It only took the first of his childish jokes to set her eyes rolling. The second earned a groan, as she resisted the urge to shove him away.
"I ought to strap you to the hood of my ship and let you fly from there!" Slainne called back with only half a laugh, and retreated back up the ramp of the
Valencia.
"Worse has happened to husbands who sass their wives," the smuggler whispered to herself, tossing her hair idly over her shoulder. She waited patiently, though the blended expression of frustration and mild annoyance never wore off.
When he came back, Slainne pointed at the ring on her finger.
"This is our cover," she explained,
"Like I said, ships are either for cargo, or for passengers-- both sets off a red flag for the GPD at terminals, looking out for things like escaped convicts, or human trafficking. Most airship pilots are men, and bypass this by bringing along whores that accompany them." Slainne made an obvious point of looking Gable from head to toe, followed by a humored, whimsical smirk.
"And I don't think you could sell the part of being a concubine, Mr. Saint."
"So, we're posing as husband and wife-- both merchants. It's too uncommon for a merchant to share cargo space with passengers, as an effort of loss protection." With merchants often doubling as pilots, it was too difficult to focus on flying the ship
and protecting their merchandise from hitch-hikers spending time in the cargo bay.
"But married merchants, they won't suspect a thing."
She gave him a wave of her hand to gesture that he was allowed to come aboard, up the ramp into the cargo bay. It was just as boxy on the inside as it was outside, a large, square space having been where she stored bolts of fabric and small pieces of wooden furniture, but it was mostly cleared out in expectation of new cargo. At the end of the cargo bay, heading towards the front of the ship, there were a few steps that led up to a raised cockpit, where dials, monitors, and the yoke lay arranged in front of the windowed dash.
"It's going to be a long flight," Slainne said, and pointed to a bedroll that was tied with rope, hidden amongst the cargo.
"Sleep if you want-- but pack it away and hide it if we stop. Don't want to blow our cover."
Before she would retreat to the cockpit, Slainne stuck her hands in her pockets, and shuffled her way over to Gable. She cocked her head gently to the side, and looked him straight in the eye.
"Before we take off, is there anything I need to know about these particular Krogans?"