this feature is a work in progress and will be improved in future versions

When a ship get destroyed by another one, its faction may decide to put a bounty on the head of the offender. You can see ships that have a bounty when you have them selected. If you open a comm. channel with them, you will see the total bounty on their head. If you manage to kill said ship, you'll be awarded with the bounty. One exception to this rule is that factions you are at war with won't pay you anything. Value of the bounty depends on the amount and class of ship killed, also multiple factions can put a bounty on the same ship.

You can see how much you've received when you scored a kill in your journal (Empire Manager → Journal).

Notice that AI factions can put a bounty on your head too (or any of your ship). If your bounty goes over a certain threshold, police ships will attack you on sight. Same goes for bounty hunters from all around the universe, if they detect you, they will try to kill you.

In future versions, you will be asked to pay up before being attacked.