Imperium: Volume 3

Oaken's P.O.V.

Currently I was on night watch again, and there was a thick blanket of fog that filled the air. To a normal set of eyes, it would be next to impossible to make out anything. But with mine, my enhanced vision allowed me to see everything clearly. My eyes always had a different look. They changed shape and colour depending on the situation, and for this foggy night all the whites of the tents and snow stood out like a negative photograph.

My eyes also allowed me to focus in on the intricate details. If I wanted to focus on a tree in the distance, my iris acted as a camera lense and would be able to zoom in on its features. Same with a persons face. I could see every pore, every hair, and every embelishment if I chose to.

Night time was my favourite set of eyes. My pupils typically covered the whole whites of my eyes, but everything still looked colourful. They were always adapting to a new environment, and they were unique to me and no one else.

Grayson was standing watch with me in a small booth that sat up top

the bleachers. We were literally the eyes and ears of the night watch, and knowing that people down there felt comfortable enough to sleep while we were on watch gave me an overwhelming sense of responsibility. One that I wouldn't take for granted.

We never made small talk. We did our duty and performed it together every other night. I actually really enjoyed Graysons company. Perhaps because he kept to himself and that's how I liked it.

I was keeping an eye over the tents, when I saw a figure running towards the entrance. It was 3 in the morning so no one should have been up at that time. I saw Grayson perk up aswell, once he heard the foot steps. I stood up to get a better angle and saw that it was Sarah.

•~ Sarah. Everything alright? •~

She was running. I looked back out towards the exit and saw a car heading down the way. There highbeams were on, which typically would have blinded someone but my eyes dimmed down the lighting to make it tolerable.

•~ I'm fine Oaken. I just have to head up to Lingham real quick. I'll be right back •~ She told me.

What was so important, that she was rushing to Lingham? Rowen? no that can't be it. Cam? Was........was it June?

I felt a sudden pounding in my chest and there was no way I wasn't going. I needed to know.

"Grayson!" He looked to me. "You've got this? I'll be right back." I told him.

He just gave me a look as if to tell me, he knew exactly what I was up to. I didn't give him the chance to answer. I ran down the bleachers, jumping the banister and ran towards Lingham.

I didn't care what Sarah thought. There was no way I wasn't coming along. I saw the cars tail lights in the distance and I took off. It didn't matter whether I lost them down the way. My perfect vision allowed me to see every curvature of the road and before I knew it I arrived to see the car parked out front.

I ran in and made a b-line sprint for the mission control room. As I approached, Sarah basically whipped the plastic curtain and gave me a look that could almost kill. I didn't break. I looked at her sternly as if to tell her she had no choice in the matter. She huffed but ended up moving the curtain to the side to let me in. She nodded me over and I made my way in.

Raeve was present and the look on his face was nerve racking. Sarah, Jay, Rowen and Kipsky also shared the same look. They were quite.

I was so fixated on their faces I barely registered the men screaming on the radio. It was chatter. Chatter that we picked up from The Dominion forces that plagued the continent.

Needing assistance! They blew up the Military compound! requiring full assistance!

Those were the words we heard over the radio. I looked over to Sarah and she was listening in intently.

What's happening there Corporal!

A voice on the other end yelled.

It's a fucking Imperium!

He kept yelling it over and over again.

How many Corporal!?!

The man on the other end said.

One! Just one! Oh god...oh god!

We heard him scream, till the line cut out. All that remained in the transmission was static.

What the hell was going on? I looked back over to Sarah who continued to look to the ground. What was she thinking? All of a sudden her brows furrowed and she looked right at me, then to Raeve.

"You can't go just yet Raeve." She demanded.

I watched as Raeve stepped forward and scowled at her. He didn't say anything. Not outloud anyways.

"You don't know what you will be blipping into. You could be blipping into one her of energy surges. Are you prepared for that?" She said to him.

He just looked down to the side with no response. Everyone could tell he was fighting the urge to teleport out if the room.

"Do we even know which base she's hitting?" Sarah asked Jay.

"We won't know until we listen in further." He replied.

She.......she keeps saying " She ".

"We have to wait till we find out before you can go Raeve, and even so, this guy called for aid so the place will be swarming with Dom's. If you just blip in on the fly we won't know where you'll end up." She said again.

"It sounds like she took the whole compound on her own." Kipsky said with a smile. "Knowing June she won't leave survivors."

June. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest again. She......she took down a whole military base by herself? No way.

She harnessed this much power?

"Is.......everyone turned to me.....Is this really possible? Is June really capable of this type of destruction?"

Everyone fell silent and one word was finally spoken.

"Yes." Said Raeve.

No one said anything, but from the looks on there faces, they had already seen this side of June before. Just then I heard Jay going through every channel to see if he could pick up anything else. We must have stood there for 10 minutes just waiting to hear another voice on the other end.

Jay sighed. "I'll have the team on full alert. We wont stop till we find some more intel on what just happened." He informed us. "I suggest you guys head back to your stations and I'll inform you when we intercept something."

It took another grueling 30 seconds before everyone made there way out of mission control. I stayed to the rear as Sarah, Rowen and Raeve walked ahead of me. They were talking amongst themselves and tried to keep it down as low as possible, knowing that I was trying to hang on to every word. I fortunatley caught a few, and it was enough to indicate that there was something they knew but weren't telling anyone.

I watched as they said some final words before departing. Sarah watched Rowen and Raeve head back to their rooms, and then she turned to me. I was expecting her to be ticked off, but what she had shown was empathy.

"Come on Oaken. I'll explain everything on the way." She told me.

.................

"So from what I understand Elias has an elite team, specifically searching for June?" I reiterated.

"Yes, but what exactly for I'm not sure of. Anja was supposed to deliver her somewhere, but I'm not sure how far she would have gotten. Juniper is pretty resilient."

"I see." I acknowledged. "She has no idea."

"Who knows now. It's been roughly six months since she left and we have no clue what she's found out or been up to. Until now anyways." She sighed.

She turned her gaze up to the sky, and took in a deep breath. "To think she's taking them one on one. Shes either going to succeed or get caught, and if that happens......"

She stayed silent. Even she didn't know the answer, but in the back of my head I knew what needed to be done. We needed all eyes out there looking for her. Raeve going on his one man mission to locate her was useless unless he was able to get to her the moment she showed up.

We continued walking back to the stadium. As we entered I saw Grayson still perched up on the bleachers keeping an ear on things. I walked back up and took a seat next to him.

"What was that all about?" He asked.

I kept quite and let myself get lost in my thoughts.

"Answer me this then." I looked at him and he continued looking towards the camp. "Whatever it was that you heard.....don't be doing anything stupid you'd regret."He turned to me. "Got it?"

My eyes widened. This guy was what......a few years older then me and spoke as if he had years of experience. Unless.........he saw June's ability first hand.

"You heard us didn't you." I stated.

He turned his body around so that he was now leaning against the hand rail.

"So, she's made her move." It was more of a statement then a question.

"Yes." I answered.

"And what do you plan on doing about it?" He asked me.

What was he getting at? "Nothing. I plan on doing absolutley nothing." I answered.

He turned around with his elbows now resting on the hand rail. "Good." Was all he said.

He didn't bother saying anything else for the rest of the morning. I preferred it when he was quite anyways. By 5 am the fog had lifted and the next set of eyes took over the watch. I walked over to my hot tent, and made my way in to get some shut eye. As much as I wanted to drift off, my mind wouldn't let me. The constant worry that essentially took over my life was now hitting me like a ton of bricks. I had to put my faith in the others, that they would find her soon. Somehow they had to.

I lay there just staring at the peak of my tent. My mind just running blank, when a sudden shake of my tent brought me out of it.

"Come in." I yelled. It was Bowdie.

She walked in and quickly took a seat by the small stove that I had recently stoked.

"So.....do I have to beat it out of you, or you gonna tell me what the hell is going on?" She said in a serious tone.

"How?" I asked.

"I just went and seen Sarah, and she was practically avoiding eye contact the whole time. So either she knows something that she doesn't want me to know, or she needs glasses." She said without breaking face.

I studied her face. I could see her neck and cheeks were heating up as a soft rouge started to fill them.

"How much do you know?" I asked.

"I know my brother is constantly leaving days at a time, and everytime he comes back he looks defeated. So either he's a love sick puppy looking for his girlfriend or there's more to it. And I'm guessing it's the latter." She said.

"And that would be?" I asked.

"That my own brother is hiding something from me." She looked......pissed.

We sat there silently and looked at eachother. She was in the same position I was in last night. I didn't know all the details but I needed to know, and so did she.

"I'll tell you everything I know..."