Thermodynamic End

The Thermodynamic End is the Collective's capital salvage vessel, named for the principle it embodies: all ordered structures tend toward dissolution, and the Collective merely accelerates the process. Its organic hull can envelop an entire capital wreck, breaking it down into sorted material streams over the course of hours. The vessel carries no weapons — the shield envelope that protects it during salvage operations has discouraged interference often enough that the Collective stopped installing hardpoints entirely. The recovered materials emerge at a purity that exceeds the original manufacturing specification, a result that Solarian metallurgists have called "thermodynamically implausible."