After a long frustrating search for the new CZ (it's now at Exioce 8), several unsuccessful attempts to wing up, getting killed by an angry mob of Crimsom ships and a pretty difficult time taking down anything - I headed back to Azrael and turned my Viper4 into a torpedo ship.
Two torpedoes into an unshielded hull will kill almost anything including my CZ nemesis - the Vulture. Quickly made 2 kills (4 torps total) and with those gone I went ship hunting with Jack using my 2 burst laser turrets. *Nothing* escapes those for long, they can even fire backwards at an angle.
I always said the the Viper4 was miscast as a heavy fighter - it's a torpedo bomber at it's core. And a wing of these would probably cripple that Imperial capship the Crimsoms have.