This is the Inside War that has gone on from before the formation of the Federation up to today. With the Orion system located near the heart of the Federation, it is in a position of neutrality that can't be deterred by a neutral zone or military force. The Orion government is a legitimate body with a functional society with a university with a strong reputation and plenty of leisure resort destinations. The Orion Syndicate, the smuggling, trafficking, narcotics, gambling and prostitution are all the darker underbelly of the Orion civilisation. This is a functioning narco-state with a puppet-President and corruption running through all state organs including the police and military. Whilst the Orion government insists their freighters are all legitimate and that the drug barons are all under pressure, the truth is none of that is true. The Syndicate sends millions of tonnes of drugs and contraband out by freighters and merchantman ships every day. The \orion \\syndicate is very much a shade of grey, or green. Used by the Klingons, Romulans AND the Federation as go-betweens for spies, intelligence gathering and sneaking items over borders. Certain infractions were therefore 'overlooked' as payment for this service, for National Security purposes.

Orion. A neutral planet. A hub for the transportation of freight for the Federation, Klingon Empire and many other nations, since the days of the Earth Starfleet. Used as a staging post for the logistical supply chain to grow the colonies of Earth. The then-unknown Orion Syndicate used this logistical bloodstream to spread and grow their organisation; they seeded their operations into the fledgling Earth - and later Federation - colonies. The freight distribution facilities on Orion are vast, automated and have only a small number of Orions that maintain equipment, fix faults, and provide security. The ready availability of this vast distribution hub made it the go-to place for Starfleet, the Klingons and many other nations for trade and transferrance. The neutrality of Orion has served it well to allow freighters from ALL nations to use their port. It also serves the Orion Syndicate equally as well. They've been sown into the fabric of the Federation, right from the very start.

Orion and Orion III are like a mix of Dubai, Las Vegas, Amsterdam, Ibiza, Turkey and Bangkok: advanced pleasures and sky scrapers with seedier sides kept hidden away. The party, drug and sex culture is massive on Orion worlds; this appeals to younger visitors wanting the pleasures and to experience new things. The medical technologies, alien mRNA, nanotechnology and anti-aging or immortality tehnology appeals to the older generations, wanting to live beyond their years. Youngsters want sexual, appearance and cognitive enhancers: wanting to be better than the best of what they can be. Being able to get into advanced univerisites or Starfleet by boosting their abilities beyond what they had. Orion Syndicate Sicarios also use this technologies to be better at their jobs as assassins. Orion I has the old ruins, government buildings and the face of respectability, along with bars, beaches, pools, clubs, spas, medical facilities and all the pleasures one could want for a top-flight holiday destination. All about offering what the UFP can't, or won't. Whilst the Federation will recify an injury, they won't enhance abilities. The Orions will. Pharmaceuticals creating temporary empathic or telepathic abilities are the top of the narcotic trade. Why wonder about the secrets of others when a pill or injection of alien neurotransmitter or mRNA can give you telepahy for an hour. Risks without the usual Vulcan or Betazoid training can include paranoia, insanity or death - especially with overuse. Popular with criminals or the curious/nosy.

Author's notes:

With Star Trek: The Interim Years wanting to address modern issues, there was no way that the issue of global criminality, trafficking, modern slavery and narcotics couldn't be missed out. The Orion Syndicate organisation had been introduced in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,ironically never featuring any Orions. Orions were then featured in later Star Trek series and movies. Here it allcomes togather with the people and the organisation, sensitively and honestly depicted to not lionise, excuse or glamorise criminality. The stories for ST: Underworld will flesh out the Orion Syndicate. This is a different kind of Star Trek threat: insidious and omnipresent; nowhere is safe. Nowhere. This would be a rated 18, gruesome and violent threat, killing in horrific ways to make a point. In a universe without money, criminality is all about power and influence. This criminality crosses astro-political lines, from nation to nation, irrespective of border or neutral zones. Through recruitment, intimidation, coercion or blackmail the Syndicate has agents for operations in all areas of the Federation and elsewhere. At the same time, I needed to show the attraction of the Orions; why does this self-evidently dangerous world exist with cruel criminality, yet the Federation hasn't crushed it. The answer is, there is a need for it for the youth: a place to party and break the usual rules. Like Americans going for Spring Break in Cancún, Mexico, they're getting away from their parents to lose their minds and find themseles in the clubs and parties on Orion. The Syndicate will be happy that all the wealth and potential comes to Orion. People are people are people: people will seek out what they enjoy and the spice of doing something forbidden, or even illegal, just makes the high that bit more worth it.

