The mining planet Kroznium 7 keeps processing Kroznium ore and keeps it's people alive only because of the water supplied by the comet miners out in Ice Station Zebo, in the system's Oort Cloud.
Unfortunately, the Ice Station reported a pirate attack and then went dark. Kroznium 7 issued a contract to the lasers to find out why, and secure the ice station so the water deliveries can resume.
The single life form found on the station was a wounded pirate. She told the lasers the pirates had found a treasure ship, over half a billion years old. Then something woke up and tried to kill or capture the pirates. The pirates fled to Ice Station Zebo, but the miners didn't believe them.
Until an ancient alien ship, black and cubical, followed the pirates to the station and released aliens shaped like barrels with starfish like heads, feet, and hands. The aliens attacked by the surviving pirate hid in the power plant and was overlooked.
Following the trail to the ancient ship buried in a comet, the lasers found a Combine research craft, abandoned since the war. It was sent by a cybe called Deathweaver.