Space pirates are a type of stock characters from science fiction. They operate as pirates in outer space and travel by spacecraft, as opposed to the more traditional pirates on the high seas of Earth, who travel by ship. However, just as traditional seafaring pirates target sailing ships, space pirates serve a similar role in sci-fi media: they capture and plunder spaceships for cargo, loot and occasionally they steal the entire ship itself. However, their dress and speech may vary; it may correspond to the particular author's vision of the future, rather than their seafaring precursors. On the other hand, space pirates may be modeled after stereotypical sea pirates.