Some plot hook ideas I've been thinking about:
* Crew is hired by a corporation to travel to a distant planet as an envoy to negotiate with the native population for mining/harvesting/etc. rights. Native population is not welcoming and not willing to negotiate. Crew is “innoculated for diseases” prior to being sent out to the planet, and unbeknownst to them, they have been infected with a virus that does not affect them, but is deadly to the native population of the planet (one way or another, that planet will belong to the corporation!). There may be a cure, but will the corporation let them obtain/deliver it? Will the native population welcome the cure, or attack them for spreading the disease in the first place?
* Crew receives a distress call from near the Vast. If they investigate, they come upon a ship that appears to be fully functional, and life-signs show humans on board. Upon contact, the crew of the ship they have found are somewhat emotionless, yet thank the crew for their assistance. If they allow the other crew to board, they find out that the people they have taken onboard are hosts for an alien life form. Any hostility they visit upon the host bodies is met with major aggression, and if killed, the aliens spawn and fight like hell to survive and destroy the crew.
* A luxury cruise ship is reported to have been hijacked by religious extremists. Corporation that owns the ship wants the ship back, crew/passengers are secondary. Extremists are trying to fly the ship into the sun and destroy it.
* A new planet is discovered with two major population hubs on opposite sides of the planet. They primitive populations know nothing of one another, and if introduced, a war breaks out between them.
* Due to drift technology, a piece of heaven is ripped out and becomes a space-tourism destination spot. Unfortunately, heaven wants it back. Crew must decide who to fight for, if anyone.
* Goblins have been filching all of the components to the air processing system in Absolom Station. They’re building something big (and dangerous). Find out what it is, and stop them.
* A rare, ancient artifact is discovered on a distant planet, but the recovery team went missing after discovery. Necrovites have killed the team and hijacked the artifact for purposes unknown. Find out what happened to the team, and retrieve the artifact.
* Crew is hired by a corporation to field test new weaponry. Crew is sent to a “hostile” planet with ongoing warfare to test the new weapons and wipe out the remainder of the native population. Native population wants nothing to do with the invaders, and are merely defending their home planet.