The quahhg landed near Kumiko and Richard with a resounding thud against the snow on the tiled floor. It laid still, dazed and reeling from its fall, until the two of them began firing at it with their weapons, the blue plasma burning through the skin and muscle with relative ease. The beast quickly rose with a shrill screech, the squad captain still in its claws, hanging limp and unconscious, and quickly turned its body around in a circle, flailing the small hard lump at the end of its long tail into their direction. The short distance would make it difficult to avoid; being the unlucky first in the path of the tail, Kumiko was struck on the side of her calf and was knocked down by the force, sending her sprawling back a few feet.
The juvenile snow quahhg saw this, taking the opportunity to halt its spin and begin shambling towards the downed woman, its head lowered and jaws open and outstretched like a lethal ice-cream scoop, drawing its way through the snow towards Kumiko.
---
"I'm sorry captain!" Mimi was the one to reply this time as Kokuten struggled with his immediate problem. Her voice was rushed and anxious, no doubt stricken from worry for not being able to help with more than simply relaying messages. "Some of Squad 75 has arrived but appear to be engaged with their own enemy, Captain Abeck is on his way as well with his team! They should be there shortly, you just need to hang on!"
Exposed to the hail of gunfire from Kokuten, the quahhg leaped towards him again. Kokuten had chosen to remain where he was, meaning he was at the mercy of the beasts charge regardless of whether his plasma fire was effective or not. Such close proximity meant an increased chance of hitting his target, and hit his target he did; the volley of plasma seared through the quahhgs skin on several areas on the front of its body, two of which struck near the left side of its face, damage the sunken area of the eyes as well. Normally the quahhg would have released a sound of pain from its newly-acquired wounds, but it seemed too enthralled with its prey, throwing its inhibitions to the wind in favor of quickly dealing with its enemy. The quahhg landed on top of Kokuten, pushing him down easily with its weight and immediately snapped its bloodied jaws over Kokuten's free arm, midway between the elbow and shoulder.
The crushing weight of its jaws was enough to stress the metal and construction, but not enough to bite cleanly through it.
---
As Tweak began making her way to the crate, George was still submerged in his thrilling chase with the enormous adult quahhg, doing his best to keep one step ahead. Tweak's physical abilities were much greater than his own, however; George had to constantly contend with sinking too far into the snow, making his normal run slow to a trudge as he lifted his knees higher than normal to scale the embankments of powdery white. Even with Tweak's advantages, she was caught up to by the quahhg; George had little chance of escape, and a quick look behind him proved his fears rang true.
The quahhg had closed in enough to reach George, its large black eyes boring into his back with lethal intent. Mid-run, the beast reared downward a tad and brought itself back up, leaping towards George with its maw and talons bared. George saw this, luckily, his head turned back and his eyes wide, the breath of his physical exertion blowing hot mist from his mouth. With his eyes behind him, however, George couldn't see the slightly risen mound of snow he was approaching. As such, he struck it and stumbled forward, falling flat on his stomach just as the quahhg sailed overhead, its talons missing him by fractions of an inch.
George and the giant quahhg were matched in confusion, but George had the advantage of being behind the quahhg as it swung its head around, looking to see if perhaps it had squashed on top of the Nepleslian. The man took advantage of this moment of reprieve, getting up one more and running in the opposite direction back towards Tweak.
"Crates," Kess replied to Tweak through the radio, a word of confirmation followed by a short moment as Kess gathered what information she could from the Cirrus' computer banks and logistic lists. We have no camera access in there, so I can't tell which crate you are looking at. It's also possible the quahhgs could have moved crates on their own prior to your arrival. Unless you're able to give me a crate number, I can't help you with specifics. Crate in that area contain seem to contain mostly spare parts for small arms, empty fission-fusion reactor assemblies, durandium plates... any number of things."
The crate that George was attempting to make use of was about stomach-high off the ground, the lower half of it still submerged in snow. The top face of the metal crate wasn't a solid piece like the sides, but rather a retractable, segmented panel that opened through remote means, a small groove in the bottom of one end present in case of possible malfunction of the opening mechanisms. There was also a long white adhesive sticker stuck to one end of the crate's lid, a long series of numbers and a bar code present on the face. 00121456.
---
Blake's strange dance did not seem to do much at first. There were little signs in either direction that would give Blake a clue as to where the quahhg and Lenny had gone. For a while, there was nothing other than a soft wind blowing at his armored back.
After a moment, however, Blake would hear a faint wheezing noise approaching his position from the left. What light his suit's ambient glow gave allowed him to see that it was one of the lift workers from before, quickly running towards him. Blake wouldn't have much time to speak to the man, however; the brown-suited Cirrus Station employee simply ran straight past him, giving him a harried glance and shouting "Run!"
Blake would see, after another short moment, what exactly the man was attempting to warn him of. The right side of the tunnel began to shake slightly, a low growl and sound of heavy shuffling through crushed snow crunching its way to Blake's ears. Further down the right side tunnel, Blake would see the silhouette of the quahhg he had been chasing... however, it would appear that their positions had been switched. The beast was scuttling towards Blake quickly, hot breath pouring from its snout as it let loose a blood-curdling screech.
