Welcome aboard Matt!

I'm going to move this to the spoiler forum, should get some better answers there. Have you finished the storyline yet?

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The Next Thing I Say To You Will Be True
The Last Thing I Said Was False

The Defender is a nice one. It cost around 11000 credits i think. It may be bought from most battleships in liberty.

Welcome, just my humble opinion, but for my first time through I pretty much just stuck to whatever heavy fighter my character level would support. Spend some time between your first few story missions to make some cash, swing by manhattan and the battleship in new york, you can get a freighter, couple light fighters, and from the battleship a heavy fighter. each have same top speed, but different maneuverability and weapon loadouts, see which feels comfortable to your play style. Although this is in spoiler forum, dodn't want to give to much away since is your first time through.

thanx, right now im doing that very thing. I've got a humpback and im just doing some odd jobs saving up the cash, thanx for the help again