Free Trade Union
An alliance in the Ithassa Region
The Free Trade Union (abbr. FTU) is the largest confederation of trade vessels in the Ithassa Region. It has a quasi-political status, mostly designed to attempt to give trade vessels some autonomy over and against the various larger powers in the region.
Each of the Free Trade Ships (abbr. FTS) is autonomously run, and tends to have a crew of various species from the region. But the ships pay a periodic fee, which lets them dock at FTU bases, and be supplied and repaired. There also is a certain level of shared information and technology.
The typical FTS tends to be rather heterogeneously constructed (though not grotesquely so), with a heavy emphasis on shielding and armor. The engine technology is less developed than the Federation -- defense having been the FTU's major research focus. The actual locations of the FTU bases are very heavily guarded secrets. They tend to be in hard to reach places (magnetic clouds, asteroid belts, etc.).
Members of the FTU tend to be on the fringes of society, often joining up when an FTS makes an appearance at a neutral port. Many crewmembers have a dream of buying their own ship and captaining it. Some of the other major powers hunt the FTU actively, but others tolerate them for the goods they bring in and for a kind of "steam valve" effect.
Recently the FTU entered a treaty with the Federation brokered by Admiral Anassasi commanding the USS Independence at their Furies Furance Base.