07/06/06:

                Connors shook us both awake about 9:00 this morning. "Shift change," she mumbled. And as soon as Olivia and I were up, she and Leo took our places. Olivia grabbed a soda and a candy bar, muttering "Breakfast of champions," and headed for the turret to wake up and keep watch.

                I decided to poke around for a while to see if I could find anything that could be of use. I went looking for plastic bags and maybe some innertubes. (If we were going to take the river in, maybe that would help keep things dry.)

                I found a box of latex gloves and took those. I also found an unopened roll of electrical tape and snagged that, too. Then I found Leo's phone book and looked for a place that did tire repairs. There was a listing for a service station that did tires and whatnot a couple blocks away. I let everyone know where I was heading and Olivia asked Alfred to go with me. Better safe than sorry! We found the place, but no innertubes; it had been pretty much picked clean. Then I remembered where Dallas had parked Scooby yesterday and got an idea. I found a phone book and looked up pool supplies. One nice thing about this part of the country - pools are very popular! There were a few places listed, one of them pretty close.

                When we got there we were pleased to see that it had been relatively untouched by looters. I guess in all the chaos and confusion they just forgot the importance of maintaining their pool's chemical balance! We found lots of different floatation devices and took them all. Looking around we also discovered boxes of chemicals - chlorine and such. Alfred found some handtrucks and we loaded those up as well. Out back was a van with the name of the place on it. Inside were some containers of chemicals and a large steel transport case. I opened it and found some SCUBA equipment! There were two single bottle outfits, masks, snorkels and some swimsuits. And in the bottom there were some tools - some ceramic and others were made from other water resistant materials! Alfred got the case out of the van and we added it to our collection.

                We got back to the vehicles and Mitchell asked Alfred for help moving the missiles out of the launch assembly. I took over the watch and Olivia went off to do some exploring of her own.

                Some time later we heard the rumble of an engine coming towards us. The people who were awake all reached for weapons. And around the corner came Olivia in a 1957 Chevy - a cherry-red convertible with cream-colored leather upholstery. She also had a T-Birds jacket and a Pink Lady jacket from the movie Grease and some autographed pictures of John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John that she'd found in the house where she'd found the car. The trunk was full of CD's and we all picked a few to put in Scooby.

                She told me that she'd found a couple of rock shops. At the first, she had found a really nice rose quartz, and at the second, she found a crystal sphere that glowed when she showed it to me. She was also disturbed by something she found outside the shop.

                She told me that there was a pile of rocks outside and she'd been going thru it when she found a hand. She kept digging and unburied the body it was attached to. It was a woman. She had a lot of jewelry, some with pentagrams, Ankhs, the Eye of Horus and such. "It looked like she'd been stoned to death," Olivia said. "And beneath her was a pile of books. I couldn't tell what sort of books - they'd been burned."

                Olivia told me that she'd laid the body out, covered her with some material and said a Blessing over her.

                Then Mitchell interrupted us; he had the missile launch assembly working!

                Leo came stumbling out of Scooby, still half-asleep. "Look what I found," Olivia pointed at her car. "Nice," he mumbled, "Another car?" He plopped down at the campfire and started mixing some instant MRE coffee - I decided not to point out that Scooby has a kitchenette, with a coffeemaker. Some people get really touchy when they first wake up.

                Olivia tried to radio Lucifer but got Sakkara instead. "Is 'Morningstar' still around?" Olivia asked. Sakkara sounded smug when she replied, "No, the Eagle has flown the coop for home."

                Olivia paused for a moment, pondering her options. "I need a favor. I have a package that I need driven back to Vegas."

                Sakkara jumped on that, "My tank?"

                "No, something else, and besides, that would be OUR tank," Olivia insisted.

                Leo tried to get her off the radio and Mitchell said in a too-loud voice, "The electrical system is totally fried. No way it can be repaired."

                "Did you hear that?" Olivia asked. "Our electrician reports that the lightning I hit it with destroyed all the electrical systems." That didn't go over well! Sakkara told Olivia how upset she was with our casual disregard for her property, but said, "As a favor, I'll have someone drive your package back to Vegas - but you people owe me a tank!"

                Olivia suggested that she might try being nicer, especially to her people. Sakkara didn't like that, either. "You sound like my advisors," she snarled.

                "Well, you might try listening to them," Olivia replied. Then Sakkara asked what Malcolm was paying her, and offered to hire her away from him. "He pays me with personal favors," Olivia said with a wink at me.

                "Really?" Sakkara said, "Well I saw an Elf just yesterday, whom I sure could meet or exceed anything your King can offer."

                Refusing to point out that we already have one of those, Olivia tried to get back to the original subject and asked where she should meet Sakkara's people to give them the keys. Sakarra told her to go to the building that had been the brothel - she'd evicted all the girls and taken the whole thing as her private residence and business offices "Since it is the nicest building in town!"

                Olivia warned her again about treating her people with respect and signed off. Then she called Vegas and got Lucifer this time. "Tell me again, why is Sakarra here?" she said.

                "Because we promised her," Lucifer yawned.

                Olivia shook her head at the radio and said, "Could you send someone down from Vegas to drive my new car back to the Excalibur?" Lucifer yawned again and said, "I still have some of my people out at the airport; I'll send a couple of them down to get the car." Then he turned serious. "Have you come up with a plan for the next phase of this operation yet?" Before we could answer, he hastily added, "Wait, the radio's not secure; don't tell me now."

                Olivia rolled her eyes and told him, "We'll be notifying Caesar by 'other means'. So he'll know." She clicked off before he could respond. She hopped out and asked Leo, "Is there any camo netting I could cover the car with?" Leo nodded and pulled it out of the Bradley, but before she could hide the car, Sakkara's people showed up with a semi-tractor trailer rig.

                "Is this the wrecked tank?" the guy driving asked.

                "No, this is ours - the wrecked one's out in the desert," Olivia told them. Just then Sakkara herself appeared in a pink Mary Kay car. She got out and surveyed the scene with a look of disgust. "I just HATE the color scheme on your vehicles," pointing to Scooby and Velma. Then she seemed to notice Velma as something other than just a big lump in the road. "You repainted MY tank! How dare you?"

