While what might be thought of as a simple phone call was easy enough to do, it required quite a bit of thought and preparation before they began negotiations.  As the ambassador and chief negotiator Francesca had quite a few variables to juggle.  She had to take into account who they were dealing with, how best to start up the negotiations, where to start the negotiations, and what was the best image to portray while the talks were going.

As they would be representing the I.S.S. against an illegal entity that meant the best location for contact would be from the bridge itself as a show of authority, any other location might portray a sense of weakness on their part.  Considering the situation and who they were dealing with, it was best to skip any pleasantries and go straight to the negotiation table so introductions would be short and to the point.  Getting straight to the point was not good for their time table, but anything else could easily be seen as an attempt to stall so there was little to be done about that, the stalling would have to be done on the negotiation table itself.

After talking out the initial details with the captain Francesca quickly headed off to prepare for the talks.  As an Ambassador, Francesca was privy to a rather extensive wardrobe to better deal with a wide variety of races and customs.  The wardrobe ranged from flowing dresses to skintight suits and more; however in this situation the most appropriate choice was the traditional dress uniform.  It was a white uniform with silver trim, a white dress jacket, and gold tassels on the shoulders.  The most significant modification to hers was the fact that instead of the regular dress pants she had opted for a knee-length pencil skirt, with a slit on the left side for ease of movement.  The main reasons for her choice was to give the impression of her being relaxed and in control through a less practical and more fashionable choice of uniform.
[hr]
Once all the preparations were ready, Francesca met the captain on the bridge, ready to begin.  One last-second look in a pocket mirror to check her hair, and Ambassador Francesca was ready to begin.

[color=a187be]"Hail the pirate ship.  Let's get these hostages released shall we."[/color]  Francesca flashed a quick smile around the bridge before taking a neutral expression as the channel was opened.  [color=a187be]"This is Ambassador Lunarius of the [i]I.S.S. Prize[/i] here to ensure the release of the crew of the civilian vessel [i]Moray[/i]."[/color]

Soon the screen lit up with the bridge of the pirate vessel, the massive Captain Du-Vos taking up a large portion of the screen.  The Fithagians were a unique race to be sure.  Obviously their size gave them a distinct advantage physically over a lot of races and their tentacle like appendages gave them more dexterity than one would think.  The biggest problem in reading a Fithagian was their lack of humanoid facial features, their eyes were not particularly expressive and as they had so many tentacles on their face it was hard to get a read.  In order to read a Fithagian one had to be able to read the unique tentacle ticks on their faces, this was made difficult by the fact their faces liked to move pretty much at random, so in order to read a Fithagian face one had to pay more attention to how they suppressed their own movements or twitched in reaction to outer stimuli.

Captain Du-Vos appeared quite calm for the moment, a normal amount of wiggling going on for his species.  "This is Captain Du-Vos, as I am sure you are aware I refuse to release the hostages until my demands are met."  Francesca noticed an odd stiffening of the outer tendrils whenever he said 'my', a rather noteworthy tick to keep track of.

[color=a187be]
"And as I am sure you are aware Captain Du-Vos, your demands are beyond extreme and would never be considered by the I.S.S."[/color]  In the background she could see a certain crew member with some kind of plasma rifle, start to shake with anger.  [color=a187be]"Of course we would prefer everyone to walk away form this in one piece so let's try to discuss this in a reasonable matter."[/color]

Captain Du-Vos leaned forward a bit and the tips of his front tentacles curled, a sign of...concern?  But about what?  At the moment it did appear the pirates had the advantage, so there had to be something else that was of concern to the Captain.  "Of course any good negotiator must set the bar high to ensure the other party takes them...seriously.  Let's get to it shall we?"

Soon a set of holographic demands appeared on the screen, starting with the original set.  The negotiations had reached a new stage.