![]() When not engaging in pretending to be Type 2 versions, they also take a variety of other jobs, such as high speed, secure cargo transport or providing space based security. It's basically a staged insurance scam where the company itself is also in on it. is more of a performance than an attack: They hit pre-determined cruise ships, put on a scripted show with crewmembers pretending to oppose them, and the "victims" are even compensated for their losses. It should also be noted that their new standard M.O.Not surprising, it is from an author that is in the group of "Space authors group" and is involved in building a real life rocket that went to space. Then you read the light novel, the original story, and figured it is probably one of the most, if not the most, hard sci-fi space opera in anime, manga, Japanese game, light novel history. The anime is definitely of the second variety, with the tons of Shout Outs to other similar shows, including Captain Harlock. Mōrestu Pirates), as might be deduced from the title. You will often see them fighting Space Marines and/or Space Police. But this is much less common the "cliché" style of space pirates usually have no attempt at a "realistic" justification at all.Ĭompare Sky Pirates and Salvage Pirates. It is possible for a mix of the two types to occur, with an otherwise relatively realistic space pirate who's familiar with the history of piracy on Earth adopting some of those pirate clichés just for fun. And if the space pirate is an alien or even lives in a universe where Earth doesn't exist, that's no obstacle to them acting like the stereotype of an Earth pirate in the age of sail. Lacking ropes, they'll beam a Boarding Party over to their victim's ship, or send out a shuttle, or use a Tractor Beam. ![]() They may even have ships shaped like boats, and instead of making their victims Walk the Plank, they set them adrift in escape pods waiting for the oxygen tanks to run out or just throw them out the airlock without any protective gear. They have parrots (probably robotic or alien), and they're Dressed to Plunder with false limbs (probably cybernetic), beards, tricorn hats, and eyepatches (or cybernetic eyes). They have Cornish accents and say "Arr!" a lot. ![]() Reasons for including this version will typically be along the lines of "Because Space Is an Ocean, it has to have Pirates" rather than making any meaningful attempt at justifying their existence. The other version does a Recycled IN SPACE! on every eighteenth century pirate cliche ever.That could be anything from the technology of the setting creating trade lanes (via a Portal Network, predictable Hyperspace Lanes thanks to Negative Space Wedgies, or timed space flights between planets to reduce time spent between planets, as in Real Life), to using a variant of the method employed by modern pirates (say, smaller ships striking at commercial shipping in the orbit of a planet). Done this way, piracy actually makes sense, provided there's an enabling factor. Once you have shipping between different solar systems/planets, pirates preying on said shipping are bound to show. The normal version are violent criminals with a spaceship, who attack other spaceships, just like present-day pirates-or, in fact, most pirates of any kind.Particularly since doing so would require working in a plausible means for the pirates to escape undetected after plundering their target.Īs with Pirates in general, there are two kinds of Space Pirates in science fiction: Sometimes, this is cleverly worked around and justified. On the other hand, detecting commercial shipping in open space is orders of magnitude easier, just because it is so empty and clear. The challenge of catching commercial shipping in open space is orders of magnitudes more difficult than catching them on the open seas. ![]() The major problem with space pirates preying on space commerce is that space is vast. Surely an established society in outer space with significant trade and commerce would suffer similar problems! After all, Ruthless Modern Pirates have made a Real Life comeback in Somalia and South East Asia, and it's a lucrative enough "business" that it's taken a multinational military response to fight back. It's not as anachronistic as it might seem. Thus, sci-fi authors will include Expies of modern and historic un/organized crime, be they space mafia, gangs, or-in our case- pirates. There's always going to be a shadier, nastier way of doing business, and that will almost certainly follow humanity to the stars. Space Is an Ocean, so it's only logical that it must have pirates as well.ĭepending how you view the future, lawlessness will always be present in society. ![]()
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