Well I found a way to unstick the level status from "mission" to something else other than "mission" after you've beaten the game. Basically I just used the FLS1 editing program to edit my level in the save game to something different. I put it at level 38. This way I can at least buy better ships. I'm still carrying around a few level 10 weapons that I haven't sold and one day want to use. I just played and at least bought a falcon with level 8 stuff and it was definetly a step up. Here is how I did it for noobs like myself (however very impressed with myself for figuring out how to use this thing due to a lack of detailed instructions)

1. right click a save game and select "open with"
2. select "other" (cause your list doesn't have FLS1 yet)
3. browse to the FLS1 exe file and select it
At this point it will seam like nothing was done but here is the cool part
4. right-click the save game file again and select "open with"
5. open it this time with notepad and edit whatever and just save it (not save as)

I did back up the original save game incase I screwed it up but it worked fine. Remember, to uncheck the "open with everytime" box so it doesn't open the file with the same program regularly. There it is. Thanks for giving me an insight to how I could remedy this problem.