I am Iron Man

by Colin Cook

  all around it.

  Dozens of C-Sec agents and officers of nearly every Council race moved about this area, crossing in between the aisles of desks or operating the various terminals to

  accordance with whatever work they were doing. The scent of cigarette smoke hung loosely in the air, with small swirls of the stuff coming from several officers who were

  taking the moment to puff up at their desks. Luckily for the rest of the non-smokers in the office most of the harmful fumes were being quickly sucked out of the air by

  the advanced overhead filtration systems built into the vents and air ducts crisscrossing the ceiling.

  This setup created an image very reminiscent of a 20th century Earth Police Precinct, with a healthy mix of futuristic alieness to it.

  Moving easily in-between the ranks of desks and brushing past the various people moving in opposite directions to him, Bailey eventually came upon and sat himself down

  behind a curving L shaped one near the office's far wall.

  A massive flat screen stretched nearly twenty feet across this said wall, one that was currently showing a glowing broadcast from the Citadel's main news-channel.

  On the screen, the image of a very stoic faced Executor Pallin stood behind a conference podium with several large and gruff looking Turian C-Sec agents standing at

  attention in a line behind him. Just to his right, Ciatra F'Loson stood silently with her hands clasped behind her back and her hard gaze focused on something out of view

  of the camera!

  At the moment random bright lights and white flashes were reflecting off of the agents' armours as dozens of reporters and journalists arranged before Pallin on a lower

  level took snap photos of him and his entourage.

  "At this time we do not have any leads as to where the terrorists may have gone or what their next intended target is to be. We are advising all Council worlds to be on

  the lookout for persons matching their descriptions and to…" Pallin was saying to the assembled people, raising a hand to calm down their constant chatter and annoying

  camera flashes.

  But his words only seemed to be getting them more riled up, for as soon as he mentioned the part about not knowing where Axel and his band had gone to the horde of

  people began surging forward, holding up microphones or tapping into their omni-tools to make their hovering pod-cams fly closer toward the podium.

  "Now let the media fire begin…" Bailey muttered to himself as he reached over and placed Alexandre Henri's flintlock onto his sparsely covered desk, peeling off his latex

  gloves and throwing them into a nearby disposal unit before leaning back in his chair to watch the rest of the broadcast.

  Pallin was waving his hand back and forth, repeatedly trying to say something over the tidal wave of garbled questions and statements coming from the reporters, when

  abruptly a very articulate voice rose above the chatter.

  "Executor! Excuse me Executor Pallin!" the voice demanded. After a moment of getting everyone to finally quiet down somewhat, Pallin turned his attention toward the

  one who had spoken. A darker skinned woman controlling a floating pod-cam via an active omni-tool snaked her way through the wall of bodies until she was almost

  directly in front of the main podium.

  "Khalisah Bint Sinan al-Jilani (Damn that's a long name), Westerlund News…" the woman identified herself with a wave up to him as she came closer.

  "Oh no…" Bailey moaned, reaching up with his metal casted arm and pinching the bridge of his nose. He'd seen a few of the reports this lady had done in the past, the

  outcomes of which had never been good when they'd been on a subject she'd wanted to tear apart.

  "Executor, would you mind telling us just how exactly the terrorists were able to escape the Citadel? Even when the Destiny Ascension and its escort fleet were brought in

  to keep them from using the Mass Relay?" Khalisah asked, her question being followed by a hurricane of agreeing shouts and similar demands being thrown at the

  Executor from the rest of the assembly. Pallin was silent for a long moment amidst the chaos, he and the rest of C-Sec Academy knowing full well that there was no

  explanation for how the terrorists' stolen Corvette had been able to not only outmaneuver half of the entire Citadel Defense Fleet, but also escape into Council space

  without having needed to use Widow's Mass Relay at all.

  Bailey could only groan again while still pinching his nose, the sound of Pallin giving rehearsed damage control statements to the awaiting ears of the Citadel was giving him

  almost as bad a headache as Steve Irwin and his Turian colleague had experienced back when he'd been shouting at them.

  "I'm guessing your interview didn't go over any better Bailey?" asked a young female voice from off to his right. Bailey gave a scoff before pulling his hand away and

  turning toward an absolutely gorgeous Human woman in her mid to late twenties sitting in the adjacent desk across from him.

  "No Moira, even as much as I thought we would we didn't come close to nabbing them for Axel's escape. The evidence isn't conclusive enough, so it's now boiled down to

  our word against theirs," Bailey responded with a tired shake of his head.

  Moira Kealoha was an experienced C-Sec agent coming up on her fifth year on the force. She was her department's star analyst and tech specialist, able to decode and

  translate any encrypted piece of technology or repair completely trashed security modules that could spell freedom or conviction for any suspect that C-Sec might be

  investigating.

  A descendent of Hawaiian origin, Moira was a living image of the famed beauty of her people. With creamy olive skin, flowing shoulder length black hair tied up in a

  ponytail, almost shimmering green/blue eyes, and a drop-dead figure kept toned by a rigorous training regiment, she could have easily entered and won a national

  swimsuit competition simply by showing up. Many had been mistaken by her looks into thinking that she had simply been hired to help bolster C-Sec's image on their

  Human side, all of them being proven wrong within weeks of her recruitment.

