>>528753008
I think their presence is perhaps more immersive than you think. In much the same way the story of a lot of Independent polities boils down to "no one can invade them because no one would tolerate the balance of power shifting that way", I've always thought of pirates as filling the niche of plausible deniability and wetwork for the major factions. Want to damage your opponent's economy? Incentivize pirates to run drugs to them. Pay them to harass their trade fleets. They'll do things to people that would get you condemned if you did it yourself. I reckon that's why high-profile leaders like Kanta are allowed to exist; the major factions -want- to have one charismatic warlord to deal with on these matters, instead of like ten petty warlords that shift daily.

That said, use tugs and augmented drive field mods to keep your fleet speed high and remember to right click to view further ahead of your fleet in motion to avoid incoming stuff. Remember you can pause, and remember that emergency burn lets you turn on a dime.