Transformers Prime: Cosmos and the Little Sure Shot.
Deep Space.
Cosmos knew he was in trouble when the solar flare hit him at full force. HE should have known better than assume this was just a normal reconnaissance mission, but worst of all He knew he should have refueled at the last Autobot outpost. He couldn't dwell on any of that now, He had to focus on the problem at hand. The problem that his navigational system was fried and the solar wave had knocked him off course in deep space.
"Mayday! Mayday! Can anyone respond please over! "He pleaded over his radio" This is Cosmos and I have been damaged to this systems sun! Critical systems have been damaged to a solar flare I need assistance over!"
He regained some systems and was able to stop from spinning, when the flare hit him it was in the middle for a space jump, He lost track of his coordinates and made the move out of jump in time to stop himself from crashing into a small moon or an asteroid. Powering down some systems he was able to ragin control on most of his main powering systems.
"Cosmos we are reading you over!" He heard Autobot base Alpha call to him "Where are you?"
"I-I'm not sure! I see a big blue planet ahead of me, going to try to land there!" He said as he steered himself towards Earth atmosphere.
"_m-m-m-maintain, n-n-*buzz* Over!" Cosmos radio began to sputter out as he began re-entry into Earth's atmospheres.
"L-Losing contact with you! Trying to hold on! Here we go!" He yelled as he began to race into the Earth's sky at a high rate. He had to try to slow himself down or else he would slam into the Earth Surface at a high velocity.
He knew Earth was one of the planets the Autobots and Decepticon chose to store Energon and various relics that were plundered from the war. The war effort wasn't going well and plans were made to evacuate Cybertron. Cosmos's mission was to seek out and find new world for possible refuge or colonization. He was on his way back to report on several worlds in the Gaelius system when he was caught in the throws of a passing solar flare. Now he found himself about to make a crash landing on Earth's surface. He knew it was inhabited and he hoped to avoid any humans if necessary, Still on a day where nothing was going his way . How could he expect it to change now?
Jasper, Nevada February 18, 1885
"Third cactus pear from the right…" Abagail Forenash called out. She looked at her friend and fellow performer as she raised her 22. Caliber rifle and aim carefully.
Taking a slow breath she squeezed the trigger and the shot rang out and split the pear from the cactus at over 150 feet away, Annie Oakley smiled as she slung the rifle on her shouldered. She looked at the prairie and chose a target.
"Green bottle to our left." Annie called out as she pointed to the green bottle that sat on the partially made wooden fence.
Abigail sucked in a deep breath and aimed carefully, She fired the shot as the bottle shattered to pieces. "That two bits is gonna be mine Miss little sure shot!" She said mockingly. "Old Doc miller's hat!" She called out as Annie looked to see not far off from their right an old bearded man sleeping on a wagon. He was snoring in the dusk of the desert town.
Annie raised her rifle, but stopped. She was determined to win this two bits from Abigail. Guiding her horse around she pulled out a mirror from her coat. She held the mirror in front of her and steadied the rifle on her shouldered as it pointed behind her. This was one of her favorite shots to do, firing behind her using a mirror to target. She lined up the shot in the mirror and adjusted her aim. Pulling the trigger with her thumb. The shot rang out as the hat flipped off the snoring old man. He awoke with a startle as his hat floated back to him with an extra hole in it.
You drag fool girls!" He shouted" That hat cost me four dollars in Carson City! I loved that hat!, Get back here you two!" He screamed as he hopped up out of the wagon.
"Sam Hell! Ride!" Annie shouted as the two girls took off on horseback making a getaway. They were in their early 20's, They were the best of friends even though the outside world considered them rivals. Rivals in the sport of competitive shooting.
They were both in Wild Bill Cody's Wild West show, A grand spectacular showcasing the wild west to all over America. Abagail joined up with her brothers as sometimes dressed up as Cowboys or Indians recreating the many conflicts fought in the Wild West. Annie however was one of the main featured cast members.
She performed feats of skill and marksmanship. She could hit a dime tossed in the air from 90 yards, Split a card in half and hit it six more times before it fell on the ground, And she could shoot a cigarette out a person's mouth from over 100 yard. Standing at just over 5 feet tall, Little Annie was easily one of the main attractions to Wild Bill Cody's show.
Born in Ohio in 1860, Annie met and bested her husband Frank in a shooting contest when she was 15. Having won the competition and his heart, they married a year later. Catching the attention of larger than life Wild Bill Cody, They joined his Wild West show and now toured the country.
They raced their horses until they stopped at a clearing just outside the outskirts of town, They had just arrived in the growing town of Jasper Nevada, They mainly performed in the towns that were near the rail line. They were set to stay two weeks in the mining town of Jasper.
