Depends on if you want to fight or not probably. If not just jump out and ignore it. Im sure people will ignore you in the game if you ignore them. However if you annoyed the faction/group in the past they will probably be around somewhere trying to find you. It all depends on your actions. It can be 2 mins or 20 mins. Thats my probable idea of the game anyway.

I'm not one of the lucky people who got to play Freelancer before its release but my guess would be that when exploring unknown areas the rate at which you get into a combat situation is random. You could very well go for 20 minutes without getting attacked. However, going for that long is not very likely. Just a possibility.

It's pretty much dependant on your reputation, and which system you're in. You may find yourself allied with the Corsairs, who hate the Red Hessions. In some systems, you'll get Hessions firing at you almost the whole time. In others, you won't see any and you'll go about your merry way. I've found that handling one's reputation is an integral part of exploration, and adds to the fun of the game.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
The Next Thing I Say To You Will Be True
The Last Thing I Said Was False

What Boscoe says is true. If you're exploring what turns out to be friendly space because of your reputation you may not get attacked at all. On the other hand, if you've stumbled into territory of somebody who wants to see you dead, you should probably hightail it out of there and come back another day.

I hope it doesn't turn out like it did in GTA3. When you had some trouble with a gang in a certain district (which was inevitable, due to the mission structure), you could almost forget exploring around there. It made it a real pain in the ass to find bonus packages or to play extra missions like "Taxi" or "Ambulance". I don't wanna get attacked all the time. Wouldn't be fun. So i hope if an attack occurs it won't be a real big raid but just one or two fighters which are dispatched easily so that you can go on with exploring fast.

"In all likelihood you're going to die out there. We're all going to die out there, but none of us needs to be reminded of that fact. So you die, you never existed."

@Lev Arris

Thanks why "bribes" are so important! Easy (albeit sometimes expensive) way to fix yer rep any allow you to cruise through formerly hostile space. Money talks like it should in Freelancer!