Humans
This species is short, creative, stubborn, decently intelligent, and individually are weak, yet in numbers are incredibly hardy, robust, and strong. They breed quickly, live short and futile lives, and for the smallest of reasons will kill each other without a second thought. Many have had low expectations of this brutish and barbarous species. They were beneath us more than any other race in terms of culture, art, technology, and social programs so while their least desirables were worked hard and rewarded little, their ‘aristocratic’ counterparts flocked to the heavens, eager to join the thriving extra-stellar community. Naive to the structure of galactic politics, the Terrans would push themselves onto whatever race would lend counsel to their primitive auditory communications. Many left them to their own devices, shamelessly and rightfully leaving them to the harsh realities of the spacious home we all find ourselves in. We Santari, however, were one of the handfuls of groups that would barter and negotiate agreements with the vermin. We’d trade scraps, derelict and tattered starships, agricultural equipment, and even environmental stabilizing technology them (the barbarians had done more damage to their home planet than any other in the recorded history of intelligent species) for resources worth many hundred times more than what they were worth.
Far be it from us to take advantage of a prime workforce for our resource collection, we did so with a slight amount of smug enthusiasm and deception. pretending to be allies yet giving them the worst treatment in regards to trade agreements and our “gifts of knowledge”. The true irony of it all being that they willfully accepted these downsides under the pretense of furthering intergalactic diplomacy and with the promise of showing others that they were willing, able, and trustworthy. I suppose to this end, the humans had formed a special bond with our insectoid race. We were advancing their civilization at least a hundred of their puny years forward while reaping almost every possible benefit we never deserved.
Little did we understand the error of what we had unwittingly done. In retrospect, we had broken the cardinal rule of the galactic community; without proper diligence, disregard for foresight, and without consulting the Galactic Council, we planted a seed of unrivaled growth in a yet unproven and undeserving race for our own benefit. Their bipedal skeletons with their undeveloped brains relentlessly honed in and trained themselves to grasp the underlying concepts of the machinery and electronics they acquired far faster than any one particular group had ever thought possible. Foregoing the advantages of biological engineering offered to them, they preferred to keep to their fleshy forms for the sake of “preserving humanity”. This line of logic, which still confounds most everyone to this day, would prove invaluable and supremely effective to them. Their “primitive” minds would conjure outlandish and ridiculous notions of the fine fabric of reality that our enhanced nervous systems would outright deny for the sake of simple logic. All soon learned that the human brain, for all of its faults and inefficiencies, was a marvel of creativity of the greatest caliber. Their stubborn nature defied every law of the universe, always amassing new theories to test. More experiments to perform. Never allowing “no” to dissuade them, they’d work a problem from every possible angle in ways which seemed like pure folly. The most damning thing of all being that sometimes, they’d be right and completely shake the foundation of their scientific collaboration.