"Did you see that! He was steaming more than a cow pie in the noon sun!" Abagail laughed.
"Well there aint no way you were getting out of paying my two bits!" Annie said
"Now hold up! Who said we were done?" Abagail argued "Just because you cause ol Doc to throw a hissy fit don't mean we are through"
Annie narrowed her eyes and thought of a witty retort, then was distracted by something burning in the sky.
"What is that?" She said looking up
At first not fazed by what must be a trick by Annie to get out their bet She eventually looked up to see something falling toward Earth. It sped through the air with a long trail of smoke and fire behind it. It then hit the dunes with a loud bang that spooked the horses before finally settling about 10 miles away in the rocky basin near the town.
"We should go check it out!" Annie said as Abagail grabbed her arm.
"Now wait a minute! What if what Sitting Bull said was true? You know about evil spirits and demons falling from the sky?" She said cautiously.
"You know that's just an Indian Hocus Pocus! , Besides if it was meant to do us harm don't you think it would have hit the town directly?" Annie reasoned." I'm going with or without you!"
"Besides the show is set to start in hour!, Bill's gonna tan your hide if you don't make it for the show!" Abagail warned.
"I'd like to see him try! I'm on contract!" Annie yelled as she raced off toward the crash site.
The billowing smoke got closer and closer as Annie rode towards it. She could see small fires in the path leading up to the crash. Moving closer to the base of the rocky hill, She could see something nestled among several rocks that had collapsed on top of it. It was bigger than Annie was , as just a little larger than stage coach, It was green and round and smoldering.
Annie dismounted her horse and cocked her rifle ready to use it in case whatever was in their wasn't friendly. She got close to the object and gently tapped it with the butt of her rifle.
"Helloooo!" She yelled " Are ya'll ok!" She called out as she tapped it again but harder this time.
"I'm fine, could you please stop tapping me please?" It called out as it shook a little. It was enough to make Annie jump back with a yelp. She pointed her rifle at the disc.
She looked had to see if anyone was inside the craft was unlike anything she had ever seen, It was big round and green. Various blinking lights were littered all around it and it had a single red light on top of it.
"Do you need help getting out of your carriage?" Annie asked still keeping her distance.
"What? Oh ah no! Hang on let me see if I can transform!" He grunted as she saw the ship begin to shake under the rubble. She then saw the craft start to change and shift as it made a mechanical sort of grinding sound. She blinked in amazement as the round ship turned into a large metal man!
"Land sakes! What are you!" Annie said rubbing her eyes, and making sure she was seeing what she was seeing.
As Cosmos transformed it cause most of the rubble to shift and fall as a couple large boulders fell on top of his right leg, pinning him to the ground. He struggled and grunted as he tried to pull himself free from the rubble.
"Ah! Grr! I-I'm stuck!' He gasped as he was too weak to try to crawl any further. He tried to blast it with his weapon but he saw it was out of power.
Annie looked around and at the boulder it was large but probably could be blasted with dynamite that she didn't have. She then saw the configuration of the rock formation above him. She saw there were some rocks just held in place by a few loose boulders. A good shot might be able to knock the rock pinning him loose.
She aimed carefully with her rifle, she fired a show at the rock formation, and sure enough it cause a chain reaction where the larger of the rock being supported tumbled down and knocked the boulder off Cosmos. Cosmos felt the weight lifted off of him as he sat up. Checking to see that his leg was slightly battered but not too bad he started a systems check.
"Wow, thanks, I think." Cosmos said as Annie got closer to look at him.
"Think nothing of it, the way I see it no matter how different you look , your still one of God's creatures and needed help." She smiled.
Cosmos saw she was young barely in her early 20's she wore a brown dress with carious brown tassels all decorated about, Long curly brown hair that sat underneath a light brown cowboy hat. She had various medals and decorations pinned all over her chest, and she carried a rifle over one arm that she cradled like a baby.
"My name is Cosmos, " He greeted.
""I'm Annie, Annie Oakley! " She smiled "Please to meet you Mr. Cosmos!"
"Likewise, Annie, Annie Oakley!"
"It's just Annie!" She giggled "So I take it you're not from around here."
Cosmos shook his head, "I'm from the planet Cybertron, its way up there." He said as he pointed to the night sky. "I was on a routine mission, when I had to make an emergency landing here. Where am I by the way?"
"Your near a town called Jasper, Nevada. "she reported " A small town of maybe about 500"
"Do you live there?" He asked
"Me ah heck no! I'm part of a travelling show-"She the remembered the show and how she was really ,really late for it. She slapped her head "Ah land sakes! I missed my performance!"
