King for a Day

Mark asked, “How many assistants do I get or need?”

Angela said, “Most monarchs have an entourage of friends and family, but they usually start with one personal assistant just to bounce ideas off of, but your assistant should be someone that’s with you most of the time and they should know the workings of the government. You can always add more if the workload is too much.”

Mark said, “Liyana!”

Angela said, “There you go, you’re all set. The highest ranking officials of Security, Medical, Emergency, Legal, Education, Infrastructure and Finance are also your advisers.”

Mark said, “That makes sense, I should probably arrange meetings with most of them in the next week or so.”

Liyana then said, “If we’re going out to the islands, I would recommend packing something to eat. I think some of the islands have a picnic table and drink dispensers on them now, but I’m not 100% sure.”

Mark then asked, “Who all is going?”

Annabelle, Angela, Laruun, Rayven, Solara, T’Soona, Liyana, and Gyges all put up their hands. Maren was going to fly home to surprise her parents and Candy was going exploring the countryside with one of the security personnel from her planet.

They all went in to talk to Jeff about making them some lunch for their picnic outing and Jeff said they would deliver the picnic to the boat house when it was ready.

The group walked down to the boat house and saw there was a selection of life vests in various sizes as well as 10 pedal boats, a few canoes, a couple of ocean kayaks, a bunch of paddle boards and even a couple of windsurfing boards.

Angela said, “There are nine of us, so someone is going to be alone in a boat.”

T’Soona said, “Actually I don’t need a boat, I can fly, plus my legs would probably be too short to pedal anyway.”

Angela laughed, “We’ll need 4 boats then!”

They each paired off, Liyana and Gyges, Solara and Laruun, Annabelle and Rayven, leaving Mark with Angela. They then all found vests that fit them and, within a few minutes, a man showed up with a hover cart containing 4 picnic baskets.

They boarded their boats and each boat took one picnic basket as there was a little spot behind the seats to store stuff, then they set off toward the first island. The boats weren’t speedy by any stretch of the imagination, but they were faster than Mark and Annabelle ever remembered the ones on Earth going.

Within about 10 minutes they had reached the first island. It was a pretty big island and, due to its proximity to the palace, it was probably the most heavily used island. It had a dock, several picnic tables, a few cabanas with patio furniture and even a washroom.

They wandered around the island for a few minutes, until Angela said there were only three islands with docks, picnic tables and washrooms, this one, the crater island at the end, and a scenic skinny island about halfway, called Midway Island. Most people went for the crater island and stopped at Midway Island for a break.

It was a group decision to go to the crater island and stop at Midway for lunch. So off they pedalled.

Just over an hour later they reached Midway Island, where the lake narrowed, this island had less tall trees than the other islands. Likely due to the reduced sunshine as a result of the shear cliffs on both sides, the lake itself was maybe 25 metres across at this point. It was very scenic though, as there was a natural arch bridge that spanned the lake above the far end of the island. As Angela had said, there was a dock, a washroom and 2 picnic tables on this island. Otherwise it was just grass, some hedges and a few small trees.

Lunch was a selection of sandwiches and they got drinks from the drink dispensers near the picnic tables. Jeff must have guessed they would go to the crater island as there was enough food for two meals. Everyone ate, then rested a bit, to let it settle then returned to the boats, Mark was sure it was because of Angela that they weren’t having sex on all the islands.

There were less islands on the latter part of the lake. A few of the islands couldn’t have been more than 15 square metres in size.

The end of the lake doglegged right and once you got around the corner, you could see the crater and the big island in the middle. The lake here was probably close to two kilometres in diameter and the island was probably just under a kilometre wide itself.

This island was still mostly mountain and very rocky, although there were large trees, shrubs and grass around the base and it looked like several bushes that had grown up the sides. It had three floating docks, as it was probably one of the most popular destinations on the lake. They all tied up their boats and moved the picnic baskets to a shaded area so they wouldn’t warm up, without realizing the baskets were temperature controlled. Then they went off to explore the island.

There was a picnic table near the docks, just off a path that circled around the entire island. Along the path there were a few trails leading up the hill. There was more vegetation than they expected, but everything was lush and green. There were several picnic tables on the perimeter path, scattered around the shoreline.

They took one of the paths that went up to the top, which had numerous large trees, surrounding an open grassy area and providing shade to several picnic tables, although there was also numerous cabanas. There was also a covered cookhouse, complete with a food synth, barbecue and washrooms. Obviously a popular place for parties or events.

