Chapter 20: The Turning Point

Nova Cronum, Planet Cybertron
Earth Date December 6, 2012 (approx.)

Okay, Marissa resolved. She had done her part. She and her squadron had played bait, had lured the Decepticons – including big bad Megatron himself – into an ambush, and the trap had been sprung. Now it was in the hands of the big guys like Optimus, Magnus, and Grimlock. Which left her with just one more minor little thing to accomplish today:

Survive in the middle of what was undoubtedly the most explosive and intense battle she had ever seen.

For a brief moment she was blinded as pretty much everyone seemed to open fire at once. The ground shook from the impacts of shells and missiles, laser blasts filled the air with lethal fire, and the agonizing screech of tearing metal almost made her ears bleed.

Shaking her head to stop the ringing, she opened the com channel for her squadron. "Okay, Maniacs! Like we planned. The moment you see an opening, take off and provide high cover! Our job is to make sure that as many Decepticons as possible stay on the ground and boxed in."

Acknowledgements trickled in as the battle roared on. The intense fire above finally ceased for a moment. Marissa gunned Thrymir's thrusters and shot into the sky, transforming into jet mode in the process. Swoop, Steelwing, and Blazemaster were on her wing a moment later, the remaining Maniacs forming up into double wings as well.

"Even-numbered wings, clockwise perimeter! Odd-numbered wings, counter-clockwise perimeter! Let no one escape!"

The sky itself seemed to shake as Marissa briefly glimpsed Omega Supreme using his giant claw arm to slam a Decepticon combiner robot into the ground with enough force to put earthquakes to shame. The ground was barely visible due to smoke and fire, but she could easily discern where Grimlock and his Dynobots were active. A small group of Seekers managed to get airborne and Marissa quickly directed her wing. Opening fire, two of the Seekers were torn to shreds before they managed to gain much altitude. A missile fired from somewhere on the ground took out a third one. The remaining two closed in and the dogfight was on.

Marissa quickly lost all sense of time. The world was reduced to scanner readouts, IFF codes, and explosions. And to think, she mused for a second, that she was high above the main action. How it was down there in the maelstrom, she couldn't even imagine. Then her mind was once again fully focused on the battle at hand.

Dodge! Stay on his tail! Strafe that Decepticon on the ground! Evade a missile! Blow a Seeker to kingdom come! Blazemaster falling from the sky, trailing smoke! Taste blood in her mouth as bit down on her lip during a particular close miss! Explosions in front of her, dive right in! Decepticons attempt a break-out, clear a path for the Wreckers to stop them!

Slowly, ever so agonizingly slowly, the battle began to ebb. The number of explosions on the ground grew less. Widening the scope of her scanner, she saw that the number of Decepticon IFF codes had shrunk by a considerable margin. Almost absentmindedly she stayed on Swoop's wing as her second blew another Seeker out of the sky.

A large group of Decepticons was boxed in by Magnus and the Wreckers near the southern edge of the battle zone and she watched as they seemed to realize that the battle was lost. Their leader, IFF-tagged as Needlenose, threw down his gun and raised his arms in surrender. The troops around him quickly followed suite and she banked off as Ultra Magnus ordered his men to restrain them.

The battle was clearly winding down. The skies were clear, no more Decepticons tried to take off. A sharp feeling of sorrow went through Marissa as she noted that her squadron was missing four members. Blazemaster, Dogfight, Barrel Roll, and Sky High were gone. Clenching her fist, she resolved to grieve later. No time now. This wasn't over yet.

Near the site of the original ambush fighting was still going on. Megatron was in the thick of it, surrounded by a shrinking cadre of Decepticons, while a growing number of Autobot troops boxed him in ever tighter. Marissa ordered two-thirds of her remaining squadron to maintain the aerial perimeter and make sure that the skies remained clear, then took the rest of her bots down. However small her part, she wanted to be there for the main event.

She touched down amidst the carnage of a battle field. All around her lifeless shells littered the ground. Many of them wore Decepticon badges, but not nearly all of them. She didn't want to think about the number of casualties that had occurred because of... well, it was not quite her plan, at least not exclusively, but this entire battle had come about because of her presence on Cybertron. Rationally she knew that many, many more Cybertronians had died in the millions of years before she'd even been born, but still...

