topaz shore
NT companions have already been well established that their original forthcomings were their issues with socialisation, and they are already observed to stay in packs and swarms throughout the rings. The main issue with this is their inability to collect their own remass, as even companions that you are in control of still need to collect remass from your ship, so this implies the existence of a 'station' of sorts willing to offer remass to any drones in the rings.
Whether this be a phage sympathetic to their needs (or completely rogue for that matter, they are AI as well) & offering it to them for free, a derelict with a remass capable MPU rudimentarily welded using thruster heat and repurposed into a station, or an amalgamation of the two. A form of station (or more than one, could work in colonies) like this could be situated anywhere in the rings, and likely be a place of drastically increased rogue drone flight paths. It would also provide a unique set of interactions between crew, such as hackers or AI haters (which need a fleshing out as well, as an underutilised role), as well as the rogue drone populace at large.
Whether it be a drone network across the rings, or more populated colonies in different areas, it could allow you to build a network of trust throughout them, or act as the money-hungry salvage slut terrorising their population through the theft of their ships. Any non-neutral alignment with their populace could allow for aid to come to you from positive acts with them, or aid in your destruction from negative acts, the choice could be yours. If you're at a good enough standing with them that they accept your place within them as a carbon being, they might even let you in on places in the rings rich in activity or minerals, or maybe something else.
FWIW, they could easily act like a third, independent faction, only getting into fights for their rights to survive and exist within the rings from the Enceladian overlords
terse ibex