I cant get anywhere at the start

No, that is a new bug. I would uninstall the mod (just rename the mods folder to mods_ts so you can get it back quick). Then begin a new standard game. Make sure that you have full control in the standard game. I am guessing you don't have control there either.

Have you added any other mods besides the basic Torn Stars?

Ah, I have seen what I have done wrong. I had been using a modified comsec.ini and several other ship .ini's in the Resource/sims/ships/player/ folder (because I needed to use the Dreadnaught Corvette THAT badly), and this must have conflicted with the loadout of the default escape pod in Torn Stars. Sure enough, when I checked my ship ID in the Engineering screen it said my pod was a Corvette (d'oh!). I have removed the modified .ini's from the folder plus whatever other files I have personally changed and the pod manouvers normally.

Thank you for your swift response! I didn't think of this until you mentioned any mods being run; I was only running the crosshairs mod from the Extras Menu and didn't think to check my own modified files.