Replicator

Replicators are robotic spacecraft (particularly warships) and associated infrastructure which are capable of autonomous self-replication. First seen towards the end of the Second Interstellar Period, feral replicators ran rampant across parts of the Starweb during the Interstellar Dark Ages until their defeat by the Stellar Compact in the Replicator Wars.

Leftover replicators are known to prowl the Frontier, or lurk in disused systems, striking occasionally at passing ships.