Preface: A little 'bunny' that I wrote for my youngest daughter, who is forcing me to watch the entire G1 series again with her. The third grader has her first true crush – on Optimus Prime.
I must thank my father and the other veterans, all pilots from the same Naval Officers Class – from A-2 & A-3 pilots to Blue Angels; for their technical information.
Vietcong Tactics
Chapter 1
Super cell..
The thunder crashed in the distance, rolling steadily across the mid-western hay fields. Barely drowning out the sounds of battle and roaring jet engines.
Optimus Prime was badly outnumbered, outflanked and outgunned. As Starscream aimed Megatron and sent another powerful blast his way, the Autobot dove to the ground and rolled, getting just a glancing burn on a shoulder. He shot back, causing the second-in-command to fall back to the ground, Megatron being thrown in the air. Transforming quickly, the con leader aimed his cannon at the prone Mech, missing again as Prime swiftly transformed and rammed into him.
"You'll pay for that!" Megatron growled, as he fired again at the swiftly retreating semi. His Seeker squadrons already back in the air, strafing the Autobot with laser fire.
Optimus headed straight into the approaching Super cell, knowing the cons couldn't fly in its furious winds. It was his only escape route! He just prayed that there were no Tornado's touching down. Suddenly, a jolt ran through his systems as one of the Seekers got a direct hit on him, he swerved uncontrollably, jack-knifing, hearing the cons closing in on his helpless form. Then a blinding sheet of rain drowned him, and he knew he had made it to the cover of the storm.
"The Super cell is gaining strength Megatron," Soundwave said in his monotone voice.
The leader gave a disgusted humph, as his Seekers banked off, away from the approaching storm's fury. "We'll look for Prime after the storm passes, if a tornado doesn't get him – we'll finish him off!" then he and his troops retreated to safety, to wait for the tornadic front to pass.
Fighting the battering winds and rain, Prime straightened himself out, and drove forward, straight into the heart of the storm. Systems check showed him that not only was he now stuck in vehicle mode, but his satellite linkup system was down, so he only had short-wave radio left, which he couldn't get through to Metroplex with. In desperation, he kept driving, praying that he wasn't flipped over by the winds.
Ranchers
"Hey, John! There's a semi cutting across the south hay field!" Simon shouted. As the first wave of the front passed, he had stood up from the ditch he was lying in, and noticed the out-of-place rig.
His brother also stood up, soaked from head-to-toe, but happy that neither of the tractors seemed to be damaged. Squinting against the light rain, he looked over to where his younger brother was pointing. "Damned right! What the hell is he thinkin'? The squares are in the big barn, not in the field!" John tried to squeegee some of the water from his pants, heading towards the bigger of the two tractors. "Damned truck is pulling a box, not a flat – I think the bastard is lost!"
"And he'll get stuck in that field!" Simon added, knowing that with the soft soil and the heavy rain, even their double-wheeled 4X4 Tractors could have issues out there.
John began to climb into the tractor's cab. "I'll go get him; you get the other tractor to the barns before the second wave hits! It's supposed to be even worse than the first round!"
Simon waved his agreement, sloshing over to his tractor and heading toward the barns in fourth high.
Throwing the huge tractor into 4X4, John rumbled across the field, noting that the semi was already having traction problems, and from all the dents on it, appeared to have been in some kind of wreck. Then the semi got completely stuck, bottoming out in the mud. Pulling up next to the semi, John parked his tractor, leaving it idling; jumping out he ran up to the cab of the semi – to see what the hell the driver was doing here!
Stepping up, he peered into the cab – there was no one there! "What the hell!" he exclaimed in shock. Throwing the door open, he clambered inside, trying to figure out what was going on.
"I'm an Autobot, and I need your help," a deep male voice said to the man.
John turned around in shock, and then realized that there was one of those Autobot symbols on the steering wheel. "Shit! You scared the hell outt've me. What the heck are you doing out here in my fields?!" he demanded to know.
"I was involved in a battle just east of here; I took cover in these storms after I was damaged," the mech informed him.
The old Veteran's eyes got a little bigger. "You must've been pretty desperate to have taken cover in a line of Super cells!"
"Affirmative," Optimus agreed, "But I fear the Decepticons will resume their search for me once the weather front passes. I'm stuck in vehicle mode, long range communications are out, and I'm totally defenseless."
John thought for a second, he and his brothers' experiences in Vietnam came to mind. "Hmm, then we've got about another hour-and-a-half to figure something out. Let me unhook your trailer and I'll pull you to the main barns, I think I may have an idea."
The old vet unhooked the box trailer, and backed the monstrous John Deer tractor to Prime's bumper. Hopping off, he swiftly ran heavy pull chains around the mech's front axle and connected it to the tractor. Within ten minutes, the vet was swiftly dragging the semi cab across the field, his large tractor easily handling the load.
The made it to the main barn complex as the next line of super cells began rumbling ominously in the distance. As they stopped on the solid gravel drive, John got out and began unhooking the chains. Looking up as Simon came out of the Tractor barn.
Simon looked around, confused, "So where's the driver?"
"It's a damned Autobot," John informed him.
Looking curiously at the mud-covered semi, Simon asked the mech, "So why didn't you just transform and get your own self unstuck?"
"I'm stuck in this mode," came the reply.
John looked over at his brother. "We still got that flatbed that Ryan's Logistics left last load?" he asked.
"Yes, it's loaded in barn number three, along with our three local rigs. They're supposed to pick it up on Friday," Simon answered, his voice confused. Just what in the devil was his older brother up to?
"Call the rest of our brothers get them over here ASAP, this guy's in deep shit and I've got an idea on how to get him outt've it," John said, then ran over to the number three barn and pushed the button to get the huge hydraulic doors to start raising it. Motioning for Prime to turn and back in.
Simon looked at his brother quizzically. He hadn't heard that tone in his voice since their last mission in Vietnam. Realizing it was serious, he jumped in John's tractor and radioed to their siblings to join them here – it was an emergency.
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