                Olivia said, "Touch it, we didn't repaint it. If we had, the paint would be wet. Sakkara tried it and found it dry (of course). Leo said, "The one you're looking for is out in the desert, where we left it. You cant miss it; big, smoking hulk, kind of a sandy-tan color." The guy who'd driven the truck out tried to tell her that Velma was the right vehicle, but she wouldn't listen. "Nonsense. My tank was a different color. This tacky green thing couldn't possible be it. Keep looking!" Then she headed back to her car. The driver kept insisting that THIS was the tank she was looking for. Sakkara stopped, turned to him, and said, "They would NEVER lie to me. They know what their punishment would be if they did." We all did our best to look contrite (and to not laugh at the silly cat!) as she glared at us. Then she climbed into her car and left in a huff and a cloud of dust.

                They guy (Andy, according to the name on his coveralls) rolled his eyes, "Oh my God," he said. The other door on the truck opened up and a Halfling woman climbed out. She was quite a sight - wearing a miniature Emma Peel outfit! Three feet of tight leather and bad attitude..

                She lit herself a joint and told Andy, "We need to go to Vegas. If we're gonna work for a Pussy - it might as well be the Big Pussy." She took a big hit and offered the joint to Andy, who waved it off. Olivia told them that if anything were to 'happen' to Sakkara, someone competent would be sent to replace her. 'Emma' said to Andy, "Rodrigo would love the chance." Then she asked us, "You guys headed back to Vegas?"

                "Eventually," I said, not wanting to give anything away. 'Emma' had another hit and decided to ignore me. Andy was going on about how he couldn't leave - he had family here and there's no work in Vegas. "That's not true," I said.

                Olivia turned and called Alfred over. "Come talk to these people." He got up from helping Mitchell with a tangle of wiring and nodded at our visitors. "Hi." He said, "How's the weather?"

                Olivia hit him. "Be helpful!" He mock-flinched and asked Andy, "What kind of work do you do?"

                "Heating and air-conditioning repair."

                "You're hired," Alfred said. He pulled out a small notepad and scribbled a short note. "Here, give this to the people at the Border, they'll let you thru." He scribbled another note. "Give this to someone at the desk at the Excalibur, they'll set you up. Now go get your family."

                'Emma' laughed at Alfred and said, "You're being awfully cocky. Who do you think you are?" Alfred didn't answer; he just smiled and asked her what type of work she did.

                "I'm an auto mechanic. I can't reach to drive them anymore, but I can still fix them."

                "Good, you're hired, too. Go with him." And he wrote out some instructions for her.

                She read it and laughed. "You signed this 'Overlord'!" When she stopped laughing, she told Alfred that he'd been out in the sun to long. Either that or he'd been smoking something better than what she had.

                Andy was staring at Alfred thoughtfully and said, "I've heard rumors that there were a couple of non-cats."

                Mitchell yelled, "Hey Alfred! Need a hand over here. I'm almost done - then we can get moving." Alfred politely excused himself and got back to work. Before we could explain to Alfred's new employees, a couple of vehicles flying Venetian colors drove up and some of Lucifer's retainers got out. Olivia explained about the car and told them it should be left in the VIP parking at the Excalibur.

                Alfred came out of Velma and the men all jumped to attention and bowed. "Lord Excalibur?!?" one said. "Does Lord Venetian know you're here?"

                'Emma' did a double take. "You called him Lord. Are you guys in on this?" Venetian's men didn't respond; they just acknowledged Olivia's instructions and assured her that it would be done. The leader spoke up again, "Um, Your Greatness?"

                Alfred and Dallas popped their heads out, "Yes?"

                The guy's eyes popped, "Lord Bellagio?"

                Alfred said, "I think he meant me." Dallas shrugged and went back into Scooby.

                "Um, sir, are you claiming these goods?"

                "Yes I am," Alfred said. "In the name of our good friend, the Kingdom of the New Outlands. I've also hired these two people. Help this man find his family before you leave." He disappeared back into the tank and the security men prompted Andy and Emma thru declaring fealty to Lord Excalibur and requesting his protection. Finally they packed up the Chevy and they all left.

                Connors walked over and asked if we were all ready to leave. Mitchell announced that his work was done and crawled into a bunk to sleep. I volunteered to drive Velma with Connors keeping me company in case we ran into trouble; everyone else climbed into Scooby. Olivia kept the radio open between the two vehicles and we started talking about Sakkara and how long we thought she might last. Soon we were wagering on it.

                Olivia said she'd be killed on the 10th and wagered a case of Jolt Cola.

                I said the 9th and put up a bottle of my best Tequila.

                Alfred predicted the 8th but was unsure what to wager. Olivia suggested a good boinking. Alfred agreed - either from him or Olivia, depending on the sex of the winner.

                Dallas said that the first unsuccessful attempt on her life would be on the 9th and a successful attempt would be on the 14th. He wagered 100,000 chips. Someone asked what would happen if Alfred won; would he offer Dallas something else? Dallas said, "Who knows - I just might take him up on the boinking."

                "I'd pay good money to see that," I said.

                "Think of the ratings," said Connors.

                Olivia asked Connors if she wanted to get in on this. She thought about it for awhile. "I'll stay out of it, I don't think I want to wager a boinking."

                I said, "She's just afraid of Alfred."

                "He's really very good," Olivia told her.

                Dallas said, "Wait a minute! With all this boinking being wagered - what if Leo wins? He'll have to choose between Alfred or his sister!" I could hear the Duke in the background; all this appalled him. I, personally, couldn't believe that we had an Amy Officer, an Army Ranger and a Navy SEAL all using the work 'boinking'! But Leo begged off, saying that he wouldn't bet on anything that was a conflict of interest. "Because I would just have to pick a date and do it myself."

                So we agreed - no boinkings and no interference. So Alfred changed his wager to a favor to be negotiated later. Connors decided to join. She predicted that Sakarra would be killed tonite and her wager was to be named later. Leo predicted that Sakkara would still be alive and in power on the 15th. His wager would be 'something nifty'.

                "That sounds like it could still be a boinking," I said. I could hear him smiling over the radio. "You know," he said, "There is a better way to get your best friend's brother into bed?"

                "And that would be?" I asked.

                "Just ask. 'Whatta ya say? You and me' It's that simple," he said.

                Then Dallas took over, "Hey Leo! You were in the Philippines, you know how it goes - let's hear it. 'Me love you long time, me SOOOO HORNYYY! Want suckie suckie now?'"

                I just about lost it; Leo turned pious: "I'm shocked! Shocked an ashamed! And I am now turning my thoughts to pure, unsullied things."

