Zero Hour 34

Lyle Anson blinked, peered around him, raised his head from his pillow. The sound of knocking echoed around his apartment. He stared at his bedside clock. "Four twenty a.m?" he said aloud. The knocking continued.

"I'm coming, dammit!" he shouted. He threw back the bedclothes, swung his legs out of bed, paused for a moment to rub the sleep from his eyes. The knocking on the door continued, steady and peremptory. He shrugged into a dressing gown, muttered "Lights," and blinked as the room gradually lightened. He made his way to the door. The video scan showed several humans in the hallway outside - no one he recognized. He touched the intercom panel. "Who is it?"

"Federation Security, sir. Please open the door."

Anson's eyes grew wide. His hand dropped away from the panel.

"Please open the door, sir, or we will need to use our security override."

Anson licked his lips. His mouth felt suddenly dry. He raised his hand hesitantly, pressed the door control icon. The door slid open.

"Thank you, sir." Four men - large human males. The first one raised his hand. He held a brushed-steel device in it, a thing about the size and shape of a playing card. He pressed a switch on its side, and a pattern of abstract lights danced briefly in the air. Federation Security's famous ID system. And it identified itself, mainly, to the secure systems in his home - they had full access, now.

"What's all this about?" he asked, as the security team came in.

They waited until the door had slid shut to answer him. "You are under arrest, sir," the first man said, as the others fanned out across the room, forensic tricorders in their hands.

"Arrest? Me? What for?"

"Sedition, treason, and conspiracy to commit genocide, sir." The Security man was absolutely calm and humourless. "Please accompany me while this site is secured for analysis."

"I -" Anson found himself at a loss for words. "Can I get dressed first?" he asked, almost plaintively.

"We may need to subject your clothing to analysis, sir. We've arranged secure transport to our holding area, where there's a full featured clothing replicator. We will respect your convenience as much as is compatible with our duties, sir. I'm afraid I have to insist, though."

"This is madness," Anson muttered. "Madness." The man took his elbow in a polite but firm grip, and steered him towards the door. "My neighbours -"

"Haven't been disturbed, sir." The man flashed an insincere smile at him. "Good soundproofing on these apartments, isn't it? Very comfortable. All the amenities."

"Amenities," Anson muttered. The door slid open again. He pulled the dressing gown around himself. Nerves. Just nerves, making him feel cold.

There were more people in the hallway outside. A more diverse mix, men and women and Vulcans and Tellarites and - Anson froze in the doorway, didn't move until the security man tugged at his elbow. One small, dapper, reptilian figure, out there in the hallway, watching him with lambent slit-pupilled eyes.

"Mr. Anson," said Aennik Okeg. "I'm honestly sorry it has come to this."

"Come to what?" A hot rage suddenly blossomed in Lyle Anson's heart. "What do you think you're doing, Mr. President? Do you think you can stop the Actionist movement by -"

"Mr. Anson," said Okeg, "we know."

"What? What do you know? Or what do you think you know?"

"Sir," said the security man, "I'm obliged to remind you of your right to silence -"

"I don't need to be silent!" Anson snarled. He shook off the man's guiding hand, and stepped towards the President. "What do you think you're doing? You can't arrest your political opponents! It's in the damn Charter!"

"Security will have told you the charges," said Okeg. "We've found the link, Mr. Anson. The link between Action Black and the other Actionist sections. And between Action Black and Kalevar Thrang."

That name, in the President's lipless mouth, quenched the fire of Anson's rage like a deluge of ice water. He stepped back. His own mouth twitched.

Then he said, "I deny everything."

"You have that right," Okeg said sadly.

"I deny everything. I have no connection to Kalevar Thrang or to the terrorists in Action Black. But I'll tell you something, Mr. President. I've heard of Kalevar Thrang, and I know how he works. He's good. Better than you. Maybe you've breached his security - but you won't have everything, far from it. There will be things only Thrang knows, data stores and systems only he can unlock. And without those, you won't have enough to prove anything, Mr. President. Sure, you can have me arrested, maybe you can even fake up a prima facie case against me - but you can't win it. I'm going to walk away from this, Mr. President, and you're going to be just another failed politician who tried a last-ditch smear campaign to bring down a rival. Tried and failed." There was an ugly smile on his lips, now. "Because if you want to take me down, you're going to need to take down Kalevar Thrang, in person. And you don't have anyone who's good enough to do that."