Whatever he had done explicitly, it would become apparent to her that he wasn't fond of it with hindsight. Neither seemed he fond of her having listened to it. Maybe she should have just stayed quiet about the words Hussaini and he had interchanged. And his request for a place to sit down just indicated her there would be things that needed to be said. Mentally preparing for some sort of heavy words full of regret or something along those lines, she stood there paralyzed, looking into the visor before she suddenly jerked. "Uhm", she said. "I could black out the windows of the cockpit, then we can sit down in the cockpit seats if you wish for."
After she had entered a four-figure code into the consoles on the hull, the door to the cockpit slid open and she walked in. The seats were by no means comfortable to sit on, as they were made out of bare metal without any kind of coating, built with a nasty 90-degree angle between seat and back. Pushing one button that slowly blacked out the windows and another one to switch on the light, she gave the Operative a brief smirk. After that, she let herself fall on one of the seats, and indicated her company to do the same. She kept having her eyebrows raised, waiting for him to begin.
It definitely didn't look very comfortable, but even though he was a rich curacaoan, he wasn't fastidious about those things. Sitting down with her, he decided to take off the helmet as the cockpit was now secured. Placing it on the floor next to him, he looked at Elena with a rather neutral expression. "There are certain dangerous entities out there, certain groups that continuously grow. Groups that aren't bound to the houses. Auxesia is one of them. They just want all and the best of technology. Joshua Hunt, publicly currently known as Leviathan, said they sort of worship technology like a religion does." He smiled for a short moment at her. "Sapphire Raven and Joshua Hunt are pretty charismatic, and once you see them in less public situations, once could almost think they are still human somewhere." Leaning more against the horrible thing that barely could be called a backrest, he sighed for a moment. "The other big group is the Commune. From what I have seen so far, they are pretty much on par with Auxesia in terms of numbers and technological equipment. What Auxesia managed to get by exploiting other factions, be it via the diplomatic way or in a much raw and aggressive way, the Commune seems to keep up by having ties to the nomads and their supporters. The problem however with those two groups is that they have plans for Sirius and they act without a higher instance. Right now, nobody watches the watchers. That is a very dangerous situation, as the houses are busy with their own problems, not realizing that they might be facing problematic groups which might now have the numbers a house can provide, but the technology to make up for that. This is why I told Bassam about common friends and common enemies."
After another deep breath, he continued. "There are many other groups out there, both on human and on nomad side. And then there are individuals like me, who prefer to stay away from both sides. A unique position, which comes with sins and fortunes. Pro and contra. I think I have a pretty balanced position right now.
With friends on both sides." The latter sentence was said more quietly, and he looked at her lap for a moment. "And with friends, I really just mean friends, not allies. I am not a nomad supporter, please believe me. But to a certain degree, once can deal with nomad worshippers like the Oracles or infectee in a peaceful manner. For example, Enma Loyola. She is a woman that is hard to handle. But I did her a favor at some point, getting her a ship she wanted. One without guns. One that wouldn't be used to cause harm. That was my condition. So she got it. It is the small favors like this that made it possible for me to have those friends in the distance. Friends like, well, the names you heard. I hope you understand this. And I hope you know I need you to keep this a secret. No recordings, no talks. If you need to talk with someone about it, talk about it with me and noone else." He smiled at her, an almost apologetic smile, as he hoped she would understand. "In space, you need friends to survive, and I don't have that many friends. Thus I value those I have pretty much. This includes you, Elena. However, I made a bad move a few minutes ago. I risked the standing of one of those friends in order to protect you and me from Bassam, as I wasn't sure if he would really let us leave, after I realized he is infected."
Having her hands folded, resting on her thighs, she closely listened to his flood of words. At times, she would have liked to interupt this stream, to ask questions, to dig deeper or to just protest. However, she could restrain herself from doing it, finding it a better solution to hear him out until the very end. Some of his words made her heave a sigh of relief while others visually concerned her. Sometimes she stared directly into his eyes as he spoke, sometimes she shook her head and looked down, above all when he tried to convince her he wasn't a nomad supporter. It was no secret Elena nursed a certain hatred of everything infatuated with nomads, but she decided she would trust him for now. However his prolonged speech arose some questions for her, and as he had straightout offered her to talk about it now, with him and nobody else, she wouldn't be restrained voicing them. Funny how her actually simple request to send regards to Maren and Leon had derailed into this, thought she for a second. After he had finished, there was silence, a rather awkward one, while Elena was scratching her forehead, wondering with what to begin.
