Prince Herod stepped off the courier ramp and ignored the salutes and bows presented to him by the knights and officers. He impatiently gestured for the aides to lead the way and entered the castle through a noisy steam powered elevator. The rock walls of the cavern hangar soon changed to grey dressed stone and as the elevator came to a halt, two rows of knights stand at attention outside the elevator doors.

The rows of knights raised their steam lances in salute as Prince Herod stepped out and followed behind as an escort. After passing through several grandly decored hallways, he arrived at the great hall. The first time he saw when the servants pushed open the great doors was his royal father seated on the throne in the rear of the hall.

Standing beside the throne was his fat second brother and the tall slender figure of his uncle while dozens of other ministers and Iron Lords stood on both sides of the main aisle. Prince Herod strolled forward with a small smile on his face as he saw how healthy looking his father was and he came to one knee before the throne.

"Greeting, your Majesty!" He said as he bowed. "Long live the Iron King!"

"HAHA!" The Iron King laughed as he got up from his throne and helped his son up. "My son!"

The once weak and feeble looking King had changed, while still gaunt looking, the Iron King now stood tall and strong. His grey and silver hair and beard remained the same, but the King had a healthy rosy complex and his voice was loud and filled with strength.

Prince Herod could even feel the strength of his grip as his father pulled him into an embrace. "I have recovered! That healer girl of yours is a miracle!"

"Your Majesty," Lord Sincia cleared his throat and said. "You should rest more and have the royal priests and healers to check your health!"

"Sincia... I feel fine!" The Iron King said as he turned around. "I had never felt better! Like I was reborn!"

"My royal brother..." Lord Sincia sighed. "I am afraid it might be some kind of witchcraft that is affecting your health temporary!"

"I do not really care if it is just temporary!" The Iron King growled as he sat back on his throne. "If it gives me enough time to settle the crisis our Kingdom is facing now!

"Yes... my brother..." Lord Sincia bowed and backed down, his expression was unreadable.

"Now, for more pressing matters!" The Iron King addressed the whole assembly. "The 1st and 5th Iron Fleet is cleaning up the remains of the Protectorate force that had pushed all the way here, but still there are several more Protectorate fleets and troops trampling all over our lands!"

"Thankfully... my royal brother has the mind to gather his forces," The Iron King gave a smile before he continued. "His 6th Fleet will join us here at Mortling's Hold."

"The 2nd Iron Fleet will remain over the Iron Palace and protect the capital," The Iron King continued giving orders. "The 3rd, 4th and 7th Fleet will remain to hold the south borders against the Tri State for now."

"The 8th is also to remain, holding its position on the Suugon borders but I want the 10th Iron Fleet on the borders of the Dragons to raid the Protectorate's flank," The Iron King said. "Looking at the number of ships they have sent against us... The 10th Fleet will have an easy time!"

"Lord Kiel and Lord Polman, both of you shall take command of the 2nd Army and retake our lands," The two named Iron Lords bowed in acknowledgement. "The rest of you... gather your soldiers and militia. I want all your granaries opened! Accept and shelter all refugees that enter your lands!"

"Go!" The Iron King said. "And drive those worshippers of Ramuh away from our lands!"

"IRON FOR IRON!" The ministers and Iron Lords called out and they dispersed.

"Herod, attend to me!" The Iron King said as he walked into a side chamber. Lord Sincia gave him a cold look before leaving while his second brother cast a fearful look in his direction before he hurried after their uncle. Prince Herod frowned at their exit and entered the side chamber where his father waited.

"My son," His father already seated on a sofa, gestured him to sit down. A set of tea and small bites had been set out on the table. "You have performed well."

Prince Herod sat down and helped himself to the food. He hasn't eaten anything since yesterday, too nervous and anxious with the battle to do so. Now, with all the stress and tension gone, his stomach rumbled and he quickly stuffed himself.

"I have heard of what Sincia did," The Iron King said as he watched his son stuff himself. "I will retract the nomination of Crown Prince from Najja and nominate you as Crown Prince instead!"

-----

The Old Ugly

"Satelite imagery shows some kind of farm here," Trism said as he expanded the downloaded image on the screen. "This is the only area with any signs of people nearest to the triangulated spot within a ten kilometre radius."

"Looks like a pretty large farm," Major Mills said as he took in the details. "I say, two hundred or three hundred people at least?"

"Intel estimated at least seven hundred from several previous satellite takes," Trism corrected the Marine. "All of them cramped within these buildings here, here and here."

"These buildings here are suspected to hold the guards and administrators running the camp," Trism added. "This structure here is the farm's house of worship where everyone goes to in the morning for prayers."

"It's a forced labour camp..." Dr. Sharon let out a soft sigh. "The conditions for the workers don't look good from here..."

"Yes, we believe so," Trism nodded. "As for the conditions..."

"Can we do any verification?" Blake suddenly asked. "Does our satellite imagery able to pick up faces?"

