Pirates
Pirates appear only once in FreeSpace, in the Silent Threat mission Cloak and Dagger. Alpha 1 is assigned to guard the Talus Mining Station while the GTI evacuates important warhead materials. The pirates had already attacked the station and inflicted 90% losses on the garrison, but were destroyed when a few of the warhead containers were ruptured (which created massive explosions). After several Seraphim bombers and Manticore fighters attack the station, the pirates arrive in two wings, Ryu (two Hercules and two Valkyries) and Zen (two Seth and two Horus). If the difficulty level is at least medium, Shi wing (two Apollo and two Anubis) will arrive also. The pirates are all set on Colonel AI.
The pirates also snuck onboard a few Chronos freighters. They attempted to hide among the civillian or GTI freighters heading to evacuate the weapons cargo.
This article isn't finished yet, I'll get to it as soon as I get a chance.