If you're going to the junkyard, be careful. Junkyards are dangerous. Pirates swarm around them. There are also a chance you'll stumble across a grave-- graves usually have defensive systems, you know. If you insist on checking out a junkyard, go to one in an uninhabited system. They usually aren't defended by the autodrones that almost always defend the ones in inhabited systems. Besides, most all of the junkyards in inhabited systems don't have ships, at least not ones with equipment or cargo aboard...

Imagine this...

You are at a bar, and hear about a junkyard in Xxxxxx system. You decide to investigate. Upon reaching the system and specified planet, you find some wreckage in orbit, in an artificial ring system. After drifting through a lot of junk and rubbish, you finally notice a ship ahead. After attempting to salvage the ship, you realize it was not worth the bother. That ship had been picked clean. You destroy the ship (just in case the last owner was a pirate) and move on.

Finally, you come to another ship. You dock/grapple/tractor the ship and find it is in working condition and has valuable cargo is onboard. While you're looting the ship, your computer warns you are under attack. So that's what happened-- that ship was some sort of mobile cache of goods for a local pirate clan. After finishing off the pirates, you destroy the ship and leave orbit.

---Of course, having these junkyards could provide many opportunities for pseudo-missions:

---A beginner voyages to a junkyard in his puny ship to try to find a better ship... he does, though the hull is at 19% integrity, and now he has to try to make it back to a station alive...

---You reach a junkyard and find a ship with 100% integrity- and its lights are still blinking. That's odd. You investigate... there could be three outcomes:

#1. As you approach the ship sends out some silly taunt message and fires its thrusters. It then attacks. After that it's just combat. The ship was pretending to be dead to attract scavengers like you. Perhaps you can do the same.

#2. (Fairly rare) As mentioned above, the ship could be a cache of goods for a local pirate clan, in which case you will be engaged by several well-equipped pirate vessels (shortly after you latch onto the ship).

#3. (Fairly rare) As you approach, a message is sent to your ship, "You are approaching the grave of the late Xxxxx Xxxxxx. Please show your respect and leave immeadiately. If you choose not to leave, autodrones will be dispatched and your ship will become your grave." You venture closer, and suddenly a bunch of tiny fighters start to pour out of the grave-ship. After dispatching these annoyances, you dock/grapple/tractor the ship, and find it is well equipped and it has some oddities in its cargo hold (food, medicines, alien items, precious metals, etc.). Maybe you even want to keep it...

---Of course, if the lights weren't blinking, either: (in order from the most to the least common)

#1. The ship is totally empty, and hull integrity is less than 20%.

#2. The ship has a little cargo, but no equipment.

#3. The ship has some inexpensive cargo and equipment aboard.

#4. The ship has expensive equipment (probably a hyperdrive).

#5. The ship has weapons aboard.

#6. The ship has its cargo bay half filled with expensive cargo.

#7. The ship has one of the events numbered 2-6, and has a hull integrity between 20% and 60%.

#8. The ship has one of the events numbered 2-6, and has a hull integrity greater than 60% (up to 100%).

#9. The ship has two of the following (random) events: 2,3,4,5,6, or 8.

Obviously, this idea is from The Dark Wheel. It would be most interesting to:

1. Hear the rumor

2. Venture to what appears to be a ringed planet

3. See the rings gradually dissolve into a blur of labels

4. See the labels (on close approach) become readable: water, rubbish, radioactives, and the like

5. Make out a ship

6. (requires towing or docking) Latch on and pick it clean.

Notice it would also be possible to follow the storyline of The Dark Wheel (the beginning of it), by finding a grave, defeating its defenses, and stealing it. (Perhaps we could put "Casket, 1 ton" in the grave's cargo hold... and it would be unsellable, but jettisonable).