“I can explain everything.” a figure called out, hurrying into the room. The officer and the band of rag-tag misfits all looked up in varying expressions of confusion and surprise at the sight of a Lashunta, antennae pulled back in an expression of anxiety, ornate, flowing ropes billowing outwards as they ran up to the group standing over a dead body and came to a halt.
“So, uhh, what is going on here?” she asked, in hushed tones, face going pale at the slight of a dead body at her feet.
All of them started to speak at once, until the security officer coughed loudly. Queslar turned to look back to him.
“My apologies, Captain, but my associates here retain the right to have an appointed representative speak on their behalf. I will do my best to see this matter resolved promptly. Thank you for your quick and effective response here today.” she turned back to the others, who looked at each other, a little more hesitant this time. Torgar was the first to speak up.
“They shot at ‘im… well, no, they shot at each other. Guess ‘e was just in the way, an’ they don’t care.”
“Who shot at him? Do any of you know them?”
“Not personally. They looked like any gang members on this station, I do not keep tabs on them all.”
“It’s pretty simple, they shot our contact here. Then they shot at the other dwarf, so I blew a bunch of them up. Their lives were already forfeit as criminals anyway.”
“The… uhh, the law isn’t quite as clear cut as that on Absalom station. But even so, a clear case of self defence. Who is the deceased? Do we know his name?”
The others all looked at each other again, drawing a blank.
“Name was Duravor Kreel, works for the Starfinder Society, or did at least. One of us paid attention to the instructions.” Arthur awkwardly hid the dead dwarf’s computer behind his back, hoping nobody questioned him on it.
“Ah, so you are the new Starfinder initiates, I had thought as much.” the Lashunta gave a soft sigh of relief, then turned back to the impatiently waiting security officer.
“Well there you have it, Captain, just as my large friend here says. Two rival gangs meeting and fighting each other started taking pot-shots at a crowd of bystanders. If these brave heroes hadn’t intervened, more lives could have been lost this day. As it is, the Starfinders have lost one of their best in defence of this station, yet again.”
“Ah, well, Starfinders you say…” he looked a little more uncertain than before. “My condolences for your loss, and thanks to you for your quick action. A case of self defence, and indeed defence of others. I would ask that they all stay around the station for a few days, in case we need further, more detailed witness statements, but most likely we’ll…” he trailed off, seeming to realise he was speaking too freely.
“Captain, if I may… we will take word of what happened back to the Society offices, they deserve to know how one of their heroes fell. Any information you can provide would be helpful to include.”
The officer leant forwards a bit and dropped his voice “I shouldn’t be telling you this, but, the guy we saw running off, too fast to catch. One of a gang calls itself the Level 21 crew, on account of being based in Level 21 of the station. They’re a typical criminal element, up to no good here and there. Normally they’re too slippery to bring in, but this might be the lead we need on them.”

Emergency medical workers arrived moments later, took Kreel’s body away, checked everyone over for injuries, and in a smooth, organised bustle got to work doing what they could for the battered, bleeding and blasted gang members. Now suddenly without a next move, the group followed Darkstar as they led the way into the station.
“A bit of a rough introduction to Absalom for you all? I can assure you, not every day here is this exciting, unless you go looking for it. Still, I know just the place to relax and recover for a moment, name of Rosie’s.”
“Sounds like a bar?”
“It is, and one of the best around.”
“Huh, I didn’t know robots drank.”
Darkstar stopped sharply and swung around, pulling themselves up to their full imposing height as Arthur stepped back, looking up into brightly glowing eyes between the black hood and mask.
“Don’t say the R word…” Queslar hissed in his ear, one hand on his shoulder. “They’re an Android, completely different.”
“Androids,” Darkstar said, putting extra emphasis on the term “have a fully realised mind, intelligence and free will of our own. And an internal body structure complex enough that, yes, we do need to eat and drink too.”
“I… uhh, I… thank you for explaining it. We do not have androids where I came from.”
“There are still many planets where we are not considered people.”

They continued the rest of the way in an awkward silence. Rosie’s, as it turned out, was cut into the side of a corridor junction, tables and chairs spilling out some way into the passing crowds, the small bar wedged in between what looked to be maintenance and service rooms for the running of the space station. The awkward silence continued, until Darkstar broke it again.
“So, Associate Queslar of Qabarat? The remaining member of our illustrious group?”
“That is me, yes.”
“Another Starfinder initiate? So that whole thing with the security officer was an elaborate bluff?”
“I do have some experience in conflict resolution, of a different kind to yourself. I only regret that I was a bit late arriving on the scene.”
“How did you know we were also there for the same purpose?”
“Gunshots and chaos? From the room we were due to meet in? I know a bit about the Starfinder Society.”
“… a fair assessment, I admit.”
“Huh, so listen to this…” Arthur suddenly interrupted, scrolling slowly through a news article on the computer pad he had still not returned.
“Blah-bla… Representatives to the Collective including… bla-bla-bla… and long time investor, Duravor Kreel… It seems our sadly departed colleague has been quite busy this last year or so, kicking up a big fuss in workers’ rights, anti-corporation activism, investing in small businesses, things like that.”
“You think there might be something more to this?”
Jarmalask slammed his fist down on the table hard enough to nearly buckle it under the impact. “I thought there was something dodgy about the whole set-up. These guys were killing each other, right? They barely even cared about us at all, and yet, Mr Kreel here is killed outright by the very first shot fired? What’re the chances?”
“So what, he was involved with this, what were they called… Hardscrabble Collective, and someone arranged for an accident that…”
“Hang on, as in The Hardscrabble Collective..? The ones on the news..? You ‘ave been watching the news, right..?” Torgar looked up from his drink, interested in the conversation for the first time so far.
“Just for the moment, pretend I haven’t kept up with the news, who are these guys?”
“The Hardscrabble Collective? They’re a… well, a coalition of independent business interests. Basically it’s jus’ a bunch of miners, owners o’ small trading ships, that kinda thing, that all banded together to ‘elp each other, and well enough that they became a pretty big deal round Absalom area. Anyway, point is, they’re the ones as found the Drift Rock… It’s a big rock that was in the Drift, like jus’ floating there in the void ships pass through to go faster ‘n light. A whole asteroid, rich in minerals, looking like it was sheered straight of the side of a bigger rock. But when the ship arrived at the station, there was nobody on board.”
A pause for dramatic silence was met more with confusion than suspense.
“Like literally, the ship came in range o’ the station, no response, no sign o’ life, nothing. The Collective claims they own the ship an’ its cargo, once station security lets it out of quarantine. Course, the Acreon, that’s the ship what lost its crew, they weren’t jus’ wandering the Drift for fun, they were hired for a job by Astral Extractions, and Astral, being a big corporate entity, ‘ave claimed the right to the cargo from that job.”
“Huh, a bit more than just a coincidence, I think. We should look into this, there’s some kind of intrigue afoot.”
“Shouldn’t we, uhh, you know… Tell the Starfinder Society about it? As in, the actual professionals?”
“And miss a great chance to prove ourselves, on our first day at the job?”