[B]Operation Free Market[/b]
The LCF has allowed the civilian vessel to land, and have also given them multiple examples of fiction. However, they did warn the crew that the LCF and Collective are technically at war, and any hostile action would have resulted in the destruction of the vessel and death of the crew. What they neglected to mention, however, was that they were almost completely sure that they were trying to spy on the LCF. Because seriously, they're the Triarian Collective. The stories the Equestrians have told say that the Collective would never do something like this. 

Knowing that the ship was most likely dropping off spies, Loroi and Delphan Spec-Ops teams had been dispatched to the spaceport. They had begged to be allowed to wear their standard pitch-black armor, but instead they had been given disguises. A team of Imperial Star Academy cadets was also enlisted in the effort to help, they were given authorization to use the Academy weapons lockers and ordered to catch the attention of the spies. The multiple agents have been placed outside the landing pad, in the many cafes and food courts, and nearby communications devices.

The cadets were stationed just outside the landing pad, and had set up a simple transparent tripwire on the steps. They stood off to the side, and began casually talking about the Ceramus War and the new orbital plans. They figured neither needed to stay secret. Of course, they also threw in things that were completely made up.

[b]Nanobots[/b]
The LCF has begun production on a Von Neumann nanobot swarm. It is expected to be completed in just a few weeks, although field medical kits will no longer carry nanobots as a result.

[b]Comms Tap[/b]
Aside from the usual flame wars, blog posts, overwhelming usage of curses, the Collective tap found something interesting: A government video clip uploaded to a video sharing website. The clip consisted of multiple interviews with sobbing people from every Federation species, talking about an attack on the Nikolien system. It ended in exactly what you would expect: propaganda.

"Join NOW!" Said a male announcer, apparently propaganda sounds the same no matter what language it's in. A clip showing amounts of warships that most certainly didn't match up with the actual numbers was displayed, it was a side view with them simply flying forward and firing weapons. How gloriously standard.
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHbjDAfe40I]An orchestra played[/url] in the background as the visual changed to display clips from the battle of Nikolien, mostly clips of the Federations vessels blanketing the Ceramus fleet in antiproton fire and shots of the wreckage that escaped disintegration. After the clip, the music faded into a quiet background noise.

"As I speak, our men and women in white are planning revenge against the alien menace!" Said the announcer, accompanied by a brief shot of a group of an Abh, a human, and a Delphan strategizing around a paper starmap. A caption identified the Delphan as Admiral Kuuyi Oras and the Abh as Admiral Spoor. 

"Remember, we can't do it without you!" Said the voice of Fairlan Miklan, another clip being displayed of a Delphan and a human in what appeared to be the bridge of a starship. Captions identified the ship as the LIV [i]Starfire[/i], the Delphan as Admiral Fairlan Miklan and the human as Emily Natālija.

"Give any metal you can spare to the local Imperial Star Forces relations office, every aluminium can goes towards a new warship!" Said Emily Natālija in the overenthusiastic way that you can only find in propaganda.

"Together, we can end the Ceramus once and for all!" The two said in tandem, and the music started back up in full force. An image was displayed of the Imperial Star Forces flag:
[img=http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/324/c/8/flag_of_the_humankind_empire_of_abh_by_comptech224-d4gtyjr.jpg]
Then, the main announcer spoke again, the volume of his voice greatly amplified.

"Join the Imperial Star Forces NOW! Go to your local relations office or call 7785-21-ISF! End the alien scourge! Protect Lakfakalle!"