The silence in the room was unusual Ben felt the eyes of the newcomer on him, waiting for a response.
He knew of Elder Maniaco by reputation, by name, he seemed familiar, but he could not remember if they had met, or if he had seen him from afar at some other time and place.
He became aware of his status as a relative newcomer here, despite his age, it gave him pause for a moment but then he gathered his thoughts and answered.
Where should I start? Much has happened..
Internally, we seem poised on the eve of a new show of unity among our people, politics divided our factions some time ago, which is why you do not see anyone of the Benitez familia here, however, an offer for them to take up three seats was recently made by Gentle Ben glanced in his direction, And I believe they are in the process of organizing themselves
Our ranks have continued to grow, the Benitez and the OPG in particular have increased their ranks from among our up and coming pilots this has allowed us to have extended reach within our own space, with increased force and also allowed us to consider extending that reach.
He took a small sip of water and considered what else to add..
The Brettonians concluded a ceasefire of sorts with the Mollies, which raised the possibility of a single front there, however the Mollies have quietened down and we have not seen any major military action on their part for some time. There have also been reports of a neutral state now existing between the Outcasts and the forces of Brettonia.
The Bounty hunters still plague us, their raids ebb and flow, recently it has increased, were more than holding them back though, it cannot be ranked at anything above nuisance value - such is the strength and quality of our forces at the moment.
Hessian activity still tends to be sporadic, but they are quite split between their front with us and with Rheinland.
Another note, the SCRA after a period of inactivity have began a more aggressive serious of operations against us they have been seen in our space quite often recently.
He paused and then said. And that brings us to the Outcasts...
Apart from their usual activity, we now know they are in collusion with the Nomads
The other man raised an eyebrow, and Ben went on Yes, we now have mounting evidence that this collusion is real, and it seems to exist at multiple levels within the Outcasts power structure. Whether by infestation or consciously is still the subject of an ongoing investigation. Cardamine is a key agent here, and we are investigating this heavily whilst moving to aggressively hamper its trade.
In answer to this new threat we have taken several new moves - we have solidified previous informal relationships, allowing our forces to base and deploy far further out than we traditionally have. We are also exploring new avenues in answer to this, we opened several new contacts. New diplomacy..
We can of course supply you with any other information you might need, and im sure many in the Chamber will wish to add their own perspectives on recent events
With that, he sat back in his chair, looking around the room he waited for the others to speak.
