The Sargasso of Space

The novel starts with Dane Thorson getting assigned to work as a Cargo master apprentice on a Free Trader ship named Solar Queen. A Free Trader (not working for any intergalactic trading companies) means that the crew has to take on trading contracts with remote and recently discovered planets, which can be very dangerous and unpredictable. The crew wages all their saving, including their own salaries, to win a bid for trading right with the planet Limbo. Upon their arrival, they learn that intelligent life on Limbo is very limited and trading is almost impossible, and they also discover that they are not the only humans on the planet. The criminal group used sophisticated machinery to crash and loot various ships on the planet. Dane and his friends are able to contact the police and shut down the system the criminals used. At the end, Limbo is handed over to the police and Solar Queen gets a much better trading contract.