Orion Free Traders
The Orion Free Traders are a group of Orions who operate as merchants throughout the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. They are a political as well as Mercantile system of like-minded merchants and Orion citizens who oppose the more criminal elements of the Orion Syndicates. This is not to say that they do not conduct illicit deals, but that they generally are not as prone to criminal dealings as their more aggressively minded counterparts.
It seems, however, that due to the prevalence of the Syndicates, that the Free Traders are often mistaken for their less ethical brethren. It does not help that on occasion the Syndicates may pose as Free traders.
In 2373, Cadet Nog spoke to several Orion Free Traders in Quark's, who told him that they had heard from a Vulcan diplomat that the Romulan Star Empire had signed a nonaggression pact with the Dominion. (DS9: "Call to Arms")
