Transformers: Aide for the Spark

By WindstormPrime Aka J.A.M.

Chapter 1

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Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers. Plot and OCs are mine unless otherwise noted.

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General Morshower frowned at the report that had, unceremoniously, been deposited on his desk. Yet another government liaison has quit and gone into early retirement. It seemed that, without fail, every man who has taken the position at Diego Garcia had quit within a month. And he knew why. Not that he blamed the Autobots or the soldiers stationed there for their treatment of the various liaisons, but they were particularly harsh in how they handled the apparent dregs of the government. He only wished he had caught onto what the government, or rather what certain politicians in the government, were doing.

Word had gotten around that getting assigned to that position was an easy way to secure a fat paycheck for the rest of one's life, if they could pass the requirements. What wasn't being said, however, was that it was being used to 'get rid of' personnel whom have irritated those in command positions. This neatly avoided the political fallout or difficulty of actually firing them. All they had to do was mention there was an 'opening' and grease the wheels of the paperwork for the soon to be 'retired' official. Then he, and it was disproportionate in how many were men, would only do what came naturally enough for others to want him gone. The base personnel took care of the rest by making life a living hell for them. Rumor even had it that it has become a game for them now.

Problem was, however, they needed a liaison. A good one that could actually last longer than a mere month. They needed a liaison that had the sense to not stick his foot in his mouth and chew. Sadly, finding someone like that in the government is hard. Not because they are rare by any means, but when you have one under your command, you do everything in your power to keep them from everyone else who might try and lure him or her away. Many even resorted to underhanded tactics such as lying about and understating the performance of such individuals. The exact opposite of those they want to get rid of.

Morshower grimaced as he looked at the list of potential liaisons that he had 'convinced' those in charge to run by him first. Ever since they got that one that was secretly working with the Decepticons, he personally had to know who was coming on board so he could forward the info to the Autobots so they could do their own investigations. Unfortunately, this still hasn't solved the primary problem. He was at his wits end trying to solve the problem when it occurred to him that the best person for the job would have to be trained to deal with this specific sort of situation. None of the liaisons have ever had 'training' to deal with aliens in any capacity. Naturally, he couldn't just command such a thing to exist; he would have to run it by the President and all that. He also would have to phrase it in such a way that nobody really knew what the position was ultimately meant to do. Granted, he wasn't looking for just any individual. He wanted someone low on the totem pole, with experience in mediation between different parties, but little political background to have any sort of bias. Such a person had to be… open-minded… and possibly a little unusual in their own right.

For the first time in months, the general smiled as he typed up a proposal of his own. He would call the position "Liaison's Aide." And the duties would be to mediate, facilitate, and record the dialog between the Autobots and the liaison, for the purpose of maintaining consistency and extending the turnover rate of such liaisons. He added in a few requirements, meant to exclude those he didn't want in the position before finally signing the proposal and sending it off to the president directly. If all went according to plan, he would get the liaison he needed without those stuffy politicians even knowing what happened until it was too late.

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Months later, Alexander, or rather Laura as she was calling herself now, glowered at her computer screen as she applied for yet another job that she met the qualifications for in the federal system. Her current job had become increasingly intolerable, and she simply needed to transfer out of it. Ever since that whole incident where she had taken medical leave in order to begin hormone replacement therapy, things had gone south. Her own boss broke regulations when he called up the doctors to find out what was going on, and they broke her trust when they told him she was Trans and starting HRT. She knew it would come out eventually, but it still was against regulation. Not to mention she still looked male enough that there was no need to inform anyone of the switch in gender. Especially since she wasn't quite ready to come out of the closet to her peers at the time. Fast forward a few months and her boss had outed her to several folks who were… less than supportive of her change of status.

The Equal Opportunity Office was doing what it could to mitigate the fallout, but little changed the fact that she needed out. Not that she really liked working in a federal prison anyways. Paper pushing is fine and all, but she quickly, and regretfully found that she had little taste for running administration for such a place. Especially after she started to realize that many of the people who worked there were little better than the criminals who resided there.

Unfortunately, applying and qualifying for jobs was the easy part. Her diverse and eclectic skill set meant she could twist her resume around to fit quite a few jobs. If that wasn't the only thing she had going for her, she probably would have gotten a job elsewhere right away. But no, she was white and still legally male, which meant she was always slated to be last in line behind affirmative action, or so it seemed to her at least.

Upon checking her email, she was genuinely surprised to find that she had actually gotten a reply from a job she applied for merely a week ago. It was one she barely could meet the requirements for when she did, so she had little hope of being called in for an interview. "Well damn, it's about time." She muttered as she quickly replied to the email, hoping this would be the break she so desperately needed. She wasn't entirely sure what she was getting into, even the job description was somewhat vague on the website. But it guaranteed a large jump in pay if she managed to stick around for more than six months.

Three days later, she got a call just as she got off from work. She fumbled for her phone in her purse, before snapping the old flip phone open to answer. "Hello?"

"Good evening, is this Mr… oh, I'm sorry. Miss. Kennwick? This is Major Lennox, in regards to the position you applied for as a Liaison's Aide? I'm sorry we couldn't get back to you sooner, however I'm in the area for a brief time and I was wondering if you have the time to for us to conduct an interview. It would save us both a bit of trouble if we take care of it now." Lennox explained on the phone.

Laura tried her best to suppress her surprise as she replied, even has her hands shook slightly in nervousness. "Yes, I just got off work, so I have plenty of time to interview you now. When and where do you want us to meet, Major?"

"Well I am in a bit of a hurry so how about five or ten minutes from now, in the Starbucks across from your work? I'm right outside the gate if you're wondering." Will smirked and waved from the window of the black chevy topkick at Laura.

