We get a LOT of complaints from this mission, but I don't see why. All the Arjuna fighters are on a plane (as in x-y plane), and they're way above you so in order to run into them you have to practically try to get killed.
The only way you might fail this mission is, 1) if you get too close to the sentry guarding the jump node, or 2) you get killed by the Manticores that come after you at the end of the mission. The solution to 1 is easy- stay near the cargo and don't get too close to the jump node. To survive 2, you need to either tone the difficulty down or be more agressive and attack the Manticores- attacking them is going to scare them away a bit, and once you kill one you can evade the other two.
Basically, though, don't try to do anything smart, just go straight for the cargo, don't try to be fancy and come in a different direction because you'll get caught by a sentry gun. Remember that video games, even Freespace, are designed to be played by the moron demographic, so usually if you try some cool super-kung-fu trick you'll end up getting killed.