Within hours the preparations for the distant mission to Vellari space were in full swing. The ship chosen by Polaris was the 'Shadow', capable of extreme speed and acceleration, and packed with a vast array of sensors as well as stealth capabilities and defense systems, including ITL lasers and 2 small but potent rail-guns. The cargo will include several hi-level droids and two dozen advanced bot probes, each carrying many micro-probes no larger than a wasp which can be deployed anywhere to scan for anything of interest. All activity will be under direct control of Polaris, or in case of emergency, by the Shadow AI or one of the droids, while Dorothy will stay behind and guide the entire mission via direct subspace link to Polaris and Shadow. No humans will be onboard as they would likely not survive the trip, but will be monitoring the mission from the stratcom room. ------------------ (AI input, PSP and lots of manual postwork)