Space mining, trading and combat.
Glad to see someone playing it after all this time. I half want to fix it up a bit in C3 but I don't want to pay the fee right now.
Answer to your question, you just shoot at them until they blow up :p You'll need to upgrade your ship a lot though, get loads of higher level lasers. If it's not dead before you are, you've probably taken on more than you can chew.