The first time I did the training mission there were robot ships to shoot at. When I came back to do the "kill 4 robots" optional mission, there were no red targets at all.

I tried creating a new character. There are no red targest. AND, the capitol ship I'm supposed to dock with is missing ... its turrets are there floating in space ... but the ship is not there, just empty space.

I don't know what to do next. Should I reload the entire game?

Yes try reloading the game. If this problem persists make a bug report with as much information you have.

Submit Bug Report here:
http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/bugreport

Sorry about this; it was a side-effect of a change I made to make capships not spawn on top of each other. It's fixed now.

No problem. It's working fine now. Thanks.