Jessica Kandel is a brilliant virologist working with the Joint Task Force. She is in charge of the Medical Wing in the Base of Operations to develop a vaccine for the Green Poison strain of the smallpox virus.
After the events of Tom Clancy's The Division, she moved to a facility to work on the BSAV (Broad-Spectrum Antiviral) in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She survived the events that happened there, later taking refuge in Brooklyn.
She's a supporting character in Tom Clancy's The Division 2: Battle for Brooklyn.
Biography[]
Before joining the research effort, she graduated top of her class from both MIT and Johns Hopkins: spent five years in an exclusive Disease Control Division (DCD) fellowship; and worked several years as lead researchist at a gen-tech start-up in New York.
Although Dr. Kandel has a high-level appreciation of a wide variety of pursuits ranging from art to classical music to New York Chariots basketball, her greatest passion is microbiological puzzle-solving. Widely known in her profession as a gifted and obsessive geneticist, she has an uncanny ability to decode viral genome sequence data.
Jessica Kandel is rescued by the agent from Rioters holding her and her staff hostage at the Madison Field Hospital. Arriving at the Base of Operations, she is quick to point out the mess of the Medical Wing (such as under staff, and outdated equipment).
Throughout her time working with the agent and Faye Lau, she stresses the vital need for samples, notes from Amherst, and data to cure the virus. By the end of the game, she states that she was able to come up with a cure, and that it was "sent to people to create who are more able than her". Before leaving to return to work, she warns that agent that if this happens again they probably won't be able to stop it.
Seven months following the initial Green Poison outbreak, Dr. Kandel had by then left New York and began working on a cure alongside other virologists at Ann Arbor Medical School. Through Dr. Kandel's research, the first viable inoculations were developed and shipped to Washington, D.C. as a continuity of government measure.
Settling in Brooklyn and Discussions with Glasses[]
Kandel managed to escape the chaos that unraveled in Ann Arbor. Although she was set to return to Roy Benitez and Paul Rhodes in Manhattan, Agent Melanie Hoskins convinced her otherwise and had her arranged to be sent to The Bridge settlement that was being built by Aaron Keener and Theo Parnell. Although she was mainly concerned if Keener still has Gordon Amherst's printer
After the events in Lower Manhattan, Kandel conversed with Parnell on various topics, mainly possible recruitment for people who can help in creating vaccines, as well as Claire Ortiz, ANNA, and the Rogue Network.
Amherst's Printer[]
Kandel suggested using the Printer to create the vaccines, despite Parnell not having Amherst's research and arguing that Green Poison is not a threat anymore. She argued that with what Amherst accomplished, it proved that any nut job with the tech and the will can create something similar to Green Poison or worse.
When asked about the Ann Arbor BSAV project she was involved in, Kandel confirmed that Natalya Sokolova sent the Black Tusk to steal the samples and scrubbed her research. When informed about the BSAV samples that were secured by Kelso and her fellow agents in DC, she questioned why it isn't being used everywhere, and April Kelleher's whereabouts.
After Parnell told her of the vaccine manufacturing and distributing issues that D.C Division agents were dealing with, Kandel argued that Amherst's printer is the tech they have to make more vaccines, they just need to the Ann Arbor's recipe.
Tchernenko[]
Kandel didn't want the Russian virologist, Vitaly Tchernenko, in her lab, calling him an idiot for his role in creating the Eclipse, despite it was against his will. She asked Parnell to get rid of him, but he didn't want to kill the virologist, as it wasn't his fault. Still, Kandel convinced Parnell to remove him from her presence.
The Strategist[]
Kandel and Parnell were discussing Harlan Lloyd, aka The Strategist. Kandel only knew him as a paper pusher and bureaucrat, and called Harlan's approach of using blood samples from asymptomatic carriers as barbaric and tantamount to torture.
She then explained about the asymptomatic carrier who was jailed at the NSA Detention Center in DC and unwittingly infected everyone there, then later tortured by True Sons in their attempt to find a cure when they took over. All in all, Kandel doesn't believe in the ends justifies the means, and refused to hurt people, just to create vaccines
Tower[]
Concerning Donovan Tower, Kandel told Parnell that he's not a doctor. She informed him that Tower is a PMC, acted as private security for Nelson, a gun for hire. And called him as the "rudest motherfucker" she had to call for an update on Nelson's BSAV Project.
Claire[]
Kandel wasn't well aware of who Claire Ortiz, which was understandable, as AI communication wasn't her thing and she wasn't an agent either. When Parnell tried to convince her upgrade her comms and make her an agent, she politely refused.
And with the schematics, Parnell suggested using the printer to print an eye for Faye Lau, though Kandel argued it'd be a bad idea as 3D printing already messed up her life, and she's more content with her pirate look as a way to maintain her cover.
ANNA[]
After being told on Claire Ortiz, Kandel understood the programmer/engineer's role in creating the SHD Network, ISAC, and Black Tusk's network, and lamented that Claire worked with the PMC, though Parnell argued that Claire took a sick joy in screwing the Black Tusk over, and admitted that they'd have been all dead if not for ANNA.
This led to Kandel asking on who is ANNA, so Parnell answered by revealing she was the original AI for the SHD Tech. Kandel then questioned on why they're using ISAC, where Parnell asked if she looked in the briefs he sent her, including the Rogue Onboarding documentation.
Kandel admitted that she did not as the brief was like a thousand hours, and she didn't have time to go through it all.
Rogue Network[]
After Parnell being given the basic overview of ANNA and how he found the AI, Kandel felt that the agent was making it sound like she's alive, although Parnell argued that ANNA is more alive in the sense that she's growing and learning, and has a lot of power yet doesn't know what to do with it, calling her a genie that he let her out of the bottle.