T’Soona came flying up to them, “I think I found something, you guys need to come check it out! Go down that path over there!” She said as she pointed toward the path that led away from the rest of the lake.

T’Soona fluttered ahead of everyone as they scrambled down the path. The incline was steeper on this side, so he doubted many people would use it, with much easier paths leading towards the various docks.

T’Soona landed at a spot in the path where it turned to traverse the slope and stopped about halfway, where the right side of the path was a steep cliff. She just stood there beside a tree with a grin until everyone had arrived.

Mark asked, “What did you want to show us T?”

T’Soona smiled and stepped behind the tree and disappeared.

A collective ‘Whoa!’ was said by everyone, then T’Soona popped back out, “I found a cave!”

Mark went to stand beside T’Soona and you couldn’t see anything, it just looked like a shadow behind the tree. He stepped behind the tree and disappeared, one by one they all followed until they were standing in a dark gloomy cave.

T’Soona pulled Mark over to the side of the cave. “It doesn’t work for me, put your hand here!” As she pointed to a flat spot on one rock.

Mark placed his hand on the spot and a door opened up, followed by a collective gasp as they entered the door and found a secret hideaway.

Mark asked Angela, “Did you know anything about this?”

Angela said, “I’ve been to this island 3 other times, but I’ve never found, or even heard of, this cave.”

They looked around and found 4 beds, two virtual reality setups with suspension harnesses, food, drink and clothing synths. There was also a table and chairs.

Angela said, “I bet this is where the Prince and his buddies come to hide out.”

Angela went to the headboard of all the beds and hit a button on the side of the headboard. The bed immediately made itself.

Annabelle was shocked, “Do all beds do that?”

Angela smiled, “They should! Wait, you guys didn’t know how to reset the bed?”

Annabelle exclaimed, “No, this would’ve been nice to know, so I wouldn’t have had to sleep in a puddle of cum. Between these two I’m always sleeping in cum,” she said pointing to Mark and Rayven.

Angela laughed, “You guys are funny, and so not like normal royalty.”

Mark smiled, “Normal is boring! I think weird suits us better.”

Solara said, “Hey guys come look at this!”

Solara sat at what looked like some sort of computer system and it wasn’t password protected, likely because the owner didn’t think anyone would ever find out about this place.

Liyana and Angela sat down and went through the computer. After a half hour or so, Angela said, “The prince has been selling technology to two non-federated planets, Virgohn and Hytros. The Prince has credits hidden all over the place! So far I have found roughly 400 billion credits!”

Mark said, “Document the sources and transfer the credits into accounts that we control. Then, once we deal with the Prince, we’ll take those credits and donate it to charities or scholarships or put it to some public use. If he gets off on some technicality, I don’t want this guy continuing to live a life of luxury on ill-gotten gains. We’ll pay a visit to these planets he has been selling technology to, I want to see what they’re doing with it.”

After a minute or so he asked, “Do we have an embassy or ship around either of those planets?”

Liyana said, “Not that I know of, Earth is the only planet that has an Embassy.”

Mark was confused, “If an embassy is in orbit, why wouldn’t we put an embassy around every non-federated planet we find? Just like Earth, I’m guessing a certain percentage of their population would like to leave, plus by having an armed embassy around each planet, we’d be able to monitor them and see if they’ve encountered other space travellers.”

Angela said, “An embassy is only 50 personnel or so, so it definitely would have advantages, we also have a floating version of our embassy!”

Mark said, “A floating version? Why wouldn’t we have used that on Earth, it would’ve been easier to get people to something floating, rather than in orbit!”

Liyana said from the computer desk, “We thought about that, but Earth has more ocean going vessels, including military warships and submarines, than any other planet we have ever encountered, so we figured we’d have less impact on normal life by being in orbit, and further away from the military threats.”

Mark shook his head, “Yeah, I can see your point.”

Angela then added, “The problem with putting an embassy on the other planets, is that the senate just met, you won’t be able to propose something like that until the spring session.”

Mark said, “That would be fine, but I am in charge of security correct? I’ll need to sit down with the General and go over a few things, until we get an embassy around each planet, I’d like to have some ships patrolling around those planets.”

Mark then spoke to Cricket, “I have an idea for future embassy’s. Can we make something similar to the Earth embassy, but as an actual ship, complete with engines, light drive, weapons and fighters, but make them white? I like the idea of them being in orbit away from military reach, but I also like the floating aspect. Maybe partner the two in some form, make a floating port that planes and ships could reach and then use that as the shuttle terminal.“

There was no response from Cricket, which Mark thought was odd.

