17 MAY 3301
Senator Kahina Tijani Loren, currently residing as a guest on Capital at the request of Chancellor Blaine, remains completely ambivalent to inquiries into her intentions. She has airily dismissed questions regarding her purpose or what was said to her at the reception to which she was summoned and continues to ignore requests from the press.
Now there appears to be another name in the frame. Cuthrick Delaney, ambassador to the Prism system, has had a long and varied career within the Empire, first coming to prominence during the events which ended the dictatorship of Dr. Walden on the Old World planet of Lave. His precise involvement in that event was unclear, and he seems to have lost none of his ability to stay close to those with power in the intervening time. He has been seen in conversation with Kahina on many occasions.
There is considerable conjecture as to what stance Kahina will take. Many have stated that her aggressive tendencies will align her to Senator Patreus. Others have pointed out her support for traditional Imperial slavery, and her distant family connection to the Duvals, indicates an allegiance with Senator Torval is more likely
It would appear that only Kahina, and perhaps Cuthrick Delaney, actually know.
In other news, the Senator’s ship was confirmed to have had some significant modifications made to it recently, including a state of the art fuel scoop and a custom built Gutamaya discovery scanner.
17 MAY 3301
Despite pleas for information from the Scientific cross-faction coalition, the Federal Authorities remain tight lipped. According to sources close to Dr. Arcanonn and his team, Halsey's government have refused to even acknowledge that Federation ships have been transporting the artefacts through populated space, despite mounting evidence. The authorities have also been accused of providing the scientist with nothing more than cryptic responses designed to stall their investigations.
Dr. Arcanonn is quoted as saying: "This information blackout is outrageous, they have to understand that they have no right to withhold this information. I would ask all humans, no matter their allegiance, to contemplate the existence of these objects and their meaning. I would also ask them to contemplate why the other major powers are not so much as passing the slightest comment on this. What are they hiding?"
"Some members of our community are done with waiting to be fed lies, simply to allow the Federation to perhaps continue to acquire some perceived military advantage. If no information is forthcoming immediately I cannot be held responsible for the consequences."
When asked to clarify exactly what this implied, Dr. Arcanonn declined to comment further.
In a possibly related development reports suggest some Federation convoys are being shadowed by groups of unidentified combat ships.