Well things had certainly taken a drastic turn for the worse.  Now that the young boy was a hostage on the bridge that meant he could not be saved by the operation, they needed to somehow convince them to return him to the rest of the group.  Adding another layer of complexity to the mix was Jessica Beadle's reaction to the situation as she stepped onto the bridge, while thankfully the screen did not pick her up, her cry was most certainly picked up on the other end.  Francesca's analysis was spot on when Winky gave a cruel grin after hearing the young woman's reaction.  They were being forced to speed up by these actions.

Before Francesca could respond however, Captain Du-Vos turned around, his tentacles rigid with fury and frustration.  "Winky!  What do you think you're doing with that boy!"

"Stuff it captain!  We've got way too much investment in this to risk anything now!  I know you're an old fart so you don't have to worry as much but I've got a whole rich, wonderful life ahead of me!  Just look at their reactions, they're scared stiff!  This is the way to deal with I.S.S. scumbags!"

"If you harm that boy in any way they won't bother to listen to us anymore and we'll lose all chances at securing payment and an escape route!"

"Oh can if ya pile of slack!"  The captain and the crewman glared at each other, it was at this point that Francesca realized that the captain had every intention of sticking to his own moral code, but the rest of the crew was not so inclined.  This meant that their best bet was to agree with Captain Du-Vos as much as possible.  Francesca mustered up as powerful a voice as she could must, not in volume but in authority.

[color=a187be]"You'd best listen to your captain Winky.  If you dare to harm that child in front of us we will be forced to consider your ship a terrorist vessel to be destroyed immediately!"[/color]

Winky frowned but did not seem convinced.  "You don't have the guts!  I heard that gasp back there, you would do anything to save this child!"  Francesca glared back.

[color=a187be]"Article 6, section 32 of the I.S.S. operation handbook.  In a hostage situation, if the force holding hostages executes a prisoner to force negotiations along, they will be considered incapable of sticking to the terms of their demands and therefore immediately designated as intergalactic terrorists to be destroyed on sight!"[/color]  In reality of course this was a complete bluff but unless you were ex-military there wasn't even a chance that a pirate would know that, let along have read the entire handbook.

"She's right you know."  Captain Du-Vos put in to add to her clout.  "That's part of the reasons I always made sure to be careful when dealing with people in this business."

"Screw you!"  Winky shouted but one could see his confidence was shattered and he was starting to sweat bullets.

[color=a187be]"We will refuse to continue negotiations as long as that boy is still on the bridge.  As soon as he is safely escorted back, we will resume the negotiations.  The only way we can ensure our end of the bargain is if everyone is still alive by the end of it."[/color]  Winky seemed to want to spout something else but this time Captain Du-Vos cut him off.

"Hurry and do it Winky!  The longer we wait the less time we have to get away!"  Cursing, Winky roughly dragged the kid off while Du-Vos turned back to the screen, a few tentacles quivering with relief.  "Now I believe we were just about to agree on a drop off location for our goods."

Francesca nodded, thankfully for captain Du-Vos support on the matter.  If it hadn't been for him, there might have been no way to stop Winky from killing the kid in front of their eyes.  She would make sure to put the captain's behavior on file for when he was taken in.