I'd advise against combat in a ship that's not optimized for it. If you're going to fight, you want to be as durable as possible to make sure you come out of a scrap in one piece. 250mj~ of shielding, 700~ hull isn't much on a big target like the Krait. Even without engineers, you should be able to hit 400+ shields, and 2000+ armor. That's before you add a shield bank.
When trading or mining, especially in a lightly modified ship, your only goal in a hostile encounter should be escaping. Don't fight, just bail out.
You can stick around and fight once you get some engineers unlocked, and have a better grasp on maneuvering in combat.