Countless traders, merchants, holiday makers and other civilians travel from world to world every day, and there is a huge market for civilian vessels to fill these roles. Civilian vessels are generally weaker for their size compared to military vessels, and tend to have little or no armanents. It is generally more productive for a trader to hire armed escort vessels if there is perceived danger, than it is to rely on second rate weapons and unskilled gunners to try and defend against pirates and privateers themselves.
Point Defence Systems
Most civilian ships are unarmed. Where they are armed, they will mostly carry Point Defence weapons only. These can be used against ships rather than fighters, but have a range of 6" and only do 1pt of damage on a '6'. They don't require a FireCon to be used.
Typical Merchant Vessels
Free Traders
Free Traders are generally privately owned vessels of small size, which don't make scheduled runs but perform whatever work is available. They are the most likely to be armed.
Wraith Free Trader
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Classification: Free Trader (MF) Displacement: 3,000 tonnes Hull type: Weak (Hull Integrity 5) Crew: 2 Officers. 
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The most common of the Free Traders, it mixes a good cargo hold with armaments and a fast drive.
Freighters
Freighters are designed to carry large amounts of freight on regular runs. The following ship classes are commonly found in civilised space. They are little more than a hull wrapped around cargo containers, with a drive at one end and a crew section at the other.
Atlas Light Freighter
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Classification: Light Freighter (ML) Displacement: 4,000 tonnes Hull type: Weak (Hull Integrity 4) Crew: 2 Officers. 
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A small freighter used by the smaller shipping companies.
Centaur Medium Freighter
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Classification: Light Freighter (ML) Displacement: 8,000 tonnes Hull type: Weak (Hull Integrity 8) Crew: 2 Officers, 1 rating. 
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A medium freighter.
Behemoth Medium Freighter
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Classification: Light Freighter (ML) Displacement: 12,000 tonnes Hull type: Weak (Hull Integrity 15) Crew: 2 Officers, 2 ratings. 
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The largest of the medium freighters, the Behemoth is capable of shipping 8,000 tonnes of cargo. For a freighter, it is reasonably tough, and as standard carries a PDS to provide minimal defence.