Chapter 8: The Human Factor


Journal of Lt. Colonel Marissa Fairborn, Earth Defence Command
January 31, 2013

I knew that the battle for Earth would be different than the war for Cybertron, simply because of the added element of human beings. I don't think I fully anticipated how different, though. Despite being a human being myself, I didn't have the slightest idea in how many different ways the human factor would come into play in the conflict between Autobots and Decepticons.


Gulf of Alaska
United States
January 20, 2014

"Damn it all to hell," Marissa whispered as she made a second pass over the huge Energon processing facility that seemed to have sprung up from nowhere right in the middle of one of Alaska's biggest oil fields. All her weapons were armed, but she might as well have left them at home, because there was no way she could take a shot.

"Any way we can get an accurate count?"

She had her Uncle Clay – and she probably should get used to calling him General Abernathy again, she figured, given that he was her commanding officer these days – and Jazz on the line and they were watching the same sensor readouts she had in front of her eyes.

"I estimate at least several hundred. Have Rewind and Breaker get on trying to match-up faces, we need to know where they came from. Right now, though, it doesn't really make a difference."

The Decepticons had done as expected. They had identified the biggest sources of easily-processed resources on Earth – the ones humanity had already thoughtfully begun to harvest – and seized them. What had once been a mere oil drilling site was now enhanced with Cybertronian-built defence installations and what looked to be a very busy facility to process crude oil into Energon cubes.

There were no more attempts at disguise, however, no effort to hide the fact that Decepticons were in residence here. Not that it was needed, as the Decepticons had installed a devastatingly effective shield to ward off attacks: a human shield.

The facility was surrounded by crudely built housing units, surrounded by razor-wire fences. People in cold weather gear were visible even from up here, milling about in small groups. She could spot what appeared to be entire families with kids. Not only was there no obvious way out for them, Marissa could also see that at least several of the numerous gun batteries were not pointed at the sky, but rather at the largest concentrations of housing units.

And just in case the deal wasn't obvious enough, an automated message was broadcast on short range radio and several Cybertronian frequencies: "Attention Autobots and humans. Attack this facility and we will destroy all the prisoners."

"Any chance of taking out all those batteries in a single air strike?" Clay asked.

"Maybe, but that wouldn't avail as much. There are Decepticons on guard all over the place; they could shoot the prisoners just as well. Besides, if they're smart they've got at least one or two of their Pretenders among the prisoners."

Jazz agreed. "I really hope our smart bots can come up with a way to identify those turkeys soon. Otherwise that's going to be a major malfunction in all our plans."

She could hear Clay sigh deeply. "Make sure to get a good look at this entire installation, but then return to base, Colonel! I don't think we have any immediate venue of attack here."

"Roger," she replied, clenching her fist as Thrymir thundered across the clear Alaskan sky. Shockwave had successfully outmanoeuvred them, at least for now. They really needed to think of something brilliant and soon.


Autobase Earth
Mt. St. Hillary, Oregon, United States
January 22, 2014

"Okay, people, listen up!"

The small squad of elite pilots assembled from the air forces of eight different countries came to attention as Marissa walked into the room. Thirteen men and seven women, all of them wore the brand-new blue and white uniform of the Earth Defence Command.

"You've all seen the news and gotten the briefings," Marissa began. "The Decepticons have made their opening move and taken over several countries wholesale, as well as securing more than a dozen resource-rich locations in Russia, China, and the United States. All of these holdings are protected by the latest in Deception high-tech weaponry, as well as large groups of human hostages. Altogether the Decepticons now control well over half the world's crude oil production and I have little doubt that the only reason Shockwave stopped there was a shortage of troops and materials. So to sum it up: it doesn't look good right now."

She walked along the line of soldiers, looking at their faces. All of them were veterans who had seen action before. She didn't need fresh-faced recruits straight out basic training. She herself had been a veteran before facing her first Decepticon and still been scared stiff. She didn't want to imagine what it might have been like had she still been a wet-behind-the-ears youngster at the time.