Someone screamed in terrible rage and she looked up to see that several of the Decepticons still with Megatron had apparently decided that their own survival was more important than pleasing the boss and raised their hands in surrender. Megatron was not pleased, it seemed, and quickly decapitated one of them with some kind of energy blade he had. Ironically, that seemed to be the final drop, as the other troops around him broke rank and ran from him.

Megatron stood alone, surrounded by Autobots.

"One hundred Shanix that he won't surrender," some Autobot to her left whispered.

"No takers," another whispered back.

Megatron's head darted around, though whether it was to look for an escape or his next victim, Marissa wasn't sure. When several Autobots stepped aside, though, to make room for Optimus Prime, his gaze irrevocably settled on the Autobot leader.

"You think you have won, don't you, Prime?" he spat.

Optimus just looked at him for a long moment before speaking. "I never wanted it to come to this, Megatron. But it's over now! Put down your weapon!"

This only seemed to enrage Megatron. "Put down my weapon? Surrender? To you? I don't think so! You have won nothing, Optimus Prime! I still stand! I am Megatron!"

He crouched into a combat stance and raised his energy blade, pointing it at Optimus.

"Face me if you dare, Optimus Prime," Megatron challenged, glaring at his opposite number. "It's time you and I finally settled things as warriors should."

Optimus shook his head, disappointed. "This is not a game, Megatron. You are no longer a gladiator in the arenas of Kaon, and this is not the finale of some tournament for some shiny trophy. You have plunged our world into a war that has lasted 50,000 Vorns. You have spilled the Energon of countless sentients. This battle is over, Megatron. Surrender! I will not ask you again."

Megatron merely screamed incoherently and rushed towards Optimus. He didn't get far, though. Dozens of blaster bolts from the Autobots surrounding him impacted his powerful frame, each one taking a chunk out of his armour. He made it another few steps, but finally collapsed. Optimus walked towards him, rifle at the ready.

"Finish it then, coward," Megatron growled, trying in vain to raise the barrel of his fusion cannon.

Optimus regarded his downed opponent with pity. "You never did understand how civilized beings deal with each other, Megatron. As I said, this battle is over."

For a second Marissa thought he was actually going to just blow Megatron's head off, but Optimus instead reached down and ripped the fusion cannon off Megatron's arm, throwing it aside with contempt. Carefully holstering his own rifle, he took the gizmo handed to him by Jazz and locked it to Megatron's back. An inhibitor claw, Marissa knew from the briefing. It locked down all but the basic functions of a Cybertronian's body.

"Megatron of Tarn," Optimus said, rising to his feet again. "You are under arrest for treason against Cybertron, instigation of civil war, and far too many war crimes to list them all. Your trial will commence as soon as civil order is restored on Cybertron. Until then, you will remain in Autobot custody. Ironhide, Trailbreaker, take him away!"

Marissa looked on as the two Autobots dragged the disabled Decepticon leader away, who seemed to be completely flabbergasted at being treated this way. Had he really expected Optimus to face him in some kind of winner-takes-all one-on-one fight after having already won the larger battle? Marissa could only assume that he had never really gotten out of that gladiatorial mindset and had considered this entire civil war little more than a personal path to glory.

"I can't believe it's finally over," Bumblee said, having walked up next to her. The little yellow bot had several scorch marks adorning his body, but seemed largely undamaged.

"It's not over yet, little buddy," Jazz told him, standing on Marissa's other side. "There are still a lot of Decepticons out there. But with Megatron defeated... it's not the end, but it might well be the beginning of the end."

Marissa nodded. Beginning of the end sounded fine to her. And maybe… just maybe… it was also the beginning of her journey home. The only thing that worried her, though, was that Shockwave hadn't been part of this battle. He was still out there somewhere and probably already in the process of putting himself into Megatron's place. She could only hope that his self-professed lack of charisma would slow him down.

Optimus walked over to stand in front of his assembled troops. Marissa also noticed Rewind, who had been filming everything as it happened and sent it to Blaster. The images of Megatron's defeat were all over Cybertron by now, she bet.

"Autobots," Optimus Prime began, "this is a great victory we have won today and I am proud of every single one of you. But do not let your guard down. It was a battle, not the war. We have made great strides forward, but we must not grow careless now. For the first time in eons we are at an advantage. The eternal stalemate is broken. Now we all need to push ahead with just as much strength and determination as always and, if Primus is with us, we will finally put an end to this conflict. I count on each and every one of you to help make that happen!"

We will make it happen, Marissa resolved. The War for Cybertron was going to end soon and she was going home.

End Chapter 20