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I just realized this is the first three chapter arc. weird. Ho-rah 100th submission!
As could be expected, things heat up, and things don't come up Nephron.

Edited: Spelling/grammar/phrasing/continuity fixes

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General Nephron threw one of the three chairs into the wall, smashing it. “ESCAPED!? How could they have escaped, bound and helpless, from a building full of soldiers?!”
Buta watched with a considerable amount of amusement as Nephron vented to one of his captains. “What were you thinking, leaving your post like that!?”
The captain tried his best to stand to attention, under the circumstances no one could blame him for cowering a little. “S-sir… There were people trapped under a fallen beam…”
Nephron jabbed his finger at the captain’s chest. “And you couldn’t even save them, could you?!”
“N-no, sir…”
The General kicked over one of the chairs. “Take off that uniform. You are now a lowly foot soldier. Send in your old second, he will take your place as captain.”
Buta chuckled as the unfortunate former captain left the room dejectedly. “I see you haven’t lost your touch. It is of little importance, we still have the gun of incredible power. And the ship is still there.”
Nephron was about to agree, when the second rushed in. “General sir! The technology development head says Zirrix never delivered the gun to him. We looked everywhere, and we can’t find her!”
If Colitisites had blood vessels, Nephron would have been popping most of them about then. Everything was falling apart, even before they were set up. Nephron pushed the second, now a captain, aside. “She must have escaped with the gun. By the Stars! Who would have thought she would turn coat? Who can I trust?”
The captain bowed. “I will serve you with my life!”
Buta shook his head. “It seems like the Rebel Factions gain strength every day, if they have the gun, we may lose…”
Nephron slammed his hand on the door frame. “Never! Not in this life, and not in the next! Captain… Abraxis, gather all the captains, tell them to assemble the army! We will go out there, and sweep the forest clean, they can’t have gone far!”
Captain Abraxis bowed and ran off. Buta walked out of the room, making one final comment. “Be careful, they may be expecting you to make a rash move.”
“We have enough troops, as long as they do their job, we will prevail.”

Leph looked at the gun, clearly destroyed and unusable, then up into the optimistic face of the rebel leader. “Uhh… I don’t know how to tell you this, but… It’s broken.”
Her face hardened. “What? … I see. You do not sympathize with us, as I thought. So you try to lie your way out of this!?”
She pointed the gun at him. It was a pathetic sight, the gun looking twice as small as it was in the hands of Zirrix, not to mention the condition it was in. “If you do not teach me, I will learn, and use you as target practice!”
She pulled the trigger. Leph did not flinch. He held his paws out. “See? You burned out the… Uhh… ammunition… in one shot. It wasn’t that useful to begin with, except maybe for destroying weak doors…”
Zirrix looked at the gun, then threw it to the ground. “Then tell me where I can get more!”
Leph was about to say something when Leena stepped forward. “You know what? You sound exactly like that General. He wanted the exact same thing, and I’m willing to bet for the exact same reasons!”
Zirrix glared at her. “Do not compare me to Nephron, little man! That pig wants half the population as his slaves! I only seek to free them!”
“I am not a man!”
Zach looked around at the tired faces of the rebels. “Look, lady, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
Zirrix tilted her head. “What?”
“Uhh… it’s an expression. You might think you’re fighting for the good of these people, but what are you going to do if you win? Nephron’s people won’t just switch sides.”
“They will have to.”
Leph sighed. “Now you really sound like Nephron.”
Zirrix was about to lose her temper, when a scout ran up. “Zirrix! The General’s army is sweeping the forest!”
She jumped onto a rock. “No matter! Even without your weapons, I have the element of surprise on my side. Break off into small groups, strike fast and strike hard, then make like smoke in one’s palm. We will win this day.”
The rebels began to move into the night, grouping into guerrilla units. Zirrix turned to the three captives. “As for you, you will be valuable to me.”
She led them deeper into the forest, surrounded by four of her choicest soldiers.

