Free Trader

Free Traders were a loose association of space-faring people of various races motivated by profit who were known to frequent certain areas of space in the 2270s. While some were legitimate merchants, many were refugees and pirates. Pirates were found more often in Free Trader Lanes, an area notorious for criminal activity. Free traders operated out of at least one space station.

Starfleet cadet Kyoshi Nogura organized a starship rally-style race to celebrate the birthday of his grandfather, Admiral Heihachiro Nogura. To add interest, he routed racers through the Free Trader Lanes. Kyoshi and fellow cadets visited a Free Trader Base, a space station outpost, and hired Captain Sturdevant to delay the racers. Sturdevant commanded a Free Trader Ship, a large vessel with pirate markings which was equipped with a cloaking device. Sturdevant held the cadets against their will, destroyed the starship USS Rim Explorer (NCC-3913), and tried to sell the Enterprise to Klingons. 

Surviving Kzinti from an assault against the Enterprise fled in their warship Blood Gnat to the nearest free trader outpost, its crew not able to return alive to Kzin. “From now on, we are pirates,” the ship’s captain declared. 

Recoiling from news he was permanently grounded in 2279, Admiral James T. Kirk resigned his commission and accepted an offer to become captain of the free trader ship Orion, a small warp-capable vessel he visited at a spaceport in San Francisco. The ship was said to be ferrying farm equipment to Epsilon-21 and had a crew of about 14. Kirk and Leonard McCoy discovered the ship actually was ferrying a group of Maroni slaves.