Do you mean you are trying to collect your two C-2`s for the missions? Well if you are a Commercial Terran, I`d go with Yen on the Loyalty issue. You simply don`t need it.
Anyway, if you are just looking to get that mission over with, I`d suggest avoiding exploring for the Second cluster, as thats when Exploration starts getting expensive. So, Explore for your first, aiming for at least 17k land as the final product. (a decent number for a new guy.) And spam your butt off for the second, clustering everything. =P