"You're a performer? What do you do sing?" He asked
"Sing? Heck no, I'm a sharpshooter with my husband Frank. "She said as she saw that Cosmos still didn't understand. " You probably need a demonstration." She said as she stood up.
Taking a coin from her purse she took a stance and then flipped the coin high in the air, as the sun set the small fires around the area kept it just lit enough for her to see the small coin fly in the air. She then quickly drew her rifle and shot the coin in midair. It bounced off Cosmos as Annie quickly caught it.
She blew on the coin that had a hole in it and showed it to Cosmos" Aint that a thing of beauty!"
She gave it to Cosmos, "Keep it! It's a souvenir!" Cosmos took the tiny coin and marveled about how good a shot the human was. She didn't even have a targeting system.
"So are you ok? Are you hurt?" She asked Cosmos
Cosmos checked his arms and legs, "Well both seem to be working ok" He tried to stand up and then realized his gyros were offline as he fell back.
"You ok!" Annie shouted
"Gyros are out of whack, it's gonna need a day or two to right itself. " He said as he sat back up.
"Well I can't leave you here all by yourself; If you wait here I'll go get a wagon to carry you back to town!" She offered.
Cosmos then remembered the stay hidden policy set by Optimus Prime," I appreciate your sentiment Annie but it's ok, I'll be fine here, besides I don't want to risk causing a panic among your people."
Annie wanted to protest but remembered tales Chief Sitting Bull told her about the days when settlers first came to America and started a war with his people. They managed to wipe out a lot of his kind, and Cosmos was just one. She had to agree with keeping him hidden; No doubt someone might try to hurt him.
"Ok, At least let me go find you something to eat, I could hunt you some rabbtis if you eat that." She offered.
"I don't eat organics; I usually eat Energon, or scrap metals or oils. "He said. He realized he was in an early period of the Earth, where they hadn't even discovered things like flight or mechanizations like automobiles.
Annie bit her lip and thought, "Hey I think I might have something, just wait here!" She said as she mounted her horse. "I'll be back in two shakes of a rattlers tail!" She said as she rode off.
Cosmos waved as he tried activating his distress beacon, Soon or later a passing Autobot ship would catch the signal and rescue him, all he needed was enough energy to make escape velocity.
Annie made it back in town just to see her husband as he was about to lead a search for her. He saw her ride in and dismounted,
"Where have you been woman! We missed out act! And Bill's pissed!"Frank yelled
"i-I'm sorry Frank! I saw something crash and I-I just went to check it out." She explained not giving up Cosmos.
"Well I hope it's worth the hell were gonna get!" He said as he took her by the arm to the large tent that belonged to Buffalo Bill Cody.
They went in to see their boss Bill Cody stopped over a water basin, The show had just wrapped up no more than an hour ago, Most of the people left when they learned Annie Oakley was not able to perform "due to a fever".
"You wanna explain to me why I had to give out several vouchers to several unhappy patrons who learned you weren't performing tonight?" He asked as he wiped his face dry, and began to curl his famous blonde mustache in to two upper curls. "I'd really like to know why my star decided to play hooky, Are you 7?"
"I'Im sorry Mr.-"She began
"I wasn't finished!" He shouted "When I first started touring a Wild West show I was called crazy for doing something that wouldn't stand on water, but they were wrong. When I brought in Indians because I felt they got a bad shake in history, again I was called crazy, but I proved them wrong. Even then when I decided to make a woman one of my headliners I was called out of my mind!. I'm starting to think they were right!" Bill ranted.
"You might not care about your good name but I care when it's attached to mine!" He said "Now I can't fire you cause of your contract, but I sure as hell can make life very very uncomfortable for you and Frank." He said as he saw Annie looked down in shame " Now go on git!, and I better see you for ready two hours before the show tomorrow!"
Annie said nothing as Frank thanked Bill and escorted his wife out. "Sam hell Annie, what gives? I have never known you to skip out on a show like that!, you had me worried you done got yourself taken by bandits or something!"
"I-I'm sorry Frank, I saw something crash from the sky and wanted to check it out, you know how curious I get." She said batting her eyes at him.
"Oh no…..no no no, you will not use those puppy dog eyes on me!" He scolded
She continued to blink innocently at him; he shook his head as he knew he couldn't resist the puppy dog look and pout she gave him. He smiled softly and hugged his bride. "Just no adventures ok, you leave those for the show. Let's get some rest now ya hear?"
The very next morning Annie got up daybreak, left a note for her husband and borrowed a wagon, She bought a barrel of crude oil from town for five dollars. And loaded it up on the wagon, She made the trip out to see Cosmos, who sure enough was in the same spot as she left him, He had his head down slightly as if here were sleeping. She stopped the wagon and got off.