"We originally intended to do this at a much more sedate pace, but that plan's gone out the window. So starting today, you people are going to be the first squadron of the brand-new EDC Air Force. You're representing all of humanity out there, people, so from this moment forward I expect all of you to consider yourselves humans first and foremost, no matter what country you come from."

She stopped and motioned towards the two Autobots who were in the hangar with her. She had seen some of the pilots regard them with mild suspicion before announcing her presence. It was hard to blame them, considering the pictures they'd seen of similar-looking robots using their fellow humans as shields, but she intended to squash any misplaced hostilities right at the get-go.

"These are Powerglide and Swoop and they are probably the greatest combat flyers you're going to meet in your entire lives. They've fought against the Decepticons longer than our race has even existed, so they know what they're talking about. When we go out there for our first training flight, they're going to be in charge. When you first head into actual combat, odds are one of them is going to be in charge, too. If you have a problem with that, you better get over it soon, because we've got a war to win."

She walked over to the hangar doors.

"Now you've all been given a brief description of the level of military technology our enemies will bring to the fight. As you are all intelligent people, I have no doubt that you realize that even the finest of human-made military machines are hopelessly, hilariously outclassed. We'd have to outnumber them a dozen or more fighter jets to one Decepticon Seeker to even hope to achieve victory and in the face of the measures Shockwave has taken, that is not going to happen. So we even the playing field a bit with a gift from our Autobot allies."

The hangar doors slid open and even these trained and experienced military men and women couldn't quite supress their awe in the face of twenty towering winged robots standing before them. All of them were missing their heads, instead there were suits of battle armour standing in front of them.

"Your briefing documents included pictures and video files of Thrymir and how I interface with it using the Headmaster process created by Wheeljack. Now it's your turn. These are the first generation of mass-produced Headmaster Transectors intended for use by human pilots. They will put you on an almost even footing with any given Decepticon flyer. I say 'almost' because the Decepticons will still be more durable, far more resistant to things like G-forces, and have slightly faster reflexes as they don't need a binary interface to interact with their own bodies.

"Now that isn't to say we don't have any advantages of our own. We're far more familiar with the aerial conditions of Earth, as most Decepticons have little to no experience with things like thermals or strong wind patterns. Also, the fact that they've fought against the same opponents for four million years has got them stuck in their ways a bit. During my first dog fight on Cybertron I performed an Immelmann roll, an aerial manoeuvre that is known to just about every fighter pilot in this world. It took them completely by surprise.

"So the basic message here is: these are not human pilots you will be facing. It carries certain advantages and disadvantages. Keep that in mind at all times!"

Smiling she gestured at the suits. "Enough with the pep talk now, though. Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to suit up!"


North Sea
Off the coast of Germany
January 29, 2014

The first mission for the newly created squadron came sooner than Marissa would have liked, but there was no helping it. While she did have quite a few Autobots at her (or rather Jazz') disposal, humanity needed to get into this fight and fast. So when Decepticon raiders were picked up leaving their main base in Siberia and heading toward the North Sea, her squadron was scrambled immediately.

The clash happened at sea, several miles out from a collection of oil drilling platforms that were the Decepticons' probably target. Six Decepticon Seekers accompanied a large shuttle craft. The Decepticons obviously picked up the approaching aircraft, but considering that they detailed but two of their number to intercept the twenty-three strong opposing forces, probably expected them to be 'mere' human jets.

Ten seconds into the fight they knew better. Five minutes into the fight the sole surviving Seeker beat a hasty retreat as the burning wreckage of his compatriots fell into the ocean below. Captain Brad J. Armbruster was officially the first human who was not called Marissa Fairborn to shoot down a Decepticon flyer.

Captain Jacques DeMoin was officially the first casualty of the EDC. He would not be the last.


Iacon, Planet Cybertron
Earth Date January 30, 2014

"So I hear the human-driven Transectors worked just fine on their first outing?"

Wheeljack resisted the urge to groan as he turned around to face Brainstorm. The other Autobot walked into his workshop and Wheeljack had little doubt that he sported a huge, self-satisfied grin behind his mouthplate.

