It is normal to travel between planets and systems, yes. Space travel is nothing new where I come from; many people make their livings among the stars rather than remain on their homeworlds.
Dangerous stellar phenomenon, that can interfere with or disable a ship's systems. Asteroid fields, faulty starcharts, an error in astrogation, can send a ship in hyperdrive barreling into the nearest sun or crashing into a moon at relativistic speeds. And yes, pirates and various criminal consortiums do exist and prey on shipping lanes and lone freighters, especially the farther one gets from the oldest and most populated worlds of the Core Worlds. Corporations can also exert vast amounts of influence over space ceded to them or that they take, and their values do not often align with...conventional morality. And of course, slavery remains profitable for those who engage in it.
[Oh, and bad news about there being nothing living out in a vaccuum there, Linny...]
Certain kinds of life can exist in space. Mynocks like to chew through exposed power cables and feed off a ship's energy, but they are a minor pest, all things considered. Skittish, and easily driven off, even in flocks.
It's the big things you have to worry about. The ones that can swallow a ship whole if you're not careful. They are rare, but cases have been documented.
It's not a place for the timid, shall we say. But what other choice do we have, aside from remaining here?
[Which is unappealing for many reasons of its own.]
no subject
Dangerous stellar phenomenon, that can interfere with or disable a ship's systems. Asteroid fields, faulty starcharts, an error in astrogation, can send a ship in hyperdrive barreling into the nearest sun or crashing into a moon at relativistic speeds. And yes, pirates and various criminal consortiums do exist and prey on shipping lanes and lone freighters, especially the farther one gets from the oldest and most populated worlds of the Core Worlds. Corporations can also exert vast amounts of influence over space ceded to them or that they take, and their values do not often align with...conventional morality. And of course, slavery remains profitable for those who engage in it.
[Oh, and bad news about there being nothing living out in a vaccuum there, Linny...]
Certain kinds of life can exist in space. Mynocks like to chew through exposed power cables and feed off a ship's energy, but they are a minor pest, all things considered. Skittish, and easily driven off, even in flocks.
It's the big things you have to worry about. The ones that can swallow a ship whole if you're not careful. They are rare, but cases have been documented.
It's not a place for the timid, shall we say. But what other choice do we have, aside from remaining here?
[Which is unappealing for many reasons of its own.]