                I remembered what Connors had told me about putting up with the boys by being just as nasty, and I said, "So, Leo."

                "Yeah?"

"How 'bout tonite then?"

                He said, "Bend over! I'm driving."

                I had no response! I looked to Connors for help but she was shaking her head at me. I had lost.

                Olivia laughed at me, "When we stop for the night, we'll let you two use Scooby."

                We saw a sign that said the Reservation was just a few miles away, Leo radioed us to pull over; "Time for the air support."

                He and Dallas unloaded the sailplane while Alfred hooked up the towline. I watched all the preparations and asked, "Leo, sweetie, do you know how to land this thing?" "Of course!" he said, with a delighted smile. I had turned aside to get out of the way when Leo grabbed me, pulled me down into a dip, and gave me a big messy kiss. He let me up and said, "A touch of your lips before I die." Oh please!

                Then I saw Olivia had the camera in her hands, "Good! The camera works." She handed it to Leo as he took his place in the plane. Unfortunately, I couldn't get to it before Leo was inside the cockpit and latching the canopy. I gave Olivia a look that promised mayhem. She had the nerve to smile sweetly at me. Alfred climbed into Scooby and hauled ass down the hiway. Leo got airborne and detached the line. He climbed higher and disappeared.

                "So, was it any good?" Olivia asked when he was out of sight.

                "Olivia! He's your brother!"

                She just grinned at me and said, "Lunch anyone?"

                We made lunch and put some aside for Mitchell when he woke up and for Leo when he returned. He'd been gone about an hour and Olivia was getting visibly nervous. Another half-hour or so passed before we spotted the plane coming in. It looked (to me anyway) to be coming in awfully fast and steep. But Leo put in down in a perfect landing. He was right; unless you are looking for those things, they are damn hard to spot.

                We went to meet him and he assured Olivia that he was fine. "Had a close call, though, took a few bullets in one wing." He handed the camera to Connors and started to help us load the plane back in the trailer. Olivia told him to go eat; we'd take care of it. He nodded and followed Connors off.

                One of the wings had quite a few bullet holes in it. "Leo Mitchell!" Olivia muttered as she used a small Magic to mend them. Dallas and Alfred had just loaded the thing back into its trailer when Connors called for us all to gather 'round, she had the photos downloaded onto the laptop in Scooby.

                One of the photos looked like the Tribal offices, or an admin center of some type. Quite a few homes but no vehicles other than those at the admin building. It looked like the people were still living in their homes, while guards and such were housed in barracks at what looked like an old rec-center. Connors pointed out where the security checkpoints were, the fields where people were tending crops and to a spot on the river where people were fishing. I didn't see much of anything until she pointed it out; then again, she's the expert on photo recon.

                "So what's the plan?"

                Connors indicated the fishing area; "It doesn't look like the river is blocked, so I think that's our best bet."

                More pictures showed that the people working the fields were chained together in groups of five. Another picture showed some being lined up and counted before boarding a bus. "They're probably just counting heads, not paying attention to WHO is there. Once again, they're more concerned with keeping people in than they are in keeping people out," Connors said.

                Olivia said, "So we could sneak in and replace some of them."

                "We'd never blend in," Alfred pointed out.

                Connors, Dallas and Leo conferred and agreed that it looked like one guard for every ten prisoners or so. We could count eight groups of 40 prisoners, so maybe 55 troops. Olivia said something about how it would be nice if we could talk to one of the families in there and get some info.

                "I thought about that, too," Leo said. He told Connors to scroll ahead. There was a very clear close-up of an elderly Navajo man looking up, shielding his eyes from the sun. The next shot showed a guard behind the man firing up at the plane. Leo said that was the last photo - he had turned away and tried to make it look like he's crashed off in the hills. He shrugged, "All in a day's work." Connors went back to the shot of the Elder.

                "Can you 'do' something with that?" Leo asked me.

                "I can try. Olivia would you help?"

                We sat down and worked together to invoke the scrying magic, concentrating on seeing what was going on around the gentleman. It was real fuzzy at first but then became clearer. He was sitting in a conference room, across the table from a man in his 50's or so, who was wearing a uniform. This guy had a nametag that said, 'Turner'. A young Navajo girl (14, maybe 15) came in carrying a tray with a pitcher and glasses on it.

                Turner thanked her and when she'd closed the door behind her, he turned to the Elder and calmly said, "So, you're telling me that you just happened to notice the plane."

                The Elder nodded and said, "I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye, I looked up and there it was."

                "And you didn't think you should sound an alarm or something?"

                "You are our jailers. Why should I help you?"

                Turner acknowledged the point with a nod, "I can't say that I blame you. But do you think that if you HAD said something you would be in this trouble now?"

                The Elder just shrugged and Turner addressed someone behind the Elder.

                "Soldier, why didn't you shoot straighter?"

                The man said, "I do not know, sir. I will do better next time, sir."

                Turner said, "Your punishment shall be flogging 'til you fall. But the fact that you did shoot and raise an alarm is a mitigating factor, so your punishment is commuted to 15 lashes."

                "Yes sir. Thank you, sir." There was a tremor in the voice.

                Turner said, "Next time…"

                "I will do better, sir!" he finished.

                Turner dismissed him and faced the Elder again. "I am in an awkward position," he said, "I have no training to be a Military Governor, but that is the position in which I find myself. For not sounding an alarm I must send a message. But not knowing your people and your customs I do not know what would be an appropriate punishment."

                "Killing me quickly and burying me with full honors and ceremonies would be appropriate," the Elder said.

                Turner actually smiled a little, "Very funny, and nice try. If you don't tell me however, I will have to use my own imagination."

                The Elder shrugged again, "Death is death."

                "Yes, but dying is the fun part. Now I believe that your Granddaughter is still here, is she not?" I could feel my hands clinch into fists when he said that, and some of the others muttered angrily. He continued, "What if she was punished instead of you? And you would have to take to your people an explanation as to why."

                The Elder showed emotion for the first time, "We would hate you even more. You could say 'This old man - he's not worth anything and was just doing what was in his nature, why punish him?'"

                Turner thought for a moment and called a guard in. "Take the old man. Put him in the cooler. His entire family is to get half water rations until further notice." Then he addressed the Elder again, "Unless one of your family - one of the women - stands up to take the punishment for you." The guard took the Elder by the arm and led him out. The door closed and Turner sat back down. A closet door opened and a Drow woman dressed like a bad cliché walked out - Liberace meets the Wicked Witch of the West. "Well?" he asked her.

