The Engine of Desire by William Barton

 

(Short story)

 

A look at the galaxy after a more-or-less galaxy-wide war.  Two non-human civilizations (with their various subservient or allied secondary civilizations) carried out a devastating interstellar war.  Then after what turned out to be a temporary armistice, went after each other even more vindictively.  Most of the human race was wiped out, as well as various other secondary players.  It's not entirely clear whether the two major opponents no longer exist, or whether they have merely been severely reduced and weakened, so they are no longer prominent in the parts of the galaxy where the story is set.

 

In this background, we have interstellar scavengers finding the left-over technology in wrecked spaceships and worlds.  Our main character is one, a not-exactly human who has lived hundreds of years.  As he travels looking for saleable materials, he reminiscences of the old days.  And I think he may also be trying to trade enough goods to see more of the galaxy - in hopes of finding places up to the older glory days or locating individuals he remembers from the past.  He finds what is left of some worlds he used to like.  He finds worlds trying to rebuild after the devastation of war and/or the collapse of the galactic economy.   He has heard the Sun was destroyed in the second war, so there is probably no Earth to go to.  It's a bittersweet journey.  Much has been lost, but life continues and tries to start over.