He attacked everything in life with a mix of extraordinary genius and naive incompetence, and it was often difficult to tell which was which.
– Douglas Adams.

Absalom Station Security (ASS) sifted through the remains of the carnage splattered across the neon floor of the Fusion Queen nightclub. They still weren’t completely sure what happened here and the forensics scans would take weeks to process but every cop on the cleanup crew knew one thing. This was bad. This was very bad.

Gang war? Maybe, most likely. Just a few cycles ago, the Downside Kings had thrown down with the Level 21 Crew in the docks and a famous Starfinder, Duravor Kreel, had been killed in the crossfire. But those two gangs didn’t really run in the same circles and there was no history between them.

Robot malfunction and slaughter? The three laws prevented service bots from harming living beings but there was evidence all over the club to the contrary. The first responders had to blow one up which kept zipping around the room and running people over.

Some of the club patrons swore it was a renewal of the conflict with the Veskarium. Reports said there were two huge Vesk at the center of the fight kicking everyone’s posteriors. The idea was absurd. The Vesk wouldn’t risk conflict with the Pact Worlds while they were still fighting off the Hive. Then again, a lot of folks thought the Vesk were big, dumb lizards with excrement for brains so it couldn’t be ruled out yet.

And one patron swore he saw blaster fire coming from the ceiling itself but there was no evidence to support that claim. The witness has been drinking Eoxian wine which made his account questionable at best.

Two weeks until the forensic scans would tell ASS anything of value. Two weeks…

Flashback to the beginning of the game session.

The newly recruited Starfinder agents began the process of further investigating the murder of Duravor Kreel and quickly uncovered more than they anticipated. Some time ago, a corporation called Astral Excavations contracted a small mining guild, the Hardscrabble Collective, to do some exploration out in the Vast. The Acreon left for deep space and was not heard from again until it dropped out of the Drift towing a massive asteroid a couple weeks ago. It was a ghost ship, the crew was missing.

Both Astral Excavations and the Hardscrabble Collective claimed the rights to investigate and as often becomes the case when mining law is involved, the matter became convoluted by politics. The local governance appointed Magistrate Howl to arbitrate the matter and as far as both companies were concerned, he was taking too long to make a decision. Both organizations hired local muscle to protect their people and their interests until the matter was settled. Astral Excavations contracted the Downside Kings to intimidate the members of the Hardscrabble Collective into backing off their claim, and the later contracted the Level 21 Crew to protect their people from the Downside Kings.

Duravor Kreel had connections with the Hardscrabble Collective (a cousin) and he began advocating for them. Word on the infosphere indicated Astral Excavations didn’t want the Starfinder organization involved and ordered the Downside Kings to kill Duravor. The PCs witnessed the results of that action. Unfortunately, all they could get their hands on was rumor and hearsay. They needed more solid evidence.

The PCs petitioned to be allowed to help Magistrate Howl but they were rejected (despite all of Ryder’s charms).

While checking out the Level 21 Crew, Ryder made contact with an orc information broker named Mama Booga who could set up a meeting between the PCs and Jabaxa, the ysoki leader of the gang. When they finally met, Jabaxa apologized for his people taking shots at the PCs when they jumped the Downside Kings. The Level 21 Crew are many things but they aren’t disciplined soldiers by any means. Mostly, he wanted to avoid conflict and if the PCs weren’t interested in a fight, then he wasn’t either. What he was interested in was providing as much info as he could about the Downside Kings and their current leader, Ferani Nadaz. The blood of his people was on her hands and Jabaxa was willing to tell the PCs where to find her as long as they promised to eliminate the barbarous miscreant. The PCs agreed, maybe without all of them realizing what was being agreed to, and Jabaxa provided them the info they needed and a promise of his own about what he would do to them if they didn’t hold up their end of the bargain.

Meanwhile, Tehrror had already located the Downside Kings and made his way there. The Vesk was already in a foul mood and thumping some gangers seemed like a fun way to blow off steam. When the rest of the PCs made it to the Fusion Queen, Tehrror was already scoping out the place. While the rest of the PCs completed their recon of the club, Tehrror decided he had waited long enough to have some fun. And to be fair, he wasn’t with the group when they met with Jabaxa. He had no idea what the rest of them were there to do.

The Vesk grabbed the bouncer and bounced his head off the wall. The bar brawl began!

Faces were smashed. Lasers cut through flesh. Wesley rigged a service bot and sent it careening into the Downside Kings, his allies, and patrons alike. Nuil climbed into the workings of the ceiling and blasted the Downside Kings from safety. Ferani Nadaz and her right hand Vesk, Vrokilayo Hatchbuster, joined the tussle and nearly turned it against the PCs when Cypher managed to hack, close, and lock the door between the main part of the club and the back room. Unfortunately, this only provided a short reprieve as Ferani demonstrated she was a more skilled hacker and unlocked the doors. By then, she was alone and the battle belonged to the PCs. Her death was quick and bloody.

This was the second time the Starfinders had fought together and it was evident they were not on the same page yet. As they retreated from the Fusion Queen with loot and information on the murder of Duravor, some of them wondered what they would need to do to develop some fusion among their new teammates.

The PCs submitted the evidence to the ASS and a few days later they receive a message. His Excellency Gevalarsk, the ambassador from Eox, and Magistrate Howl wanted to meet with them to discuss the matter of the Acreon and its investigation.

Our game sessions came to a close.