I actually went slightly darkside toward the end of the game, but was neutral throughout most of the story. Mako definitely impacted a lot of my decisions. One point in case would be the final mission on Hutta when you are getting the hutt token to enter the great hunt. You use a Republic Scientist with a price on her head to lure out the trandoshan who possesses the token; if it were not for Mako being there, I would have just perforated the scientist and turned her bounty in instead of letting her go. It wasn't really because of a guilt trip, but because she made me realize how selfish the act was in that we already had what we came for. Other parts in the game, she did not really sway me as much because I started using a lot more than her. This was due mostly to the Mandolorian part of the story being my favorite part.

Try "Tor-Loot.com," you can search for items based on class from the different FPs. I am curious to see if there are more where this came from too.

What he said. If you can't live without it, go shield tech tree spec. Also, mercs specialize in long distance attack. Mercs are squishy upclose, so it doesn't make sense that a merc would use this ability that brings them toe-to-toe with their opponents.

My advice: A great line from Network

I actually got an augment slot for critically crafting an earpiece in cybertech. I do not know if this is what you were referring to for equipped items specifically. But the item i crafted was a green item.

Fleet pass is rewarded when you chose an advanced class i believe, but there should be an exit instance option just above the minimap of the HUD. Good luck.

My sentiments exactly.

Not entirely sure; however, a safe guess would be that Palpatine used this symbol to unite the Republic as it is connected to Ancient Sith tradition and Palpatine is secretly Sith. I would gather that it wasn't a dead giveaway for Palpatine's motives because no one probably remembers it as a Sith symbol, being that it was last used thousands of years ago. I actually do not remember seeing this symbol until at least episode II where the clone army's existence is uncovered and Palpatine's plot is set into motion. However, I would guess that the Republic has the Sith Empire logo and not vice versa by these estimations. I don't think the Republic did copy a Sith Empire logo, it was probably Darth Sidious who was posing as Palpatine that set that into motion as a sort of irony hearkening to the level of deception he employed. If you're interested, there are numerous things in Star Wars that are based off of real cultures, places, and history. I.e. Budapest is a Star Wars city, it is a place in Russia also. Palpatine is akin to the word in Latin meaning "tongue." The Empire's symbol resembles the Japanese Empire's flag. We could go all day... powerful symbols from anciet cultures sometimes come back in real life too. And their origins as so old hardly anyone knows them.