Space Travel Dangers.
United Galaxies Council.			United Galaxies Council.
Space/Time is a fractured element with tectonic plates drifting across "empty" space. Anything encountering such a rift could be hurled through space/time to an unknown place often with no way to return. These result in many dangers to space travel; Few are life-threatening, and in fact most can be overcome IF you know how to deal with them.   Fortunately these tectonics while not fully understood can be predicted with 99% reliability. Safety systems in most ships built by the UGC after 2300 prevent a space fold from activating if a rift is detected and most non-fold based FTL drives are unaffected or the danger can be avoided beforehand. The Rakatan Galaxy long ago charted the most significant of their rifts to the point that most even have names and are automatically avoided by hyperdrive calculators- However biologic calculators aren't always so reliable especially at distance.
Void Space Wormholes Misfold Cosmic String Spatial Anomalies		Quantum Filament The Crystalline Entity T'lli Beta Klein Space
Void Space.
The anomaly known as "Void Space" is a closed structure in space-time encased in an inert layer of subspace. Approximately nine light years in circumference, A Schematic Of A Void. they are impenetrable to matter or energy, resulting in a region wherein no gases, stellar bodies, or matter of any kind existed. Within a void, funnels periodically erupt into normal space, creating massive graviton forces which pull in anything unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity smaller than a planet. Inside, the same graviton forces drain a vessel's power supply, making energy a highly limited commodity. This results in a number of ships trapped within a void with desperate crews who may turn to piracy and murder.  In 2287 a Federate vessel found a way to escape a void entirely under her own power and marked the area for future reference for other spacecraft. When the Atran Galaxy was annexed into the UGC the Spaceways Patrol And Enforcement Services (the Patrol) assigned UGPC VIGILANT to test towing technologies in this void then for the next 06 months to tow ships caught in the void out. Not long after taking station however private interests entered the void to tow stricken ships out; Per UGC policy, VIGILANT was forced to abandon her station and allow the private parties to take over.  The process works by engaging a polaron modulator (a device capable of compensating for extreme graviton stress) when the graviton forces reached critical levels. At this point the polarity suddenly reverses pulling anything near the funnel inside. The tow vessel and her escort then enter a funnel just as it was forming and jump to high warp immediately before the polarity reverses.  Perhaps amazingly some voids actually support life; One that has entered the galactic community is the Fantome.  Voids can be private property and in fact the colony of Void is exactly such; Also one particular void has a warning beacon stating that this void is "unstable" and filled with space junk with all ships entering the void in imminent danger of destruction; This sign is actually a ruse to get vessels to steer clear on their own and is the home of "The Yard" a beyond top secret research and development complex (actually a series of hundreds of complexes consisting of over 2,000 space stations and many more space ships ranging from one man stunt craft to warships). Unauthorized ships that enter "The Yard" are summarily destroyed but many ships patrol this void for the sole purpose of disrupting the graviton forces before they reach critical levels, thus preventing the shunts form forming in the first place; They also destabilize the graviton where and how the complex administrators want them to creating shunts when they want them to allowing ships in and out as needed.   Another private void is known as the Soong Void and is the location of "The Soong Collective". In this void there is a Dyson Sphere; How it got there is unknown to anyone other than the Soong, and it's not clear they know either. This void is considered off limits by the UGC; Any ship caught trying to enter may be dealt with however the Collective chooses. The Soong for their part typically hand the crews of UGC flagged vsls over to UGC authorities who are then convicted of terrorism. Even the GIB will not violate the Soong Void without an invitation.
Wormholes.
A "Wormhole" is a "tunnel" connecting two separate points in space-time. It consists of two apertures in space-time connected by a conduit outside normal space, through subspace. Since this conduit is shorter than the distance between the two points in normal space, it allows rapid travel between the two points. If a wormhole is large and stable enough, A Schematic Of A Wormhole. Interior View Of An Unstable Wormhole. a starship (or other traveler) could travel through it. A wormhole could also connect two different points in time as well. As wormholes collapse, they become smaller and are known as micro-wormholes. Wormholes and the possibility of using them for time travel had been recognized by scientists since the 20th Century. No known stable wormholes had yet been discovered in the galaxies, and artificial wormholes are far too difficult to build; However, it has been theorized that a naturally forming wormhole 'could' be stabilized into a permanent wormhole. The theory involves generating a tensor matrix and sending out a magneton pulse using a target drone. The pulse would then interact with the matrix to produce a gravimetric distortion, which would stabilize the opening in the space-time continuum. Warp engine imbalances have also been known to create wormholes, causing the ship to become trapped in a wormhole, possibly leading to her destruction.
Misfold
A "Misfold" can occur because of miscalculations, technical problems or spatial anomalies, causing space fold capable ship to deviate from its intended destination and emerge off course (often also causing damage to the spacecraft). Errors are typically in terms of feet or yards, but misfolds of light-years have occurred. Sometimes ships end up in a different star system than the one that they intended to jump to, or stranded in deep space. Misfolds have even been known to move ships into the wrong galaxy (though only in one spectacular case). Long-range misfolds require very unusual astronomical conditions, and thus are extremely rare. Navigational errors and poor maintenance are the most common cause for a misfold.  In a notable misfold, the warship UES INDOMITABLE was suspended in hyperspace for 250 years during a misfold before appearing at the destination jump point, effectively moving the ship and its crew 250 years into the future. The possibility of this sort of "hyperspace suspended animation" is understood by hyperspace physicists but this is the only known case of it actually happening.