                She sat down and poured herself some juice. "I think he knew I was here. But he was telling the truth about the plane - he didn't know anything. Is the radio contact from Kingman still overdue?"

                Turner nodded, "Three hours, and now a flyover. Someone's trying a resistance play, and it's not these poor people."

                He ordered the guard to be doubled, "And no whiskey rations tonite. Extra coffee and anyone found asleep on watch will be flogged until falling."

                Part of me 'saw' Alfred go to one of the control panels and fiddle with something, but I couldn't see what without losing the spell.

                The Drow asked, "Should we have Havasu stand by?" Turner shook his head and was about to respond when there was a knocking on the door. "Enter", Turner said. Another soldier came in and reported, "Commander, all radio frequencies have been jammed. We think we have it triangulated. But we can't get hold of the Training Grounds."

                Turner stood and started firing orders, "Pull in all the work crews. Take the human shields to the barricades. Chain them in plain sight and place the cans of gasoline at their feet."

                Beside me I heard Olivia ask, "What now?"

                Leo said without hesitation, "We go. Now!"

                Connors tried to overrule him and I pulled myself back to the 'here'.

                "No!" he yelled at her, "You listen to ME. You were in photo-recon. This is MY area! We go and we go now, right?" He turned to Dallas, who agreed, "Now."

                I said, "I think I know a way to get me and Olivia there quicker than Scooby and without being seen. What should we do once we get there?"

                Once again, Leo never hesitated, "Get the Commander, and that Dark Elf, if you can."

                "She's mine," Olivia said to me.

                "Fine - that Commander's mine," I replied.

                They all ran for the vehicles as I explained to Olivia what I was going to do - a spell concept had just popped into my mind. Maybe Corellon is giving hints out today or something. Anyway, Olivia agreed and set an invisibility spell on us for good measure.

                I took her by the hand and called up the Magic. Suddenly, even though there wasn't a breath of air moving, a wind swept us up and away and we whipped past the vehicles towards the Reservation. We raced across the desert and within minutes we were at the Command Center. I let the Magic go and Olivia and I waited for a door to open so we could slip inside. It didn't take long.

                We snuck in with our neuroguns at the ready. We looked in the conference room but it was empty. Olivia checked out the closet the Drow had hidden in but it was empty, too. She did find a small refrigerator stocked with some of those caffeine energy-drinks. She grabbed two cans and we downed 'em.

                We could hear a radio in the next room, "Tower One to Command. We've spotted a rooster-tail on the road leading in. One, maybe two vehicles moving this way fast. Wait - one looks like an RV, maybe it's just traders."

                We heard Turner's voice, "I don't care, if they close in - take care of them."

                We followed the voice and found his office and stayed out of the way while he paced. He called for a guard and asked where they were in getting the human shields in place.

                "Most of the women were down at the river, fishing, they're being moved now."

                "Good, let me know the moment they're in place."

                We were about to start looking for the Drow when a voice came over the radio, "Main Base! Main Base!" then there were thunks and screaming and then nothing but static.

                The Commander yelled, "What happened," and started for the door. I grabbed the water pitcher off his desk and broke it over his head. He fell to the floor along with a gush of water and broken glass. Unfortunately, I was also visible. Olivia helped me to get him into his desk chair. I was using some shackles I found to secure him when a voice asked, "Commander? Are you okay in there?"

                Olivia tried to lower her voice and said, "Fine. I broke the damned pitcher, get back to work."

                It was awful!

                The voice asked again, "Commander?"

                Olivia tried coughing and clearing her throat, "Get back to work!" The other person clicked off - oh, well, it was a boring conversation anyway…

                The door was kicked in and there stood a young man with his gun drawn. And there I was - standing over his bleeding and unconscious Commander, trying to get my neurogun into position. He took one look and ran out of the room. Immediately after he went thru it, the door swung again and I guessed that Olivia was chasing him. He staggered a bit, but kept going after she hit nicked him with a dart from her neurogun. At least I could see her now. I got a shot off but missed him just as he reached the alarm button. Olivia shot him a second time and he fell.

                Then, over the blare of the alarm we could hear something go flying over the building followed by an explosion. One of the TOW missiles? The lights went out and we were left with emergency lighting only.

                Another door opened and the Drow stepped thru it. She looked at the two of us and said, "Who the Hell are you?" Olivia fired and surprised the woman with a neuro-dart right in the throat. She dropped before she could take two steps. Then some large caliber ammo ripped up the wall over our head. Olivia and I fell to the floor and I tipped the Commander's chair over so he was on the floor, too.

                We used some electrical cords to secure the Drow. At least she had changed outfits - now she was wearing some clothes that were probably supposed to look 'magical' instead of 'spooky'; black leotards under some flowing, silk robes. "At least there are no moons and stars on them," Olivia said as we tied her up. Olivia used her fairie fire bead to search for anything magical on the woman. A ring she was wearing was all that began to glow. Olivia took it, but didn't put it on.

                We heard another missile fly over the building, more explosions and a lot more gunfire. Then Mitchell's voice saying, "Okay! Your asses have now been thoroughly kicked. Drop your weapons and on your knees." There was some more gunfire, followed by Mitchell yelling, "Okay, anyone else wanna try being a hero?"

                Our radio ear-pieces clicked on; it was Connors, "Okay, where are you two?"

                "In the Commanders office."

                "Both of you okay?"

                "We're fine. We've got the Commander and the Drow."

                "Come on out and join us, we've got a massive surrender out here."

                Olivia helped me put the Commander's chair back up and I rolled him out as she simply dragged the Drow by a leg. Outside we saw two guard towers burning and lots of bodies and body parts. Doing a quick scan of the area we saw all of our party present, accounted for and uninjured. And the injured residents we saw had nothing but cuts and bruises! Even Scooby and Velma looked unscathed.

                Dallas was helping the one Elder out of the cooler, Leo was using a master key to unchain some people while Alfred respectfully listened to what a couple Elders were telling him. An old woman saw what (or who) Olivia was dragging and started screaming in Navajo. Alfred translated for us. "She says the woman is a skinwalker, a shape changer. Says that she is Evil and must be destroyed." He tried to calm the poor woman down. Olivia and I bent to examine the Drow and a young girl offered to show us to her quarters, "Where she keeps her other skins." She led us to a small house, but refused to go inside with us.

