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overlapping.
    “Good,” Hale said. “Now acquire your targets … Tell me when you're ready.”
    About ten seconds passed as both men took careful aim.
    “Ready, sir,” the one on the left said, quickly echoed by the soldier to the right.
    “On the count of three, then,” Hale said. “One, two, and
three.”
    There was a loud
whoosh
, followed by another just a fraction of a second later, as two rockets sped uphill. Moments later they struck the slope. Twin explosions produced what sounded like a single
boom
, geysers of snow and pulverized rock shot up into the air, and Nash felt the resulting vibration through the soles of his boots.
    But once the smoke cleared the scene was unchanged.
    Hale glanced at Nash, saw the look of uncertainty on his face, and turned back again.
    “Let's try again,” he said levelly. Both men had already reloaded. “Same spot as before—on the count of three. One, two, and
three!”
    There was another stereo
whoosh
as two more rockets roared away, followed by overlapping explosions. But this time Hale heard another sound as well.
    It began with a throaty rumble, followed by the
clatter
of loose rock, which increased to a muffled roar as the entire hillside began to move. And not just the hillside, but the Chimeran wreck as well, which was beginningto edge downhill. Metal screeched, rocks exploded as additional weight bore down and pulverized them.
    A reedy cheer went up from the Sentinels when their objective came down as if to meet them.
    Hale lifted his glasses to watch the shuttle's progress, and was just in time to spot one of the Hybrids who had been hiding in the rocks downslope from the wreck. The creature popped up and tried to run, but seconds later it threw its hands into the air and mouthed a silent scream as it disappeared under the advancing beetle-shaped wreck. Instantly it was lost from sight altogether.
    Hale turned toward Nash and saw a wide grin spread across the officer's face. Involuntarily, he grinned back.
    “We need to hurry, sir,” he said quickly. “Your plan took the stinks by surprise, but it won't take them long to recover. I suggest that you board the shuttle as quickly as possible. I'll send Private Unver along to provide security and carry your tools.
    “Thirty minutes, sir … That's the most I can give you … So make them count.”
    The rock slide had stalled by then, and while the wreck hadn't slid all the way down the hill, it was at least four hundred feet closer. Nash could have taken offense to the way in which Hale had given him orders but knew the other officer was correct. “Thank you, Lieutenant,” Nash replied. “I'll get right to work.”
    Hale briefed Unver, and sent both men scrambling uphill, then turned his attention to Kawecki and Alvarez. They placed some of their men in strategic positions just below the wreck, where Chimeran projectiles couldn't reach them.
    “Kawecki … take First Squad, and half of Second uphill, past the wreck, and prepare a primary position plus two fallbacks. I don't expect you to kill every Chimera on the butte. Just slow the freaks down. Once you fallback to the third position, the one immediately above the wreck, be sure to pull Nash out.” Kawecki nodded, his features set.
    “As for you,” Hale said as he turned to Alvarez, “I want you to take four of your men down to secure the back door and guard the LZ. Be ready to provide covering fire for Kawecki and his people as they pull out. Questions?”
    “How ′bout some command-detonated mines, sir?” Kawecki asked. “We could place them upslope from position one.”
    “Good idea,” Hale said approvingly. “That'll give the Hybrids something to think about as they come down. Don't blow more than one at a time though … We don't want another landslide.
    “Anything else?
    “No? Then let's do this thing.”
    The shuttle was roughly the size of two city buses sitting side by side, and had come to rest nose down—or was it tail down? The badly