What Micaela made first was an assistant. She replaced the default reactor with a high efficiency unit, installed every sensory module available to her (and a high capacity drive to store the data), added a manipulation arm with modular tool set and small storage bay, a high bandwidth communication suite, and finished it off with a magnetic wheeled chassis extension when flight wouldn't be an option. Once the hardware was complete she uploaded custom operational software she had been working on for more than a decade. It wasn't a true AI, but it could fool those that didn't know better. It was an awful lot of work for something that wouldn't actually be scanning the ship, but with its help, and the fact that she couldn't trust Marco, that work would pay off in the long run.
With the final execution of the activation command she looked up from her laptop as the small drone hummed to life.
"
Hello Tau. Please perform a level 2 diagnostic."
"
Yes, Kerana." Only a moment passed before it continued. "
All modules are reporting operational status."
"
Excellent Tau. Initiate a high security firewall. Only commands issued from me that can be verified as genuine are to be followed."
"
Understood." it chirped back.
"
Well then, let's get started."
... <working> ...