                Inside we found a room that had a wall covered with the skins and pelts of different animals - there was even a human skin hanging amongst them. There was also a bookcase full of things regarding management theory, mind control and brainwashing. Olivia invoked her Mage Sight ring, and nothing happened. Nothing! There wasn't a single Magical item in the whole house!

                "It was all for show," I said.

                "Wait a minute," Olivia said, "Let me try her ring." She hesitated for a moment. "Get your neuro-gun ready. Just in case I get weird on ya." I pulled my gun and took a few steps back, better safe than sorry. She put the ring on and - nothing happened.

                The girl was watching us from the door and said, "It's not the ring. It's the skins."

                So Olivia took a wolf pelt off the wall and put it on. "Anything?" she asked.

                "Messed up your hair," I said.

                "Wha-?" she said. "Say something else - lie to me!"

                "Um, okay, we're going to be very nice to the Commander and let him go."

                "That's it! It's a Ring of Truth. When you said my hair was a mess you turned green, but when you lied you turned red."

                We took a look at the books and decided we'd better do something about the worst offenders. We could give the simple management ones to Caesar - his people sure need them. The girl was helping us stack the offending volumes outside and we were getting ready to light them when Leo came to check on us. He saw what we were doing went ballistic! Of all people - Leonardo Mitchell read us the riot act about burning books! He shamed us into agreeing to give them all to Caesar's people. "The mind control and brain washing books can be put to use 'curing' victims of such things," Leo pointed out to us. Finally he calmed down. "I came to tell you, Turner's beginning to come around." We followed him back to the admin building.

                Connors was waving some smelling salts under the man's nose. He shook his head looked around at everything and said, "This is not good. We didn't move fast enough. You took Kingman, didn't you?" We confirmed that, and he shook his head. "It won't matter," he said. "Yuma will stand, it's too strong for you." He sighed a big sigh and said, "The combination to my desk safe is 48 - 17 - 12, all the information you're looking for is there." I looked at Olivia; she was still wearing the ring and nodded.

                "Is it booby trapped?"

                "No." Another nod from Olivia.

                "Why are you being so cooperative?"

                "You're going to get the information out of me anyway, I'm simply saving myself all the pain."

                Leo went to get the stuff from his office and Olivia asked if we might find anything else helpful in his office. He shrugged. "That depends on what you're looking for."

                She pointed to the Drow, "Is it true she's a skinwalker?"

                He laughed, "Goodness no! That was merely a game to scare the Redskins. She really didn't need to do much after she skinned one poor man who dropped dead from a heart attack. One stroll around the place after dark in his skin did the trick." OK, the bitch must die! Olivia asked him for one good reason why we should let him live. I said, "Leave him here and let these people deal with him."

                He looked scornful and said, "I believe that at least two of your group are, or were members of the U.S. Military. They've sworn oaths that prevent them from that type of behavior. The Geneva Convention doesn't allow for such treatment of prisoners. Besides I've cooperated with you."

                Olivia asked him, "Why are you working with these people?" He smiled.

                "It seemed like a good idea at the time. They're better organized, stronger, and have the best chance of surviving the chaos." I glared at him and asked, "Tell me, does the Geneva Convention have anything to say about holding children hostage?"

                He smiled at me, "That particular method of maintaining order is most humane."

                "As is the use of human shields?" Olivia demanded.

                I saw Leo and Connors coming back and said, "Here come our military people now, so we'll let you talk to them about the Geneva Convention."

                Olivia pointed at Turner and said to them, "He's trying to invoke the Geneva Convention."

                Leo gave him the iciest look, "I know if I was you, I wouldn't try to hide behind such things. I'd be begging for our mercy."

                Again, the smile, "But you're the GOOD guys," he said, the sarcasm dripping from his lips. "You would never kill an unarmed man."

                Leo said, "Of course not. I'd give you a knife so you could defend your worthless life." Than he turned to Olivia and I, "Havasu is radioing and asking for codes." Olivia asked and Turner provided them. Olivia confirmed they were true. Leo gave her a questioning look and she gestured at the ring. "He's telling the truth."

                Leo asked him, "Are you omitting anything we need?"

                "No."

                "That's a lie," Olivia said.

                Leo asked him again and Turner said, "We can play these games all-l-l day, they're waiting for an answer."

                Olivia drew her gun and removed one of Turner's toes. Leo asked, "Now, what did you forget to tell us?"

                He provided another code. "He's lying again," said Olivia.

                "Just kill him, Leo," I said, "it'll be easier to get the answers from him once he's dead."

                Leo pulled his gun and shot Turner in the knee. Then he knelt in front of him, grabbed the knee and started to squeeze.

                That did it. He told us all, and it was the truth. He should have just stuck with his original plan to tell us everything. Leo went back to tell Havasu that the attack had been suppressed. Alfred came over and whispered to us, "The Elders don't want these men here anymore, not even as prisoners." He looked a little sheepish and confessed, "And I'm not real thrilled about just executing them all." Well that was a problem. There were about 20 men, plus Turner, plus the Drow. We sure couldn't take them with us!

                We were bouncing ideas around when another old woman walked up, pointed at a couple of soldiers and said something to Alfred in Navajo. It seems she witnessed those men beating her son to death and was claiming them in exchange. Alfred agreed that, as their traditions dictated, she had the right.

                Then a young girl (in her teens) came forward and indicated another man, "I want him dead!" she proclaimed. We asked if he had raped her but she wouldn't say.

                Dallas grabbed the man and hauled him forward, "This the one, ma'am?"

                She nodded and Dallas pulled his pistol and shot the guy right between the eyes in one swift motion. He then grabbed the next guy in line, shoved the gun into his crotch and asked, "What about you? You ever rape any of these people?"

                The guy couldn't breathe. "Think carefully," Dallas advised. "It could mean the difference between hard labor or dead." The guy confessed and Dallas threw him towards the Elders. "Anyone else want to confess and get it off your chests?" A couple other men raised their hands; they too were brought before the Elders.

                The Elders conferred for a moment and agreed to keep all the prisoners for labor. We helped them put the shackles on all their ex-captives and they agreed to 'take care of' the Commander as well. They didn't elaborate and we didn't ask.

                Then they indicated the Drow. "But that one must be destroyed! She is Evil."

                Olivia said that she didn't care if the woman died, but she was afraid they were going to burn her alive.

