Meanwhile...

Narrative:

While Dr. Barrera worked to capture the creature, several of the Keepers found themselves facing off against the other two in the landing area. Some keen eyed deckhand had seen the pair skulking out of the ventilation and probing the docked ships, looking for some place to nest. A squad of patrolling Keepers were summoned and had started searching the area... and had found the trouble they sought. Now these four peace officers were toe-to-toe with the cornered lizards...

Sandy saw a set of lockers that the workers used over on the far wall; waving wildly, he sought to keep the thing's attention and get it to chase him towards the lockers... and the plan was startlingly successful. The beast locked eyes with Sandy as he moved towards the lockers, giving chase, and Sandy saw one of the lockers was already ajar.

Barrera positioned himself in front of the locker, continuing to whoop at the creature, egging it on, holding position until the last minute, and then spun out of the way, letting the thing slam headlong into the open locker. Sandy swung the door closed hard, but the creature was simply too fast, too cunning - it pushed back with all four legs against the back of the locker, flinging itself out of the way of the door and into the open space before Dr. Barrera could slam it shut. It skittered up the wall and into the ventilation, hissing loudly.

"BARRERA!" someone barked over Sandy's comm link. "My men are pinned down in the hangar! Where the hell are you?!" He recognized the voice of Sergeant Pearson, one of the senior Keepers on the station.

"I'm in Engineering - I had one of them, but it slipped past me back into the vents. It's about as big as a dog."

"Yeah, the ones down here are too - they're ducking in and out from behind the ships, and they've managed to get a hold of some of my guys a few times - almost dragged one of the privates away."

"Tell your men to keep their eyes peeled for the third one - I have a feeling it's heading their way... and so am I. We need one of these things alive, Pearson, if Marud and I are going to stop these spores."

"ALIVE??" Pearson croaked back. "I'm about two minutes from pulling back and venting the hangar into space, Barrera, and you want me and my men to take one of these things alive?"

"If we don't do it now, we're going to end up with more dead and more of these things, so take your pick, Pearson, but it we work together, I'm sure we can lock one of these bastards down."

A few moments of silence... "Fine. What's your plan then?"

"I'm going to try and flush the third one out into the hangar through the vents," Sandy said, "and that way we'll have all three of them together; with me there and your squad, it'll be six-on-three. Can you bring up a stunner or a net launcher?"

"I've got something, but we're definitely low on rounds for the stunners," Pearson replied.

"Just be ready - I'm heading back into the ducts."

* * *

Sandy moved quickly through the ducts, whooping all the way, hoping to drive the beast ahead of him. He slid through the vents towards the hangar, popping out into the open just in time to get pounced upon by the lizard he'd been chasing - having had a head start, it had held up just outside the vent and thrashed Dr. Barrera into some nearby crates... resulting in an unsettling cracking as Sandy fell face first into the side of a shipping container, destroying his respirator faceplate.

Fuck... well... guess I have no choice now, Sandy thought to himself as he regained his feet, stepping out of the way of the creature's second lunge. He scrambled out from behind the containers, signaling Pearson and the Keepers that the third one was just behind him as he ran towards where the other two lizards were. He slowed up his pace a bit to let the third one catch up just a bit as he scooped up a pry bar from the hangar floor. He tried to line up a shoot on one of the other two creatures; the thing had to duck fire from the Keepers and dodged right into the path of the swinging pry bar, stunning it for a moment.

Sandy lunged out of the path of the second one, signaling the Keepers to fire; they managed to wing the beast with the stunners, knocking its hind legs out from under it, but the third one was now on Sandy. He bashed it aside with a thunderous smash from the pry bar, knocking back against its prone cousin.

"NOW!" Sandy shouted, scrambling out of the way. He heard the net launcher's THWOOP as he drove for cover under one of the nearby ships, followed by the solid THWACK of the magnetic weights hitting the hangar's metal deck. The beasts hissed and thrashed against the net, but it held fast, as the Keepers moved in with the stunners, firing until the trio of lizards lay unconscious beneath the net.