It has been an interesting discussion. Even though it wasn't me that started the thread I am pleased it hasn't evolved into a flame war.
Here is my take on this and yes I am a bit biased. Since I am the leader of the Xeno Alliance.
The Xenos themselves are really to poor to repair,outfit and fly anything larger than a gunboat. The XA's only have one of these, and it is a stripped down version.(SRP).
and I am asking for forgiveness in advance for the upcoming wall of text.
The History of the Xenos:
The Xeno movement has its roots on what used to be the two prime blue collar worlds, Pittsburgh and Houston, rich in mineral deposits. Time was when folks would work on mining them, smelting the ores and shipping them off to other places within Liberty to turn them into components for ships and other useful things.
That all began to change however, when Liberty began thinking more about its wallet than its people. New technologies from foreign houses were invented and instead of the great Ageira and Deep Space Engineering offering money for the license to manufacture these. They simply fired a bunch of tenured workers, hired low paying foreigners and bought the items direct, cutting out the middleman, the Liberty man. Then other houses began quick mining programs, disrupting the delicate balance of the planets they mined, they were able to mine and smelt minerals for less than Liberty.
Liberty became more about the mighty credit than ever before, laying off thousands of workers on both her mineral planets as they caved into the corporate pressure. These workers were skilled metallurgists, miners, fabricators and more besides. They had given their lives to make Liberty great and now they'd been betrayed. Some turned to comforts like drink and drugs; others rebuilt what they could of their shattered lives and got menial jobs for a fraction of what they had been earning before. The younger generation did not however. They could not stand by and watch as their fathers and grandfathers were reduced to nothing by a corrupt and uncaring government. So they turned to protesting, to demanding the injustice be set right. And for their troubles they got beaten, rounded up and thrown into Huntsville. Those that were not captured ran, procuring vessels and weapons. They headed out to the asteroid fields, the dark matter clouds, anywhere they could to escape the persecution. It would take them many years to get properly organized, but in that time they grew.
Eventually the first Xeno wing was established, flying nothing more than Starflyers and armed with limited tech. They harassed trade lanes and supply convoys with brutal efficiency for a group so under armed. New recruits were spreading in from Huntsville as those that were incarcerated spread the word and the beliefs. Ouray, Nome and Barrow all were founded and they all believed in the same philosophy, if we can halt the trade we can return Liberty to how she should be, great and magnanimous.
Nothing has changed in recent years except that most of our recruits are from Huntsville, disenfranchised with their lives or just the victims of an LPI press gang, they join the cause to help Liberty find her way back to greatness.
Hopefully this will give you all alittle more info about the Xenos.