I'm not entirely sure if this is a bug or not, so I thought I'd post here first. During the early game, I'm seeing a situation where one of my ships can travel to the enemy home system, but not away from it, as in, I can't even go back the way I came. There's a ship of that culture orbiting the planet as well, so perhaps it's interfering somehow? Is there some trick to getting out of there, or should I just scrap the ship or try and make peace?

I think that ship orbiting the system is in defend system mode. You should be able to see small plates on the system nodes. You won't be able to get your ship back until it is peace or the ship is destroyed.

WaveAddict wrote:
I think that ship orbiting the system is in defend system mode. You should be able to see small plates on the system nodes. You won't be able to get your ship back until it is peace or the ship is destroyed.

This. The enemy ship was probably in guard mode and blockaded your fleet. In enemy territory, during cold war (default diplomacy state), you / other players will be able to intercept your fleets passing through without declaring war. Solution: ask for an open border treaty or declare war to be able to move your fleet again.