What [i]happened[/i] here?

Not all of this mess is from the fight. Soldiers living large. There's a pile of clothing scattered across the floor, but the hamper's in the other corner, miraculously untouched. Not!Rusty noses aside a shard of shattered plate, one of dozens pilfered from the mess, and none of them clean. Thank the gods there's no blacklights.

She kneels and swipes one finger through a chunk of bowl that still has a remnant of stew in it. No, chowder--thick, creamy. Savory, with--she licks the finger, and grimaces. 

"I appreciate that you have spent only a little time with the Captain, so please, understand that he would never poison soup. Or anything, really. He loves food, and especially loves sharing his food with his friends, too much to ever use it as a weapon. It'd be a betrayal to everything food stands for."

He also wouldn't completely overwhelm the delicate cream and crab flavors with that much pepper. Fwah, you can barely taste anything else!

Which doesn't guarantee it's not poisoned. It could even be used to cover the taste of the poison, though it'd be a poor poison that needs pepper to work.

No, what this room reeks of is Artemis. An expert in destruction appeared in the room, spilt no blood, and took no damage.  A hunt declared? For what reason? On whom? Why are the Kaeri involved?

Somebody had a Thunderbolt. Who on the ship has a thunderbolt? Vasilia has the pistols. Who else? She would know if anybody else had one, surely? Galnius is brash and cocksure, but not to [i]that[/i] degree.

She traces the clawmarks, compares the size and depth with those of her own hand. Traces back the clawmarks to where surely there must have been a launch. Something that big, pushing off against the floor hard enough to shatter oak, must have left a spatter in the blood. A paw? A foot? 

God, please don't let this be Mynx. She hasn't seen her since the fight and, if this is Mynx, she won't. But the idea settles in her head and camps there. Mynx, with her poison. Mynx, unmasked amongst a phalanx suddenly realizing someone among them isn't who they should be. A flurry of activity--Mynx stepping along the floor, mid transformation into a lion… But the Thunderbolt. Mynx, having stolen Vasilia's pistols? Why? To what end?

No. It doesn’t make sense. She doesn't want it to make sense. There's no motive, no reason for the fight. It's the kind of twaddle you get in a mystery novel, all red herrings to throw the reader off. 

Orders of business. Find Galnius. Find out why the Kaeri were in their chambers. Get more answers from them.

But first, though. Find the first spark. Find the first scattered chair, the first sign of violence. Retrace the steps of the fight, down through the layers of soldier's stink and SP scorch marks.

What happened here?

[Look Closely, 6,3,5, +1. 12. What does the play-by-play of this fight look like?]