Flagship by Mike Resnick

Security alert." She raised her voice. "Luthor, do you read me? What's going on?"
    "No problem," said Chadwick as his image popped into being. "Just a little problem with our newest crew member."
    "The Lodinite?" asked Cole.
    "Right," replied Chadwick. "Meloctin, I think his name is. He got confused, thought he was one level down, and walked into the infirmary by mistake. The situation is resolved, and he's back in his quarters."
    His image vanished.
    "It's hard to imagine someone getting lost aboard this old hulk," offered Domak.
    "That's because you've been aboard her for, what, seven years?" said Cole. "He's been on it less than a day. It is a big ship. It's outdated, and battle-scarred, and tired, but it's as complex as most Class Ls."
    They killed time for another half hour, and then the message Cole had been waiting for came in.
    "Captain Cole, this is Augustus Lake," said a tall, thin man with a shock of unruly white hair. "I'm the Acting Mayor of Gromyko. More to the point, I'm the only member of the city or planetary government left alive. We are willing to hear what you have to say. I'll feed the landing coordinates into your computer—you'll be setting down atop one of the few undamaged buildings. When you emerge, you'll find yourself facing an array of armed men and women. We will not fire without provocation, but you have to understand that we have lost our trust in people who proclaim they mean us no harm."
    "That's understandable and acceptable," replied Cole. "My assistant will also be armed, but if there is no immediate threat to my person, she will not use her weapons."
    "Give us thirty minutes to set everything up," continued Lake. "We'll take you to a secure room, what's left of what might be called our leading citizens will be there to hear what you have to say, and we'll have holo cameras standing by to transmit what you say to the rest of our citizenry."
    "Fine. Just give my computer the coordinates, and we'll be there in half an hour."
    "I apologize for our appearance," said Lake. "We've barely begun digging out of the rubble."
    "I understand, and I sympathize."
    The transmission ended, and Cole turned to Sharon.
    "Feel a little better?" he asked.
    "Augustus Lake seems like a decent man," she replied.
    "I told you there was nothing to worry about."
    "You didn't let me finish," she said. "He seems like a decent man, but you're going to be confronted by dozens, perhaps hundreds, of armed men and women, many of whom lost loved ones just a few days ago."
    "They know we didn't do it."
    "They also know we were the reason it was done," said Sharon. "You don't know that a couple of them won't be so blinded by their grief that they decide to kill the cause of it—the reason the Navy went berserk."
    "It didn't go berserk," said Cole. "It coldly and calmly attempted to destroy a planet that's been a part of the Republic since it was first colonized. That's what this is all about."
    She sighed deeply. "I know. I just want you to stay alert."
    "I've got Val. She's alert enough for both of us."
    And a few minutes later Cole and Val took off in the Kermit , spiraling gently down to the appointed rooftop in the shattered city of Gromyko.

 
    Gromyko smelled of death. Most of the bodies hadn't been removed yet, and the odor wafted up to the roof where the Kermit had set down.
    Cole turned to Val before opening the hatch. "No sudden moves. These guys figure to be more on edge than most."
    "Got it," she replied with no show of concern.
    "I mean it, Val. If your hip itches within four or five inches of your burner or your screecher, let it itch. You reach to scratch it, I can almost guarantee someone's going to take that as an excuse to shoot."
    She frowned. "Then why the hell am I here anyway?"
    "Not to face thirty or forty armed men," said Cole. "But once we get in the studio or whatever it's called, I want you to keep your eyes open."
    "You don't really think the Republic's got a spy here?" she said dubiously.
    "No,