- You bit him? Goddess... - she became a bit uncertain whether staying near this man was a good idea. She then fixed her hair before continuing. - What happened? I mean, I can't really imagine what could cause you to do that.
I'll explain once we get a table.
The duo reached another bar, this one had an energetic night life vibe to it, much more active than the club Ivan originally intended to go to.
The two choose a table to sit at, and Ivan goes to get the drinks.
- I'll take wine. - Flora looked around the place. Night clubs were far from her favourites, but she didn't complain. She was fairly sure there weren't many places different than this. And one of them was already a mess. She sighed quietly while Redfire was away, hoping they'll at least be able to hear each other.
A bottle of your best wine and two glasses please.
Ivan comes back at the table with a bottle of red wine and two glasses, he pours each a drink before he seats himself.
Right, so about Xalo.
The guy has a severe drinking problem. This problem has caused concern.
Shortly -after- we established our date on the Barrier Gate, I learned he is here too, and I know how you two get along.
Needless to say, he was in the bar.
I came here before you to try and talk him out of that bar, I honestly just wanted a chat, but guess what, the security I paid to keep an eye on us, just walked away because he paid them more.
His drinking habit has kept him confined to bars, getting himself in trouble, while the rest of us were left to take over his duties, you'd expect this from a recruit who doesn't know what he wants yet, but from a high ranking member? What made it worse, he seemed to have lost his will to fight, and I am not sure whether you heard or not, but alien attacks on human colonies have been increasing recently, we were there to push them away when they swarmed the Stuttgart planet, imagine what would've happened to those people down there had we followed by his example.
He didn't want to fight, but fighters is what we need most at this moment, and a man with his experience will be a great asset so I came here to put the fight back into him.
I was going to start with words, first, but as I already told you, he removed the only security measure that kept us from fighting.
I felt cheated out of my money, so yeah, I bit him.
You think I'm the crazy one? I came here unarmed to get him out of the bar.
Ivan leans in to show Flora the stab wound on his hand.
He pulled a freaking switchblade on me.
Ivan backs up in his seat.
But I didn't ask you to come here to talk about Xalo, he has been disruptive enough as it is.
- Little. Hardly anyone remembers me by now. Some seem to want me dead. I also have some limited contact with a few friends, but it's not much. - Flora took her glass, looking down at the liquid for a second before taking a sip. - Why would you need to know? - she looked back at him.
Ivan takes a sip from his glass, staring Flora in her eyes.
Because these little conflicts between Gaians and FL-ER are completely pointless.
You have nothing to gain from fighting us, and we have nothing to gain from fighting you.
Your name has made some waves among our members, and that led me to believe that you would have some sort of authority among the Gaians.
I was hoping to have had someone among the Gaians who's word carried a lot of weight, someone that I would have met personally, and known each other as human beings, living persons, not as another video feed from a cockpit in space.
It would have made the relations between our groups so much easier to settle.
Ivan takes a pause, to take another sip.
But if you cannot help with that, then maybe you can help with something else.
Someone talked, and rumors have spread, and so it came to my attention that Gaians have access to a type of bacteria that could eat a human being from inside out.
I would like to acquire several batches of this bacteria for an experiment I am conducting.
I will take one batch for free and test it out. If the results are satisfactory, I will pay for it, and any other batches I will order.
As you can see, even if you work with me in your own interest, and not that of the Gaians, we all stand to profit from this.
- What? - she was genuinely surprised by his request. - Carlisle bacteria? Are you out of your mind? Have you ever seen what it does with humans? Sorry, Ivan, but there's no way I'm going to get you any. I have no guarantee you won't weaponise it and sell it to some maniac, not to mention the fact that even trying to get a sample is almost suicide. No. No deal.
Ivan leaned in closer to Flora, staring her profoundly.
Look lady, me and a few other very powerful and important people are fearing what these aliens have in stock for us.
Have you been following the news? A large scale attack on planet Stuttgart? Sightings of Nomads the sizes of battleships all over Sirius? Infected military personnel working for them?
We can't fight these aliens with conventional weapons and hope we'll win, not while humanity as a whole is as divided as it is.
I know very well what this bacteria does to humans.
If it can do this to humans, why not the Nomads? At the very least, the parasite-type of the alien breed that infects humans.
This is why I wanted a batch to test out, if it even attempts to target Nomad tissue, it can be bio-engineered to attack their ships, which are also organic.
Imagine what bacteria filled bombs will do to the Nomad fleets.
Humans will not be affected because we are behind a vacuum-sealed metal chassis called a spaceship, and a thorough disinfection with gamma rays or something else can remove any potential cross contamination.
The more we learn about this bacteria, the more efficiently and safely we can use it against these aliens, maybe even create a strain that does not target humans at all.
There are several top notch scientific groups capable of dealing with this, what they need, is a supply.
If it makes you feel any better, we have a vessel dedicated to scientific research, equipped with modern tech laboratories and safety measures.
I will welcome you aboard, so that you can oversee the tests yourself.
Maybe this will open your eyes to the crisis that's headed for humanity.
Nomads will spare no expense, and will avoid no risk to exterminate us.
Why should we?
Ivan got back into his previous, relaxed position and took another sip of wine.
- I know damn well what kind of crisis we're facing. You don't need to lecture me about it. I'm not a little girl that got off-world for the first time. - Flora sipped her wine and sighed. - I can't trust you with that. No offence, but you don't look like someone who ever set his foot in a lab. And, as you already know, I have a history with Nunes and your band as a whole. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but no. I'm not going to supply you with the bacteria.
![[Image: GVudSAB.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/GVudSAB.jpg)