ships not firing?

i have played for about 2 hours or so now gone through the demos and in the demos everything is gravy... but when i try to actually play a game. my ships wont fire at the pirates. Whats up? am i doing somthing wrong? i sent out scouts, found some asteroid feilds and planets. then sent in my capital ship with some newly researched frigates and nothing will fire at the pirates... and the pirates just sit there and look at me not firing back... am i not a war with the pirates...? once i upgrade my capital ship it starts shooting whatever gun it would normally shoot at other capital ships at the pirate ships but it does no damage... im confused, hopefully im just doing something wrong... any help would be appreciated. thanks.