Laura blushed, immediately feeling self conscious. She wasn't dressed for an interview, nor did she have much make up on. So she wasn't presenting the best image she could at the time... especially since she still had a long way to go with HRT. At least she no longer had facial hair, and was just slight enough in build that she could pass for a somewhat… masculine woman. "T-that'll work." she stammered before she returned the wave. "I'll be right on over."

"See you there!" Will chuckled as he clicked off the phone.

Ironhide rumbled as they moved to go park at the Starbucks. "You sure about... erm... her? Seems a bit flighty."

"I'm sure she's what we're looking for, 'hide. She met all the qualifications General Morshower set, and the sheer diversity in her background means she'll be more of an asset than a hindrance." Will smiled as he watched her make her way out of the fenced in lot.

"Unlike those half processor units that she'll eventually replace?" Ironhide chuckled. "I hope so. I'm getting' real sick of dealing with the worthless slag they keep foisting off on us."

"You and me both, 'hide. And there she goes. Time to pretend you're just a truck while I pretend to know what I'm doing." Will replied as he hopped out of Ironhide's cab, trying not to smile at the rueful chuckle that followed him. When Laura approached him he smiled and put out his hand. "A pleasure to finally meet you, Miss Kennwick. Sorry for the abruptness of the interview, but I'm leaving in a few hours."

"It's a pleasure to meet you too Major Lennox. I'm glad for the opportunity to be interviewed so soon." Laura replied, nervously as she shook the offered hand.

"Call me Will." He stated as he guided her to a seat nearby. "Now I've seen your resume, and I must say it's rather… unique. You got a degree in Psychology, and a minor in justice? But you also have computer programming courses in your transcripts, philosophy as well… some work experience in manufacturing and customer service… not to mention experience with data entry and whatnot… there is actually quite a list of other things you've done or learned there. Can you tell me about that?"

Laura took a few moments to settle her nerves as she sat down before she responded. "Well, when I originally went to college, I started out as a Computer science major, before changing over to Psychology, because I found the coursework more interesting. At the time I kinda wanted to become a profiler for law enforcement. But to get into that I needed a Masters Degree at minimum and I wasn't able to get into the masters program. Since then I bounced around, doing whatever I could to get by, trying to work my way into a better financial position so I could afford my… therapy. I've never been adverse to learning new things or developing new skills, so I pretty much applied to whatever job opening I could find, in the hopes they would be willing to take me on and teach me what I needed to know."

Will nodded as she spoke before replying. "That's pretty good, shows initiative and a willingness to do what it takes. Now I understand that you're currently going through some... issues with your current place of employment. I would like to assure you, should you be selected for and accept this position, that there will not be a repeat of that unfortunate situation. I can't get into too many specifics about the job until you agree, but we do have our own medical staff. Who take doctor-patient confidentiality extremely seriously. You would have to report to them for your medical checkups, however."

"That's… good." Laura nodded after thinking about what Will just said. "I don't mind having to report to a new doctor, I'm still not thrilled with the one I currently have, not after his secretary spilled the beans. On the bright side, since I'm effectively... out of the closet anyways. I don't have much else to worry about."

Will chuckled. "Okay then, are you still interested in this job? I know you don't have a lot of information to go on, but I really can't tell you more about what you'll be doing until you're actually signed on."

Laura laughed. "I'm interested alright. If it gets me out of Tennessee, I'm defiantly interested. Not knowing exactly what I'll be doing just makes me want to see just how far the rabbit hole goes… or something like that."

Will grinned as he stood. "That's good to hear. When I get back to my office I'll talk to the others. If they agree with me I'll send you your formal offer, all you have to do is sign it and we'll start getting things underway, Miss Kennwick."

"Please, call me Laura." She grinned, barely containing her excitement.

"Have a nice evening, Laura." Will waved as he climbed into Ironhide's cab, leaving Laura to her thoughts as they drove away.

"Good thing Red Alert has already vetted her. Elswise I'd be asking you why you got her hopes up like that." Ironhide groused.

"Red vetted her? When and how did that happen?" Will blinked as they turned toward the base entrance.

"Shortly after Prowl did. And if Red and Prowl say she's okay then Prime's gonna green light her too. It was the darnedest thing too. Not even a breem later he requested some leave time. Something about getting a deeper look at something he recently uncovered. Prime okayed it this morning." Ironhide noted.

"Strange… Maybe Red's glitch glitched, so now he's almost normal?" Will offered hopefully.

"The day that bot is 'almost normal' is the day I retire." Ironhide snorted. "I bet the fragger is off on… what do you call it? A wild animal chase?"

"Wild Goose Chase." Will supplied. "That sounds a bit more like him… I suppose we'll see what happens then."

Ironhide only snorted in response as he started to make his way down the runway towards the waiting C-130.

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Red Alert frowned internally as he watched the human names Laura return to her tiny apartment space. He had been watching the location for half a day already... noting that it was woefully unsecure. Her home was far too close to the highway with only the minimal of locks barring her doors. Sure he vetted her as reasonably trustworthy. Her co-workers on the other hand… every time he ran the numbers… the likely hood they would harm her seemed to go up. Oh sure it was a small percentage. And the others would just likely dismiss it, but he had a hunch that the percentage wasn't as small as he could figure. He was sure he was missing something important! The only way he could see keeping that number down was to watch her in secret… and be ready to intervene. Prime agreed, that was why he let him go on this mission. Even if nothing happened, Prime reasoned it was better to be ready to act and not have to, than need to act and be unable.

Even as the last light went out and his sensors registered her as sleeping, Red Alert continued his vigil.

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