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Please Help A Geek

Can anyone out there with sci-fi novel knowledge point me at the series of books where a league of alien races enlist the help of humans because it turns out that humanity is the most bad ass war-like race in the galaxy? I have no idea about anything else concerning the books, no titles, no author. I just know that all the aliens were small-ish and animal-like, and that when they make first contact with humans they find an artist on a boat, and the guy disarms their most accomplished warrior (a catlike creature) the moment they meet.