Wanderer 3: Tainted Universe Read Online Free

everyone on high alert and the massive amount of firepower focused on where the freighter would arrive there was nothing more to do.  Marsh sat back to wait, trying not to let his own tension show.
     
    *****
     
    As the Silver Tramp eased to a stop at the agreed location Marsh allowed himself a deep breath.  Most of the room followed suit.  The freighter had been friendly the last time it visited, but that was no guarantee of anything.  Its behaviour so far was encouraging but Marsh wasn’t about to let his guard down.  He’d done that once before.  He was determined not to lose anyone else.
    “ Incoming transmission,” the comms officer called out.
    “ Put it through,” Marsh replied.
    A large screen flared to life in front of him, showing a middle-aged man with dark skin and fuzzy hair.  Marsh had never seen him before.
    “Where’s the captain?” he snapped out.
    The atmosphere in the control room changed in an instant, going from merely focused to razor-sharp.  Hands hovered over fire controls.  The man on the screen paled.
    “He’s… he’s in sickbay.  A container shifted unexpectedly.  Mashed his leg up badly.  He’s sedated at the moment.  I’m his first officer.”
    Marsh stared silently for a few moments, letting the tension build before he spoke.
    “Well Mr First Officer, you have a lot of people with very shaky hands holding them just above firing buttons.  I suggest you and your ship don’t give us any reason to feel worried.”
    “ Of course!  Of course commander.  I promise you have nothing to worry about.  We’re just here to pick up a shipment of food.”
    “ The usual amount?”
    The question seemed to throw the first officer for a few moments.  He’d been expecting more of a grilling.  Marsh knew there was no point.  Either things were on the level or they weren’t.  If they were then great.  If not there would only be one outcome - the complete destruction of the Silver Tramp .  Finally the officer managed to nod.
    “ Very well.  Hold your position.  The cargo will be delivered into your cargo bay.  Once it's completed we’ll inform you.  Until then you don’t shift a centimetre.  Got it?”
    “ Yes.  Yes commander.  And thank…”
    Marsh cut him off partway through, killing the connection.
    “I don’t like this,” he told the officers around him.  “At the slightest hint of trouble wipe that ship out.  No second chances.”
    Those in control of weapons acknowledged his orders.
    “Get the delivery under way,” Marsh said.  “The sooner it's on board the sooner we can get that ship well away from here.”
    Not that the Silver Tramp was that close.  Even at full burn it would take a good five minutes to cross the distance to the station, but that was far closer than Marsh liked.  He knew that two members of his team were doing nothing but scanning the Silver Tramp , watching for any sign it had dropped anything, or launched something towards the station.
    The delivery got under way.  It would take nearly thirty minutes to complete.  Thirty minutes of tension and nervous trigger fingers.  Marsh smiled tightly to himself.
    Easy duty my arse, he thought.
     
    *****
     
    Marsh watched as the last of the cargo containers was launched from Greenseed.  A set of automated cargo handlers grabbed each in turn and boosted it out towards the Silver Tramp .  More automated handlers waited out by the freighter, slowing the containers then loading them aboard.
    Those handlers, the ones that made contact with visiting freighters, would remain in position waiting for the next arrival.  None would be allowed to return to Greenseed.  No one was going to risk that.
    Finally the last container was loaded.  The automated handlers pulled away.
    “ Open a channel,” Marsh told the comms officer.  Moments later he was staring at the Silver Tramp ’s first officer again.  The man looked slightly less nervous than before, but not much.
    “ Loading is