A/N: Thanks for all the wonderful reviews. Please feel free to make any comments, suggestions or critiques; I'm always trying to improve my writing, for your sake as well as my own! I appreciate the anonymous reviewer who pointed out my error in UC campuses; I spent considerable time researching Michelle's bio only to write the previous chapter interstate without the luxury of having my notes at hand. The mistake has been corrected.
Tuesday: First Day
7:57am
Arriving at CTU, Michelle was issued a pass card by an enthusiastic guard named Steve who explained the building's various security procedures. Walking into the main floor minutes later, Michelle scanned the workstations to locate Tony. Catching sight of him rising from his chair, obviously already having spotted her, she walked across to join him.
"Morning Ms Dessler," he greeted her.
"Good morning. Please call me Michelle," she amended with a smile.
"Of course, call me Tony," he responded while collecting several manila folders bearing the CTU logo from the corner of his desk. "We'll get all the official paperwork out of the way, and then I'll explain the network and bring you up to speed on the current protocols. We can work out of the Situation room," he said inclining his head towards the conference room where Michelle had been interviewed only yesterday.
"Did you want to get some coffee?" he asked grabbing a half full Cubs mug from his desk.
"No, I'm fine," Michelle answered.
"OK, let's get started."
Twenty minutes later, Tony was demonstrating the nodal partitioning of the network when George poked his head into the Situation room with a cup of coffee in hand and the newspaper tucked under his arm.
"Morning Tony, Michelle. Everything going OK?" he enquired.
"Morning George," Tony responded, looking pointedly at his watch, before adding, "I'm just about to brief Michelle on the current protocols; will you be joining us?"
"I have to finish up a status report for Division. I'm sure you can handle it," he replied. Turning towards Michelle, he added with a smile, "Welcome to CTU, Tony will be able to get you settled in. And don't worry; his bark is worse than his bite."
Tony shook his head slightly as he watched George head upstairs to his office.
"George and I have a love-hate relationship; I love this job and he hates it," Tony explained with a sarcastic tone and slight smirk.
Michelle can't help but smile at this comment, which certainly synced with all that she had seen of these two men. She also noted that George's last comment was right; Tony did have a human side hidden under that stiff reserve.
Returning their attention to work, the next fifty minutes passed quickly as Michelle focused on absorbing the vast amount of information Tony provided on the CTU network, procedures and current protocols. There was a lot of data flow that Michelle would be in charge of supporting and securing, as well as numerous multi-user interfaces, or sockets, which needed to be managed. Her duties would also include generating search algorithms to data mine various databases for intel on various active protocols.
"Hopefully I haven't totally overwhelmed you with information; the details should fall into place quickly enough once you start working," Tony commented as he closed the final manila folder.
"Your first protocol is a data mining search on a local hate group that has been on the FBI's watch list for several years. The Palestinian Freedom Front, PFF, is a San Fernando-based group of young American-born Palestinians who meet to vent their anger over drinks and target shooting. Members have been implicated in vandalism, offensive behaviours and other misdemeanours. The concern is that they represent an ideal target for fanatic groups to radicalise. Homeland Security has recently reported several mentions of the group in internet chatter. What I need you to do is look into the group members, particularly their past histories and associates; you'll need to collate data from both CTU and other agencies. So let's get you set up with all the relevant access codes."
"OK," replied Michelle as she rose, eager to get to work. She followed Tony back out into the bullpen where he walked her over to the workstation beside his.
"You'll be sitting here," he said activating the computer and bringing up the administrator application to generate a login for Michelle.
"You should be all ready to go now, let me know if you need something or have any questions, OK?"
"Thanks," Michelle replied as she settled into her new desk, and immediately immersed herself in setting up the algorithms and data links to commence the search protocols.
…
1.20pm
Her grumbling stomach was the first sign of the amount of time that Michelle had been engrossed in her search. Glancing at the download status of her current data link, she decided that now would be a good time to grab some lunch. Locking her computer, she grabbed her bag and headed to the break room.
Entering the room, Michelle scanned the few occupants; none were familiar. She choose a seat at an empty table, unwrapped her sandwich, one of the few things to which her culinary skills extended, and took a bite while fishing her notepad and pen from her bag. She figured that if she was eating alone, she might as well get some work done.
"You know there is a reason why it's referred to as a lunch break," Tony commented sarcastically.
Putting down her pen, Michelle looked up and retaliated with a smile, "My boss is a real slave driver."
This response drew a half smile from Tony, confirmation that he did indeed have a sense of humour.
"Mind if I join you?"
Michelle nodded her assent, and Tony took the seat across from her, placing down a Tupperware container. Opening his lunch, steam wafted out along with the rich aroma of spices.
"Smells good," Michelle commented as she cast a glance down at her half-eaten sandwich.
"Left-over paella; I've never managed to master the whole scaling down recipes skill."
"You cook?" Michelle enquired, slightly surprised at this revelation.
"Yeah, cook, iron, clean."
