"Halt! This planet is under the protection of the Zybraxian Republic! Any hostility will be answered with... wait a second--"
"Oh. Oh NOW you acknowledge our species' existence. Now that we're finally good enough to make it to another body in OUR OWN DAMN SOLAR SYSTEM. Which you have been COLONIZING FOR THE PAST DECADE!"
"...Wait, who are you? Your species doesn't show up in any galactic record."
"Humans. We're humans. From one planet closer to the sun."
"Oh goddamn it. Preliminary scans indicated that planet was uninhabited. Why didn't you contact us!? Settling a solar system that hosts the home world of a sophont species violates, like, eight edicts. And how do you speak our language?"
"OUR SCIENTISTS PICKED UP YOUR RADIO COMMUNICATIONS FROM OUR OWN SATELLITES. WE HAVE BEEN TRYING TO RADIO YOU FROM THE MOMENT YOU CAME HERE. Our planet's landmasses are LITERALLY covered in GLOWING LIGHTS from our cities. IT'S OBVIOUSLY INHABITED ALREADY."
"...Your planet doesn't have landmasses, though?"
"You've got to be shitting me."
"No, here. Look, the image taken of your world by the first long-distance probe that charted this system. See. No landmasses."
"That's the Pacific ocean. You took one photo of the Pacific ocean and assumed the entire place was just a water world?"
"Listen. There are a lot of water world's in the galaxy."
