You know that rule When in doubt, involve a cow? Yeah. Sometimes that rule takes you to weird places.
Mechows
When Humanity first encountered the Blip-yaps in the beginning of the Interstellar Era, things went surprisingly well. Yes, Blip-yaps look like pulsating-yellow, diseased tiny cockroaches, and they have a certain, ah, odor: but Humans weren’t any more attractive to them, and Blip-yap currency spends extremely well on the Galactic market. Also, Earth had things that the Blip-yap apparently very much wanted to buy. Mostly organic; in fact, mostly complete animals of every sort (although fur and pelts were always in demand). Preferably live, and even the dead ones had to be perfectly preserved.