Indies as part of the official factions in some way

[Arbs]

Well, there are some reasons. First many official factions have rank restrictions as in caps and so on. Another thing is that it would create for a relatively complex system for people who just want to go in-game get a ship they like and fly, as not everyone is much interested in that kind of RP. We could introduce a new rank or just use one of the current ranks, but under the secondary fleet you have a bit more freedom in terms of picking your rank and ship, which would give people not much of a reason to go for what you're proposing.

Either way, there has been ways in the past where we have connected more with the indies, as in the Liberty Navy Capital Ships Registry where people could fill in information about their ships/chars and be added to a chat where they were in touch with official faction people as well as other indies. Kinda similar to the what factions nowadays call "general chats or emergency chats" where they also allow indie players. So connecting indies with official factions can be done through rather simpler means.