Ah wow awesome.
Thanks for all the answers guys. I love all the nitty gritty details, makes it all feel a bit more realistic ( as much as it can be anyway ). Now that I think about it and compare with other sci-fi logic of the same scopre, it makes sense that all fleets would at least try to keep a constant flow of information with each other so as to allow all of humanity to share any development and advances; art, science, galactic threats etc etc.
Again thanks for the answers, keep 'em coming if you've more to add =p