The Orion nation, like the Klingons, Vulcans etc. needs to avoid becoming a homogenous one-role people. The Syndicate is a criminal organisation like the Russian Mafia. Like the mafia, it's not the defining trait of the Russian people. The Orions have one of the most extensive cargo distribution facilities in the Alpha or Beta Quadrants. Like Felixstowe, Shanghai, Dubai, Dalian, Los Angeles or other intermodal container ports around the World, Orion has a vast continental-sized complex of automated container transports and transporters. The lean-manned port has enough Orions, in their utilitarian branded jumpsuits, to tamper with the containers on the behalf of the Syndicate. Given the millions - or billions - of containers that are transferred ever hour of ever day, it's impossible to track the contents of every single item in every container. I wanted to give the Orions a reason to be the main freight artery from Earth to Orion and then onto the Rigel colonies and Deneva. The Star Trek Star Charts book by Geoffrey Mandel shows Orion to be this direct freight route. If all they were was pirates and the Syndicate then the Federation would never use the system and blockade them. Instead it's this indispensible freight distribution hub through which pretty much ALL freight comes through - more then likely as they have a giant port which means the other planets can be developed for colonists etc. It makes for a species that's not homogenous and can actually have members that join Starfleet (like in the Star Trek movie in 2009) and not just be the villain of the week.

It took until Gaila in the JJ-verse and D'vana Tendi in Star Trek: Lower Decks for the Orion people to become main characters in Star Trek, Indeed Tendi is a lead character. Hopefully she will become a source of canon information for the people and culture. The first episode, Second Contact, provided information such as she has never seen sand (strange since the action of wind and water on rock, or sculpting of rock, would produce sand of some type). Curious. The Adashake Centre seems to be a sandstone ornate square with trees, flowers and sandstone columns. This suggests a functional civilisation with the Syndicate hiding away in the shadows. Rather like the Triads, Yakuza or Russian Mafia. In some respects, it can be hard to tell the difference, on the surface, between a successful corporation and a criminal organisation. The Japanese Yakuza make a good prototype for the Orion Syndicate; eloquence, finery, honour, tattoos and piercings disguise the viscious, sadistic, vengeful nature of the Syndicate. Thugs in fine clothes. Traditional Japanese bonsai and values can provide a basis for Orion culture and society; gaudy neon skyscrapers match effortlessly with traditional buildings from another era. What is viewed by the outsider as slavery, could be like the geisha: a far more complicated tradition. Tea ceremonies, bars and business loyalties are alongside the equally ancient Orion Syndicate. There are loyalties in the Orion culture that are every bit as important as those in Klingon or Japanese culture. Star Trek: Lower Decks also called into question the 'pheromone' storyline of ST: Enterprise 'Bound'. This was introduced to reverse the image of green women seen as objectified mysogynistic imagery; which is exactly what it was. The pheromone storyline changed this from one form of unacceptable bias to another: that men could be controlled by chemicals. In the Interim Years, ;ve settled on successful business acumen being the reason for success rather than genders.