Kandel asked what that meant, which Parnell answered that he put ANNA back on the watches as the AI can go in and out of everyone's comm systems. And as the backbone for Black Tusk's tech, ANNA can extract their intel and give it to Keener and his Rogues.
Given that in mind, Kandel asked why they needed Schaeffer and "Cassandra" if ANNA is really that powerful. But Parnell said while ANNA is powerful, she can't do everything, necessitating the need for human element, then called the AI a god, in a world that's not built for her.
Before the storm[]
Jessica Kandel settled in well at The Bridge, maintaining her job as a doctor and caring for the sick in the settlement's med-bay.
At some point, she was informed that surveillance cam footage at Bridge Park Pier showed Sarah Moretti committing suicide, as she couldn't handle living anymore now that her husband and daughter were killed. She later informed Agent Hoskins about this, and Hoskins grieved.
At a later point, Theo Parnell gave her the key to the Bridge's underground vault, which holds Amherst's Printer inside.
What Kandel didn't know at the time is that Sarah Moretti faked her death using the Descent tech that Matthew Grant used. Additionally, she was collaborating with Black Tusk officer, Richard Danvers, to enact a vicious attack on The Bridge as revenge.
Furthermore, Black Tusk were after the printer, and when Sarah informed Danvers that Kandel had the key, they bided their time, waiting for Parnell to leave Brooklyn, so they can send Cleaners to roll in and capture the virologist.
And so, while on a supply run, Kandel and her security detail were attacked by Cleaners. As urged by Hoskins, she went to One Police Plaza and hid there while her friend made a distress call to the D.C Division contingent for assistance.
Battle for Brooklyn[]
As Jessica Kandel remained in hiding, her security detail were viciously consumed by the Cleaner's new purple-flame accelerant. But thankfully, D.C Division agents arrived to Brooklyn and rescued her after eliminating the hostiles. She was later escorted back to the Bridge, focused on her work. When the agents talked to her, she lamented that this was the second time that she was in danger and needed to be saved by the Division.
She wasn't involved when the Division agents tried to secure the CERA Clinic, but she did make use of the equipment that was later shipped to the settlement after the agents avenged the clinic's staff, who were all killed by the Cleaners.
Refinery and a counter-attack[]
Halfway through the agents' rampage against the Cleaners' H5 Refinery, Hoskins had to take a break and Kandel took over as the coordinator. Over the course of the attack, she requested them to destroy the Purple Flame workshop and destroy the boat that had a shipment of the accelerant.
However, the Cleaners enacted a self-destruct sequence on the refinery, so Kandel told the agents to try to save the refinery as it was needed to keep New York going. However, the Bridge got attacked by the Rikers, and the automated defenses got subdued. With no hope to save the refinery, she implored the agents to escape.
As the Riker attack got more vicious, Kandel focused on healing the wounded while Hoskins, Parnell, and Rodney Bishop set up defenses. Thankfully, the D.C agents saved the Bridge, when the Rikers retreated after taking losses.
The Printer[]
Eventually, the Division with help from Theo Parnell and Melanie Hoskins, they unravelled Black Tusk who was the major instigator in the Cleaner-Riker reign of terror, and prevented Richard Danvers from destroying the Bridge via his Zeppelin, which got devastated by the hacked SAM launchers, then crashed into the sea, killing Danvers in the process.
When Hoskins learned that Black Tusk were after, she got angry at Theo, while Kandel reprimanded him for not informing her in the first place. Hoskins felt the Printer was putting a target on their backs, but Parnell insisted on the device's benefits. Kandel chimed in, telling Parnell they'll only use the printer for medical research and creating vaccines. And if he or Keener ever use it to create another bioweapon, she'll leave.
Hoskins was not convinced, however, and she stormed off. Kandel told Parnell that Hoskins was making a good point, but the rogue agent was still convinced with the benefits from the Printer.
--
With the Black Tusk stopped, Rikers and Cleaners dealing yet another major blow, Kandel continued to do her work.
The future still remains unclear for her, and her colleagues at The Bridge.
Personality[]
Kandel’s intellectual curiosity is prodigious. After graduating at the top of her class at both MIT and Hopkins, Kandel spent five years in a CDC fellowship before acceding to the recruitment efforts of a gen-tech start-up in New York.
From classical music to art and basketball, Kandel loves many things, but loves the thrill of solving a puzzle the most. Widely known by her peers as a puzzle-solver, she’s never backed down from a new challenge thrown her way.
Her drive, confidence, and intellect, though excellent, can be intimidating to others; and although she remains humble about her abilities, she doesn’t have time for your pride—she has breakthroughs to discover.
After her mother died of pancreatic cancer when she was nine, her father raised her on the Upper West Side. She, in turn, helped care for her younger twin brothers, although this often proved a struggle, given Kandel’s predilection for her studies and solving the next puzzle, the next challenge.
Her pursuit of conquests outside her personal life isolated Kandel from those closest to her and, later in life, led to the dissolution of her marriage. It is with a twinge of irony, then, that she finally
began to come to terms with her divorce only when the Green Poison struck New York.
Jessica and her wife, Alexis Kwan got divorced a few months before the Green Poison virus.
Other Media[]
Tom Clancy's Elite Squad[]
Jessica Kandel was featured in Tom Clancy's Elite Squad as part of the The Division faction. She is a Hero character with the abilities Support Station and Immunizer, and Squad Perks Emergency and Resourceful.
Gallery[]
