Ok I've seen some good sudgestions that I'd like to build on.

Radio:

While not very plausible now, Radio stations would be super cool. You could have a station or set of stations for spacific sector. Or maybe just pump in the mp3's on your own computer and call it a radio.

Station interiors:

I'm not a hardcore RPG guy so the Station menu sort of ruins the illution for me. Some interiors would be nice(either 2D or 3D). They could have all the same things as the menu but look like the inside of the stations. Also having a face to look at while you buy ammo would help immerse the player.

Characters:

Come on. Wouldn't it be cool to design your own characters look? It wouldn't have to be 3D. But if it was you could take him into the Station Interior.

Coms:

Farfetched Idea - how about some Xbox Live style Coms that you could use to talk to other players (optional of course). Ok maybe this idea isn't origional. But It would be cool to have different chanels or some way to scramble the signal so that enemy pilots couldn't listen in on your chatter.