"You see, I know these are problematic groups. Auxesia less, because I'm not as well-informed about them as I am about the Commune, but I'm going to simply believe you there. The Commune, well, the problem is - they are Janus-headed. The houses only get to see one of their faces, the Raiders, the ones boring their lives out at trade lanes and pirating traders to make a living. Probably, the governments just believe they are a more or less well-organized pirate pest, similar to the Rogues, maybe. However, there's their other side, the one I've alluded to while I was speaking to Hussaini. This crazy idea of humans being pressed into a collective. Just like the nomads seem to have their hive-mind, Hussaini and the others want to adopt mankind to this. But your point stands again, I'm absolutely sure there are more than only a few in the Commune not realizing what they are secretly striving for. Brain-washed people, some who maybe just wish for a simple peace between humans and nomads, nothing more. No playing God." She shook her head. The amount of times she had mentioned God today had already surpassed the monthly average. And all that even though she wasn't really religious.
"So, to get it right, you're basically one of those guys who deal with nomads and their crazy fanatic followers from time to time?", she went on, choking on her own words for a moment before catching her breath again. "I got it, it's good to have friends in space, and it's good to have a wide range of friends. Hell, I know what you are talking about, I can consider myself friendly to ninety percent of Liberty, if we neglect the outlaws. But -- why nomads, or infectees? What do you need them for? What favours can they give you that make it worth dealing with them? Just getting you out of such bulls.hit situations like right now? Or is there something else?" She stopped again to think about something. One of the names Hussaini had mentioned kind of reminded her of someone. "So, following my female intuition, as you've rambled about your stance with nomad sympathizers, these two entities Hussaini mentioned are infectees as well, correct? 'Unschuld' and Gaster? The latter one being a Commune guy as well, if I'm not mistaken?" She raised an eyebrow, mumbling. "I still don't get how you can become friends with infectees... how is that even possible. How can you feel okay with that?"
He looked away from her for a moment, feeling a sort of shame and guilt. "It's not that easy, Elena.
I rarely get in touch with them. But sometimes, it can be really helpful. You know I am in a difficult situation, with the Core, the Lane Hackers, Auxesia and what not. And to be honest, the nomads are not more of a threat than any of those factions. Yes, they are a different race, but to me, they are just another group to keep in mind. A group with sub-groups.
It's difficult to explain. In the end, they are not a single bit different than any human faction with the means to cause chaos."
In the meantime, he was looking at her again. "The truth about the nomads is probably something you didn't know. Because nobody wants you to know the truth. The real truth about them. The only reason why the nomads are fighting against mankind both with ships and infectees is simple: Mankind caused them to do so. Sirius was their place, especially the Omicrons. Mankind arrived in Sirius, wook them up. Not the nice way, but exactly the way you see it happen in any kind of science fiction movie. Humans find aliens, humans want to analyze aliens. Humans dissect aliens. Back then it was the innocent attempt to learn from them, to adapt their technology. Today, the Core is doing it to exploit a regrowing resource. In the houses, the Core propaganda shows them as the heroes of the Omicrons, as they want to establish the House Omicronis, bring civilization to the Edge Worlds. They claim to fight the nomads. And that they do, and I fell for that propaganda. The Core isn't about fighting them to bring peace. The Core just fights them enough to make their profits. APM and their products, Elena. APM Advanced Hardware is exported from Omicron Rho to all over Sirius, mostly imported by rich people and intelligences. Ever wondered how LSF snubs managed to get nomad guns? Thank the Core for that. Those guns are made of dissected nomads, and the nomads hear the echoes of the dead lingering in them. Imagine a catapult throwing the corpses of your family after you."
Trying to keep the eye contact with him, Elena kept listening. In the end, she just let out a heavy sigh in which some amusement sounded too, though. What he told her about the nomads seemed pretty logical when she thought about it, however she had felt the same not one hour ago looking into Hussaini's eyes, so she wanted to avoid jumping to any conclusions now. Her paranoia hadn't fully subsided yet, so she became a little cautious with believing every single of his words. Maybe he was just trying to manipulate her like Hussaini did, who could know it? Befriending her, just to make use of her sooner or later? That's what he had told her - he made friends to survive. The expressions on her face were showing these deliberations quite well in fact, the Operative would definitely notice she was considering his words very carefully.
