Well, sorry to butt in like this - KestrelDude, I can give you a few answers. If you want the cloaking device and tractor beam and have laready completed the confed missions, you can get them. Simply get rebellion missions. In order to do this, you have to do a few things:
1 - get back in good favor with them
If you're a confed, the rebels probably hate you. You can do a variety of things. You can train your guns on other confed ships (If you want the entire galaxy to hate you for a while), you can go to rebel space and shoot down pirates (NO rebels), or, if you are REALLY good and have along time, you can dominate ALL the rebel planets (which I have done, but which I wouldn't recommend)
2 - get missions
missions increase your standing with a goverment. Go to rebel space and bribe the planets, go into the bars, and take any and all missions.
3 - use pashlife
once you are in good enough standing, check pashlife frequently - it's rebel HQ, and where you will get offered all the advanced missions (that result in the cloaking device and the tractor beam)
by the way, forge, how did you get such a bad karma?
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Long Live the Free Argents!