Editing Orion (section)

==Trade contacts==

The first known Orion contact with Humans was made with Arik Soong during the 2130s. Soong established a relationship with the Orion Syndicate in order to acquire certain goods and equipment that he and his Augments needed to survive. (ENT: "Borderland")

The Orions actively conducted trade with the Earth Cargo Service during the 2150s. In late December 2152, an Orion freighter was scheduled to rendezvous with the ECS Horizon; however the Horizon failed to make the transfer. (ENT: "Horizon")

By the mid-century, certain Orion entrepreneurs, including Harrad-Sar, had made contact with the [[Gorn Hegemony]]. (ENT: "Bound")

By 2155, the Orions had established trade with the [[Coridan]] "for centuries." That year, during the formation of the Coalition of Planets, the [[Tellarite]]s pushed for an embargo against the Orions, claiming that several of their freighters had been attacked by the Orions. Considering their long history of trade with the Orions, the Coridan stated that they would have known of these apparent attacks, refusing to believe what they considered to be "Tellarite slander", which they believed was simply a Tellarite attempt to deprive them of valuable commerce. (ENT: "Demons")

Little did the Coridans know that a century later, Orion smugglers were actively raiding [[Dilithium]] from the Coridan system. The Babel Conference of stardate 3850.3, a prelude to Coridan's admission into the Federation, jeopardized future Orion raids, as Coridan would then become subject to Federation law.

In 2268, the Orions circumvented their neutrality by attacking the USS Enterprise, which was responsible for transporting delegates to the Babel Conference.

Among the delegates was an Orion spy, Thelev, disguised as an [[Andorian]], who in association with an attacking Orion scout ship made a futile attempt to prevent the conference by destroying the USS Enterprise. Had their attack on [[Starfleet]] succeeded, they would have instigated mutual suspicion and possibly interplanetary war. Had war broken out, they would have cleaned up supplying dilithium to both sides while continuing to raid Coridan. (TOS: "Journey to Babel")