System I/C-T: Snuddian-Satellian Mercantile Relations Hub
Hunf was relieved to be back in familiar surroundings. The big new ship was fun and all, but well, it just wasn't his scene. He'd failed to make any new business arrangements during his trip, as the Satellians seemed a little too preoccupied, or perhaps intoxicated, it was hard to tell. It didn't help that he'd been feeling a little nauseous the whole time. He also felt something bordering on resentment for all the attention the new ship was getting from the Satellian news networks. It was currently hovering not far from the Hub, but due to disappear off to Sneed in a few days. Hunf had a 'place of respect' on the trip, he'd been told, if he changed his mind about accepting it, which he didn't think he would.
Here he was in the Snuddian-Satellian Mercantile Relations Hub, generating wealth for both their species, a true Snuddian triumph and landmark in the history of inter-stellar economics, yet the Satellians hardly seemed to recognise this at all. But the important fact was that it was profitable; the station had already covered its construction costs and was now generating a healthy income. Satellian ships of all kinds were regular visitors, some of them now virtual employees of the new Snuddian corporations. The Satellian 'authorities' had eventually contributed a few token gestures of cooperation; a couple of Walker-Rockets, forty-metre mechanical space insects, were magnetically attached to the outer rim of the station. They were supposed to help with all kinds of maintenance and cargo-related tasks, but strangely only seemed to work reliably when one of the Satellians was visiting the station. They were now used mainly to balance out any wobbles in the hub's rotation.
After catching up with his fellow Snuds, Hunf was about to settle into his assigned notch for some rest when a priority message came though: a mentally-disturbed Satellian was currently on the run, considered hazardous, especially because this one had some technical skills. The thought of a one-ton psychotic alien seemed both frightening and ridiculous. Space was certainly full of surprises. Hunf checked the status of the internal security pods before finally settling down for a well-earned rest.
System I/D-R: Planet Haefar
After the initial bout of material exchanges between the Satellians and Hletho, things had slackened slightly. It seemed the Satellians had all the metals they needed for the time being, and there was only so much of their mechanical and tunnelling equipment that the Hletho could make use of at once. The main requests from the Satellians were now for things relating to fleet maintenance: power cells, electronic components, construction gear, and various space-born drones; one Satellian Heavy-Duty Lander had just taken off from Haefar with a full cargo load of Zir craft. Satellian technology was fairly modular in nature, in many ways similar to and surprisingly compatible with its Hletho equivalent, though the Satellians seemed far less organised when it came to technical standards; this was one of the reasons why they were content to adapt their own gear to incorporate Hletho technology wholesale, rather than the other way around.
Some Satellian ships were coming to the miraculous twin planets of Haefar and Joliat just to see them; token goods were exchanged, after which the Satellians pilots seemed to have fun experimenting with different orbits around the twin planets, sometimes being politely reprimanded by the Hletho for their antics. At any time there was usually at least one Satellian tourist-vessel parked in the centre of gravity between the two worlds. Each of the planets loomed large in the other's skies, which the Satellians found pleasantly reminiscent of the gas-giant Ahrmm as seen from their home-moons.
Exchanges of a more scientific nature were also taking place. A large Satellian Lander was now touching down on Haefar with a cargo of deep-crust rock samples from the inhabited worlds of Hmmaiaa, Maraa, Ulumm-Bukk, and Mmaru-Mu. It also carried stacks of microbial samples from five different alien ecosystems. As the dust cleared, a ten-limbed Satellian occupant emerged to help the Hletho with the unpacking. This individual was one that the current operator of the landing-beacon had met several times before.
'Teeka Takk Tekka Takk!'
Vorsa Bren noted some changes to Hurronnue since their last meeting. His eyes were goggle-less, some kind of bandage covered one of his front paws, and another asymmetric pair of antennae had grown up between the four mechanical arms on his back, providing plenty of paw-holds for the smaller and rather more animated Satellian that was riding ontop of him. The youngster had only four limbs, a thinner and more tapering torso, comparatively-large eyes and mouthparts, and seemed to be swivelling round excitedly in order to take in its surroundings.
'Cheers, Orrsaa Brenn' - evidently this Satellian had learned to recognise her, which was unusual, and he was also able to pronounce her name fairly well, albeit in slow-motion - 'I hope you don't mind, I brought one of my younger relations along for the adventure. This is Ghurue Juonnue. She is... Lets see now... The daughter, of the daughter, of my half-sister. Hmm... Would you Helehho have a specific term for that relationship?'
'A third-generation descendent of one of your parents?' Bren was unsure about the nature of the question, as she was about the alien interpretation of 'adventure', but she found herself wondering just how tangled the Jahahunoun family trees could get. It seemed they often lived long enough to meet their own fifth-generation descendents, at which point these were considered viable mating partners, assuming that healthy genetic variety had been introduced by that stage, though there seemed to be several conflicting social conventions about that. As for the Sanudo, they seemed to have rather fewer conventions. The reproduction methods of these hermaphrodite races were certainly interesting.
'Yes... Hmm, anyway...'
'You are most welcome -'
'Teeka Takk Tekka Takk!' added Jounnue. Bren thought that the youngster was attempting to imitate the sound of Hletho laughter in slow-motion, though she was unsure why.
'I believe Juonnue has something for you...'
Hurronnue lowered himself and leant forwards. Juonnue held out a miniature paw, no bigger than the end of a Hletho arm, containing a small sparkling object. Bren, realising the visitors wished her to receive the object, delicately reached up with one of her limbs to grasp it, and brought it closer to her eyes for closer inspection. It was small sculpture of sorts, perhaps purely abstract, or an artistic interpretation of some alien flying animal. It appeared to be made of lightweight metal, perhaps aluminium, with coatings of what appeared to be gold and silver.
'Teeka Takk!' Juonnue now seemed to be bouncing up and down on Hurronnue's back. 'I saw it my dream. Hurronnue taught me how to sculpt metal.'
'And she taught me - I was the only one to burn myself on the heating rod, hmmah...'
Bren noted that the youngster talked in a higher pitch and rather more rapidly than the other Jahahunoun voices she'd heard. And there was the concept of dreaming again. Interesting.
And what program do you use?
), I won't ever purposefully damage a civilization just to keep them from becoming too powerful. If you guys are that worried about the Hletho dominating the galaxy, maybe you should stop them yourselves! 