"Mr. Cosmos? Mr. Cosmos!" She called out as she tapped him.
Coming out of this powered down mode, he blinked his optics and looked around. "Oh Hey Annie!, Good morning!" he said.
"I brought you some breakfast! "she said as she pointed at the barrel" You said you ate oils and metals, I couldn't scrounge up any metal but there was this place in town that mines crude oil. I hope its ok!"
Cosmos stood up slowly as his gyros were back online, and opened the barrel of black oil " Ohh, this is very kind of you! Thank you!" He said as he picked it up and began to gulp some down. It wasn't the best tasting Petrol, but in a pinch it was going to have to do.
He didn't down it all as he wanted to save some for later, He was going to need it if he wanted to have enough energy to make orbit. She sat with Cosmos and talked with him, He talked about his youth growing up on Cybertron and his enlistment in the war with the Decepticons. He was a spy and used for operations in space , spying on Decpeticon bases. He explained he was one of the few Autobots who could make it into space on his own and return back. Sometimes his job was very lonely as he had to spend long periods of time in space just monitoring enemy transmissions.
Annie understood all too much what he meant, she was the fifth child of seven kids, she lost her father when she was young and her mom remarried and had another child. When her mom lost her second husband she fell into a deep depression that soon found Annie in the care of an infirmary. It was there she endured harsh working condition and severe mental and physical abuse. She was once force to stand out in the cold with no shoes for falling asleep while working. Eventually Annie was reunited with her mother and she provided with the family by hunting and trapping animals for profit. It was here that she honed her shooting skills; she could aim at anything and hit her mark. She explained how she paid for her mom's mortgage all by her hunting skills.
For the next couple days Annie traveled back and forth performing at nights and visiting Cosmos in the day. He had trouble transforming into this Saucer mode as there was a drive plate bent out of shape. Annie smuggled a hammer out of the show's blacksmith and helped hammer the piece back into place. He was able to transform and still gaining strength back. It was on the fourth day when Annie came in time to see he was cornered by a gang of five bandits.
It was simply bad luck it was the Cranston gang that had stumbled upon Cosmos when they were headed for their hideout. Emmitt Cranston didn't know what it was but he did know it would probably fetch him a few hundred dollars if he took it in dead or alive. They fired at cosmos hitting him several times in the arm, The bullets bounced off, they didn't hurt but they sure stung. Cosmos's energy levels were still low if he wasn't sure if he could take off flying how far he would get.
The five bandits were all on horseback circling him and firing their guns in the air at him. Annie rode in and aimed her rifle, Firing five times in quick secession, she shot three guns out of three bandits hands and two hat off their heads.
They stopped as they saw Annie Oakley mounted on her horse her rifle aimed right at them . " I can shoot the hair off a fly at 800 yards and I'm pointed right at your head!" She shouted.
She trotted near Cosmos as the outlaw held their hands in the air, "Cosmos, you ok?" She asked.
"A little banged up, I didn't want to hurt them, but they almost gave me no choice!" He said .
"Then transform and get out of here!" She said "I'll cover you!"
"Wait what about you!" He said
"Ill be fine! Now GIT!" She said as she saw him transform and take off.
"It's getting away!" Emmitt Cranston yelled as he pulled out his second gun to fire.
"Stop!" Annie yelled as she pulled the trigger and nothing happened. She looked at her empty rifle and realized she didn't bring any extra ammo or guns.
"Shit" She gulped.
"We may not have gotten much for that metal man, but I KNOW we'll get a lot in ransom for the great Annie Oakley!" Emmitt grinned "Get her!"
Annie holstered her rifle and took off on her horse, the bandits were blocking the way toward town so she race the other way out into the desert basin. She pushed her horse to its limits as she ducked gunfire from the pursuing outlaws. She could feel her horse getting tired as she headed west far from the town and deeper into the barren territories of Nevada.
Still being pursued she finally stopped when she reached the edge of a cliff and down below was a fall of about 200 feet. She dismounted as she saw she was trapped between the outlaws and a very, very long drop. She gasped as she etched closer and closer to the edge. The five bandits had her cornered with their guns drawn.
"You got rope Festus?" Emmitt asked
" I aint got the rope, I thought Dogget had the rope!" Festus argued.
"How can we take a hostage if we ain't got no rope!" Emmitt yelled
"Well just knocker over the head! Just don't do it hard enough to where you'll kill her!" Doggett said.
Annie held up her hands and then looked down at the drop behind her. " I got a better ideas boys!" She smirked as she dropped off the cliff.
