Arborvoid

Emma hunched over her keyboard, the screen bathing her face in cold blue light. Numbers shifted. Energy peaks spiked sharply. Each jagged signature mapped out a pattern—an echo left behind by Zogarian presence.

"Their shape-shifting technology isn't perfect," she muttered, her mind racing. "There are residual energy traces. Something lingering—an afterimage of their movement."

Across the lab, Chloe's fingers flew over her keyboard, her violet hair catching the glow of her monitor. "I'm digging through Zogarian transmissions. It's heavily encrypted, but I'm breaking through… Logistics. Harvesting quotas. And…" She paused, eyes narrowing. "Something called a 'WoodDust extraction protocol.' That sounds important."

Emma looked over sharply. "Any mention of their defenses? Weaknesses?"

"Not yet," Chloe admitted, frustration creeping into her voice. "But I'll keep digging."

Then—a thunderous crash.

Emma spun toward the door, adrenaline spiking through her veins. Soldiers pushed inside—guns raised but uncertain. And in the center of it all, General Adewale strode forward, his presence filling the room with silent authority.

"Dr. Forrest," he said, voice firm but not unkind. "Your warnings… they were more accurate than we could have imagined."

Emma steadied herself, exhaustion momentarily forgotten. "General. Finally."

---

The military briefing room buzzed with tension. Officers lined the table, their eyes sharp, their movements stiff with urgency. Emma stood at the head, pulse steady, voice unwavering despite the weight of their expectations.

"Their shape-shifting tech leaves a residual energy field," she began. "If we can develop a sensor to pick up that frequency, we might detect them before they strike."

Adewale folded his hands, skepticism tempered by necessity. "Can you build one? And quickly?"

"With the right resources—yes." Emma didn't hesitate. "But we need more than detection. Their harvesting tools… they're energy-based, incredibly precise. Focused on disrupting molecular bonds. We need countermeasures."

Murmurs rippled through the room. The shift was subtle, but Emma felt it—she was no longer just a scientist. She was a key player in a war she hadn't asked to fight.

---

Across the globe, humanity struck back.

In dense forests, military units clashed with Zogarian harvesters, their bullets sparking uselessly against shimmering alien shields.

In quiet villages, civilians fought with desperation, rigging makeshift barricades from felled trees, throwing Molotov cocktails in defiance.

And in a converted war lab, Chloe worked alongside military techs, her screen a blur of code, digging deeper into Zogarian transmissions.

Late that night, her voice cut through the tension, edged with exhaustion. "Doc. They're talking about 'WoodDust dispersal units.' They're processing the wood on-site. And…" She hesitated. "More harvesting teams are arriving soon."

Emma felt her stomach drop. "More of them?" Her grip tightened on the edge of her desk. "This is escalating faster than we anticipated. We need a direct counteroffensive."

A nearby monitor flared with breaking news**—grainy footage of **a larger, more menacing alien craft tearing through human forces** in a distant city. Its bio-luminescent hull pulsed with eerie energy, cutting through defenses with terrifying ease.

The reporter's voice trembled.

> "Eyewitness accounts describe a new, more aggressive alien species joining the conflict…"

Emma's chest constricted.

A second species. A new threat.

The realization hit hard—this wasn't just one invasion.

She exhaled slowly, eyes locked onto the screen, voice barely above a whisper. "They're not the only ones."

Her pulse quickened.

"The news… it's spreading across the galaxy."

Emma gritted her teeth.

"They're all coming for our trees."