[el_draco (Rom)]

Drop dead candidate would be "Barnards Star" or the "run away star" which is next out from Alpha Centauri at about 2 parsecs.

Its a red dwarf star thats moving very fast relative to other stars near us; you could tie that into the script; ie "why is it so?". It's ancient and may have planets.

Its also been the target of a lot of space travel theory; see "Daedalus". Because its a M class Dwarf, its light is decidedly red and its dim. Planets around it would experience nothing like our daylight, more like a very bright moonlight.

Even though its strong in the I.R. range, Earth like planets would need to orbit close for any chance of water having a 3 phases.

I'd love to visit it myself. Reminds me of a system in a novel series called "Dark Over". Humans crashed on the planet and started a colony.

Anyhow, thats my suggestion.