Hello, i have been working on little Scanner station, here are some of the designs. Also so far the best defense that you could do is add a minelayer that will lay mines around it
(if you want to improve them go on or even better make your own and show it on the forum)

.)
This is the first verion it is meh...

This is slightly better one, but still it needs the minelayer support

agian another upgrade from the previous version also whenever possible after FTL jump replace FTL drive with extra armor to protect the control room (This applies to every version)
and here is the last peace a slightly modified "Sumo" ship to server a role of a minelayer

Now with all of these stations you can go on and spy on your enemy. enjoy