Liyana then spoke up, “I’ve transferred all his credits, except 10 from his account.”

Mark smiled, “Good! Can you see who he has been selling the technology to?”

After a few minutes, Liyana stated, “I have 6 names and I think these are addresses.”

The first order of business was to get ships routed to Virgohn and Hytros as soon as possible. “Angela, who is my security advisor?”

Angela said, “That would be General Marsbe.”

Mark looked at Angela and raised his eyebrows.

“Yes, he’s my dad,” she said with a smile.

Mark tapped his wrist band and said, “Call General Marsbe.”

A circle spun around the face for a few seconds, then displayed ‘no signal’.

Thinking it was like being in a basement, Mark walked out to the cave entrance and to try the call again.

Cricket immediately spoke up, “I couldn’t detect you as being on the planet! The cave must have some shield that prevents detection.“

This time Mark’s call went through and the General’s hologram appeared.

The General said, “My King, I am delighted to speak with you. To what do I owe the pleasure of this call for?”

Mark asked, “Well your daughter said I should talk to my security adviser. How are you doing? ... and ... Do we have any ships with weapons in the vicinity of Virgohn, Hytros or Earth?”

The General laughed as he looked at the display on his desk, “I am fine, the embassy around Earth has some fighters and we do have a Destroyer within a day of Virgohn, but nothing near Hytros. Why?”

Mark said, “I’ve just learned the Prince has been smuggling our technology off-world and selling it to Virgohn and Hytros. I intend to visit those planets just to see what technology they’ve been sold and then either deactivate, confiscate or destroy it.”

The General said, “That slimy little bastard! I’ll deploy ships to those planets right away. Anything else sir?”

Mark said, “Actually General Marsbe, I had a thought occur to me, even if the non-federated planets haven’t asked for it I think we should have at least one ship patrolling around all non-federated planets simply to monitor the development of the planet and to be on the lookout for any bad guys and other space-faring species.”

The General said, “I’ll get right on it! Anything else sir?”

Mark said, “That is all General, thank you for your time,” as the call ended.

Mark went back inside, looked around the cave and said, “So what should we do with this place?”

Liyana said, “Well it’s been a secret for who knows how long, I say let’s just keep it a secret for a while longer, but I’d monitor this place just to see who else knows about it?”

Mark said, “Everyone in favour of keeping it a secret for a while longer?”

Everyone nodded yes, so Mark instructed Cricket to send drones out to monitor the island.

Deciding to leave the cave as it was, in case the Prince had some accomplices, they cleaned up the cave a bit and reset the beds.

On the way out of the cave, Mark touched something on the wall and accidentally opened another door inside the cave.

Everyone went inside and, as they entered the dimly lit cave, the lights intensified and it dawned on them what they were seeing a prison of sorts with one cell that had 4 small single beds, a toilet, a food synth and drink dispenser. There were two girls that appeared to be about 12 and 15 years old in the cell.

As soon as the lights brightened, they shielded their eyes, both girls were naked and appeared to have bruises covering most of their bodies.

Liyana and Angela tried to open the door, but they couldn’t, so Mark tried and the door opened for him.

Angela said, “It might have to do with your royal blood, because of it, the King can do many things that others can’t. Further confirmation that you are the rightful king.”

The girls cautiously approached the scared girls. When they finally realized they were being saved, they started crying and hugging the girls. The younger girl, pointed to a tunnel opening near Mark and sobbed out, “Maisie.”

Mark went down the tunnel she had pointed at and found a young girl, maybe 8 or 10, naked in a pillory that was anchored to the floor by a post. The girl hung in the pillory very limply and Mark wondered if she was even still alive. Her body looked very pale and emaciated, there was dried blood down the insides of her thighs and fecal matter on the floor.

If Mark had to guess, the Prince, or one of his friends, had robbed her of her virginity and, in their arrogance or haste, just left her there to die.

Mark undid the pillory and lowered her to the floor. He lowered his ear to her mouth and watched her chest, she was still breathing, but barely.

Mark picked up the girl and carried her to the other room, where the two other girls, Taissia and Roberta started crying.

Taissia, the older girl, said, “They took her 3 days ago ... is she dead?”

Mark told her, “She is still alive, but in desperate need of medical attention. We need to get her back to the palace ASAP.”

They seemed relieved that she wasn’t dead, but Mark asked, “Are there any others they needed to save?”

Taissia said, “I don’t think the others are still alive.”

The way she said it gave everyone an eerie sense of foreboding.

