I caught myself wondering the same thing about her yesterday while doing patrols. I could very much see her being a front for one off the banned factions. I could also see her being in charge of secret intelligence for the tower. Her job selling shaders and emblems would be a good cover that would allow her to talk to guardians in a casual setting to collect information. Wouldn't be the first time an intelligence agency used a textile company as a front.

Could be Bungie-ism... Maybe there was a 4th faction originally and she was in charge of it. Then it got cut and for whatever reason she needed to be in the game (maybe for missions). What to do with her now? Well just put her as a merchant. This would be lame, and I can totally see them doing this after what they did to the game proper.

Dude this post is brilliant! I love conspiracy! To me it sounds like she has some sort of evil scheme in the works, Like she does more then "Supply guardians with shaders" =D

Interesting thought. Maybe even a black market or underground operations? There's a card that speaks of people trying to rig the Crucible, I believe. I wonder if it has anything to do with that? Curious line of thought I had not considered before.