It took only two years for some of the warts to show up from this trading bonanza. The root of the problem was the divide between the haves and the have nots. Those who did not have access to Mirondian technology got jealous. Those who did have access discovered that Mirondian devices were powerful tools that could be used... and abused. The most spectacular early example of abuse was....
The Mirondians were happy to outsource. There were things they wanted built that took a lot of labor and resource. A lot of what they outsourced was sold to the Solar System community -- they provided expertise, the Solar System provided labor and raw materials.
The magnitude of the outsourcing grew steadily over the first three years that the Mirondian were in the Solar System. The number of projects grew and grew, and at first this steady growth was a mystery to the Earth negotiators. They would conclude a large joint construction or engineering venture, and the Mirondians always seemed to have manpower, well... alien power, actually, available. The deal would be concluded, and shortly thereafter a shuttle ship would leave from the mother ship with ten, a hundred, once five hundred, Mirondian Surface Engineers (as the Mirondians called them, MSE's as Solar System people called them.) ready to add their expertise to the project. Where were all these alien people coming from? The scout ships' one pass by the Mirondian ship way back when it first arrived gave Solar System people a good estimate on the ship's size. It was really big, the size of a small asteriod, but even that big, there would be a limit on crew size.
After a couple of years of watching this steady stream of aliens come from the ship, it looked as if Mirondians were packed on board at roughly commercial airplane density. This made no sense for a ship that would spend years and years floating between star systems.
Another oddity was that these MSE's seem to come from different cultures -- they didn't know the same things that their bosses knew. The Solar System people found this out as they worked with them on their various projects. A few were real sharp and knew what was happening from day one of a project. Most acted for all the world like they were immigrants who had just sailed from some foreign land, and were getting off the boat for the first time -- they had no knowledge of what had been happening since the Mirondians had come to the Solar System.
When the Solar System people finally asked the Mirondians about this seemingly inexhaustible personnel supply, the Mirondians answered, "The MSE's? Why they're colonists, of course. Civilized beings are one of the most versatile cargoes that we carry, and that makes them valuable. When we depart, some of your people will be invited to become MSE's, as well. I assure you, its a most rewarding experience."
"And just how do the MSE's travel?" asked the Earth representative.
"Oh, that's one of our secrets -- something I can't tell you about at this time."
Yes, the Mirondians kept secrets.