The Orion culture is one of extremes: extreme pleasure and enjoyment on the one side, and vicious, cruel, greedy ciminality on the other. Orion Prime and Orion III are known for their parties and raves, with Orions offering escorts, drugs, drinks and the best music and DJs for a mind-blowing experience. Indeed, some of their drugs mimic the abilities of Betazoids or Deltans, expanding the mind and offering an eperience that non-empaths or telepaths can have. These Orion worlds are like Ibiza, Monaco, Dubai, Las Vegas, Rio de Janeiro and Berlin all in one. Criminal cartels are never far away from the clubbing and gambling culture. The 'Warp', Singularity' and 'Pulse' nightclubs of Orion are based on legendary Ibiza nightclubs of the late-80s like 'Amnesia' and 'Space'; the trendsetters for the Second Summer of Love in 1988 that created the Rave culture that made the 1990s. As with that period of music, drugs will play a major role in the popularity of Orion - the Federation is very much anti-drugs and Orion neutrality can be played to the fullest. Psi abilities can be mimicked by designer drugs and the risks of suddenly being able to do so will be very real. The 21st Century drug experiences of LSD, coccaine, heroin and marijuana will be left behind by what the supersciences of the 23rd Century will be able to achieve. Then comes the big debate: if a drug is created with few negative side effects except to zone peope out in nirvana, should it be banned? The other question: if a drug made you able to read minds for a few minutes or hours, would you take it, despite the risks? This is where a tab or tablet of a 'legal high' gets classed like alchohol: an 'acceptable' drug, unlike weed or even tobacco today. Remove the loss of control, cold turkey or hangover, the drug might even be desireable.

The Orion Syndicate. The Syndicate princes have their own space yachts that are as impressive in size as they are facilities. The yachts are the size of light cruisers with all of the luxuries of a much larger pleasure cruiser; except this is all for one or two individuals to enjoy as they're pampered by their crew as they run their Syndicate operations. The yachts are as fast as Excelsior and have the firepower of a Miranda class starship. The Orion Syndicate has a strong presence in the Rigel colonies and Deneva, as well as the myriad backwater colonies that were set up in haste in the early days of Earth Starfleet expansion that have now exhausted their dilithium and other minerals. The Syndicate is the ultimate opportunist for a downturn in fortune. The Orion Syndicate traditionally recruits those seen in historical times as being of the lowest outsider class; an inherited disadvntage. The tattoos, visible only under ultraviolet light, start with the syndicate affiliation tattoo whch is earned initially. The new member is 'witnessed in' by an existing member. The tattoo shows the permanent loyalty henceforth of that individual to the syndicate. Further accomplishments are celebrated by additional tattoos. Loyalty and respect are as important to the Syndicate as it is to Klingons or Japanese society. Earning income through protection, intimidation or hustle is merely seen as continuing atradition from ancient times. The Orion Syndicate, politically, is like a lobby group, intimidating both corporations and political parties until they get policies that are favourable to the Syndicate. The Syndicate is thought to be structured around a family boss (who themselves answer to the Godmother), under them is the Administrator, First Lieutenant and Second Lieutenant. Under the Administrator is a legal adviser and an accountant. Under the rest are so called big brothers and little brothers that act on the bosses authority via the lieutenants.

Orions are green-skinned cartel traders. Shades of green vary from pale green to olive to darker shades of emerald. They are honourable as far as a trade deal goes, unless there is a bigger deal to be made. Orion males tend to have body piercings and bolts screwed into their heads as decoration. The Orion Merchant prince tends to dominate the blackmarket trading in an area, with the rivals usually being `persuaded` to move on or simply vanish. This is commonly done by selling Orion females on the Orion slave market. Orion success is based more on the business acumen of the male - or female - Orion. This can lead to them becoming a Street General.

