The red dust of Geonosis was no longer just a landscape; it was a living, breathing shroud of war. As the Resolute's rescued Jedi scrambled from the hold of the combined transport, they found themselves in the heart of a mechanical nightmare. The plains were a sea of white plastoid armor clashing against the cold, tan metal of the Separatist droid legions. In the center of this chaos, standing atop a command overlook like a small, green anchor in a stormy sea, was Grand Master Yoda.
Sky Lynx did not simply land. He arrived with the weight of a falling moon.
As his massive form touched down, the ground groaned under the pressure of the AT-TE lower half. The Jedi—Mace Windu, Anakin Skywalker, and Obi-Wan Kenobi—leapt from the carrier bays, their lightsabers already humming as they joined the fray. Sky Lynx, however, had no intention of staying stationary.
"Master Yoda!" Sky Lynx's voice boomed over the localized command frequency, cutting through the static of a thousand explosions. "I have returned your lost peacekeepers. I trust you've saved a particularly difficult section of the line for me? These standard droids are beginning to bore me with their lack of imagination. They lack... flair."
Yoda looked up, his robes whipping in the wind generated by Sky Lynx's idling thrusters. "Arrived, the reinforcements have," Yoda noted, his voice carrying clearly despite the thunder of mass-driver cannons. "To the western flank, you must go. A Trade Federation Core Ship, attempting to escape it is. Heavy the fire is; stop it, we must."
"Consider it grounded, Master Yoda," Sky Lynx retorted, his Vulture-head cocking to the side as he scanned the horizon. "After all, what is a mere spaceship to the Magnificent Sky Lynx?"
The Tactical Split:
With a roar of his primary engines, Sky Lynx surged forward, charging directly into the thick of the Separatist line. As he reached the edge of the Republic's forward formation, he executed the maneuver that was fast becoming his signature.
With a thunderous clack of magnetic releases, the two halves of his body separated.
The upper half, the Vulture form, snapped its wings wide. The metallic "feathers" shimmered as they caught the harsh light of the binary suns, and the "Wampa" nose art seemed to let out a silent scream of defiance. The Vulture spiraled upward, its talons tucking in as it transitioned into a high-speed interceptor.
Below, the AT-TE mass didn't just fall; it transformed. The six sluggish legs of the standard walker retracted and merged into four powerful, feline limbs. The Panther form hit the red sand at a full sprint, its body low to the ground, weaving between the legs of lumbering Spider Droids. Its massive tail-cannon swung like a scorpion's stinger, snapping off shots that shattered the joints of enemy walkers while its shoulder-mounted repeating blasters turned platoons of B1 battle droids into glowing slag.
To the clone troopers on the ground, it was a miracle. To the droids, it was an error in logic they weren't programmed to solve.
Siege of the Core Ship:
The Core Ship was a gargantuan sphere of durasteel, groaning as its repulsors fought the gravity of Geonosis to reach orbit. It was surrounded by a perimeter of Hailfire droids and sonic cannons, creating a "no-fly zone" that had already claimed three Republic gunships.
"Observe, little brothers!" Sky Lynx's Vulture-form broadcasted to the remaining LAAT pilots. "This is how one handles a stationary target!"
The Vulture-Sky Lynx banked hard, his wings glowing with the golden energy of his Cybertronian spark. He dove straight into the teeth of the anti-aircraft fire. Missiles streaked toward him, but with a flick of his metallic feathers, he adjusted his pitch, the projectiles whistling harmlessly past his hull. As he neared the base of the Core Ship, he pulled upward in a vertical climb, his beak snapping shut on a stray Vulture Droid that dared to cross his path.
On the ground, the Panther-form was a blur of silver-grey and gold. It pounced onto the lead Hailfire droid, its four claws shredding the missile racks before the droid could fire a single shot. The Panther then skidded into a turn, its tail-cannon leveling at the Core Ship's primary landing strut.
THOOM.
The kinetic blast from the tail-cannon, boosted by Sky Lynx's internal power grid, buckled the strut. The massive sphere tilted, its engines screaming in protest.
Recombination and Regroup:
"Now, for the finishing touch!"
The Panther-form sprinted toward a rising slope, launching itself into the air with a powerful heave of its four legs. High above, the Vulture-form tucked its wings and entered a controlled stall, dropping like a stone.
In mid-air, directly beneath the shadow of the escaping Core Ship, the two vehicles collided. Plates shifted, magnetic locks engaged, and the Combined Dragon Form was reborn in a shower of sparks and blue flame.
The Dragon slammed into the hull of the Core Ship, his massive talons digging deep into the thick plating. He craned his long, armored neck back and unleashed a concentrated pulse of blue fire from his gullet, melting through the ship's primary fuel manifold.
The explosion was magnificent. The Core Ship groaned, its ascent dying as fire blossomed from its underbelly. It began to settle back into the dust, a defeated titan.
Sky Lynx didn't wait for the crash. He pushed off the dying ship, his wings catching the hot air of the plains. He glided back toward the Republic command center, landing with a heavy thud right in front of the gathered Jedi and Master Yoda.
He shifted back into his attached vehicle mode, the LAAT/c resting atop the AT-TE, his hatches opening like an invitation.
"I believe that was the western flank you mentioned, Master Yoda?" Sky Lynx rumbled, his voice dripping with satisfied vanity. "I've taken the liberty of dismantling their escape plan. I assume the medals and accolades will be prepared once we return to the Resolute?"
Yoda looked at the smoking wreckage of the Core Ship in the distance, then back at the golden-winged "transport" before him. "A legend indeed, you are, Sky Lynx. But over, this war is not. Just the beginning, it is."
"Then it is a lucky thing for you," Sky Lynx replied, his nose-art 'Wampa' grinning in the dust, "that I am just getting started."