Not only need Pirates to fit in in all of this, Distress Calls also are of high importance
there's no real FTL travel in TiTS'verse.
You drop out of light drive and into orbit, activating your scanners in search of anything nearby. You’re surprised to find there is something close - a dinky ship bearing nothing but weapons and a pirate’s insignia, and it’s closing fast now that it’s spotted you!
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Dropping out of light drive, you notice a foreign object in nearby space - and it’s noticed you! Scrambling to respond, you hear a voice hail you over the console.
“Succumb to the Star Vipers!”
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Your ship’s navigation system takes you on a different path than usual; apparently there’s some kind of disturbance on the main route. It’s out of the way, but still seems safe, though rarely traveled. There’s even a few very picturesque sights along it. A bright, dazzling nebula in particular catches your eye. You think you could just sit for hours and watch the shades of purple and blue swirl around each other in their mesmerizing dance.
[...]
If there really is someone in danger, then it’s worth risking the possible trap. Just in case, though, you take a route that keeps you closer to the nebula. The concentration of plasma and scattered material will make you harder to detect. You remember that from some of the technical manuals you read.
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The trip through the Warp Gate network back into the safety of last generation’s Rush Space is relatively easy, as far as jumps go, though it takes a bit longer than you’d like. The network out here still isn’t as robust as back in the core proper, but there’s little risk of piracy or the like. For once, you can rest easy as you travel.
Regarding how this all connects to the gates, I think it is fair to ssay that gates are actually only 'in the area' of systems that are interesting, and ships still hav a fairly long way to skip on their own for distress calls to happen and pirates being able to attack.
Why does nobody do a thing about Zeng Shi? Because it sits in a asteroid field of one system, connected to a gate that could be serving a numbeer of systems. It is probably 'owned' by some cover-company that ships out the Gems mined in it and nobody but pirates knows of it proper. Steele only comes there because of the probe. Nobody else but corps have the resources to go asteroid-mining, and that no-name corp mining there will point its guns at anyone trieng to cut their profit.
Why rushes are spaced out from each other so far, I think the corps have something to do with that. Imagen Ausar Goverment builds a gate, shots it, and opens it, and then 10 megacorps fight over the same planet... If not everyone can have a piece of cak, make a bigger cake! Have all be opneed aroun the same time, all fe hundert years, and presto: Enoth for everyone. The civilian rushers meanwhile fill out the need for workforces, prospectors, settlers.
And then, there is the fact what kind of event the rushes are. They are clearly of cultural relevance, many people want to use them to make themself a name, rip themself out of their own set-in life, or maybe just watch the spectacle. Steele is not the usual rush experience, all planets they visit are already pre-selected by random luck, their goal is set in stone.
People like Burt who open a meadhall in the at best two months old settlement at the frontier. The hunters we can meet at bars who are in it for the wild game. That one Rahn that prospects for mineral information to sell of and then move to the next world. Kattom who makes profit by eexchanging modern technologie with the locals to sell of their uniqe twist on concepts to collectors (while also trading traditional credits with other rushers). Toves and their nee for the thrill of the trade. Mercenaries thaat sell companies or scientists their services as protectors against the wildlife. Even the odd geneticist that searches for new and interesting manipulative mixtures. This are typical rushers.
