StelProbe V Droid

The StelProbe V was an exploration/contact droid. The unit had a wide range of sensors, immense capacity to store and analyze data, and advanced weapons systems. Its multiple clawed appendages made it resemble a 4-meter-tall crustacean. The StelProbe V's programming included defensive subroutines that made it respond with force against any being that came within 5 meters. Nevertheless, the droid avoided conflict whenever possible, fleeing rather than fighting if possible. StelProbe V units could move at 100 km/hour.

History
When it was new, the droid was quite pricey; the Karflo Corporation considered it to be worth millions of credits. It was in demand by the Alliance to Restore the Republic, who wanted to reverse engineer its technological advances.

Shortly after the StelProbe was developed, the Karflo Corporation sent one of the units to explore the largely unmapped planet Wizar II in the Wizar system. The droid experienced difficulties upon entering the atmosphere, and a crash landing damaged its computer systems. Although it continued its exploration mission, it ceased sending its regular reports to Karflo.

The native species of Wizar II, the cephalopoid Uroths, noticed the droid wandering through their territory. They interpreted its hostile reaction to their presence as evidence that this was in fact their god of death, returned in the flesh to herald the end of the world. The Uroths tracked the droid for a time and eventually captured it.

Meanwhile, the management of Karflo promised to pay 10,000 credits to anyone able to recover the droid for them. A group of spacers took the mission and traveled to Wizar II. There, they encountered the Uroths, who did not want anyone to take the droid. Nevertheless, the spacers managed to recover the unit and return it to Karflo.

Behind the scenes
The StelProbe V appears in "Droid Hunt," an adventure seed for Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, 2nd Edition written by Bill Olmesdahl. The search for the droid is offered as an example of a quest-type adventure.

The players take the role of spacers by default. However, Olmesdahl offers a variant wherein they play agents of the Rebel Alliance instead. As Rebels, they are supposed to cover their actions by strewing droid parts about the planet to make it appear the StelProbe V was destroyed upon impact. Alternatively, the droid's reactor may be damaged and in danger of overloading at any moment, taking the Uroths with it. Finally, the player characers may face competition for recovery of the droid.