The Providence class of Resource Collectors is an even older design than the Mercy repair frigate. Apart from transport shuttles, the Providence was the first design put into service for the construction of the Mothership, and these ships helped to break down the initial massive asteroids brought in from the Belt, reducing them to useable resources. All resource gathering is achieved by the use of a specialized bow-mounted Phased Disassmbler Array, which breaks down the target into its component atoms and draws them into the Providence's huge storage bays. Once full, the Providence then returns to the Mothership and docks at one of the dermal ports to unload.

Since almost all conflicts revolve around control of deep space asteroid and nebula fields, resource collection is one of the most dangerous duties in the fleet--and yet, no combat personnel crew any of these ships. Most of a Collector's functions are automated or controlled from the Mothership, so that only a skeleton crew of 4 engineers need to be aboard in a troubleshooting capacity. Needless to say, there are not many volunteers for this duty, and therefore all support staff must spend one week of their 8-week duty rotation aboard a Collector.

Because an unarmed Providence usually lives or dies by the quality of its fighter escort, Providence crews have been known to pool some of their recreational credits and pass them on to fighter pilots that are especially reliable. Since it is a rare pilot who is willing to forgo the glamour of wracking up kills in order to stick close to a lumbering Collector, Providence crews tend to show their appreciation in order to keep such pilots requesting escort duty.