[PTTG]

I see two exciting points in this timeline: at the height of the collapse, when people may still be trying to prove who's responsible and how to retaliate while also preparing for and avoiding the the disasters of the plagues; and then decades later, when specialized skills are rare but spaceships are super-common.

In this later period, pirates are not only plausible by likely. They would hide in derelict ghost stations or act as privateers, striking out to capture prisoners to ransom and to sell as slaves. Heroic figures would also need to perform judicious space combat in order to avoid destroying enemy ships laden with innocents, making boarding actions the game.