Teliko watched as two groups of gray splotches met. The sensors beeped as they detected sharp temperature changes in the first group. The second group lost a few life signs, and also began showing sharp spikes in heat. Teliko watched in horror as one group annihilated the other. She jumped out of the pod and ran to Serleah’s cabin. “Serleah! I… I think there’s fighting. Looks like a war zone out there.”
Serleah opened the door. “What? Where’s Leph? And the others?”
Teliko dragged Serleah to the pod, explaining wildly. “They’re moving away from the fighting, two groups of Colitisites met, then there were spikes in temperature and one group just… died. I think it was gunfire…”
The screen was lit up with gunfire when they arrived at the pod, smaller groups would flank larger ones, and defeat them. Teliko covered her mouth. “Look… They’re killing each other…”
Serleah watched the carnage. “That’s war, kid. Leph’s group is moving off; maybe an opportunity will arise… whoa!”
The screen lit up, an explosion, indicated as a white flash, hit dead on a small group. The group no longer remained when the flash cleared. “Looks like shelling to me. I don’t know what’s going on, but this planet is at war. Maybe we can use this to our advantage…”
The shelling continued, and both side took heavy losses, though it was hard to tell who was who just judging by the sensors. The explosions could be heard through the ship’s hull, along with the occasional scream. “Teliko, Get ready… Teliko!”
Serleah shook her. Teliko was staring wide eyed at the screen, her ears plastered to her skull. “Teliko, I need your help. We might get the chance to save them, if they’re ever alone. But I can’t use you while you’re shellshocked.”
Teliko nodded. “… I’ll try.”
Serleah jumped into the pod’s seat. She primed the engines and prepared to take off. “The instant they’re alone, holler and we’ll be there in a second.”
Teliko nodded, then remembered something. “Wait, Feldoh said something about AA guns…”
“Don’t worry about that, it’s too dark now. We can fly by sensors, they can’t shoot by moonlight. Heh, this planet doesn’t even have a moon.”

Leph, Leena and Zach were shoved into a shallow hole at the base of a tree. Zirrix looked down at them. “My guards will keep you safe from Nephron’s men, call it an act of kindness.”
She turned to the guards. “I will join the fray, and fight side by side with your brothers and sisters, as an equal.”
The guards bowed. “We respect your bravery, miss.” one said.
Zirrix nodded, then shook each of their hands. “If I die tonight, do not despair, I will live on in my deeds!”
She dashed off into the woods, weapon drawn. Zach huffed. “Narcissist much.”
“Shut up in there!”
Leph gestured at the translator in Zach’s pocket, then whispered. “Turn it off, and keep it to a whisper.”
Zach did, and Leph got a strange feeling, as though a pressure he didn’t know was there had been lifted from his ears. “Weird, I didn’t know that thing felt like anything.”
Zach shrugged. Leena shook her large ears. “I noticed it, it was kinda nice.”
An explosion caused them to jump, it wasn’t far off. The guards were clearly on edge. Leph looked at Zach. “It looks like we might not slip out of this one.”
Zach shook his head. “Don’t say that…”
Leph shushed him. “Listen, if we don’t make it out of this alive, I want you to know that you’ve been a good friend, and a damn good engineer.”
Zach nodded. “And I didn’t steal Jenkins’s wallet.”
They laughed, and Leph turned to Leena. She shook her head. “No, don’t say goodbye until we’re dead.”
He embraced her. “I’m not saying goodbye, I’m covering my bases. You… have been the best I ever could have hoped for… And I love you…” He quickly wiped a tear from his face.
“I sit here, in the middle of a war zone, explosions and gunfire all around me… and all I can think of is losing you, and it scares the ever loving fuck out of me.”
He let go of her. “Let’s not die.”
Leena nodded. “Yes, let’s not die…”
Zach sighed. “Atrieans are so sentimental.”
“Shut up.” Leena said.
A closer explosion threw up dirt, peppering them with silt. One of the guards looked to his left, then was blown back into the hole, his flight emphasized by the ratatatat of machine gun fire. One of the guards clicked his tongue and the remaining three dove for cover. The guard tumbled to a stop at Leph’s feet, his rifle still slung over his shoulder. Leph freed it with some difficulty and tossed the soldier’s pistol to Zach. Leph crawled for the mouth of the shallow cave. Zach peeked out at the carnage unfolding around them. “Who do we shoot at?”
Leph sighted down the rife. “The ones that are trying to kill the ones that aren’t actively trying to kill us.” He fired across the clearing at the muzzle flash of one of Nephron’s machine gun nests. He missed, and the gun continued wreaking havoc on the nearby rebels, who had been joined my twelve more allies. “Damn these primitive weapons! Zach, how do you reload this thing?”
Zach didn’t even bother trying to shoot with his pistol. “I don’t know!”
Leena appeared from nowhere. “Give me that! … This lever, use it to reload after each shot!”
Leph pulled the lever down, and a spent cartridge shot out, bouncing off Zach’s head. “How did you know that?!”
Leena ducked as another explosion shook the area. “I don’t know! Seems logical!”
Leph took another shot at the nest, this time the gun stopped firing. “There! … I might get a better vantage point to the left here…”
Leph scooted over to the left, and took a few more shots. Zach and Leena could only see his face briefly while It was lit by the muzzle flash of his gun. An explosion lit up the area, and Leena screamed as the silhouette of a figure could be seen grabbing Leph. The two bodies rolled over and over into the hole. Zach pointed his gun, but he didn’t dare take a shot, or jump into the fray. One of the figures punched the other, who punched back. “Leph! Push him off! I can’t get a clear shot!”
One of the figures pushed the other up against the wall, and Zach took aim. Leena pushed his arm away. “WAIT! That’s Leph!”
The figure that was on the ground scrambled up, but the one against the wall took one swipe. There was a gurgling sound as the figure fell over backwards. Zach quickly pulled out the translation device and used it’s screen to illuminate the area. Leph was standing over the body of a soldier, blood quickly forming a pool on the ground from the soldier’s neck. Zach watched as Leph retracted his blood stained claws. “Whoa… Does it hurt when you do that?”
Leph wiped blood from his paws. “Every time.”
He inspected the corpse. “… I don’t think this guy had arteries. Seemed to do the trick… poor bastard.”
Leph opened the soldier’s eyelids. “‘Face death with open eyes, so the devil may look into your soul.’”
Zach looked out into the battle zone. “Looks like things are cooling down…”
Leph saw Leena, and how she was looking at him. “Peach… I’m sorry you had to see that…”
“No… it was him or us…”
Zach glanced around. “Guys… I think everyone’s gone…”
As Zach uttered the words, a familiar sound faintly permeated the ambiance. Zach cocked his head skyward. “Is that…”
The Frontier’s escape pod gently landed in the clearing, thrusters glowing faintly. The doors opened, and Teliko leaned out. “Hurry up! There are more coming!”
Leph, Leena and Zach didn’t hesitate, dashing for the open doors and cramming inside the small pod. As they lifted off, Leena gazed out the window down onto the scene below. With a bird’s eye view, she could see the full scale of the carnage, skirmishes taking place only twenty meters apart, the rolling thunder of distant artillery guns foreshadowing the blast of fire that blew apart the limbs of trees and men alike. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t shake the feeling that their presence was the cause, and she was forced to look away. She felt bad for them, but she was desensitized to things like this, growing up in the generation directly after the war. Despite this, it probably would be a long time until she got that soldier’s death gurgle out of her mind. Leph maneuvered to the front of the pod. “Serleah…”
“Leph, don’t apologize, it wasn’t your fault.”
“I wasn’t going to…
Her expression softened. “I’m glad you’re safe, Leph.”
“I’m glad I’m safe too.”
Serleah punched him.

