Y'know that the general idea is that while Militaries can whip out the big armament, there are plenty of para-military forces that have interesting links to research etc.
It doesn't take much to get a spaceship into space in Freelancer, look at the Rogue/Molly gunboat. It's a heap of junk, strapped together. Yes with skill but still junk.
I imagine that if someone has the money, a ship company would be happy to make them a ship.
Simply make the gunboat a top end thing for a Merc to have.