                We decided to try questioning her. Olivia got some duct tape and immobilized her hands, all the way down to her fingertips. Alfred was standing buy with his neurogun while I used some Magic to neutralize the toxin. She woke up quickly and looked around. "Talk to me," Olivia said.

                "What do you want me to say?"

                "Are you a skinwalker?"

                "No, that was just a scam."

                "Why are you helping these people?"

                "To prove my value and loyalty to the Great One. He has promised to lift this curse if I prove worthy of His assistance." She went on and admitted that she'd been a member of the Church of the Creator, Before. "This is all some sort of sick joke. It's Satan's doing." I don't know about Satan, but I did find the irony to be breathtaking, that a member of the Aryan Nations should wake up one morning to find herself black as ebony - beautiful!

                Olivia told her to make her peace; she wouldn't have to live with the indignity too much longer. The woman said a prayer to Jesus and Hitler and Olivia put her out of her misery. Some of the Navajo were still uneasy. They were sure that she was going to come back to hunt them. "If it would make you feel better to burn her, go ahead."

                Alfred picked her up, carried her to a clearing and laid her out. He started to gather wood and they joined him. Olivia told them, "Lady Jazz can call down a Holy Fire to take care of her, if that does not offend you." They had no objections, so I called on the Power and was rewarded with a blaze of searing light that ignited the pyre. The Navajo all looked relieved that she would no longer prey upon them.

                Connors came back to report that the codes they used had been accepted, but Havasu insisted on sending reinforcements anyway.

                "How long?"

                "Not long, they're pretty close to here. Ten minutes, maybe."

                Leo ran to Scooby and returned with a wooden crate. He opened it to reveal some claymore mines he'd picked up in Kingman. He and Mitchell started digging holes along the road to place them in. He told Connors and I to get the 'whitest' people into the guard's uniforms. One of the old ladies picked up an M-16, pointed it at the new prisoners and said, "You heard him, strip!" Once they'd gotten out of their uniforms, she shooed them into the 'cooler'. I started to gather up all the loose ammo and weapons that were lying around.

                "Olivia!" Leo yelled. "Go to the dead bitch's quarters, find some of her clothes, and get up on that balcony up there." He pointed to a deck on the back of the admin building. Olivia muttered something, but ran off to do it.

                Mere moments after Leo and Mitchell had finished covering up the mines and gotten back to the safety zone, we could hear the sound of vehicles. There were a couple of troop transports and Hummers coming down the road. I looked up and saw Olivia standing on the deck, waving for them to keep coming.

                They pulled up to the gate, right into the kill zone, and started to get out of the trucks. Leo yelled, "Fire in the hole!" and as we all ducked, he set off the mines.

                When the smoke cleared, we could see that the vehicles were shredded. Some of the people in them managed to escape, but the people in the stolen uniforms opened fire and took care of them. It was all over very quickly.

                Leo waved up to Olivia and called, "Okay you can come down now."

                Connors took a quick inventory of the carnage and announced, "It looks like half the graduating class." I clenched my teeth against gagging and began to pick my way thru the worst of the mess, looking for any weapons that might still be of use.

                I found a few salvageable weapons, but not many. It was late afternoon by then and while Mitchell was busy reloading the missiles, we asked the Elders to gather their people and we asked if any of them could tell us anything about what we were likely to find at the Lake Havasu training facility.

                A few of the younger men stepped forward to say they had been 'recruited' to help build the place and could draw us some maps. It was basically a palisade constructed along the lines of an Old West fort. There's no real way to get into the place without being seen. The wilderness area around the center was used for physical training and Lake Havasu City was used for live-fire training exercises. They have a couple of tanks and a towed field artillery piece, also.

                The young men also told us that when they take recruits into the city for the live-fire exercises, not all of them come back - someone in there is fighting back. We were invited to join them for dinner while we discussed our next move. Dallas and Mitchell were all for simply charging the place, while Leo and Connors were hoping to be a bit more circumspect.

                "If we do this tonight, are you two good to go?" Connors asked Olivia and I. We assured her we were and it was decided: we should do it tonight before they have a chance to really think about what's going on.

                About 60 of the younger men had decided to come with us and they brought around some trucks, a van, and a couple of troop transports the raiders had been kind enough to leave behind. The few who couldn't fit in the transports could squeeze into Velma.

                Dallas led again in Scooby and I followed him in Velma. Olivia turned the radio on so I could hear her tell Leo, "You be careful - you've got a date tonight." Damn! I knew she'd never let me forget.

                Leo said, "Business first."

                "She'll be gentle," Olivia said.

                What the Hell, in for a penny, in for a pound! "I'd never hurt your little brother," I said.

                "Eyes on the prize, ladies, eyes on the prize," he said. He didn't rise to any more baiting, so Olivia finally let it drop.

                After that we stayed quiet until Dallas judged we were a couple of miles away and slowed to a stop. We all got out to discuss what to do next. After throwing several ideas around, Leo asked me, "What about that 'whoosh' thing you did this morning? Can you do that again?" I assumed he meant the 'move like the wind' spell Corellon had let me know about. After a moment checking my magical energy reserves, I told him I could. He looked around the area for a moment before saying "We could probably get as close as, oh, say a mile and a half before we get noticed. You two can get in and do your thing, and if things go bad, we could be there in 90 seconds, tops." We agreed and he said, "Good, let's get you some radios."

                We geared up and Olivia wove the invisibility around us again. I took her hand and let the air take us. We went right over the main gate and hunted around a bit. Finally, I saw a spot behind a building and we 'landed' there.

                Once we were solid again, we took a good look around and reported back to Leo and Connors what we saw: six groups of 50 people each doing calisthenics in the plaza area, each group with an instructor watching them. There were a dozen or so men patrolling the grounds and we could hear quite a few people in the Mess Hall. Leo asked us what the men were wearing. (What? So now we're the Fashion Police?) "T-shirts or BDU's?" he asked.

                "Just t-shirts and mismatched sweats." "Good!" he replied. "That means they're just doing PT, not gearing up for a fight." Not ready for a fight is good!

                We headed towards the motor pool and saw they had two Bradleys in the open with their engines running. There were troops milling around the area. "What are they wearing?" Leo asked again.

                "Full gear this time, with weapons."

                "They're getting ready to move out. Find the commanding officer - there'll be a troop review before they move out. If you can delay the CO, you'll buy us some time," he told us.