In modern history, the Orion Syndicate has increased its presence from traders and black marketeers to piracy and now insurgency into Federation society and government structures. Historically the Orions were addressed with patrol ships and occasional encounters with Pike, Kirk and other captains of explorer starships. The issue, like the Mexican-US border, has now increased to the point where Starfleet has to allocate a sizable amount of available resources to address the issue. By 2293, with the Klingon Houses now ensnared by the Orion shadow empire, Starfleet has increased their Borderland task group to include an Ascension class light dreadnought flagship, an Athabasca class assault ship, Lexington class command cruiser, Belknap class cruisers, Akula class defenders and an abundance of Okinawa class frigates. All of these are supplied with information from Monitoring stations, probes, drones, along with Antares class AWACS, Endurance class, Trista, Kestrel and Phantom class ships. The truth simply is that the Orions can cross into Federation space and hide amongst the vast numbers of legitimate traders, merchantmen and freighters. There aren't enough starships to follow up every incursion and lead.

An example is the colony of Asimia IV, which was a major dilithium colony in the 22nd and 23rd Centuries. It was a part of the Great Dilithium Rush and helped to build Earth Starfleet from the ground up and establish colonies out into the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. The dilithium was exploited with no big concern for the environment in this planet that was largely untouched forests and oceans. The dilithium has now largely run out, reducing this colony to a Federation backwater and a place where the children and young adults feel there is no future beyond building towns and families. The Orions make this backwater feel important again, redirect supplies their way and provide the entertainment and excitement that the younger people seek. It allows the Orion Syndicate to have a world in which they can launder their finances and blackmarket trades; it's a stopping off point before taking their trade deeper into the Federation. The loss of status of a world or nation is an opportunity for the Orion Syndicate.

The Tabula Rasa Campaign has been a useful piece of Orion history. Not only did the Syndicate gain advanced technology from their encounters with the Taubat and Metar, they also gained 'dirt' on the three Beta Quadrant governments that were involved in the campaign. Questionable activities had been done on all sides, and the Orions would use this information to compromise and coerce, getting their own plants into Starfleet and various government agencies of the Federation, Klingon and Romulan Empires. Starfleet Security, Starfleet Intelligence, Section 31 have all tried to place agents within the Syndicate. The Syndicate might have agents, or double agents, in the intelligence agencies of the three governments. With agents from one or more intelligence agency are embedded in the Syndicate. The questions are: WHO has been TURNED by the Syndicate? Who is still RELIABLE? How much does the Syndicate know about those people planted in their organisation? Do they MANIPULATE these embedded agents? Are the agents being USED by their OWN side? By BOTH sides? This is a grey area with the ends being used to justify the means, in order to compromise the Syndicate. How much do the agents know about each other, if at all? How much do they help or sabotage each other? How much do their own spy masters confound them in order to maintain a useful Syndicate that they can use for cross-border missions? How much do the spy agencies want to be seen fighting the Syndicate, without actually harming the useful aspect that it has? How many spymasters are themselves turned or compromised, and don't want the Syndicate actually harmed at all?

Rear Admiral Chan, onboard the Ascension class light dreadnought Tai Shan (NCC-2524) in charge of the Borderland Task Group, had this to say about the Orions. She said that the Klingons have been exagerrated into the primary threat over the decades, that they would come over the Federation border like the Red Army over the West German one was feared in the 1950s and 60s. The truth is that the Klingon incursions over he years have been minimal. The Orions, by comparison, are not a brutal battle fleet waiting to invade over the border; that would be straightforward to address with Starfleet sending dreadnoughts, carriers, cruisers and escorts to repel the invaders. The Orion Syndicate is an insidious existential threat to the United Federation of Planets. The Federation offers the dream, the dream of freedom and to explore and be who you want to be. Except don't do that as it's bad for you. Don't do that as it's morally corrupt or wrong; the Federation freedoms come with rules and guidelines. The Orions sell a different kind of freedom: TOTAL freedom. You want to try drugs? sure. Get a mind-bending experience only Vulcans, Deltans, Betazoids and Aenar enjoy. You want to gamble? okay. You want to have your own slave? no problem. Want that belonging that you can't replicate or get anywhere? we'll get it for you. Want sex with a prostitute of the best calibre? Absolutely. The Orion Syndicate offers anything for the right price. There are no moral or ethical limitations. For a rebellious teen or young adult, this is the total freedom and exciting limitless potential that they crave for lifetime experiences.

