You've got three different polities - the cohesive Red and Blue, with Black split in two and only held together by treaty-passages through systems like Neshomeh and Huinesoron. Red and Blue are in conflict, with a handful of battlefields along the front lines - the Huinesoron-Delta front, Oracle, Araeph. Black is more of a commercial power, trying to hold it together while the galaxy goes to pot. Some systems are massive hubs of warp lanes; others are trapped out on the edge of things. There's even some Black systems that have been completely blockaded - Red no longer permit access to Ekwy and Milano, after Black helped Blue drive them out of Neshomeh.
...
Captain's Log, stardate... seven. The long run through the Bryn-Maslab Quadrangle always gets the crew's spirits down; it is so empty out there, with nothing but the distant gleam of the Harpy redoubt Novastorme to light our way. Our arrival at Miah was cause for hot anticipation, but the reception we received was muted at best. The Harpy-Gernell war is stirring up again, and Miah has been a Harpy system for many years. The populace are bunkering down against the red tide, and had little time for trading.
Things are somewhat better here in Caddy-Shack, where there is only a light blue presence. I have been able to send the crew groundside on shore leave, and fully expect a spate of bleepka-induced amnesia incidents when they return. For myself, I am studying my charts, and wishing once again for a direct route from Caddy-Shack to galactic north. But all warp-lanes here point south, with the primary axis being the triple highway to Miah, Pretzel, and the Guvnorate of Space.
What's that? Computer, accept message. Hmm. I... no. What? No, they can't. We're supposed to be going home, we...
Resume log. I have just received orders from Thorntree itself. How they got here I don't know - the shortest route follows the triple highway and then cuts through Neshomeh to reach kippur, but that lane is now a front line in the war. I almost wish the courier had been set upon, cut down by Gernell bandits or Harpy raiders. Anything other than what lurks beneath that official Koright seal...
We have been ordered to Huinesoron, the flashpoint of the most recent war. The Powers That Be have decreed that the conflict is an opportunity: while we would never violate the Gernell sanctions on the Huinesoron-Ekwy lane, there is always a chance to discover new warp lanes. We are to explore the nearby systems, Vemi and bjam and Fawkes, searching for any route to Ekwy and Milano, or long-lost Teena and WyldeHorse. It will take us deep into red territory, and there is no knowing when we will return.
It is a noble endeavour. I made the run to Milano once - the people there are good Koright citizens, they do not deserve to be cut off like this. But I wish to Legal it had fallen to anyone but me.
I must get to work. My orders are to stay as far from both the Harpies and Gernell as possible, so the direct route through Neshomeh is out. I only hope I can plot us a course that doesn't lead right back around the Maslab-Bryn Quadrant in reverse...
~
(You could also use red and blue as literal star colours, with black representing standard yellow stars. But that doesn't produce such an immediate story.)
hS