The Fraternal Brotherhood of Evil Magic Space Robots has conquered most of the galaxy!  Luckily for you, their reckless expansion has left the Magic Space Crystal fields mostly unguarded - and vulnerable to plundering.  In this case, "mostly unguarded" means protected only by a few millionEvil Magic Space Saucers - as opposed to the trillions that infest the front lines of the war.

You've been granted a Personal Privateering Permit by the Elite Order of Magic Space Wizards , and you are now free to fly your custom StarFrame Harvesting Space Cube(TM) drone past enemy lines, to gather Magic Space Woo-Woo for the war effort!

You'll be well-compensated for putting your equipment at risk, and this will allow you to purchase some much-needed upgrades to your weapons and engines.  And who knows what other wild contraptions those crazy wizards might be willing to sell you - maybe you could get something to control gravity or mess with time....