The thought that he'd make an ideal househusband crossed Michelle's mind; however, she settled for the conservative response, "Your mom must be proud."
An awkward silence ensued after this comment and they both focused on eating their respective lunches. After a couple of mouthfuls, Tony enquired, "So how's your first day going?"
"Good, the network systems and lay-out are obviously the same as Division. So it's just a matter of becoming familiar with the CTU protocols and interfaces."
Tony nodded; the couple of questions he had addressed from Michelle so far that day indicated that she was certainly fluent with the system and quickly adapting to CTU's configuration.
"How are you progressing with the search protocol?"
"I've generated a list of fifteen members by shifting through various watch lists and associated surveillance data. So far, I have compiled backgrounds for most of them including employment, residential and criminal information. I'm currently working on known associates focusing on recent contacts," Michelle summarised.
"You're doing well. Are there any interesting or anomalous results?"
"Not so far. Everything indicates that these guys are minor delinquents," Michelle commented.
"OK. Let me know if anything comes up," Tony added
"Sure. How did you want me to set out the report once the data is collected?" Michelle asked. They proceeded to spend the rest of their shared meal discussing the details of the report format before walking back to their respective desks to return to work.
…
3.15pm
"Michelle, has the search protocol yielded anything yet?" Tony enquired in a brisk tone walking up to her desk, CTU folder in hand.
"No, is there new intel?" Michelle questioned, picking up on the gravity in his tone.
"I've just finished reviewing the latest chatter from NSA and there is a suggestion of an up-coming attack in the West Coast," Tony replied.
"Is there any specific mention of LA or PFF?"
"No, the intel is vague. I need you to put together an interim report with everything you have so far and I'm going to need it ready in ten minutes."
"I'll get onto that right away," Michelle replied, turning immediately back to her monitor.
She had commenced the report during a particularly slow download straight after lunch, and had been updating it as new data came to hand. Thus now it was a simple matter of adding the most recent results. Less then two minutes later she approached Tony's workstation, report in hand. He was focused on his monitor, fingers moving rapidly across the keyboard. Michelle paused for a moment unsure whether she should disturb his concentration.
"Is there a problem?" Tony asked in a slightly gruff voice, not taking his eyes off the data on his screen.
"Report's ready," Michelle responded tersely.
Tony turned towards her, a look of surprise briefly crossing his face, "That was quick. Just give me a couple of seconds." Returning his attention to his work without waiting for her reply, he continued scrolling though the data in front of him until he reached whatever he was looking for. Scrawling something on the notepad beside his keyboard, he rose grabbing both the notepad and a manila folder alongside it.
"Let's go," he said, looking across at Michelle.
"Go where?"
"We're briefing George on the situation; it's his call on how we proceed at this point," Tony explained.
Following Tony upstairs, Michelle felt a slight wave of nervousness. She normally liked to have some time to review a report and make some notes before presenting it to her superiors. Entering George's office after Tony, Michelle quickly took in the rather bleak, depersonalised environment before fixing her gaze on George himself, who in a charcoal suit and listless expression, blended into his surroundings. George's gaze was fixed on Tony, who began the briefing.
"It looks like there is a plausible threat for the West Coast; I have independent intel from NSA and Homeland Security. At this stage details are sparse but it appears that the time frame is later this week. The exact target, as well as the nature and seriousness of the attack, are unknown at this point. But given the recent spike in chatter regarding PFF, they are definitely a potential lead."
George nodded and looked across at Michelle, "Where are you with the search protocol on PFF?"
Stepping forward, Michelle handed the 14-page report to George as she concisely covered the material contained within it.
"Thanks, Michelle. I'll contact Division and up-date them on the situation. Tony, assemble all department heads in the Situation Room in five minutes."
Tony nodded and headed back to the bullpen. Michelle followed him downstairs unsure exactly what was happening or what she was supposed to be doing. As they reached the bottom of the stairs, Tony turned to her and explained, "Once George has approval from Chappelle, he'll initiate an active protocol. That means that all departments will be involved in investigating this threat. You'll need to present your report again at the meeting, so use the five minutes to put together an appropriate presentation. Send it to directory 6 delta."
"OK," responded Michelle, heading back to her workstation and forcing herself to focus on the task at hand, rather than the fact that she would have to present an incomplete report, which hadn't generated any leads. Five minutes later, she walked into the Situation Room. Half a dozen people were seated around the table with George and Tony at the head. Meeting her eyes as she entered, Tony inclined his head towards an empty seat across from him. Michelle made her way across the room and took her place. George rose from his seat, and began to address the meeting.
"OK, we are now officially on active protocol. There is an imminent threat for the West Coast, exact location and nature unknown. We need to determine who is behind the threat and the specifics of the attack. Our primary lead is the Palestinian Freedom Front. For those who have yet to meet her, this is Michelle Dessler, our new IP-MAN. Michelle will fill us in on our current intel regarding this group."