Nephron stood on a hill overlooking the battlefield, absolutely fuming. “We’re losing! How can we be losing?!”
Captain Abraxis used a pair of binoculars (or, at least, the Colitisite equivalent) to peer into the distance. “It looks like they’re regrouping for another attack, we should withdraw and shell the area more.”
Nephron drew his sword. “NO! We will meet them! Gather the reserves, prepare to charge!”
Two of the captains gathered around him dashed off to gather the troops. Nephron stabbed the ground repeatedly, then turned to address his approaching armies. “Hear me! I will not lose to the common ground slime! We will uphold the rightful rule over this land, and restore balance! CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGE!”
There was a mighty roar from the troops as they stormed down the hill towards the regrouping rebels, General Nephron leading the charge, foam flying from his mouth.

The escape pod coupled with The Frontier, and its occupants spilled out onto the floor, and quickly scrambled up as Leph took charge. “Alright! Zach, finish sealing that breach, Serleah, Leena, come with me.”
They ran to their tasks, leaving Teliko at the pod. Rackham ran into the room, having heard the pod returning. “Serleah! … Teliko? Where’s Serleah?”
Teliko shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Rackham noticed the hollow look on her face. “What’s the matter, lass?”
She shook her head. “It’s nothing, I’ll get over it… What about you?”
Rackham rubbed his head. “Everyone is getting scared, and we need to get out of here now. Did you get Leena back?”
Teliko nodded. “They’re all here…”
Rackham ran back to the converted cargo bay to deliver the good news. “Thanks, kiddo!”
Teliko sat in the cargo bay for a long time, the finally muttered: “I’m not a kid anymore.”
Leph burst into the cockpit, jumped over his seat, and landed on it. Serleah and Leena took their seats as well, and almost as soon as they did the intercom beeped. “Zach here, Looks like Feldoh got the hull patched up, we tested it, and it looks good as new. We’re clear for takeoff!”
Leph thrust out his arm. “You know what to do, peach!”