They wrapped Maisie in one of the blankets from the beds and Mark carried Maisie, while the others helped Taissia and Roberta out of the cave and up the steep trail.

Knowing Maren had gone to visit her parents, Annabelle asked, “How are we going to get the girls back to the palace?”

They really didn’t want to bother Maren, and not knowing how far away Maren’s parents were.

Cricket told Mark, “Maren is back at the palace!“

So Mark contacted Maren and asked her to come out to the crater island with the shuttle ASAP. Within a minute, Maren was landing the shuttle in the open grassy area. Mark carried Maisie in and laid her on the floor, and everyone else sat in the seats.

Realizing they still needed to get the boats back, Gyges, Solara, Rayven and Laruun said they would take one back each, while everyone else went back in the shuttle.

When they reached the palace, there was only two medibeds, so Maisie was put in one, and Taissia went into the other, since she appeared to be the most bruised.

Once the beds were started, they sat down with Roberta and talked.

All of them had been taken from Carthas by the Prince and his friends. Carthas was a decent sized city about 12 kilometres south of the crater lake. She got depressed thinking no one ever came looking for them.

Mark said, “They probably did look for quite a while, but that the cave was shielded and scanners wouldn’t detect them in there. I’m going to look into how they could’ve taken her without anyone knowing.”

Roberta said that Taissia had been there the longest and seemed to be their favourite, since she had the biggest boobs. Quite often all three of the guys took turns with her and she would be brought back to the cell covered in their cum.

Roberta had been there about 6 months and that two other girls had also been there, but they never saw them again. That was about 2 months ago, so she figured they must have been killed.

She tried to remember their names, but all she could remember was one started with an S and the other started with an R. She didn’t know how old they were, but guessed they were about Maisie’s age, they were only there a day or two each.

After about half an hour, Taissia was out of the medibed and Roberta went in. It was still estimating Maisie’s recovery at 10 hours.

They sat Taissia down and had her go through her story.

She had been kidnapped from her room in the middle of the night, almost a year ago. She also wondered why no one ever looked for her.

After they had their way with her a few times, they started bringing younger girls in. She started being slutty for them and pretending she liked it. Hoping it would draw their attention away from the younger girls and it may have made their abuse less frequent, but they all got abused.

In total, since she had been taken, there had been 8 different girls. Taylor, Summer, Katie, Roberta, Sorscha, Robin and Maisie, but sometimes they wouldn’t be brought back. They all hoped that they had got away, even though they knew they probably didn’t.

Liyana had been doing some searches as they were talking, she had pulled up all the missing person’s reports of every name Taissia mentioned. All the girls were between 10 and 15 and all had seemingly disappeared, without a trace, from Carthas in the past year.

She pulled up a bunch of news reports about the missing girls. After the first three girls had gone missing, security was everywhere in Carthas and there was an increased number of drones there too, but girls still went missing and security had no clues. There were no signs of struggle, no signs of forced entry ... nothing! They seemed to just vanish ... sometimes during the daytime and sometimes at night, and from all over the city.

When the others got back after they had returned the boats, they were brought up to speed with the situation.

In all the commotion, Mark had forgot to ask Maren why she was back so soon, but Annabelle didn’t, “Maren, how come you’re not at your parents?”

Maren explained, “The surprise was on me! Mom and dad booked themselves a star cruise and vacation to the ocean planet of Neptune.”

Roberta was out of the bed fairly quickly as well, so Mark took them upstairs and had Jeff make supper for everyone.

When they asked if they could go home, Mark said they could, but to wait until Maisie was recovered.

As they were eating, Mark got wondering and asked, “What did they do with the Prince?”

Liyana said, “They would’ve escorted him to one of the holding cells in the basement, until it was safe to transport him to the orbital prison.”

Mark said, “I don’t remember him being transferred out, do any of you?”

Everyone shook their heads, as Mark jumped up and ran downstairs to the holding cells, but all he found was an empty cell.

Immediately he asked, “As the Prince, he must have had the ability to make changes to the palace, correct?”

Angela answered, “Yes, I suppose he would have, up until you became King. Why?”

Mark said, “If I knew my days were numbered and there was a good chance I’d be at least temporarily held at the palace, I would’ve built in some escape tunnels from the cells.”

Angela said, “There’s nothing but forest and mountains for kilometres around this place. The Prince is not a rugged man like you, I doubt he could survive out in nature with no supplies, plus he would be detected if he was on the surface.”

Mark said, “Cricket has there been any craft, other than the senators, in this area in the past two days?“