[quote=@PerfectThought]
[@Milkman][@EmiliaBaiYue] Definitely agree with you both. Maybe the best middle ground would be something similar to the Dune approach? Normal ships are fitted with a fusion engine of some sort to travel short-mid distances in "realspace" between individual planets/stars, and then to travel between clusters of stars (a far greater length) you attach/park your ship on massive ships equipped with "jump" drives/engines and be isolated inside your ship, but attached to the carrier for transport. And then you could add a megacorp eith a monopoly over jump tech/jump carriers. And then the possibility for rickshaw and or smuggler jump carriers, which are riskier but cheaper/not tracked (potential for smuggling). 

I also have a few questions about the setting:
1) What're the races like? Have alien races been absorbed into the UNS? How alien are we talking? Can we make our own races up for characters? Because I'm aware you talked about players adding onto the lore. I have some cool ideas for races.
2) What company does the Dauntless serve? One of the main megacorps? A small freight company? Freelance? Is it a UNS government vehicle?
3) Can get some more details on roles? What does being the First Officer entail? How about the Navigator?
[/quote]


lets answer your questions first. Generaly speaking the races are Antropomorphic animals. They originate from the planet Terra and have been colonizing the planets that they could reach for hundreds of years now. Planets with breathable atmospheres have all been terraformed. No traces of alien civilizations have been found.

On the topic of Aliens, offcially no alien lifeforms or traces of them have ever been found. Ofcourse there are stories, rumors, myths, legends and conspiracy theories around aliens. Their existence is theoretically possible but currently not scientificly proven. If aliens will ever come around, it won't be in a Star Trek like fashion of a civilization to trade with. It will be more likely to be a strange, unexplainable phenomenon that could be alien but also something else. 

The Dauntless is an independently owned ship. Officially owned by its captain but he has financed the purchase by taking a lone from the Triads crime syndicate. There is always this urgeancy of making some buck.

The first officer serves as second in command. He's basicly in charge of the ships operations when the captain is absent. He's responsible for much of the organisational stuff. Such as aquiring the provisions, spareparts and managing crew tasks. Basicly a sort of manager.

As far as the navigator goes his responsibilities are calculating the course in space and in orbit and servers a bit as a co-pilot.