                A soldier came out of the motor pool and headed towards officer country. I figured he had to at least be an officer - he was walking like nothing was going on - an enlisted man would have been running. As we started to follow him, we saw something else being driven into the open. A tank. A real, honest-to-goodness TANK.

                Olivia reported it to Leo. "Shit," he said, then, "You two aren't experts, though. In the vanishingly small chance that you're wrong, what does it look like?" After giving him a quick description, he came back with, "Fuck. An M-1 Abrams. I was really hoping you were wrong." Olivia tapped me and pointed to the officer who had been in the motor pool - he was almost to one of the buildings. We took off after him.

                We caught up to the guy as he approached an office with a sign reading "Colonel William Edwards, Commandant". He knocked and received permission to enter. He was kind enough to leave the door open so Olivia and I could slip in behind him. Inside, there was a man sitting at the desk. He was in full uniform and looked like a Regular Army type. The messenger reported, "The second Abrams is operational, sir. It'll be ready to move out in five minutes." Edwards dismissed him. The SECOND Abrams? SHIT!!!

                Edwards turned on the intercom and asked, "Still no contact with the farm?" I flipped the switch on my radio to the locked open position so Leo and Connors could hear all this. (I found out later that Olivia had done the same thing!)

                "No sir."

                "Anything from HQ?"

                "No sir."

                "Very well, carry on."

                Edwards went back to studying a map of the area. We took a few moments and peeked around the office, in case we could find anything interesting. There was a printed copy of the radio transmissions when Connors and Leo had been trying to bluff them. There was also a typed document that stated an informant in Training Group Charlie had reported five trainees who had been contemplating going AWOL. It went on to say that there was a general feeling of certain failure and personal disaster amongst the trainees. "But there are several members of Baker Company who do not share these feelings and remain very dedicated to their mission."

                There was a knock on the door. "Enter."

                In walked a female officer, I couldn't make out her rank - the insignia was strange to me. But it was easy to see that the uniform was Israeli.

                "We're ready to move out," she reported.

                He told her to take a seat and asked her, "So, what do you think is going on?"

                "Not an insurrection - too widespread." But while she was saying that she was writing on a note pad, "Honestly, I think it's Vegas. They're air-dropping Cats and taking our people out."

                Edwards wrote back, "What do you suggest?"

                She said (out loud), "I believe it to be some isolated elements. They've had the help of some infiltration." She was writing, "We're fucked."

                Now this was interesting! He believed his own office to be bugged. By whom? I felt Olivia tapping on my hand, and then she pressed something into it, her second neurogun. I took I from her and got ready. As she tapped 'three' on my arm she dispelled the invisibility.

                The Israeli was fast! She almost had her side arm out before Olivia pressed the gun to her neck. The colonel was not so fast. We took their weapons and Olivia said, "We just want to talk."

                They exchanged looks and nodded.

                "We hope to avoid bloodshed here if at all possible," Olivia said. I added, "And we are the people who took Kingman, and the farm, and the reinforcements you sent."

                "What do you want?" Colonel Edwards asked.

                "Why are you two working with these people?" Olivia asked. "You both look like respectable military officers. My father and my brother are both military and they would never allow themselves to get mixed up with something like this."

                "Someone has to keep order," Edwards said.

                "But we've never been happy about the sacrifices," the woman said.

                "Good for you," I said.

                "We have order where we come from," Olivia told them. Then she asked the woman, "If you don't leave this office soon, is anyone likely to start getting antsy and come looking for you?"

                "No, it's my prerogative to stay as long as I like." I looked at Olivia, she was wearing the Truth ring, and she gave me a slight nod; she had told the truth.

                "If you have any options, I'm open to them," the woman said. There was another nod from Olivia.

                Edwards sighed and said, "When this operation first started, the people sent here to train were very idealistic. But now… You know that we are controlled from further south?"

                "Yuma," Olivia and I said together.

                "Precisely. And the people they sent to establish the spearhead were volunteers. But the people I have here now were all pressed into service. There are some diehards left, though."

                "Yeah. Baker Company."

                "It's not that simple," he said.

                "Well what do you suggest?" Olivia asked.

                "When things fell apart this was all meant to keep the peace, but it's turned into a conquest. At the time there weren't many choices. Aztlan seemed legitimate at the time and Vegas had turned gladiatorial." We tried to assure him that the horror stories of Vegas had been grossly exaggerated, but he was having none of it.

                "If the President were only alive, I'd report to him for orders," he said. "He IS alive," we responded, but Edwards just shook his head. "There are people here who saw the body. Whoever you've seen, it wasn't the President." Great! He simply refused to believe that Jessie is still alive. "Her brother is in the group we're with," I said, "he's a Navy SEAL and he reports directly to President Ventura."

                Well, that only made things more difficult. "SEALS don't report directly to the President," he said.

                "Well, with everything that went wrong during the Change, some things got consolidated, but believe me, President Ventura is still alive," I said.

                Edwards looked to the woman; "Sari?"

                She nodded and asked Olivia and I, "May I have your permission to use some magic?"

                Olivia and I looked at each other. I trusted her but wasn't sure if she did. I nodded and so did Olivia. So, Sari began to chant in Hebrew and she sketched a sign in the air. Suddenly a bluish 'fire' surrounded both Olivia and I. "You will not be harmed as long as you speak truth," she said to us.

                I looked her straight in the eyes and said, "Everything we have said here is true."

                She looked at Edwards and nodded to him, they both seemed to relax. Then there was a knock on the door. When the colonel granted permission, a private came into the office and stopped short when he saw Olivia and I. "Sir?" he asked.

                Edwards reassured him, "Everything is all right, son. What do you need?"

                "Sir?" he repeated.

                Edwards tried again, "We are conducting an interrogation. We'll be out directly. Dismised!"

                The poor boy turned and left.

                Sari didn't dismiss the flames but said, "We have to decide what to do with each other, don't we?"

                Olivia said, "This should be easy. You're both military. You both know right from wrong."

                "Let me show you something" Edwards said, as he pulled a manila folder from a drawer. "I'm sure you're also aware that we've been using Lake Havasu City for a primary training facility. Before you judge us for that, take a look at these."

                They were photos. Dead bodies. "The locals," he explained. They were filthy, had matted hair, and their teeth had been filed to points. Then there were photos of some of his trainees. They'd been nailed to crosses and their hearts had been ripped out. "The people in there are feral, cannibalistic savages. We're not shooting up an innocent population. We're trying to root out an infestation."