General Nephron stared up at the sky, his eyes reflecting the sight of The Frontier streaking up into space, vanishing into the stars. Nephron would have thought it a strange sight, if his head was still connected to his body.

Almost the instant The Frontier exited the atmosphere a ship hailed them. Serleah checked the source, then shook her head. “Of all the… It’s Prax.”
Leph chuckled. “Maybe you can use your charm to convince him not to arrest us all.”
The com came alive, and Prax’s face appeared on Leph’s monitor. “Well, Prax, fancy meeting you here. It’s starting to seem like you’re the only other ship out here.”
Prax grinned. “And it’s starting to seem like you’re the only ship getting into trouble.”
“Touché.”
“Look, you know why I’m here, prepare to be boarded.” Prax said before breaking the com link.
Leph sighed. “Guys, I’ll take full responsibility, I am the captain.”
Serleah and Leena both turned around. Serleah growled at him. “Leph, stop that talk, it was an accident, we had no control over it. No one’s to blame.”
“Somehow I don’t think Prax will have the same opinion…”

“You had no control over it, no one’s to blame.”
Leph and Serleah looked at Prax with bewilderment as he tucked into a bowl of larva soup. “You’re… Serious?”
Prax nodded. “Yes… well, not totally. You see, under normal circumstances I would jail you all for ten years…”
Leph was having a hard time understanding what was happening. “Wait… what circumstances?”
Prax wasn’t looking at Leph, but he answered him. “That planet down there, it’s already had its culture contaminated. The research ship Polar Star crash landed there during the war, and turned a peaceful society into one that is almost always at odds. … Serleah, you wouldn’t happen to be single, would you?”
Serleah waved his question. “Wait, I didn’t read anything like that in the databases.”
Prax shrugged. “It was covered up. Oh, you’re going to have to sign a non-disclosure agreement after this…”
He handed them a pair of forms. Leph scratched behind his ear. “Uh… so we’re free to go?”
Prax grinned, showing his unusually sharp teeth. “Not exactly…”
He pulled out a pad. “I am deducting… a million credits from your account as a fine.”
“What?! That’s half of what the government pays me in a month!”
Prax tapped the pad. “Should have thought about that before violating almost every safety protocol in the books. The only reason you had to land is because you didn’t have bulkheads OR PlugFoam tm. I’m also ordering you to station Alpha-2 for retrofitting; you are in serious need of repairs and safety precautions.”
Leph wished Prax had just arrested them. “But, we hardly have any money left! I spend most of my monthly pay on food, that’s what it’s for, anyway.”
“That’s your problem… But enough talk, Serleah, are you doing anything later?”

Leph lay in his cabin the next night, not sure how he should be feeling. He wasn’t a prisoner, but he was in a very tight spot. Prax was practically towing them to station Alpha-2, where he would have to come up with the money to fix his ship. Perhaps this particular roll of the knucklebones was not favorable. There was a small knock on the door. Then again… “Come in, peach.”
Leena entered the room and sat beside him, no longer shy about it. Leph looked up from where he was lying. “What’s up?”
“I can’t sleep.”
Leph sat up. “Why not? Something bothering you?”
She looked him in the eye. “Tell me about Rissa.”
Apparently, the knucklebones hated Leph. “I already told you, she’s nobody.”
“Well, she’s got to be somebody, Leph! You were talking about her in your sleep!”
“She’s just someone I used to know back on the moon, I guess my brain got nostalgic and was reliving old memories.”
Some of the worries in Leena’s mind began to lift. “Just… someone from your past?”
Leph smiled, thanked the knucklebones, and kissed Leena on the lips. “Just someone from my past. She was kind of a bitch actually.”
Leena laughed. Maybe it was just Leph’s ex, maybe he was just dreaming of a time he thought he loved her… maybe. Leph grinned at her. “You doing anything right now?”

Leph's pocket pistol sat on the ground in the middle of the battlefield, waiting.

It was only a matter of time before someone found it.