It was really odd. I thought i wouldn't get it.
I was at Pioneer + 78% and was turning in chunks of data to gain faction rep so I could unlock missions for grinding Fed ranks. I turned in 5M CR and went to 80%. It took around 35M credits to get to 90%.
I only had 7M left and figured I'd make it to about 94%. But, it got me to Elite.
Go figure. LOL