Hmm... I'm still hoping Gambit and company aren't in this book at all and that all this is a story of what occurred during Moira's 9th life. Otherwise, this isn't going to make much sense without a bunch of reaching and suspension of disbelief.
My hope/theory:
All "sidekicks" are in fact various chimera created from the DNA templates of the X-Men we know.
Why:
The first gen Chimera possessed only one power and were considered "fodder" due to not being able to last very long in battle against the powerful man/machine forces. Vita (writer) described her creations as people that "grew up with posters of Storm/ Wolverine". That's basically impossible, assuming that's exactly what she meant.
I've seen a few horrible ideas online, not horrible as in 'bad idea' but not something I could imagine that anyone would want to read. Ive seen people pitch that they are using "super suits" or that they are cosplayers. While the 'super suit' idea stinks, but isn't too ridiculous - who in the world would want to read a book about some cosplayers? There does exist a cult of mutant worshipers and they could easily be members of them, but again... a book about that? I'd much rather this be about the Chimera, the lives they led, the propaganda they were fed and how it all led to the fall of Mars, and the exodus to Shi'ar space station Benevolence and conscription into the empire's armed forces.