Tried this several times, scanning all ships in the sector..

NONE of them have the hostage..

I'm thinking it's bugged.. Has anyone been able to complete it?

*raises hand*

Not in the last couple of months, though. I haven't tried.

The target ships leave the sector as soon as you warp in.

It doesn't matter if the sector is populated by bots or empty, they simply leave as soon as you enter, so you can't complete the mission..

Aye, 'tis rather annoying. I also hear that for the CEO mission, none of the bots are the CEO.

This would be really cool if, for instance, on the hazbot mission, none of the bots is the hazbot. :)
-:sigma.SB

The CEO mission worked for me before..

But a few times he left the sector for no apparent reason, possibly a bot attacked him..