Just finished a play-through of Red-Tail(Kestrel variant B) and in the first two sectors I lost all but one of my crew. I had so much scrap - I thought I had had it. Still I soldiered on and on. As I went on I gained a Three Shields, Full Engine, Glaive Beam, Heavy Laser I, Burst Laser II and a Small Bomb (Plus a system repair drone; it helped a LOT). Mixed with a level three cloak and a level two teleporter I did indeed finish the game.
The reason I say this is; Even if you think you've lost you may not have. Just push on and learn from it even if you did end up failing that run.
This was also my first win on easy after about 25 play-throughs.