The Imperial N-S9 Starpath Unit, a costly and untraceable piece of Imperial tech shaped like a box, utilized unique Imperial signals and frequencies. Its purpose was to map and coordinate a starship's position relative to all Imperial assets, including both installations and ships, within a radius of nine parsecs. Around 6 BBY, Cassian Jeron Andor pilfered one of these devices, complete with Vector crystals and the unbroken Imperial seal, from the Steergard Naval Yard. While both Bix Caleen and Luthen Rael expressed a desire to acquire the box, it was ultimately lost during a firefight on the planet Ferrix, involving Andor, Rael, and Pre-Mor Enforcement, which took place in a warehouse.
The N-S9 Starpath unit made its debut in "That Would Be Me," which is the second episode of the Andor television series available on Disney+. In a StarWars.com article highlighting key moments from the third episode, the unit is incorrectly referred to as both the "NP-95 Starpath" and the "NP-5 Starpath." Martyn Doust, the series prop master, initially conceived of the Starpath's function as "the part of the navigational computer that charts a course through the stars." Doust repurposed a discarded item of "military junk" sourced from the British Ministry of Defence to create the final prop featured in the show.