Oh. I ran some numbers on your proposed "chain" of ships to keep in contact.

If we assume that the destination is only ONE lightyear away and each ship is spaced 1 million kilometres apart....

You'd need 9'460'730 there, and the same back. Add a zero for a 10 Lightyear chain.

Now if we space them by 1 AU apart (distance between earth and the sun) then you'd only need

63'241 .... each way, for 1 Lightyear.

So in total. To maintain a 1 million km ship chain over 10 Lightyears you'd need 189'214'600 starships.
In order to maintain a 1 AU ship chain over 120 Lightyears you'd need 1'264'820

No nation. In any Scifi. Ever. Let alone reality. Would be willing to maintain a MINIMUM fleet of effectively 1.3 Million Starships (replacements are needed for ones needing repair) for one single destination. Of which the majority of those starships will be spending between a quarter of a millenia to one and a half in transit, each way.