“Intriguing,” Rager murmured. “What is a dark web?”
“What is hacking?” I asked.
Evon crossed his arms, a frown on his face. “How is this a crime worthy of sending a vulnerable, fragile female to prison when he was the liar? The dishonest one?”
She turned her body so she was on her back and could see all three of us. Her breasts swayed with the motion and it was hard to remain focused. “The dark web is a communications network where you can’t be tracked and the government can’t control what you do. It’s the one place with a free flow of money and information. A lot of people use it, good people and bad. It’s become a battle ground. A lot of criminals, spies, and people with secrets operate there. Hackers like me.
“Hacking is using knowledge of computer programming and coding to break the security passwords on someone’s
computer system and gain access to their information and network. And yes, the big-money players don’t want anyone rocking the boat. On Earth, corporations are pretty much in charge of everything, and I definitely rocked the boat.” She bit her lip, looking from one of us to another. “You’re not upset?”
“Upset that you are very smart? Cunning?” Rager shrugged. Yeah, he wouldn’t care all that much. He was the easygoing one and would see her actions as almost humorous. “If they didn’t defend themselves well enough to keep you out, then they deserved it.”
Yeah, exactly as I thought. I glanced at Evon. He was much more black-and-white. If she committed a crime, then she required a consequence.
He eyed her with his usual ice-blue examination. Debating.
There was no debate for me. What I felt for her, and what I knew she felt for us in return, mattered more than any crime on another planet.
“What you’ve done, mate. It’s nothing.” I swallowed the bitterness that always accompanied these words. “My family is deeply embedded in the VSS, the Viken Sector Separatists. They don’t believe in the Coalition and want to take Viken back to a time before we had peace under the three kings, back to civil war.”
She frowned. “This planet isn’t peaceful?”
“There are no Hive here. None have ever been discovered on the planet. But there are sympathizers with the separatist movement, those who would like to see the current kings and their mate removed from power. They do not want a unified planet. They wish a return to the old ways, to a time where each sector was self-governing and bloodshed was the norm.”
“Our queen, Leah, is from Earth. She, too, was matched to three Viken warriors through the Brides Program. To the three kings.” Evon offered this truth. “Their daughter, Princess Allayna, is the one true heir. When she becomes queen, she will unite all of Viken forever.”
The way her eyes widened in surprise, she hadn’t known anything about our planet’s history. It seemed she didn’t know much of anything about Viken, just as we knew nothing of Earth. I was relieved, for it gave me the opportunity to tell her about the VSS and my family without any preconceived notions on her side. I took a deep breath and blurted out the rest.
“My father and brother are high-ranking members of the VSS. I was to follow in their footsteps, take over as a rebel military leader from my father.” I looked down at the dark blanket, then back up at her. “But I didn’t. I was caught trying to burn a government building to the ground when I was young and sent to prison. I chose to join the Coalition Fleet instead, and because of this, my father vowed never to speak to me again.”
“I’m sorry.” She lifted a hand to my jaw and there was no malice in her eyes, no judgment. “That stinks. So, you were all in the Coalition Fleet. Are you are done with that now? I noticed your uniforms. All different colors. What does that mean?”
She was between us naked, not concerned about modesty. I watched her closely to ensure she didn’t chill, but I would not have her covered. Neither, I was sure, would the others. I enjoyed seeing her body, breathing in the musky scent of our seed mixed with her arousal.
“We are members of the Viken United Royal Guard now. Our uniform colors represent the Sector where we were born and raised, but the red band around our arms signifies our loyalty to the kings and the Coalition Fleet. This station houses the most important communication system on the planet. We are deployed here to maintain the array and keep it safe. Without the array, we would lose contact with the Fleet and be vulnerable to Hive attack.”
Evon added more. “Our transport capabilities would be severely limited, and we would be unable to transport warriors or brides on or off the planet.”
“So, where are we?” she asked. “What’s it like outside? I have seen nothing of the planet.”
Evon stood, went to the window, naked as the day he was born, and pushed a button. The darkening filter was turned off and the view of the frozen landscape filled the entire wall. The brightness of light dancing off snow made me wince.
“Wow.” She stood and went over to the window to look outside. Evon moved to stand behind her, to wrap his arms about her. While I wasn’t interested in seeing Evon’s bare ass, I enjoyed seeing our mate relaxing in his embrace. She was safe. Content. And that was all that mattered to me. Seeing the hard edges around Evon’s eyes relax was practically a miracle.
“It’s so beautiful,” she exclaimed. “It’s like the North Pole. Where are Santa and his reindeer?”
“We do not know this Santa. Is he a warrior? And what are reindeer?” Evon asked.
She laughed and the sound made all three of us smile. A rare occurrence indeed. “It’s a fairy tale for children about a jolly old man who delivers gifts to children at Christmas. He lives at the North Pole, surrounded by land that looks like this. Completely white, covered with ice and snow.” She shivered, then laughed again. “God, just looking at it makes me cold.”
“Then I shall warm you.” Evon pulled her more tightly to him, completely enfolding her in his arms until she disappeared from my view. “We are in the far north of Viken. This station sits on the tip of the planet, closest to the Coalition Fleet where we have a direct line of sight to their nearest transport and communication station.”
“So, this station controls all of Viken’s communication with the rest of the universe?”
I moved to sit on the edge of the bed, grabbed a slice of fruit from the plate, and popped it in my mouth. “Yes.”
She sighed. “No wonder they sent bad-ass military personnel to guard it.”