I remember once in Privateer 1, I had made 6 of my 7 nav points on a full-system patrol of the Troy system. My Tarsus was doing fine until I hit the 7th NAV, when I ran into 3 pirate Talons with the heavy mass driver-and-particle loadout. I'd gotten my targeting, shields, lasers, and manuevering jets pretty banged up taking out the first, and I'd managed to heavily damage the other two. I was chasing one, but since both my and his thrusters were damaged, we weren't making great speed, and the other Talon managed to keep up right behind me. As he took potshots at me, I kept my afterburners on full, juking to avoid his fire while trying to get a decent shot at the bugger in front.
Imagine my suprise when a full volley from the fighter tailing me slammed right into the unshielded rear of the bogey I was chasing, lighting him up like a Christmas tree! I turned on the last Talon and dispatched him without too much trouble, and managed to limp home to Achilles to nurse my poor old ship back to health. (*note to self: save up for a repair droid...)