                We put the photos aside and told them of a few options open to them: Kansas, Vegas, Jessie. "People with your skills and training would be welcome anywhere," I told them. Sari released the truth spell and the as the flames died down she turned to Edwards. "What do we do?"

                Olivia said, "We don't want to kill any of your people here. You know about the Azrael helicopters? We have access to one and could quite easily take out this whole compound." They acknowledged that they had heard rumors about what an Azrael could do. "And so has Aztlan. They're offering a huge reward for anyone who can get hold of one," Edwards said.

                Oh goody!

                They were quiet for awhile then Edwards seemed to come to a decision, "I know of enough people (unofficially) who are unhappy, but there are people in this camp who's job it is to watch the two of us and to kill us if we show any signs of disloyalty."

                "Do you know who they are" I asked.

                He shook his head, no.

                Olivia turned to Sari, "Your truth spell - I have a ring that does the same thing but your people would never know it was being used." We were interrupted by a knock on the door. The colonel had just opened his mouth to speak when the door opened and a man walked in.

                We wasn't in uniform, he was in a suit. And if he was with Aztlan, he was another hired gun. This guy was tall, blonde haired and blue eyed; definitely not a Mexican national!

                He smiled a creepy smile, but his eyes look dead and cold. "Colonel! Have you captured infiltrators and not informed me?"

                Edwards glared at him and said, "No. These two ladies just dropped in to ask us to surrender."

                The creepy smile got creepier, "Colonel, I indulged you with this Jew witch, but fraternizing with the Mud People is just intolerable." I couldn't stand it. I raised my neurogun and shot him, point blank. He pulled the dart from his chest and gave me a disdainful look. "Is that the best you can do?"

                He hadn't finished the question when Olivia let him have another in the arm. That one staggered him, but not for long. He shook his head sadly and said, "I'm afraid that won't do you any good."

                I noticed he had a sidearm, but he didn't reach for it; instead he reached towards the back of his neck. Before he could finish what he started Olivia was throwing some of her magic to disrupt what he might have been attempting. It didn't work - I could almost 'see' her magic crashing into his and breaking apart.

                The colonel reached for the microphone for the camp-wide intercom. "Avengers assemble! Avengers assemble!" he yelled into it. So they had some kind of action plan already! Sari was chanting and commanded Blondie to "Freeze!" but the same thing that happened to Olivia's spell happened to hers.

                Then we saw what Blondie was doing. He had grabbed some skin at the back of his neck and pulled. All his clothes and all his skin fell to the side. He seemed to erupt up and out, then we were facing something that was easily nine feet tall. It looked wolf-like, and had what looked to be a wolf pelt tied around its neck.

                Olivia identified it before I did, "Skinwalker!" she yelled.

                I sent a plea, "Corellon, I pray, do not fail me now!" and I felt a surge of energy go thru me that I have never felt before. The room was filled with a glorious light, and then a golden sword appeared over the creature and slashed down at it. The first slash sent the pelt to the floor in two pieces. For a moment, we saw a dark, wrinkled creature standing there, then the sword hit the creature and ripped thru it. It screamed once and vanished!

                We were all stunned for a moment as we caught our breath. I lowered myself to the floor; I couldn't remember when I'd ever been so tired. Then we all heard the sounds coming from outside; shooting, shouting, screaming. The radio kicked on and a voice reported, "Commandant, the eagle has landed."

                That seemed to snap Edwards out of his daze, "What the fuck was that thing?"

                "That," said Olivia, "was a skinwalker."

                "We need to burn everything that was his," I said and Olivia nodded in agreement. "Do you have any thermite?" I asked.

                "I think you'd better use some of that holy fire, just to make sure," Olivia said.

                There was another knock, but this time the man didn't wait for an invitation, he kicked the door open with his gun already up. As soon as he spotted Olivia, he was trained in on her. She very carefully holstered her gun and put her hands up. He didn't pay much attention to me, slumped in the corner.

                Colonel Edwards thanked him and told him to holster his weapon and report. "We lost seven, but we've got control of the area, sir," he said.

                "Good. Get everyone contained, gather all the people and strip them down. I want no troubles with prisoners," Edwards ordered. The man saluted and left.

                Olivia said, "Our people are probably on the way in." and tried to raise Leo on the radio, but had no luck; I tried mine, no luck. Then Olivia remembered that she had hers locked on transmit. She switched it to receive (as did I - I forgot, too) and Leo started swearing at us. Then he asked if we were both okay.

                Connors said, "Did I hear correctly? Did you two negotiate? I'm so proud of you!" Bitch… Olivia asked Edwards if our vehicles would be allowed to approach. He nodded, and said, "Of course. We should join everyone outside, anyway."

                Outside, the Colonel ordered the gates to be opened for the incoming vehicles. Looking around, we saw that his men had the 'enemy' stripped down and were shackling them. Olivia used her mage sight and saw that one of the men had a watch that was glowing. She asked if she could see the item. But as it was removed from the man's arm, it turned into a snake and bit the man who'd been wearing it.

                I rushed over and did some magic that should have taken care of the poison, but it didn't work. I could see the arm was beginning to harden. I tried a different magic, trying to dispel any evil working on the man, but that didn't work either. Before I could think of anything else to try, he was dead. Sari and Olivia joined me, but none of us could figure out what type of magic it had been. In just minutes, he turned completely to stone, then began breaking and cracking. Finally, there was nothing left but a small pile of broken stone. We got back to searching the prisoners.

                Olivia 'saw' another person with several different Magic items on her person. Colonel Edwards ordered her to remove them, but she refused. Olivia asked her to remove them and she refused again. "It's just jewelry," she insisted. Olivia shook her head; the girl was lying.

                We asked who she was working for, and she said, "No one!" That was the truth, at least.

                "Did someone make you wear these things?" we asked. "No." Again, she was being truthful.

                I did some magic to 'see' if there was anything evil about it. The jewelry was fine, but she was not! Evilevilevilevil!

                "Do you have anything to do with the Aztlan government," Olivia asked

                "No," she said. "I just want to leave here." Both true. "If you'll just let me get my things and leave, you'll never see me again."

                I asked her, "Are you human?"

                "As human as anyone else."

                "Yes or no," I said.

                "Yes, I'm human." Olivia nodded.

                "Please, let me go, I don't want to hurt anyone." Again, Olivia nodded.