This model of criminality works. It worked on Orion, toppling their govenment for a criminal syndicate. It uses legitimate traders and freighters on the main trade routes to transport anything they want. And there's no realistic way of policing every single merchant or freighter that treverses Federation space. There are 8000 Starfleet ships against milions of freighters; it's impossible odds. The United Federation of Planets will have to work hard to sell their vision of freedom, peace, liberty and justice - and most importantly morality. Meanwhile Starfleet must do its best to secure the frontier with the Borderland region and do random stop, scan and search to police the goods coming into and out of the Federation.

Orions are all about business. Business with no rules and no limits. Business is about building up a trade relationship and from this relationship building up influence and more business connections and so on. The orion Syndicate is an etherial construct, it doesn't exist in terms of a map on a wall, but it is more a shadow empire which covers the political speres of many other races. Orions travel across borders and go wherever there are business deals to be made.

Orions trade in any goods: drugs, slaves, weapons, food, gas and brides. Whatever trade makes the business deal, the Orions will trade in it. This is why the Orions are policed upon so heavily by the [by comparison] rules-laden Federation. Orions are often described in terms of being "Pirates", whereas actually the Orions are merely engaging in obtaining the goods that their customer wants to have. The fact that somebody already claims to possess the object is of no concern to an Orion. One of the more common sights in the colonies is Snakeleaf plant, which is sublimated and smoked in a traditional Orion Hargl, used as a mild narcotic.

I had to think what the difference between Ferengi and Orions is. Well, firstly at this juncture in time we haven't met the Ferengi [I'm ignoring the appearance in Enterprise as we 'don't know' about it being Ferengi]. Secondly both races seem to trade, so what is the difference?

The simple answer I came up with is that whilst the Ferengi are the capitalist profit-makers of Star Trek, Orions are more the blackmarketeers of Star Trek. No ethics, no qualms about what they trade, an orion will trade to gain morer trade and make more connections. Whereas a Ferengi wont trade if theres no profit, an Orion will trade if theer will be favours in return which will benefit their future enterprises.

Orions have no ethics on trade, they are the CD and movie downloaders of Star Trek, they are the bloke in the pub with the watches off the back of a lorry. Stolen goods is simply goods acquired through other means. Whilst the Ferengi aspire to buy their own moon, the Orions aspire to build a shadow empire of trade and deals.

Orions are the merchant princes of the universe, trading to gain power and influence in the area. This is the frontier of the Federation and a little beyond that, and if the Orions can gain influence then that will aid them double - foiling Federation expansion whilst gaining the Orions another bolthole.

Watch out for Orion influences, you just don't know how far it may have reached...

Orions arrived on the colony of Nimbus III in the years before the Galactic Planet of Peace was ever established as such. The Orions saw an opportunity to exploit the resources of the planet and gain a foothold on the world. Business means influence and influence brings power and empire.

Welcome to the Venus Club - a newer, much larger, version of the bar which was the central feature in Paradise City, Nimbus III. Run by an Orion merchant prince - Vikstaad Jaanz - the club provides multiple floors of gambling, drinking and assorted other entertainments. Orion slave girls lurk around the site as well - there are always two flanking Vikstaad.

On the surface the club presents a very respectable facad, with burly alien bouncers on the door ready to repel any uninvited guests or drunks. Jaanz also encourages a relaxed atmosphere with no uniforms - one wonders if this is because he doesn't want security sniffing around his business.

Whenever visiting Nimbus III, this is the place to come to enjoy yourself - if you have the credits, it's also a place to make deals and find that elusive something you are looking for...

Gambling machines jingle, credits change hands, music blars with exotic dancers, whilst there are always quiet tables for quiet chats too...

As Quark showed in DS9 by applying to join the Orion Syndicate, the Orions are something the Ferengi aspire to be....

D'Nesh, Devna, Harrad-Sar, Maras, Marta, Navaar, S'sana, S'zama, Vikstaad-Jaanz.