[Reaper]

ok, I have a question that may help a bit with this.

in the series did anyone ever actually refer to the colonies as planets?

My idea is we have a bigger star in the system. 2 gas giants in the habital zone. Each orbiting aong the edges of this zone. (with a larger, more powerful sun, this would move the habital zone out further, creating more room)

Around the 2 gas giants you can have 12 planet sized moons. Or even 1 gas giants and a few planets in that habitat ring.