This story takes place almost two hundred years into the future. Things are quite different. Homosexual sex is a norm. So if you are under age or if explicit "abnormal" sexual activity is abhorrent to you, please read no further.
If you do read further, please let me know your reaction to the story. Feedback means a lot. Write me at macoutmann@yahoo.com.
Please also remember that these stories come to you through the generosity of those who contribute to nifty.org. Have you made a donation lately...or at all? If you have, thank you. If you haven't, please consider doing so.
Copyright 2015 by Macout Mann. All rights reserved.
THE THIRD EMPIRE
by Macout Mann
XVII
The conspirators decide that the movements of the prince are too unpredictable for them to attempt an assassination. Yousef had never felt it had a high priority in any event.
The Dauntless got underway with the necessary ceremony and headed into the Suez Canal to begin the second leg of its voyage, which would take her to Aden, Karachi, Mumbai, and several other ports, before arriving at Sidney.
Meanwhile, back in Oslo, Quintus, the Governor General, is delighted that he has been able to have his compatriot, Antonius, assigned as head of Securitas in Norway. He had served Quintus so well in Suriname. They trust each other completely, work together well, and Antonius often shares Quintus' bed.
The governor general's offices are in the Regjeringen, a sprawling complex that houses the Norwegian administrative ministries. It is there that Antonius brings Quintus news of the plot to assassinate King Herald.
"A local plot?" Quintus asks.
"No. A bunch of Mohammedan radicals down in Greater Israel. Our office down there discovered the conspiracy, after they noticed some Arabs scouting Flavius' and Olafus' ship in Haifa. It seems that they just want to cause panic and have decided that Norway is a good place to do it. Three of them are now on their way to Oslo."
"Do you think we should alert the king?"
"We will have them under surveillance at all times. I don't think we should worry him."
On Dauntless' last night in Aden both Flavius and Olafus have the duty. They are summoned to the exec's quarters. Not unusual. Singly or together, they often spend the evening with more senior officers. Unit cohesion and all that.
The exec is a guy who loves young dick. He alternates between the two middies for almost a half hour before finally taking their loads. Then he asks them to take turns going down on him. He lets one suck him to the edge, then tells him to pull off and let the other have a taste.
"The captain says you boys give the best head he's ever had, and I agree," the exec pants.
"Well, my dad works for the government, and I've lived all over," Flavius smiles. "Had lots of practice."
Olafus, doing his duty, can only grunt his agreement.
Once a year the King of Norway holds a public audience at the entrance to the palace. A platform is set up at the center of the five arches that support the portico. Thousands of his subjects as well as tourists crowd the plaza formed by intersecting streets and statuary in front of the palace.
Once lawns, the areas on each side of the entrance were planted with English boxwood many years ago, and one of Rushdi's tasks is to keep it properly trimmed. Armed with a pair of shears, he is doing his duty as the king's entourage emerges from the palace for the audience. The plan is that Rushdi will have no part in the king's assassination. He is too valuable as a source for information. He will appear to be as horrified as anyone else, when the deed is done.
The recently arrived co-conspirators are in the crowd and are pushing closer and closer to their target, when suddenly and quietly Securitas agents apprehend them and whisk them away. Seeing that their plans have been foiled, and realizing that once closed his sharp shears are a weapon as dangerous as spear, Rushdi improvises. He leaps onto the platform and, shouting "Allahu Akbar!," he plants the point of his shears between the shoulder blades of the sovereign.
The king falls forward, as his guards bring Rushdi down. The king is mortally wounded. He dies shortly after reaching the hospital. It is the attending physician whose duty it is to announce to the waiting officials and media, "The king is dead. Long live the king." The new king, Olaf, is on a ship thousands of miles away.
Dauntless is en route from Karachi to Mumbai on a course of 180 degrees across the Arabian Sea. It is rare that she receives a classified message, much less a top secret one. Yet the crypto-rating on duty in the underway ops center is alerted to a coded dispatch. He begins the decryption to discover the abbreviation, TOPSEC. He calls Ens. Taylor, the top secret control officer, who will have to decode the message. But Mr. Taylor makes a further discovery. The message next reads FOR MIDSHIPMAN JOHNSON'S EYES ONLY. "Eyes only" messages are normally reserved for flag officers or commanding officers, so Taylor is quite taken aback. He loads the message onto a tablet and sends for Flavius.
Flavius is told that the message will decrypt, when he enters his personal codename into the tablet. He takes the tablet to a corner of the ops center and reads, "King Herald was assassinated during his annual audience today. I'm sorry, but it will be up to you to notify King Olaf of his father's death. A hoverocket will be dispatched to fly you and the king to Mumbai, where a rocketplane will be waiting to fly you both to Oslo. Quintus Johnson, Governor General of Norway."
Flavius returns to their quarters, where several officers in addition to Olafus are lounging around.
"Gentlemen, I'm sorry to have to ask this," Flavius says, "but you will understand shortly why I must ask that you leave Midshipman Oldenburg and me in private."
Knowing that Flavius had just been summoned to ops, the officers realize that something must be up so they immediately respond by going to the wardroom without protesting.
"What's up?" Olafus asks.
Flavius takes his friend in his arms. "We need to pack," he says. "A hovercraft is on its way to get the two of us. Oh god, buddy. Your dad's been killed. You're the king of Norway."
They collapse in each other's embrace, both crying uncontrollably.
When Ens. Taylor shows up in the wardroom, he is pummeled with questions, basically asking "What's going on?"
"Fucking weird," Taylor answers, "but I don't know." He tells them what he knows and learns from them that the message must also involve their other middie.
The mystery is solved when an hour later Dauntless receives this message:
FROM: CincNav, Washington
TO: CO, ENS Dauntless
Break the Head-of-State Pennant. You have on board King of
Norway,former temporary midshipman, Olafus Oldenburg.
Regret to inform you his father, King Herald, was assas-
sinated by religious fanatics.
Hoverocket en route to remove the king and Midshipman
Flavius Johnson, son of the Governor General of Norway,
from your vessel.
The captain had never visited junior officers' quarters except during a formal ship's inspection, but now he immediately goes there to find Olafus, now King Olaf, and Flavius packing their belongings, while still weeping and bemoaning Olaf's loss.
"Your majesty," the captain bows as he speaks, "the entire ship's company joins me in mourning your loss. May I offer my cabin for your use until your hoverocket arrives? My steward will be available to tend to your belongings."
"Thank you, captain," Olaf answers, "but I would prefer to remain here as a midshipman. No ceremony please."
"As you desire, sir, but I do regret that I did not know of the status of either of you gentlemen."
Flavius replies. "That's the reason that the training program is set up as it is. All military trainees are equal in the sight of their superiors," he says.
As the captain returns to his quarters he can't help but think, "Goddamn, I've fucked a fucking king!" A thought shared by all the officers aboard.
Olaf's preferences to the contrary not withstanding, when the hoverocket arrives, the seas are calm enough that the band can assemble on the fantail. The hover craft drops a rope ladder, As its two passengers scamper aboard, ruffles and flourishes are sounded, the Norwegian Anthem is played, and then the boatwain's pipe is sounded, "Kingdom of Norway, departing" is announced, and the Head-of-State Pennant is struck. (Fortunately the Norwegian Anthem is sung to the same tune as the British Anthem.)