During the mission to bait out the pirates, if the Spartan-class escort is destroyed during the battle with the pirates, the main target (Drake missileship / Charon frigate) is lootable by the player. Moreover, the mission does not fail and the player still receives the reward.
Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/4bsGiDN

sav
jtthejam-9068.sav
jtthejam_steam 26 Aug 2019:

Save (with mission started but before confrontation with pirates) is attached for reference

george moromisato 11 May 2021:

Fixed in 1.9 Beta 4. Thanks!