Aw damn it, I screwed up the negotiation quest. There goes a new ship for a while.
Also lost a Mantis on my boarding party due to an asteroid hitting the enemy medbay just as the Mantis entered it. Thankfully, I found a slaver ship not too long after and slaughtered everything for another Mantis, but damn it, that Mantis just got promo'ed.
I think my problem with Burst Lasers is that each individual shot has its own accuracy roll, and unless you have ones that do two or more damage, missing even a single shot can make the whole salvo useless. Fully powered and manned with a promo'ed, Pilot/Engines has (I think) a 50%-odd chance to dodge each shot. Not quite so bad with individual shots, but with volleys, the percentage of three shots hitting successively is really damn low. Add a second Burst Laser II, and the chances of four hitting in time before shields go back up at any point is slightly higher. But most of us don't have the time, power, luck, or scrap necessary to get two or three Burst Lasers to get necessary kill power. Plus, it's entirely possible you'll miss a wave altogether, putting you right back at square one against ships with promo'ed repair crew.
EDIT: WOOT! First clear! With half my systems simultaneously on fire and destroyed, oxygen dipping below 50%, and intruders still on my ship, I managed to make it through... somehow. Thank god for Ion Bombs.