Does Descent 2 have mission briefings, intel reports, that sort of thing the way D1 did? So far I've cleared the first system, but other than robot specs, I haven't received any messages from my lord and master at the PTMC {huzzah!}. Is this a bug, or is it that there simply aren't any?

nah you don't need to worry about all that. Its just you, guide-bot and mazes trenched in robot enemies and of course the occasional heads up about any new robots in the next mine