It doesn't matter if it's hostile or not, the Empire will bring it's grandest to the battle, and in no small amount. Trust issues, or the fact that they're a facist regime who think highly of their resources and, might have trust issues. 

As of this moment I have nothing outside of a secret meeting between 'Mystery man' and maybe some Synch corporations, or anything that equals that position? We could advance from there, maybe put some black-ops into the mix, as well, for example revealing the 'black fleet'

Edit:
Can someone add the requested things to the map, be sure to place random planets in there, plenty of them, don't go short with planets, most of them are abandoned by now, but still.
[img]http://i1053.photobucket.com/albums/s475/MrAzuryZ/LatestMapVersion_zps75888d13.png[/img]