This was not the situation room meeting Francesca had been hoping for.  The ship was supposed to be exploring uncharted space but instead they had been delayed by the nearby situation.  Instead of making new contact with a new species and a new world, she would be stuck playing negotiator.  The correct word really was [i]playing[/i] as the ISA had absolutely no intention of negotiating with terrorists asking for a ludicrous amount of payment in exchange for hostages.

Francesca rubbed her temples as a very light migraine started, so it probably wasn't related to her medical condition.  She had been getting into a juicy chapter in [u][i]The Captain's Mismanagement[/i][/u], a rather racy novel, when the call came for the officers to assemble.  As she tried to save the other hours of the day to more beneficial pursuits, such as brushing up on alien customs, practicing her music, and settling disputes among shipmates, the early morning hours were the best time to settle down in her comfortable loveseat and enjoy a good piece of sexy trash.  Of course she did not let her displeasure show on her face at any time during the meeting, but the captain in the story was just about to get in a spicy situation with an alien crew-member when the call had come in so underneath she was not in the best of moods.

As it was already decided they were going to rescue the hostages with a rather direct approach, the only thing Francesca had to consider was what was the best way to keep Captain Du-Vos occupied.  There was the slightest of possibilities they could reach an arrangement and gunplay wouldn't be needed, but considering the circumstances it was highly unlikely.  As he was old and looking to retire, he was really gunning for a big payoff and would be on the lookout for anything suspicious, despite not being on A or B team, Francesca and the captain had the extremely important job of keeping him occupied while the others went to work.

[color=a187be]"I'll do my best to keep the negotiations going but it really will come down to how fast everyone can do their part as we can only stall him for so long.  Captain Du-Vos is experienced so I'm sure he'll be on the lookout, thankfully he also appears to be quite greedy, so as long as he thinks he is making headway in negotiations he'll probably keep trying to haggle.  As long as we don't tip our hand prematurely or raise his suspicions, we might be able to negotiate for about...maybe three hour at best.  This is of course only an estimate but he has experience so as soon as he feels something is wrong he'll make a break for it or try to put us in check."[/color]

Francesca put a twirled a finger around a strand of her hair after giving her assessment.  [color=a187be]"Captain, it will be paramount to make him believe he is in complete control of a situation to try and prolong talks as much as possible.  Please try not to anger or incite him if at all possible.  While his records show that he values sentient life as he is hoping this to be his last haul he may be tempted to bend his own rules on that issue."[/color]

While she didn't want to question her captain at all, he was their new captain and quite young so she felt it best to at least him him a bit of a warning.  It was not an exaggeration to think that the entire mission rested on her and the captain's ability to keep Captain Du-Vos attention while the others went to work.  Everyone would be counting on them.