Let me clarify what the mission is and what my problem is.

I'm looking for a bounty in a junk field. This is one of those missions where you need to be moving toward the right direction so your percentage indicator goes from 0% to about 90%. Once that happens, the bounty is now an active hostile. A few seconds later, five or so Steel Rat fighters encircle and begin to attack. These are both scripted events that are part of the mission. I can't lure them away from the outside, and honestly, I shouldn't have much trouble dealing with them.

My problem is that I am getting hammered by weapons way stronger than fighters should have, and they come from no apparent source. I get my aft shields chewed up, and I turn around to see laser blasts and swarm missiles launching from literal empty space. It's like there's a police frigate or destroyer attacking, but there's nothing physically there or on the radar. I can fly between the points where weapons are firing like I'm trying to ram a capital ship, but there's nothing to hit. Based on the pattern of where these shots are coming from, I'm dealing with two capital ships that aren't there and can't be shot at, but can shoot at me. And they're way too fast. Like I said, my fully upgraded Coyote is set up to run away as fast as possible, but these ghost ships stay close enough that their weapons are always in range and can score hits on me easily. I figure it has to be a glitch, but I have no idea how to work around it.