Cameras, with audio, cover almost all of the interior and immediate exterior. Even the staterooms have surveillance monitors, although those systems need the authorisation of the Captain and Raid Leader for access when the occupant selects Privacy Mode (Slave quarters have a limited version of privacy, if two slave anklets occupy the room simultaneously no authorisation is necessary to open the feed).
There are, notoriously, some areas of the ship not covered by video. Spaces behind or between machinery, maintenance crawlspaces, equipment lockers, the gunnery loft. Lockers, access panels and Gunnery hatches require entry codes however, and slave anklets are radio-locatable, limiting their utility as hiding places.
Responding to a nod from Eno Raven declares “Your Mistress is here. Let us see if your gift brings you favour and puts her in a mood to spend well for our treasures”.
Mistress? Not my type. Captain.
Raggi drains his horn.
I’d better come with you. Not everyone “gets” Sal at first, and she could probably use someone who understands you Oghmen.
Turning to Manfred:
You’re the man that Theev ship, Lady Ice, is here for? Manfred? Sal said she’d like to meet you. About a bit of business. Now is a good time, if that suits you.
Manfred replies: Sure, it’s good to meet new faces. Hope you’re Captain Sal hasn’t brought you here to make you rich. The only big fish out here need a fleet to catch them, it’s no place for independents.
Raggi replies: Odd that you should use that word. A fleet is what Sal wants to talk of...
Manfred and Raggi follow Raven, talking together amiably, but cautiously, as newly acquainted criminals will.
Scarlett Sal appears not to notice Arnwulf as she strides across the hangar to the displayed objects, fixated on them.Arnwulf Goren Lugersen
...on a whim, he wears his skull helmet and walks past them as they go about studying the Artefacts.
That is all he wears mind, head to toe he is naked apart from his weapon belt and shotgun dangling between his legs, keeping his privacy.
Aedzveis does notice. Her ears flatten, her tail twitches into a leftward wag, and she growls quietly, her lips pulling back slightly to reveal the points of her fangs. She does not alter her stride, or leave Sal’s side, but she is more alert in general, and keeps track of Arnwulf in particular.
Sal, without looking, snaps: Be nice. They may be strange, but they invited us to buy things. They won’t hurt me.
Upon seeing Sal and Aedzveis Raven appears genuinely fascinated by the Vargr and, with perhaps more base instincts, equally intrigued by the merchant. She gives a twitch of her lips and then neither seems to notice Arnwulf or make any comment on his appearance (just adding to the surreal)
She introduces herself to both and to Sal adds “I'm surprised. You are grannligr - as slim as your blade. Does it really serve to keep pirates off?”
Aedzveis, no longer growling, returns Raven’s interest. Her tail flicks from side to side in short strokes, and her head tilts.
Raggi, you found a sister?
Sal takes in Raven, an appraising look. She smiles.
A new pin.
Keep them off? It brings them in. And, if they get too close, the blade may be slender, but it is sharp. It can cut threads short, sever them from their pins to drift, lost, in space.
She tilts her head, a gesture similar to the Vargr’s, flicks her eyes over Raven, the ship, the cargo. She notices Tiv, then Arnwulf, the slaves. Double-takes back to Arnwulf, grins, and turns back to Raven.
I was going to say image is everything in this trade, but perhaps you already know this. I thought you were just relics, but that Thingvallir is more typical than I expected. You will not take beads for your stones, will you?
Perhaps you can even give me the numbers on your artefacts. Location. Date. Where to put the pin, what thread to tie.
Edited (extra Raggi)
Note: The crew and their guests have the services of the Serpent's translation routine. Scarlett Sal and Aedzveis do not. They will understand Imperial/Galanglic. Raven knows that, as does Tiv.
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