Tony slid the data projector controller across the table to Michelle, and brought up her presentation. Michelle launched into her report summary, bringing up images of the group members briefly. Once Michelle had concluded her report, Tony ran through the various search protocols to be initiated and requested hourly progress updates. Michelle rose and headed back to her workstation; she was tasked with continuing her current search protocol and had been assigned two analysts to assist her. She quickly checked the progress of her current search protocol before opening a socket and dividing up her workload between Milo and Katherine. As was her habit, she walked across to each of the analyst's workstations to check that they had received the data and understood their tasks. Back at her desk, she accelerated her efforts to obtain as much data as possible on the PFF group members.
….
4:35pm
"Michelle."
Michelle looked up from the data she was analysing; Tony and another man she didn't recognise were standing alongside her workstation.
"This is Phil Henley; the evening shift IP-MAN," Tony said, indicating towards his companion.
Standing up, Michelle shook hands with Phil.
"You'll need to bring Phil up to speed on all current searches," Tony continued.
"Unless something new comes up, the searches should all be complete within a couple of hours. Do you need me to stay and finish them up?" Michelle enquired.
"No, just make sure Phil knows where to locate all the data and exactly what tasks are still to be completed. You're not the only person capable of running a search protocol," Tony instructed, before abruptly turning back to his own workstation.
Rather shocked, Michelle turned towards Phil and asked, "Did Tony brief you on the active protocol?"
"No, I got the impression that Tony was overloaded", Phil replied.
Michelle nodded. Tony was running tactical for Tom Baker from Field Ops; they were charged with the massive task of mounting surveillance on all 15 known PFF group members. The stress of the situation was probably the reason for his outburst.
Starting out with the details of the current terrorist threat, Michelle reviewed all the intel and subsequent search protocols for the PFF group members. Twenty minutes later, assured that Phil was up to date on all protocols, Michelle collected her bag and said good night. Turning to leave, she noticed Tony out of the corner of her eye; he was standing in front of his computer with a furrowed brow. She walked across to his workstation and stopped just off to the side. Once again, Tony spotted her presence almost immediately and asked, "Everything all set?"
"Yes, Phil is running the final search protocols. Are there any additional tasks you require me to complete before leaving?"
"Everything's under control. At the moment, it's mostly a matter of logistics and division of manpower. However, in the next couple of days when the data starts coming in you'll have your chance to prove your worth. For now, I would make the most of the relative tranquillity and go home."
"OK. You should try and take your own advice there," Michelle suggested in response.
"I'll see what I can do. Good night," Tony replied with a slight hint of a smile.
"Night."
…
6:03pm
Michelle glanced at the clock as she pulled into her parking spot; she and Andy had karate training this evening. Entering their apartment, she called out, "Andy, are you home?"
The question was answered in the negative by the silence that followed. Michelle headed through to her bedroom and changed into a pair of comfortable tracksuit pants and tee shirt, before entering the kitchen to grab a Diet Coke. Sipping her drink, she then walked into the Dining Room, which had been converted into a training area with mats on the floor and a variety of different fitness equipment. Her mind was still working overtime processing all the information she had obtained that day, so she decided a little light exercise would allow her to relax and focus her mind on something other than work. She immediately walked across to the six-foot wooden stick, the bo, leaning against the far wall. It was Michelle's favourite karate weapon. After a couple of quick sips, she placed her drink in the corner and started working through her warm-up exercises before practising a variety of advanced defensive techniques. She was half way through her third combination when she heard the front door open. Ignoring the interruption she focused on her training and finished to find Andy standing watching her.
"You're not twisting your wrist enough on the strikes," Andy critiqued.
Michelle repeated the move, focusing on the wrist flick that was essential for generating the power behind the attack.
"That's better. Have you eaten dinner yet?"
"No, I was going to grab a sandwich on the way to training," Michelle responded.
Glancing at her watch, Andy replied, "We still have time for a quick meal; how about a stir fry?"
"OK." Michelle returned the bo to its place and followed Andy into the kitchen to help chop the vegetables.
"So, how was your first day?" Andy asked once preparations were in full swing.
Michelle paused for a minute to consider her response, "Interesting but overwhelming. There are a lot of procedures and protocols to learn while trying to preform them co-currently."
"How about your colleagues?"
"Well, I met most of the IT team and everyone seemed pleasant. Things are very busy at the moment and everyone was focused on their own tasks. I only worked closely with a couple of the analysts, Milo and Katherine."
"How about Mr Strong and Silent?" Andy asked with a raised eyebrow as she added the vegetables to the hot wok.
Shaking her head, Michelle collected bowls and chopsticks as she responded, "We spent a considerable amount of time working together this morning. He's warms up a bit on acquaintance, but is more sarcastic and cynical than you are. However, he really seems to value my work, unlike that parasite Carrie."
"I'm psyched to hear that the new job is working out better than the last one", Andy said. "OK, dinner's ready. That gives us about thirteen minutes to eat, change and get out of here." All conversation ceased as they rushed to make it on time; Michelle couldn't help but think that time seemed to be moving faster than she could keep up with.