I was thinking a frigate class Deathless ship which would use an “ion” type gun to first disable the shields of the target, at which point becoming disabled any propulsion or momentum would cease (so the target would gradually slow to a stop). Then a specific type of looting breacher pod could be deployed that would loot only.
If armed (Upwell), the freighter could still fight back - only it’s propulsion/warp capability is disrupted.
Yeah the details can be fine tuned, may it be ship class based or a generic device and other details, the concept has potential. Though I guess it would be best to create an own thread for it if you want to further iterate and get feedback in general, not to derail this thread.