A/N: Conflicts erupt on all fronts.

Not This August
Chapter 7

As expected, the Executive Council ended up in a debate over the information young Flowers had imparted. Sheldon sat quietly until his patience wore thin and he nodded to Leslie and made his way through the Beast to the rear door and exited. She followed him after a minute or two.

No one noticed.

"They will debate, argue and finally accept what they've heard and then turn to us for direction. Leslie, what is your opinion of the new threat?"

Leslie squirmed to find a comfortable place on the hard bumper of the Beast. It was a delaying tactic to enable her to gauge what Sheldon wanted to hear versus what she wanted to say.

"Throughout history, during periods of social unrest and deconstruction, a strong individual or group emerges and takes charge. I think this is just one such group. The Republic of Deseret was one. Why not another that is based on what's best for their future?"

"Their methods seem rather harsh and those they deem 'lesser races' are either exterminated or driven off. The Republic simply wanted to take care of their fellow Mormons. These people seem more inclined to reap riches and control for themselves at a cost to others."

Leslie leaned against Sheldon, slipping her arm through his and resting her head on his shoulder, much as she'd done in other times like at the resort in Wyoming.

"It might seem like that to us, Shel. We don't know conditions, resources, the amounts of social unrest and disruption. This Army appears to want to keep what's best from the here and now and build on it for the future. Isn't that what we're doing here in the Colony?"

Sheldon shifted uneasily, not because Leslie was leaning against him but because of her logic. Yes, the Colonials were trying to take the best and build on it but not from people who were equally desperate and the wrong color or ethnicity.

"You don't think the 'Laws of Racial Purity' smacks of Nazi Germany? Have they instituted concentration camps complete with ovens?"

"Sheldon, we can't take the word of one disgruntled deserter as Gospel. We need more information, more intelligence, before forming our opinions and from those, our actions."

He couldn't refute her logic or her sound advice. They did need more than one opinion and they had the reports from those recent refugees brought back on the ferry and those poor souls picked up outside Grayling by Dawn's Providers. They all boiled down to the other side of what young Flowers told them.

"I think we need to draw a line across Michigan and inform this so-called United States Recovery Force that anything north of the line is ours. Perhaps a formal meeting can be arranged and we can make our case. They can have the state below our line but we claim the lake islands and the Upper Peninsula as belonging to the Colonials."

Leslie knew that any further discussion was over and so she changed tacks and came at him from a new angle.

"I would like to make contact with our 'new friends'. Send me south with a delegation to some neutral place to meet and hammer out some sort of agreement. It's foolish to risk our scavengers and further deplete our resources by having armed escorts accompanying them. It's bad enough we take in anyone who appears needy. We have to conserve our resources. Winter is coming on fast."

Again, he couldn't dispute her logic although he was growing tired of her stance on taking in new arrivals.

"Agreed. Let's go back inside and make our case and see what the Council agrees to."

It was finally agreed that contact should be made, first by radio and then in person, as soon as possible. It was also agreed that Sheldon's 'border idea' was prudent and necessary. As for who would represent them, that was tabled for another meeting after contact was made.

In the meantime, David Hampton would continue to provide escorts for all recovery parties as well as scour the countryside for any and all military installations and empty them of resources and equipment and destroy or disable anything left behind.

Lansing, Michigan
Capital of the New Order

"Leader, we have received a radio transmission from the Occupiers of the Straits. They are requesting a meeting to discuss 'areas of mutual concern'."

"Did they say when and where they wished the meeting to be held?"

"No, Leader. Only that they wished to meet with the commanders of the USRF and their representative would have the ability and authority to speak for the Colonials."

"Oh? Is that what they call themselves? Colonials? Perhaps we should send a delegation of Cylons to meet with them?"

His aide had no idea what the Leader was referring to but then again, often the Leader spoke in parables and riddles.

Frederick Dyson looked at a map of Michigan and traced his fingertips over the Straits and then down to Grayling, the farthest his forces had advanced.

"Neutral territory then. Send back that Leader Dyson and his personal staff will meet with their delegation in one week at noon at the city hall on Gaylord."

He considered such a meeting a waste of time but perhaps if enough of the Occupiers' leadership were to be present, he could cut off the head of the snake in one blow.

"Also ask them for a listing of attendees and their roles within the Colony. One must always know one's enemies."

Two hours later the Colony transmitted their agreement and a list of the attendees: Leslie Winkle, Richard Carr and Sheldon Cooper. Leslie Winkle was the head of the delegation.

Dyson summoned the commander of the Point of the Spear and gave orders to move north of Grayling and lay an ambush for the Colonial delegation. He saw no point to such a meeting and had no intentions of attending.

He dismissed the Spear leader but then as an afterthought said, "If there are any survivors, I would like to chat with them, one on one, David. Especially the woman, Winkle. The more we know about them, the easier it will be to destroy them."

The Colony
Three days before the meeting

"David, if you were our enemy and knew that a high-profile contingent of the governing body of your enemy was going to traveling this highway, what would you do?"

The two sat on Sheldon's front porch well after the electricity was off for the night talking about various scenarios and the likelihood of foul play. They finally arrived at a course of action.

"Doc, you have an evil mind. I like it."