Post by kovergirl on Jul 26, 2013 12:35:10 GMT -8
Vi started her morning with ice cream, because it was delicious and the simple fact that it was available in the Arcane break room in the wee hours of the morning. She had arrived at the Solvall around 6:00 am, deciding to do her morning exercises at the gym rather than at home. Hanging around the building during off hours was slowly coming a habit for her. Whether it was training in the onsite facilities or bothering Ken while he worked overtime, she had taken whatever excuse to stay just that much longer. Work kept her busy, kept her moving forward. And so she found herself in the Security command and control hub at nine sharp, a paper cup filled with three scoops of french vanilla ice cream in one hand, and a plastic spoon in her mouth.
The hub was tucked on a secured floor just beneath the crown levels of the Solvall. Security dominated this floor with its myriad training rooms and armories, among other specialized facilities. She had past by a handful of these rooms on her way between the elevator and the command center. Many of them were sealed, neglected and forgotten. She had decided then that it would have to change. The hub itself was a large room located at the center of the floor, and was buffered by a layer of adjacent rooms, then the corridor that connected everything. A final layer of rooms encircled the hallway and formed the exterior outline of the 24th floor of the building.
A large display table was the centerpiece of the AEgir Security command hub. It was an especially military looking piece of technology, with numerous terminals and monitors offering a constant feed of information. Workstations with just enough space for a person to squeeze between formed a half circle around the table, the outside curve facing the entryway. The far wall was a dizzying curtain of monitors, termed the Feed Wall, brimming with tactical information as well as a section wholly devoted to the surveillance network within the building. Weapon racks flanked the feed wall, fully stocked with small arms in case of emergency. She noted with some satisfaction that there was still plenty of room to install a second row of stations, perhaps even a third.
At the current hour, the morning shift had been in the process of replacing the graveyard watch, so the hub was even more crowded than normal. Vi felt everyone's eyes on her as she plucked the spoon from her mouth and stuck it in the topmost scoop of ice cream. She put on her best stoic face and strode inside. Most of the agents went back to business as usual once she did the same. One of the more senior agents, a middle-aged man in a crisp AEgir security uniform and gray hair approached her and handed her a leather folder with the previous shift's reports. She was informed that nothing out of the ordinary happened last night and she nodded, accepted the reports, and thanked him. He seemed surprised by her gratitude, and awkwardly mumbled what she hoped was something appreciative before returning to his duties. She could not help but grin with some amusement. They were probably not used to such niceties. That will also change.
She took one more sweeping look of the room, nodding silently to herself.
Day One...she mused, and then continued past the wall of monitors and through the only other door in the hub.
The room lights flickered to life reluctantly, having been long out of use. It had once been a conference room of some kind, doomed to never be used for its intended purpose. Random cardboard boxes were stacked on the dusty table whose chairs were neatly stacked in a forgotten corner. An unplugged phone sat forlornly underneath the table. Vi set her cup down and nodded to herself. This will do.
She gave the order to have the boxes removed to one of the storage rooms and for a temporary work station be assembled at the head of the table. By 9:35 her workstation was set up with only token resistance from the IT department. She logged in and caught up with her correspondences, sighing at the near quadrupling of messages that were marked urgent and drank the last remaining spoonfuls of her ice cream. She skimmed over Sera's roll call of Security's special operatives, then typed up a short list of overarching goals for the department on her smartphone. She then noted a message from Tess and pulled it up. Her mood dropped steadily as she read, then skimmed, then glazed through the three hundred plus pages of the Sponsors' conflict of interests agreement. By the time she reached the part where her signature was needed and discovered the vexingly good forgery already in place, she had already decided that her new office will need a punching bag of some sort.
Ice cream depleted and mood sour, she began to type up a short thank you note to Tess when the door opened. Vi glanced up from her computer as the woman introduced herself as Melissa, the Corporate Designer.
The hub was tucked on a secured floor just beneath the crown levels of the Solvall. Security dominated this floor with its myriad training rooms and armories, among other specialized facilities. She had past by a handful of these rooms on her way between the elevator and the command center. Many of them were sealed, neglected and forgotten. She had decided then that it would have to change. The hub itself was a large room located at the center of the floor, and was buffered by a layer of adjacent rooms, then the corridor that connected everything. A final layer of rooms encircled the hallway and formed the exterior outline of the 24th floor of the building.
A large display table was the centerpiece of the AEgir Security command hub. It was an especially military looking piece of technology, with numerous terminals and monitors offering a constant feed of information. Workstations with just enough space for a person to squeeze between formed a half circle around the table, the outside curve facing the entryway. The far wall was a dizzying curtain of monitors, termed the Feed Wall, brimming with tactical information as well as a section wholly devoted to the surveillance network within the building. Weapon racks flanked the feed wall, fully stocked with small arms in case of emergency. She noted with some satisfaction that there was still plenty of room to install a second row of stations, perhaps even a third.
At the current hour, the morning shift had been in the process of replacing the graveyard watch, so the hub was even more crowded than normal. Vi felt everyone's eyes on her as she plucked the spoon from her mouth and stuck it in the topmost scoop of ice cream. She put on her best stoic face and strode inside. Most of the agents went back to business as usual once she did the same. One of the more senior agents, a middle-aged man in a crisp AEgir security uniform and gray hair approached her and handed her a leather folder with the previous shift's reports. She was informed that nothing out of the ordinary happened last night and she nodded, accepted the reports, and thanked him. He seemed surprised by her gratitude, and awkwardly mumbled what she hoped was something appreciative before returning to his duties. She could not help but grin with some amusement. They were probably not used to such niceties. That will also change.
She took one more sweeping look of the room, nodding silently to herself.
Day One...she mused, and then continued past the wall of monitors and through the only other door in the hub.
The room lights flickered to life reluctantly, having been long out of use. It had once been a conference room of some kind, doomed to never be used for its intended purpose. Random cardboard boxes were stacked on the dusty table whose chairs were neatly stacked in a forgotten corner. An unplugged phone sat forlornly underneath the table. Vi set her cup down and nodded to herself. This will do.
She gave the order to have the boxes removed to one of the storage rooms and for a temporary work station be assembled at the head of the table. By 9:35 her workstation was set up with only token resistance from the IT department. She logged in and caught up with her correspondences, sighing at the near quadrupling of messages that were marked urgent and drank the last remaining spoonfuls of her ice cream. She skimmed over Sera's roll call of Security's special operatives, then typed up a short list of overarching goals for the department on her smartphone. She then noted a message from Tess and pulled it up. Her mood dropped steadily as she read, then skimmed, then glazed through the three hundred plus pages of the Sponsors' conflict of interests agreement. By the time she reached the part where her signature was needed and discovered the vexingly good forgery already in place, she had already decided that her new office will need a punching bag of some sort.
Ice cream depleted and mood sour, she began to type up a short thank you note to Tess when the door opened. Vi glanced up from her computer as the woman introduced herself as Melissa, the Corporate Designer.
Weighs the same as a duck.