"Erm... No sir," Trism shook his head. "Lieutenant Tavor said something about the quality of the cameras and how the satellite originally was a 'plan- net- early' probe and not a spy satellite..."

Blake nodded and he pointed to the coast, "The UNS Vengeance is around here, correct?"

"Yes, sir," Trism replied. "They are currently holding at the mouth of the straits."

"Have them dispatch the Hundred and First," Blake said. "I want eyes on the ground and confirmation."

"And in the meantime, we continue on our course," Blake added. "It would take us about ten days or so to reach the triangulated location if we do not encounter any obstacles."

"Have the Hundred and First scout out the area, and we will pick them up when we arrive," Blake said. "And if they find the Princess and have the confidence to extract her... do it!"

"Yes, Sir!"

-----

9th Iron Fleet, Flagship Iron Regent

Sky General Bundberg helped lift the unconscious bridge crew out of the wreckage and allowed the healers to carry the wounded away. He braced himself against a pillar as a wave of giddiness assailed him and his hand came away slick with blood when he rubbed his head.

Looking out of the cracked viewports, he saw dozens of airships bearing the 1st and 5th Iron Fleet pennons and streamers surrounding the survivors of the 9th. On the Protectorate side, the enemy fleet had been shattered by a powerful spell that could only come from a sky fortress.

The sky fortress of the Iron Kingdom had the ability to cast ancient powerful spells provided that they could afford to power the magical arrays of the spell. In ancient times, it was a simple matter for the Kingdom and mages to do so, but after hundreds of years, and with magic disappearing from the world, it became a limited weapon of deterrent.

And this weapon of deterrent had saved the 9th Fleet, or what was left of the 9th. He could still see signs of battle still occurring in small pockets in the skies as ships of the 1st and 5th chased down the survivors. The Iron Regent had suffered heavy damage once its magical barriers were down, the Protectorate had been relentless in their attacks as they focused all their cannons on it.

Sky General Bundberg did not know yet the casualties of the 9th, but he could roughly guess the numbers. Suddenly feeling very tired, he sat down on a stood and felt his age. The close brush with death had finally drained the last of his strength.

-----

Off the Mouth of the Border Straits, UNS Vengeance

The waiting CH - 1 Griffin had its tail ramp down, and extra pods of fuel attached on its sides. The cocky goblin crew chief wearing aviator glasses and a flight jacket was hopping up and down impatiently as he yelped at the approaching soldiers.

"Come come! Fast fast! Before bad wind come!" The goblin hollered loudly over the din of the roots.

"Chill down!" Hitsu shook his head at the antics of the goblin as he and the others went on board the Griffin. Bags of equipment were placed down in the middle of the spacious interior and secured. An Armored Support Autonomous Spider Golem, or ASASG, painted in digital night pattern of greys and blacks, followed onboard and the pony sized spider like golem folded its leg up as it settled down in the middle and allowed members of the Hundred and First to secured it to the decks.

"All onboard!" The goblin crew chief yelped and he shut the rear ramp. As the ramp shut, the roar of the rotors changed in pitch and everyone could feel the Griffin lifting off the flight decks of the UNS Vengeance.

As the Griffin carrying the Hundred and First took off, another two AH - 1 Unicorns ladened with extra fuel pods took off as well as they flew escort. The three helicopters formed up in a 'V' and headed towards the landmass in the distance.

"Alright, all of you heard the brief earlier, but I am going to remain you all again!" Specialist Sergeant Tyrier shouted over the muffled roar of the rotors to his team after he came back from talking to the pilots in the cockpit. "Our mission is simple, we go in, dig around, see if we can get any confirmation of the Princess and young prince!"

"If we got eyes on them, we are to call in it," Tyrier continued. "And depending on the situation, we on the ground will decide if it is prudent or not to go in and extract them!"

"The Old Ugly, will come and pick us up," Tyrier added. "But they are around ten days or more away!"

"No other support?" Wolf asked. "Airstrikes? Gunship? Or even a nice 14" barrage from the Venny?"

"There will be some support but don't count on it!" Tyrier answered. "We will travel most of the journey by helo, and complete the rest on foot, which will take us roughly five days to reach our target objective."

"We will only have support if and when only our flyboys enter the area of operations, if not, any request for support will take too long to come to do any good!" Tyrier said. "We might get some dedicated aerial support in a week when those Vee Ones enter the AO, but before that, don't count on them!"

"Nice season for a hike and rescue," Hitsu grinned as he leaned back in his seat. "As usual no support and all alone, what could go wrong in this simple mission?"

"Don't curse it," Altied snapped. "You and your damn mouth!"

"Remember, this will be a sneak and peek mission!" Tyrier reminded his team again. "We are only to go in and assert the situation!"

"Alright, get some rest for now," Tyrier said as he made his way forward to the flight cabin. "It's going to be a long ride."