Hi OP. In your outfitting panel you can look at your shield strength listed in MJ (megajoules), and your hull integrity (essentially hit points). If you look at the shield value and it says something like 100 MJ, that could withstand just a couple of shots with a rail gun or medium plasma cannon before failing. If youre hit with large versions of those weapons, with any engineering at all, your shields will insta fail.
With your current set up you should not engage with anything above threat level 2, and even 2 is going to be a bit dicey until you get your flight mechanics down, AND deploy a fighter.
You should spend a little time in a low intensity res zone in the rings of a gas giant to polish up your skills a tad. Wait for the cops to start attacking a npc pirate, then join in. Build up your cash reserves from bounty bonds and A rate everything. You definitely will want reinforced or military grade armor, and a 4A shield on the Keelback while you're learning. You might consider picking up a cobra, or vulture, or courier as the flight characteristics are a bit better, and you can run away if you get into trouble.
You should dip your toe into engineering and consider obtaining at least level one mods in long range gimballed pulse lasers (the dweller at Wyrd), charge enhanced power distributor (the dweller at Wyrd), one or two heavy duty shield boosters (Felicity Farseer at Deciat), and just a level 1 overcharged power plant. This is just the minimum introductory kit, and as you learn more you will change this load out quite a bit. Also take advantage of hull reinforcements to raise your hit points and increase your survivability when your shields fail.
Good luck Commander.
