Yeah, it's hard to convey the full circumstances with only IC dialogue and description. After the interruption of combat, you should be able to talk/negotiate again.
The basic jist of what's going on is that the natural BC of the hive is a breeding ground for FAB III. The elf has a sustaining focus that has kept a sustained version of the Sanitize spell going for over a decade. Sanitize kills ambient bacteria, but, as a side effect from not destroying the necessary, harmeless bacteria on a person's body, it won't destroy any FAB which has attached to someone/something. As a result, any astrally active creature which leaves the bubble gets infected and is doomed to die.
So, the bugs all crowd around, knowing that if the elf dies, they'll get slowly devoured by FAB, and the elf knows that they're far too many to fight. So, they're currently at a stalemate.