maintained a strict bearing befitting of royalty. Once the servants in the room had departed, his calm demeanor changed and he frowned at Prince Najja. "Did you look at the mirror? As the Crown Prince and future King, you must always look after your public appearances!"

"Yes, Royal Uncle," Prince Najja felt like a child again and chided by the Royal Tutors. "But the news of the Protectorate! And that muscle brained brother of mine!"

"I know!" Lord Sincia sighed before he helped himself to the hot tea on the table. "It would seem that he was correct but that is not important now. What is important is your actions next!"

"My actions?" Prince Najja frowned as his pacing halted. He quickly sat down before his uncle and asked, "What should I do? Call up all the soldiers?"

"Of course, but not just that!" Lord Sincia took a small sip of the hot tea before saying. "You will lead the fleets to fight against the Protectorate instead of going against the Tri State."

"A- Against the Protectorate!?" Prince Najja was shocked. "B- But they are not civilized people! They are fanatics and savages! What about our plans against the Tri State?"

"Don't worry, it is just a change of our original plans," Lord Sincia waved Prince Najja's concerns. "You will have more ships under your command and in fact, this situation might turn out for the better for us!"

"H- How so?" Prince Najja felt a deep seated fear inside. He had grown up hearing about the atrocities done by the Protectorate against heretics and non believers. Like many others, the Protectorate were like a bogeyman and deep seeped into the regions' superstitions and myths, despite the constant conflicts.

"Think about it! What better to push your popularity by being the defender of the people?" Lord Sincia replied with a smile and under the lamp light, it made his wrinkled face look hideous. "The people will rally behind you!"

Prince Najja suppressed a shiver as he looked away before he said, "B- But how can we defeat the Protectorate? The reports I received spoke of hundreds and hundreds of ships!"

"You do not need to win," Lord Sincia replied. "Aren't you good at sweet talking to people? Just rally the people and leave the real fight to my generals!"

"Pack your stuff," Lord Sincia finished his tea and stood up. "I took the liberty to assemble the fleet while on my way over."

"Despite the fleet still being outfitted, it would still have a good thirty fighting ships," Lord Sincia said. "The fastest ship will arrive to pick you up at the royal airfield with the turn of a glass."

"W- What?" Prince Najja was surprised. "Isn't that too fast? I am not ready yet a- and..."

"You have only until the turn of the glass to pack your stuff!" Lord Sincia snapped. "I expect you to be at the field in that time!"

Prince Najja trembled as he watched the door close before him and he seemed to lose all energy as he slumped deeper into the sofa. "It's... all his fault! If he only had... died! I won't need to risk my life out in these stupid battles!"

The angry rant gave him strength and he stormed off towards his bed chambers and he rang the bell, shouting for his servants. "HURRY UP! Pack my clothes! I am going for war!"

-----

The Old Ugly

Prince Herod shook his head slightly as he eyed the quiet Captain seated on his usual chair in the bridge. As usual, the crew seemed too professional to just be a group of merchants as he observed their work. And as the surprise of seeing tamed goblins as part of the crew, which they seemed to have disappeared somewhere in the ship, hidden from view once more, he felt the gut feeling about the Captain and this ship was truly more than it seemed.

"That was a spectacular run," Prince Herod spoke up finally, unable to keep silent. "My Iron Kingdom ships could not even match half your speed!"

Blake gave a disinterested grunt of acknowledgement while his eyes remained closed. Trism standing by his side turned to Prince and smiled, "Your Highness, the one thing the Loose Confederation can boast of, its the speed of its ships!"

"Are you all really from the Loose Confeds?" Prince Herod frowned. "I never knew the Loose Confeds know how to tame goblins!"

"The Loose Confederation is made up of many tribes, nations, and kingdoms," Trism remained smiling at the Prince. "We have many races working together, so of course... You would see goblins."

Prince Herod's frown deepened. He did not know if it was the truth but it sounded plausible. From his diplomatic relations with the Loose Confeds, he knew that they were a mixed cluster of tiny powers that banded together to face off the greater powers of the world. Demi humans scorned by were treated as equals there and it was possible that a savage race such as goblins could be part of them.

"Anyway, I give my thanks again for bringing me to my fleet," Prince Herod decided to change the topic. "As always, I am in your debt."

"Your debt appears to be growing bigger and bigger," A voice suddenly said from behind him and he turned around to see Lady Sharon standing behind him with a grin and her arms folded across her chest. "How are you ever going to repay it at this rate?"

"Lady Sharon," He gave a bow and smiled helpless back. "That... appears to be true..."

Trism sighed and rolled his eyes as he turned away from the two and returned his attention to the operation of the ship while Blake appeared to have started snoring. Dr. Sharon gestured the Prince to one side and said, "Why are you so stupid to expose your cards to the enemy?"

"What do you mean?" Prince Herod scratched his head. He had learnt how to play cards with Lady Sharon and the rest and only vaguely understand the term she was using.

"What I mean was why are you telling your enemies about what... weapons or skills you have!" Dr. Sharon sighed. "You should not tell them and keep your abilities hidden! You should not have told them about the information about the Protectorate!"

"But, they are planning an attack into my Kingdom!" Prince Herod protested. "It is my duty to warn my people!"

"Yes I know!" Dr. Sharon shook her head. "But... you... lack tack! You shouldn't just announce it like that... Who would believe you without evidence?"

"But... I believed in your Captain..." Prince Herod frowned. "And I needed the Lords to dispatch their forces."

"Argh..." Dr. Sharon felt like punching the Prince's handsome face. "Yes! But you should inform your allies first! Not everyone at once and allowing your enemies to twist your words against you!"

"But it is my dut-"

Dr. Sharon raised a palm up to stop Prince Herod's words. "I know it is your duty! But look what happened? If you moved with more tack, you wouldn't have been locked up and eventually... delay any form of defenses that you could have fielded if you were free!"

"You... mean I caused this?" Prince Herod felt a cold shiver down the pit of his belly. "I..."

"Yes!" Dr. Sharon did not let up. "If you were not locked up, think of what you could have done to help bolster the border defenses?

With his head lowered Prince Herod felt his world crashing down. He had sought to make the lives of the common people better and always ways to bring the Iron Kingdom to new heights. His passion for hunting monsters, especially dragons stemmed from the need for their magic crystals which ultimately would benefit the growth of the kingdom.

But over time, he realized that even if killing all the dragons or magical monsters in the Old World, there would not be enough magic crystals to achieve anything. Hence he turned to steam power and sought an alliance with the Cartel who were famed for their steam works. If he could not use magic to strengthen the kingdom then he would use steam power!

But now, his confidence was shattered by this small woman that barely reached his neck. As she had pointed out, if he had not been so reckless and thought it through, or consulted with his followers and allies, the situation at the border would not have been so dire. Was he really suited to be the Crown Prince? Would his actions cause the fall of the Iron Kingdom in the future?