"They did, yes," Wheeljack just replied. "They lost one, but from the mission logs it appears to have been a simple case of bad luck. Zigged when he should have zagged, the human expression is, I believe. The Transectors and Headmaster units worked just fine."

While Wheeljack had created the Headmaster process and concept, it was Brainstorm who had adapted his work to create the Transectors, life-less Cybertronian bodies built for combat and intended to be 'driven' by either downscaled Cybertronians or humans in Headmaster suits. Grudgingly Wheeljack had cooperated with his fellow scientist to fine-tune the equipment for Marissa's first EDC squadron. There was no denying that Brainstorm was brilliant, Wheeljack admitted. But while he himself had often been called slightly mad, Wheeljack considered Brainstorm to be completely and utterly nuts.

"Then shouldn't we start working on the next step?" Brainstorm asked.

"Next step?"

"Adapting your Headmaster process to work with the Gestalt protocols."

Wheeljack vigorously shook his head. "No! There is no way anything good is going to come from that, Brainstorm. You know how unstable the Gestalt protocols are even when you try and apply it to members of the same species. To try it with a human and a Cybertronian..."

The Gestalt protocol was the basis of the combiner process, where a group of warriors combined their bodies and minds into a greater whole. The resultant combiner robots were staggeringly powerful – Devastator and Defensor coming to mind – but most of them were, at best, barely intelligent brutes. Also, there was a reason why there were only so few combiner teams in existence despite their proven combat effectiveness. Even with careful psychological screening the process of successfully combining multiple minds into one only worked in very few cases. And the results were never pretty when it didn't.

"That is just why it should work much better in those cases, Wheeljack," Brainstorm interceded. "Usually the gestalt mind is comprised of whatever the individual minds can agree on with everything else shunted to the side. But human and Cybertronians are so different, I believe the sides can complement each other instead of being reduced to the lowest common denominator. And I'm not talking about throwing groups of five or six together, just one Cybertronian and one human. The result should be a gestalt mind perfectly suited for combat on Earth."

Wheeljack considered this a moment, then shook his head again. "Even if you were right, the risk is far too great. Besides, the humans are only just starting to trust us to be their allies in this war. Using them in highly dangerous experiments... no way Prime would ever agree to that. Plus, we got more important things to figure out, like how to reliably identify those Pretenders."

Brainstorm huffed. "Fine, have it your way!"

He stomped out. Wheeljack made a mental note to keep an eye on him. It wouldn't be the first time Brainstorm started tinkering with things even when everyone else told him to lay off.


Autobase Earth
Mt. St. Hillary, Oregon, United States
January 31, 2014

"Busy couple of days, weren't they?"

Marissa looked up from the reports of the various battles that had taken place during this last week. Apart from the action her new squadron had seen over the North Sea, Jazz' Autobot forces had faced Decepticons in skirmishes in the Persian Gulf, Siberia, Alaska, China and Venezuela. Most of these had resulted in stalemates, the Decepticons being denied their objectives, but safely retreating to their fortified locations with their human shields.

So she was tired, somewhat frustrated, and more than appreciative of the cup of coffee Ian Chesterton was handing her.

"Sure were. Any news on the political front?"

Sipping from his own coffee, Ian sat down beside her. "Nothing much. Still some people all over the place who think we should try for a diplomatic solution to this conflict. Plus the usual assortment of hardliners who think we should throw nukes at the problem. Same old, same old."

Marissa shook her head, thankful that she was mostly spared dealing with the political side of things. Apart from her appearance before the UN Security Council she had managed to stay out of the limelight so far. Which was just the way she liked it.

Which, of course, meant she should have seen this next thing coming.

"We'd like you to do a TV interview," Ian said.

"What?" she yelled, almost choking on her coffee.

"Well, you are the one who made first contact with the Cybertronians, the liaison between Autobots and humans, and the field commander of the EDC. People want to get to know you and we think it's a good idea. People need to see more of the human participants in this conflict. So far it's been mostly giant robots fighting each other on our turf. Being told that some of those giant robots are being driven by humans... well, it's not the same as seeing it."

Marissa closed her eyes. Was she a bad person for desperately wishing for a major Decepticon offensive right now?

End Chapter 8