"Woah woah woah!" They cried out as the saw the main star of Buffalo Bills wild west show just commit suicide
Then they saw her rise up over edge of the cliff as she was on top of Cosmos, Cosmos then fired a couple of bolts from his guns at the ground which promptly spooked the horses causing them to buck the outlaws and run off.
Annie let out a shout as she waved her cowboy hat in the air and flew off with Cosmos. She never flown before and felt a rush of exhilaration as the wind swept over her face, making her hair fly wildly all around her.
"I thought I told you to go!" She playfully scolded.
"You did, but I wasn't about to leave my friend behind!" He said as he flew her back to Jasper.
Frank tapped his foot as his time piece was reaching close to 7 o'clock, It was almost time for the show and his wife was late again. "Five more minutes " He kept telling himself. "What in land's sake has her so busy!"
Buffalo Bill soon appeared beside him, he was dressed in his full regalia, ready to kick off another show. Beside him was the famous Indian Chief Sitting Bull.
"Where is Annie? " He asked flatly
Frank shook his head slowly.
"Cut the kid some slack "Sitting Bull said " I'm sure she's off doing young girl things…."
Buffalo Bill took off his hat and wipe the sweat from his brow "Bull , this is more than that it's bisnuess! I can't have her coming and going as she damn well pleases! I can't her no-showing!"
"You know the people come to see Little Sure Shot, and she won't disappoint them." Sitting Bull said calmly. Little Sure Shot was the nickname her gave her when she first met him. He was so impressed by her shooting skills he gave her the nickname and it stuck.
The three men then saw something approach from the western skies, It was small round a green, but what was more incredible was it was carrying Annie.
"What in tarnation is that!" Bill exclaimed as it landed before them kicking up dust all around.
Little Annie hopped off and dusted herself off as the round ship transformed into a metal man that stood about 9 feet tall.
"I hope I'm not too late ya'll!" She smiled.
They all stared wide opened mouths at the large metal man, "Wh-Wh-What is that!" Frank pointed at Cosmos.
"This is my friend Cosmos, "Annie Introduced "and He's from another planet!"
"Hello everyone!" Cosmos said as he waved. "Annie here took care of me while I was hurt. I'm reason why she hasn't been around, Sorry about that!"
Buffalo Bill readjusted his eyes and walked to Cosmos, He tapped his chest to feel he was made of metal. He was a walking talking man made of metal.
"Well I'll be a monkey's uncle! " He said "You are a visitor from another world!. How would you like a place in my wild west show?" He offered.
"Sadly I have to decline, "Cosmos said as he looked up, from here he could see the Autobot spaceship entering Earth's orbit "You see that bright spot up there, that's my way home!"
"Besides, we are Wild West show!, not a space show!" Annie said elbowing Bill in the side.
Annie went to Cosmos, "So you have to go home?" She asked sadly.
"I'm afraid I do Annie, My friends need me. " He said as he patted her softly on the head.
"Will I ever see you again?" She asked as she touched his metal arm.
"Maybe one day " He said " Keep looking up!"
"I-I wont forget you!" She said, she then grabbed a Program book of the show her husband was holding, Taking out a pencil she signed her autograph on it. "I want you to take this, to remember me by!" She gave him the program book and on her picture she wrote
"TO COSMOS, I'LL NEVER FORGET YOU – ANNIE OAKLEY."
"Thank you Annie!, I'll always treasure it!" He said as he placed inside his arm compartment, Waving to everyone Cosmos transformed and flew off into the night sky.
Cosmos made it inside the Autobot spaceship, where he was immediately looked over by Autobot doctors; He rested in the medical bay as he composed his report to Optimus Prime.
"Optimus, I know you've had your reservations about the Earth and it's people. You feel they aren't ready for extraterrestrial contact, while I can they may not be ready now. I can easily say that they will be eventually. I have encountered these Humans first hand and I can tell you they aren't as fragile as we thought they were. They are a resourceful and intelligent species. The Decpeticons might one day use Earth for their rich resources and to enslave the people. I urge you to keep this from happening, because the planet is worth saving, the people are worth saving. This is Cosmos reporting out.
Additional: If you ever did decide to relocate to Earth, I highly recommend Jasper Nevada, Trust me on this…."
A/N: Here is a quick one shot, while I fight through the writer's block plaguing me for Transformers Prime Miami. I hope you all enjoy it and enjoy the History lesson. I have always wanted to write a fic featuring Transformers and Earth's history. I might do another one shot in the future or I may continue this one. But I feel it jarred loose anything that was causing my writers block, I will have a new chapter of TFP: Miami out this weekend! Thanks for your patience!