Security, Piracy, and Conflict

Targets. Pirates hit weak routes, slow bulk freighters and ships with old escorts. Small haulers flying alone are easy prey. Regular runs, such as monthly grain runs and Vellari ice tows, get hit the most.
Bases. Hidden depots in asteroid belts, hollow moons and forgotten stations.
Methods. Fast attack craft knock out the engines, and boarding teams take the cargo. Pirates rarely fight long. They strip the ship and leave before a patrol shows up. When cornered, they blow up the ships they took.
Selling. Stolen goods go to syndicate black markets. They get split into small lots and sold through fences in Mid ports.
Hotspots. The storm-covered edges of Mistral Gate. The Pitchmire Vector, where slow tar convoys draw raiders. The Brackenfeld grain convoys in harvest season. The Salt Crown corridor, where ice jackers hit Vellari tugs.
Bounties. Most pirate captains have a bounty on them. Some have several, from the Authority, the Grand Council and the companies they robbed.
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Authority fleets. Small fleets watch the key lanes. They protect insured cargo first. Rim merchants are mostly on their own.
Response time. Fast near Kedra and Armistice, slower in the Mid, and almost none on the Rim. Rim crews rely on their own guns or pay a syndicate for "protection."
Ships. Most patrol ships are old carriers and gunships, patched on a tight budget. The Authority would rather fly by and look tough than fight.
Other fleets. Planets have their own forces, and they rarely work well with the Authority. Big companies have private fleets that are often better armed than the patrols.
Bribes. A bribe can change an inspection or slow a patrol's answer to a distress call.
Why bounties exist. The patrols admitted long ago that they cannot catch everyone. The bounty system fills the gap with freelancers.
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Salt Crown Corridor. Ice jackers hijack Vellari tugs here and sell the ice. Syndicates also charge tolls on brine-chemical shipments. Ships that do not pay get boarded.
Pitchmire Vector. Oil convoys with Caraphex crews pass several syndicate checkpoints, and each one wants a toll. Ships that refuse lose their cargo.
Mistral Gate Outposts. Syndicates hide in old stations under the storm cover. They charge haulers a "weather tax" to guide them through safe gaps in the storms.
How they rule. Syndicates act as the government in these zones. They collect tolls, sell their own papers and settle their own disputes. For many crews, paying the syndicate is safer than waiting for the Authority.
Punishment. Crews that refuse to pay get sabotaged, raided on later runs, or have a crew member kidnapped for ransom.
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Causes. Harvest seas that the Vellari farm. Mining belts where Caraphex and Talarq fight over tunnels. Junction depots that rival planets and companies want to toll.
Peacekeeping. Usually a company job with narrow goals, such as holding a refinery, a pipeline or a smelter. Locals get little protection.
Size. Anything from militia skirmishes to fleet standoffs fought by hired Free Companies.
Results. Closed lanes, wrecked depots and ruined harvests. Refugees head for Rim stations, where they go into debt for the ride and a bunk.
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Work sentences. Prison time turns into forced work. Sentences are rarely short. "Time served" often means years of unpaid labor.
Work. Factories making cheap goods and electronics. Deep Caraphex mine shafts in bad rock. Sorting yards for Rim salvage and waste.
Where. Abandoned stations and lonely Rim worlds where escape is almost impossible.
Who runs them. Planet governments, big companies or syndicates. Some are rented out for profit.
Conditions. Little safety, harsh quotas and hard punishments. Hurt workers are told to work or die.
Why it matters. Prisons prop up failing Rim economies with cheap labor. Syndicates recruit inmates by offering escape in exchange for a lifetime of service.
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In syndicate zones, crews pay the toll, sneak through, or hire an escort.
Crews without insurance should not expect a patrol. It may come late or never.
When pirates attack, crews choose between giving up the cargo and a risky fight. Getting out alive with only your old debts is a good day.
Prison is always one bad job away. Unpaid debts, failed jobs and smuggling charges end in forced work. Crews plan around it.
Some crews turn the tables and hunt the pirates for the bounty.