The trio hurried up the stairs at the end of the corridor, because they knew it won't be long until the rest of the Cosmic Soldiers wake up from hypersleep. Once they reached the upper part of the ship, there were a group of space pirates in the room before the ships cabin. Then the space pirates wasted no time trying to shoot at the trio, from which Hayato and Antares used their shields to provide cover so the android can shoot at the space pirates.

"Sheesh! These space pirates are very ruthless!" Complained Hayato.

"What do you expect? Space pirates like the Antioch pirates have this code about kill and pillage" answered the android as she shot one space pirate.

"I hope our teammates are doing alright with the ship having a black out" said Antares, worried.

Meanwhile

Back in the cryopod chamber, it has been over an hour since the ship powered down. The cryopods opened one by one, revealing the awakened Cosmic Soldiers inside. They all are wearing only underwear and exoskeleton, not to mention being covered in frost. They stepped out of their pods, but some fall to the dust covered floor. They couldn't see anything other than their exoskeletons giving off small lights in the pitch black darkness, and all they can hear is their heavy breathing as they took off their oxygen masks. Couple of them tried to speak, but their vocal cords are still frozen.

"Is... anyone... alright...?" Asked one Cosmic Soldier, finally getting the words out.

They all nodded, as they helped the Cosmic Soldiers that fell get up on their feet (despite their joints being stiff). Two of them walked over to the other two that aren't moving, and discovered that they're both dead.

"We've... lost... two soldiers" reported one Cosmic Soldiers.

"Who could have killed them?" Questioned the other.

The Cosmic Soldiers began to question on who killed the two teammates while they were in hypersleep, but little did they know it was the space pirates doing.

Back to the main trio

After killing the group of space pirates, the trio stopped to rest. Antares felt exhausted and sat down against the wall, but he noticed one alien corpse at the corner is the same alien he had spared earlier. He couldn't tell if the space pirates killed it or if the android had killed the alien. But one thing is certain that the alien was killed recently, possibly before he and the others came in the room. Then he checked his feet, and he can see that the they're covered in purple alien blood.

"Guess I'll have to wash these after we killed the space pirate captain" he said to himself.

"I'm sorry if I'm wearing your boots" apologized Hayato.

"Nah, it's alright. I did what Cosmic Soldiers do if one is missing a piece of armor, as in, giving my boots to you since yours is broken" said Antares.

"Don't forget about you removing the disc that contains my personality and data, and install it into this mobile body" said the android.

Antares smiled at the two, before getting up.

"Alright everyone, let's retake this ship" he said with a smirk.

The two nodded, and he and they opened the door into the ships cabin. They all can hear unintelligible yelling at the control room, no doubt that it was the space pirate captain. As they got closer, they see an armored figure sitting on the chair yelling at the communicator.

"Has any of you simpletons fixed the power generator yet!?" The space pirate captain yelled in his strange language.

Whatever the response was, the captain slammed the communicator growling in frustration. Then he noticed the trio sneaking towards him, and then he immediately got up. They can see that the space pirate captain is wearing red to black armor, with red glowing eyes and a hunched posture. However, they couldn't understand what he was trying to say.

"Um, are you the space pirate captain?" Asked Antares.

"Of course I am, Cosmic Soldier! I am Antioch, captain of the Antioch pirates!" Replied the space pirate captain, obviously frustrated by the incompetence of his underlings.

"Just leave this ship, we don't want any messy fights. Otherwise, we'll have to arrest you" warned the android.

Antioch let out a strange noise that sounded like a laugh, much to the trio's confusion.

"I'm afraid you're mistaken. My employer has ordered me and my crew to occupy this ship, and kill off you Cosmic Soldiers so that you won't be interfering the plan" said Antioch in confidence.

Antares grits his teeth, feeling that the space pirate captain is mocking him and others.

"In that case, we'll have to force you out!" Said Antares, pulling out his laser blade.

Then Antioch silently pulls out two scimitars (a type of sword with curved ends) made of green energy, and gets into a fighting stance. Then both the space pirate captain and the two Cosmic soldiers clashed their blades, while the android aimed at the captain's head.

*bang!*

*bang!*

*bang!*

The android shot three lasers at the space pirate captain at the head, but unfortunately for her, the lasers merely bounced off of his helmet. With each successive dodging, Antares blocked the space pirate captains blade with his shield. Then he kicked him in the armored chest, just to push him away.

"Yeah! I didn't wash my feet!" Antares grinned.

"You'll regret this, Cosmic Soldier!" Snarled Antioch.

That provided a distraction for Hayato to stab the space pirate captain in the chest, thus wounding him. However, Antioch slashed Hayato across the torso, penetrating the Cosmic Soldiers armor. Upon seeing his friend was wounded, Antares growled in anger and punched the space pirate captain in the face so hard that the helmet shattered.

"Nobody hurts my friend!" Yelled Antares.

Luckily, the android hurried to Hayato and drag him away from the fight because she doesn't want the Cosmic Soldier to die. Antioch felt the impact of Antares' punch, so he took off his damaged helmet. Both the android and Antares stared in awe that the space pirate captain is some kind of reptilian alien, with dark green scales and yellow slitted eyes. Despite feeling scared, Antares knocked Antioch down with a roundhouse kick to the face. Then the space pirate captain scrambled to try to get up, only for Antares to pin him down with his foot.

"So tell me, who is your employer?" Questioned Antares.

The space pirate captain let out a chuckle in response.

"Like I can tell you, Cosmic Soldier. My employer told me not to spill the beans" said Antioch with a twisted grin, with blood coming out of the mouth.

"We have methods of making you talk, space pirate!" Threatened Antares.

Antioch spits his blood on the Cosmic Soldiers visor, just to distract him. Then he pulled out a needle from one joint of his armor and put it in his mouth, thus causing his head to explode to chunks.

After wiping the blood off of his visor, Antares saw that the space pirate captain committed suicide than comply to spill the beans. He felt angered about this, but he wondered of who is the space pirate captains employer. The only clue is the planet Cecrops that is seen out the window, from which gave him the impression that the answer can be found on its surface.

"Android, please take Hayato to the infirmary. If you see any Cosmic Soldiers that have waken up, tell them what happen" he ordered.

She nodded and scooped up Hayato, before leaving to the infirmary.

Authors note: how was the fight against space pirate captain Antioch? This marks the end of this arc.