I prefer campaigns to begin with moderate action, as sort of an introduction to the status quo of the story. They start out saying "this is how things are, and what they've been like for a while. Now that we've established that, its time to get things moving and introduce an element that tells you that both a change is upon us, and an unanswered question to pique your curiosity."
In FS2, "Surrender Bellasarius" doesn't do much in the mission action to alter the existing storyline, except to say in the briefing that the GTVA is countering the NTF's attack on Cygnus Prime and will defeat them soon. In the 2nd mission, you unexpectedly encounter Bosch in the asteroid belt and the unanswered question is introduced. After Bosch escapes (with another unanswered question as to how), the Shivans show up, introducing the change.