"You know what I'm thinking?", she asked at the end to break the silence again. "Maybe you've been right, from the beginning. Maybe I shouldn't have ever made you take off this helmet in the first place. A lot of things probably would be easier that way, and I would most certainly not be in this fuc.ked up situation right now. Come on, I know what you wanna give me. The good 'I've told you'." Realizing her words sounded far too regretting than she had intended to, she added: "I'm still glad I made you reveal yourself, though, Ez. One more person I seem I can trust." She paused for a moment, straightening herself. "Also, I guess I now owe you something, don't I? I mean, it's been full of complications, but if I had been alone, I guess I would now be either persuaded, dead or infected. Alive sounds like a better outcome by far." A faint chuckle escaped her mouth, however she soon turned serious again, looking him into the eyes.
The leather of his suit made some sounds when he raised his hand to rake his fingers through his hair, brushing some of the strands that loved to fall into his face away. "I guess it is a blessing in disguise, your stubbornness and curiousity. On the other hand, the latter was also the cause for your to come to this meeting." It made him smirk. "Elena, you need to be more careful now. The more you know, the more people you get in touch with, the less likely is the chance of you returning to a normal living. Think of your child. Bassam knows about it now. That is bad."
He stood up from the chair. It wasn't comfortable at all. Hell, Elena, where is all the money I paid you, he thought with a smirk. Kneeling down infront of her, he grabbed her hands with his gloved ones, stroking her palms. "If you actually value my help and think you owe me one, then just make sure I don't regret having helped you, okay?" he said quietly, looking into her eyes with a tender smile. "Be more careful from now on. Never go alone to meetings like this. Make sure you know who you can trust, and never trust anyone too much. Not even me. I'm the best example. Always keep in mind that it is not the faction that is good or bad, but the individuals who cross the lines." His thumbs stopped caressing her palm. Instead he folded his hands with hers, as much as it was possible with his gloves. "When you're leaving the freeport, don't take this ship directly home. We don't know whether they put signal trackers somewhere at our ships. Ask one of your friends to bring you a ship to some other place, go there, switch to your other ship and in the meantime make sure someone checks your sunburst. I'll do the same with my Roc."
It was sort of unexpected, that he suddenly kneeled down before her, quite chivalrous in fact. She wasn't exactly sure why he did it, but it most certainly was funny to look at. Not being able to hide a certain smile playing around her lips, she looked him into the eyes, with her hands still holding his. Made it look like he would really care a little, she couldn't help thinking. "Well, what else can I say than that I'll try my best?", she replied, still with a grin in her face. "I can't promise anything though." For a moment she lowered her head, being reminded of the shi.tton of trouble she was actually in now. The last man who she wanted to know about her baby did so by now, and she could only vaguely imagine to which use he would put this information. Just thinking about it made her shudder again.
As a result, her face turned into a fair grimace. "Don't worry, you won't regret it. Except if you are already regretting it, that is. Whoever the hell you are dealing with, if it's your friend who you might have brought into troubles, I'm going to hope they'll be alright. I could imagine Hussaini being quite pissy now. He looked like he had wished to just kill you right on the spot, to be honest." As she spoke, she had stepped over to the exit of the Sunburst, guiding her company there, pushing a button to open the hatch. "And now seriously. Send regards to your friends, please. Not those weird pseudo-friends you got in the form of infectees and whatnot. Your real ones, it seems. Maren and Leon, to be exact." A grin would accompany her words at the end.
That surprised him, as his eyes followed her while he picked up his helmet from the floor. Wanting to play it off cool, he hid his surprise almost successfully as he looked down at the ground, wanting to brush his hair to the side, so he could put on the helmet. "I'm pretty sure I never told you about their names. Who told you?" he asked her, putting on his helmet while facing her. The worst case was some third party having told her about it.
She could still see some of his surprise in his face, even though he tried to hide it, and it made her quite jolly to see she had said something he seemingly really hadn't expected. The grin on her lips grew a bit wider. "You should work on not dreaming too vividly, it's another source of information leak", she just said, winking briefly. "And Leon simply told me about his 'best friend, the playboy' when we met." No third parties had been involved.
That drew his attention and he moved towards her interested. "You saw him!? He doesn't respond to my comms and his parents said he left the planet. Did you see him in space, Elena? Is he alright?" he asked her, obviously caring for him. "He has no idea what he is doing. I told Maren to bring him home, but she didn't respond to me yet either. If you see him again, tell him to come home to Curacao. Tell him everything is fine. He just shall come home before he dies in space. He has no experience in piloting a ship, especially not in a combat situation."
