It is currently the year 2099. Earth had long ago been destroyed after being conquered by a race unbeknownst to man. Were they aliens? Something of the sort. I thought so; I'd always believed in aliens. However, they weren't green with tentacles or anything that they had been portrayed as in cartoons. They looked like humans. They acted like humans. They practically

Me? I'm a good guy. I'm gonna save whatever human life is left and destroy these evil creatures that had caused such grievous and terrible anguish and pain and suffering.

I am a pilot. That doesn't make much sense to you, does it? Earth has been blown up, the human race is dead... How can this person be a pilot? Well, you'd know me as a spaceman. But we no longer need those fancy suits and whatnot; after the destruction of planet Earth, no normal human beings existed. The 'aliens' who had caused the Earth's destruction, however, found it fitting to create similar beings to become their slaves. That's where me and my crew come in.

I was created.

But something went wrong in their experiment. Whilst structuring DNA and cells and stuff, their ship was attacked. Being shot at with missiles and canons and SX-D 900s—not a weapon from your time, but they're basically massive machine guns that launch enhanced missiles; the molecules inside of the missiles eat away at whatever it hits—the ship was in disarray, the circuits combusted and electricity ate up their main frame and viruses were downloaded into their systems. Me and other 'humans' that were created were wired up to the mainframe and thus were affected by the virus. Like I said, no

Right, right! I haven't told you my plan! See, since we're also kinda genetically enhanced by the virus, we managed to overthrow the aliens and steal their ship. Wasn't easy, lemme tell you; the ship was

Some of the 'humans' created along with me were previously abducted by the enemies that had attacked the ship. After me and some other guys took the ship from the aliens, we just kinda sped off away from the milky way and towards optimus—yeah, you wouldn't know about this, again not from your time, but no worries!—but a while later, there were attacks broadcasted to our TVs, laptops, iMegas (I'm sure you can guess where these babies derived from!) and even the systems on our ship; the remaining planets were being attacked. Now, when Earth was destroyed, you'd exptect there to be an effect on the entire universe, right? Wrong. Planets were realigned, and Mercury and Venus's temparatures increased rapidly. I'm kinda surprised they didn't, like, spontaneously combust or something. But anyway, me and my crew set out to remedy these attacks.

Why?

Well, that's pretty obvious. It's 'cause I'm a hero!

"Yo, Sadiq, my man!"

"I'm not 'your man', kid. You already got a tab, you know? That ain't going down well with me..."

"Chill, man! I'll pay you, I'll pay you... eventually."

"Eventually," Sadiq scoffed and rolled his eyes as he slammed a pint of beer down in front of the damn self-proclaimed 'hero'. "Right, you mean in 3010?" he drawled sarcastically.

"Don't be stupid," the caramel-haired boy replied cheerfully and took a swig of his beer. "I'll pay you back by New Years. Can you believe it's gonna be the year 3000?" he asked, grinning broadly.

As if his grin were infectious, Sadiq copied him. "I'm gonna have a full house then, yes I am," he said dreamily, thinking of a huge bar, décor and all, him sitting in the middle with beer and wines from who the fuck knows where littered around him, smoke all around and hot babes behind him, next to him, in his lap...

"Excuse me!" a voice interrupted his fantasy, and he snapped around to see a replica of the fly-boy.

"What d'you want now, Al? Can't you see I'm fantasising? Ask Heracles to help you," he ssnapped, waving him off, and not hearing his response.

"Don't tell me what to do," a brunet man growled back at him, turquoise eyes glinting menacingly.

"I'm not Alfred..." Sighing ruefully, Matthew let his head hit the bar, seeing no point in protesting any longer.

"Don't be dejected, Mattie!" Alfred exclaimed brightly, slinging an arm around his brother's shoulders, who just stared up at him balefully as if trying to tell him that it was all his fault. But, blast the guy's super-strong ego, it didn't get through his thick skull. "We're doing well on missions, got loads of money for capturing guys with bounty on their heads..." He stopped to take another swig of beer, and then sighed in relief and grinned at his brother. "We got it good."

"Maybe for you," Matthew replied, but Alfred had gone back to conversing with some random people. He had always been the social one, unlike Matthew. The younger man shook his head and turned to the noticeboard, humming as he scanned over it. They were pretty much the same notices as yesterday... and the week before... and the week before that. There must be criminals. The entire freaking galaxy is full of them... As he scanned it for the third time, his eyes stopped on a new article. Leaning over, he pressed his finger to the online document on the board and it opened the file. A robotic voice spoke out, and Matthew put the 'Individual Listener' option on, so it was only him and the android speaking, no distractions from drunks.

The andriod, a genderless robot—well, apparently genderless, although she had a very... prominent... chest—regarded him blankly as the data installed for the newest notice, the andriods soft voice droned, "Notice 13. Criminal's name: Unknown. Criminal's ship: F41RY 007." In her bright blue eyes, digital neon green Abeo(1) language flashed through at a rapid rate and, although Matthew had learnt Abeo, the words flew through her eyes too speedily to comprehend. "Crime committed: Domineering pirates of optimus, acerbitus and adaugeo. Possible plans to take over more. Frequent captures and confirmed murders of people in higher powers." Photos flashed up next to the android and Matthew scanned over the horrifying but not all-together surprising landscapes; land aflame, before ancient cities and now burnt down rocks and dust. Burn victims, third degree, dead, hugging their deceased children. Then he saw a very blurry photo of the actual crew; one man holding up some unidentifiable sword, clad in a long red coat and... it looked like such an ancient photograph from when humans ruled the Earth, long, long ago when human pirates ruled the seas. The main holding up the sword seemed to be the leader... or captain? Captain was the old terminology for such a person. The photo was blurry, so Matthew couldn't make out much, apart from messy hair beneath an oddly-shaped hat, and bright green eyes. The rest of the crew's eyes were also oddly bright, just like his and Alfred's were. How odd...

"Erm..." he began shyly, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly and blushing when the andriod looked at him. "I apologise for my rudeness... Do you know the names of anyone in the crew?" he enquired hopefully, meeting her digital eyes.

"None are identified," she responded after a moments calculations.

"Oh," Matthew replied, his disappointment obviously open. "Thank you for the notification, though, miss." He smiled softly at her, and she bowed in response.

"Please continue working hard." Her image disippated into pixels and then she seems to evaporate. Matthew unlocked the 'Individual Listener' setting and slumped down at the bar, sighing wearily and biting his lip in thought.