Cosmic String
A "Cosmic String" is a spatial phenomenon characterized by its extremely narrow width and powerful gravitational fields. Cosmic strings are no wider than a proton yet have gravitational fields as powerful as those of a black hole. Cosmic strings can be detected by the presence of highly accelerated A Cosmic String At The Heart Of The Milky Way Galaxy. interstellar gases, which serve to outline the string and make it visible to standard sensors. A cosmic string emanates a characteristic set of subspace frequencies as atomic particles decay along its event horizon.  Cosmic strings are easily detected from 99% of angles; Only in the rare event where a ship encounters one at exactly the beam on an exactly straight one is it undetectable. A shift of as little as 1 inch at 1 million miles away can expose the structure. Another clue to watch for is hyper gravity wells (such as black holes), as this is where they normally emanate from.  Despite this many ships have nearly been destroyed after an encountering a cosmic string fragment; The Spaceliner Epsilon Queen is thought to have ollided with a cosmic string (during a misfold event). One reason is that intergalactic space is not charted at nearly the levels intragalactic space is, only direct lines between galaxies that are transited on. As a result, cosmic strigs in intergalactic space are often unknown, and they do drift extensively between the galaxies.
Spatial Anomalies
"Spatial Anomalies" are rare, but are suspected to have caused the loss of hundreds of starships. Because of a starship's limited meteoritic shielding, occasionally "something in the doorway could cause an accident" during FTL transiting. Evidently spatial anomalies while astronomically rare are not entirely random. On 12 January 2250, the cargo ship Raiden tried to fold from Garuda to Wayside but misfolded to Jenero instead because of a cosmic rift drifting through the jump point at the time. The Raiden was wrecked in the process. Almost exactly 346 years later, on 18 January 2596, the CONSTELLATION-Class Battleship CROWN PRINCE PRIVAVEY (named for a Garudan 'prince') suffered the same fate in an attempt to jump from Garuda to a classified destination, also misfolding to Jenero. Only wreckage was ever discovered of either ship (though much of the records were recovered in the CROWN PRINCE PRIVAVEY'S case).  Inherent mechanics ensure that starships rarely fold into the gravity well of a star or planet. This usually only occurs when a starship is attempting to target a specific planet and ends some miles off-course. This is often the result of trying to use the planet's gravity well to pull the ship out of FTL drive, usually used exclusively by pirates, smugglers, and the militry to get close to the planet before the planet's defenses or even sensor network can catch them (Atorian raiders are noted for using this extensively; so much so that's it's colloquially referred to as an "Ator jump").
Quantum Filament
A "Quantum Filament" is an astrophysical phenomenon which can be very hazardous to space vehicles. Quantum filaments can be hundreds of miles long, but have almost no mass, making them extremely difficult to detect.  Collision with two quantum filament can cause major damage to a ship, including hull breach, main power failure, polarity shift in the ship's antimatter containment fields (leading to a progressive degeneration in the fields).
The Crystalline Entity
"The Crystalline Entity" is was or is a powerful, spaceborne a giant electromagnetic collector lifeform that needed constant power, converting organic matter into energy and resembled a large snowflake. Once it ravaged a planet the planet's natural resources were completely stripped; No life would be able to grow for many years. The Entity was unable to penetrate rock lined with both kelbonite and fistrium, which when combined diffused the energy beam. Bitrious matter was usually deposited in the Entity's wake, as were elevated levels of hydrocarbons, lanthanides, and nitrates. It could travel at warp speeds and had the ability to consume all life on a planet or starship. The first Crystalline Entity attacked a Federate colony in 2338 stripping all living material and killing the inhabitants. It is attracted to graviton pulses at ten pulses per second. This seems to be their way of communicating, but it's also a vulnerability and increasing the pulse rate shattered the creature. The creature was shattered; It is unclear if this killed it or created thousands more that regrew. Any sightings not matter how slight should be reported to the Patrol immediately as you run away. It is not know if they still exist but the only known to were spotted in the Atran Galaxy.
T'lli Beta
T'lli Beta are a "two-dimensional" being native to the T'lli Beta cosmic string. Every so often some escape and no one really understands why. Individually they are harmless, and though they possess intelligence tehy do not posses malice. Nevertheless in sufficient numbers they can endanger a ship that gets caught in their swarm. They can overwhelm empathic and telepathic abilities, causing painful headaches. A common method to escape is to reflect the appearance of the string which disrupts their motion long enough for a prepared crew to escape.  T'lli Beta aren't truly two dimensional, btu rather so thin that they can't be detected by normal methods.
Klein Space
Klein Space isn't a danger so much as a nuisance. Due to time-space and temporal tectonics, every so often an inversion field is created called Klein Space. Essentially, if you approach such a region at such an angle as to enter the region, you'll be flung back out again the other direction. Fortunately these are very rarely dangerous (just inconvenient) and typically form in intergalactic space, where FTL drives are ineffective and space fold drives are unaffected.  Klein Space was only theoretically possible for many centuries; The Agonians were the first to confirm their existence as Klein Feilds had flung them back several times during their intergalactic transit.
Then there's Space Pirates, Mad Scientists (splicers don't count, they're not mad, just sick and evil), Raiders, Scrappers, Reavers (Space Cannibal Hunting Parties), Militant Alien Invasion Forces bent on Universal Conquest, Parasites, Cosmic Entities that can smash entire planets and can swallow stars, Meteor Showers, Solar Flares, Pulsars, Comets, Black Holes, Cosmic rays, Super Novas. Dark Matter, Cosmic Radiation, Solar Flares, Radiation Wavefronts (space is FULL of various radiation currents, stuff flowing out from a star, incoming stuff banging up against the outgoing stuff, etc.), dust clouds (bad if you're traveling at relativistic velocities through normal space), monoatomic oxygen (combines readily with your hull, 'rusting' it), and that's just the "normal" stuff.