An idea for season 8

Posted: May 20, 2009 1:23 pm

I've been fleshing out this idea in my head the last couple days, and I finally got a little bit down on paper. It's not going to be a full season, just one storyline that I would like to see play out.

For background, my season 8 takes place about a year after season 7. Jack's surgery was successful and he recovered from the prion, but he is still not 100% - his memory is not quite as sharp as it once was. Getting a new lease on life has changed Jack, and he has been working on trying to forgive himself, and he's learned that sometimes that means forgiving others too. He sees more good in people than he once did, though he still believes in absolute wrong and right. But up until this point in the season he hasn't done anything too crazy, and he's been more reserved.

Renee has struggled over the past year to get over Larry, and she and Jack are sort of together but it's in the very early stages and they're still seeing if they can make it work. Fellow Audrey fans please don't hate me - I am still trying to accept the idea of Jack and Renee as a couple, but it makes this story work a lot better. Besides, their "relationship" is going to be tested pretty early on, as you will see by the end of the first segment.

This starts off at some point a little bit of the ways into the season. At least one attack has already happened and they know that more is to come.

I haven't fully fleshed out the threat, but it's something to do with the UN and a foreign middle eastern government.

Renee is on loan to the newly reminted CTU NY from FBI as part of an inter-agency cooperation thing (similar to why Audrey was at CTU in season 5). She brought Jack in earlier today because she needed his help with something, but now she wants him to go home and not get himself in trouble.

This first part is just Jack, Renee, and Chloe (who works at CTU NY), but I might try to work in some of the new characters that I read about for season 8, based off the brief character sketches I read. If people object on the grounds that it's too spoilery let me know. I don't know much about the new characters so it would be totally my interpretation.

Okay, that's enough background! The first segment will be up momentarily.

Posted: May 20, 2009 1:24 pm

Okay, here's part 1. Pretty short segment, but hopefully it sets things up well. Let me know what you think!

The following takes place between 2 PM and 3 PM:

CTU NY - CHLOE'S DESK

Jack and Renee approach Chloe's desk, where she is typing frantically as usual.

"Chloe, where are you on cross-referencing Nazir's phone records?" Jack asks.

"Still working on it," Chloe says anxiously.

"Damn it, Chloe, what's taking so long?"

"I'm doing the best I can, Jack. I got a list of names from his recent call log, but we don't have much information on any of them. Here's what I found so far."

She hands Jack a file full of bios, a few with pictures, but most with little other information. Jack flips through it quickly and stops when he sees one profile.

"You recognize something?" Renee asks.

"Maybe. Run an expanded search on this guy, Don Cadrelli. See if there are any other possible name's he's used."

"Does his picture look familiar?" Renee asks.

"Yeah...I can't place it though," Jack says, frustrated that his memory is not as sharp as it once was.

Chloe quickly types the name into a search module.

"Okay, I've got two possible aliases, but they're not 100% confirmed."

"What are they?"

"Paul Foster and Vincent Cardiff."

Jack blinks. "Hold on a second...what was the second name?"

"Vincent Cardiff."

"Pull up the bio for that name."

Chloe pulls up a bio, but it doesn't show much.

"You know this guy?" Renee asks.

"No," Jack shakes his head. "But I've heard of him before."

"Do you remember where?" she asks gently.

"Yeah," Jack nods after a minute. His recollection is hazy but it's enough to go on.

"Who is he? What do you know about him."

"Not much...he's a mercenary who may have been connected to the Juma regime in Sangala before his attack. But I know a way we can find out more."

"What's that?" Renee asks.

Jack sighs and looks Renee in the eye. "You're not going to like it," he admits.

Chloe looks at the profile again and has a look on her face that says "uh oh. This should be interesting" when she realizes what Jack is thinking.