  Moira was currently a two-year grand-champion in the Academy's long range handgun tournaments and held record high scores in the annual explosives-course review.

  So if anyone ever somehow managed to get under her easygoing good natured skin, she would easily be able to drill them between the eyes at 60 yards with her sidearm

  or build an IED from scrap metal and stick it under their chair the next time they looked the other way.

  Many-a-man, and a few women too, had been inadvertently charmed by her natural persona and killer looks, leading her to be hit-on at least several times a week. In the

  beginning it had been somewhat fun, but after the first three years on the job it had gotten so bad and annoying enough that she finally decided to request a transfer to

  the purely alien filled departments of the Academy. She had already established a solid reputation for excellence by then and was welcomed almost unanimously with open

  arms. It didn't stop the occasional flirtatious Asari or Turian from stopping by her desk for a chitchat at coffee break every now and then, but at least now she didn't have

  nearly every guy in the office turning their head her way whenever she walked by.

  Moira flashed a small glowing smile at Bailey before turning and nodding up to the image of Pallin.

  "At least you're not up there having to explain to the entire Citadel how we screwed up so badly." Both of them gave a small chuckle at that optimistic view before they

  were suddenly interrupted by a pained cry and a wet sniff coming through a broken nose.

  Turning their heads over to the source of the noise, they both saw Chellick sitting at an even smaller desk then theirs built into the wall underneath the large screen. At the

  m
oment the Turian had his head arched back and was holding his nose with his thumb and fore-talon, trying to put a piece of specially made medical tape across its plated

  bridge. Sniffing again, Chellick turned to Bailey with blue-rimmed black/green eyes, the pain in his nose making him tear up constantly.

  "Whatever agony he's going through can't be anything compared to what I'm having to deal with right now, oww!" Chellick said grumpily with a point of his talon to the

  screen above him, cringing soon after as he tried applying the tape again.

  Moira bowed her eyebrows upward slightly and bared a portion of her teeth as she cringed, showing that she could only sympathize with the sight in front of her.

  "At least the Turian Counselor was able to make Pallin only put you two on desk duty rather than fire your asses outright," she commented to both of them. Bailey on the

  other hand could only frown and gesture toward his partner with both hands in confusion.

  "What're you doing?"

  After finally adjusting the tape to where he wanted it, Chellick wiped away some of the tears from the deep purple/blue area around his eyes thanks to the bruising that

  the breaking of his nose had caused.

  "The doctors say that some of the bone in my nose actually fractured off into certain areas, and that before I can get an appointment for surgery to correct it I need to

  make sure it all stays as set as possible to keep it from moving any further."

  "Meaning he's going to be stuck like this for another day or so," Moira added in reluctantly right before another loud "OW!" came out of the Turian lieutenant. Shaking his

  head with a faint smile, Bailey swiveled his chair around to face Moira directly.

  "Were you at least able to get something from those video logs we sent you?" he asked. Moira gave a quick nod before tapping into the holographic terminal set up on

  her desk.

  "I was able to get more then something, I got you the identities of your two other terrorists," she stated before imputing a final code and leaning back from the screen

  with her arms folded, gazing over her work proudly.

  Immediately Bailey and Chellick both bolted up from their seats and made their way around the collection of desks until they were standing behind Moira's chair at each of

  her sides, staring intently at her terminal.

  Displayed across its surface was the poster image of a little green man wielding a blazing green energy-sword, similar to the one used by the strange alien that had helped

  Axel battle against Echo 1 and 2 in the Presidium park several hours ago. Beside this image was another one showing a large muscular Human wearing strange armour

  plates over a black and purple jumpsuit while also wearing a jetpack and wielding a pair of familiar silver pistols. From what both Chellick and Bailey had seen of the large

  faceless man that Alec had been carrying over his shoulder most of the time, the image on screen looked to be a pretty uncanny match.

  "Okay so what are you showing us Kealoha? Who are these two?" Chellick asked down to Moira, giving one last involuntary sniff from his broken nose.

  "Guys, this is the Jedi Master Yoda, and the Mandalorian bounty hunter Jango Fett," the tech specialist declared, pointing from one picture to the other.

  An awkward pause permeated the air before both Chellick and Bailey looked down at the back of Moira's head.

  "Meaninnnnnng…?" they drew out simultaneously, silently urging Moira to give them the full details.

  Right away her eyes widened and her jaw dropped slightly, as if she had just been insulted in one of the worst ways possible.

  "Star Wars boys. STAR WARS. These two are from the Star Wars Saga," she stated to them emphatically, gesturing to the images with both hands before spinning around

  in her seat toward Bailey.

  "Armando are you telling me that you've never seen one of Humanity's crowning cinematic achievements?" she asked of him, almost horrorstricken.

  What most people didn't know about Moria, even her various boyfriends and many, many dates, was that she was secretly a very passionate geek at heart especially

  when it came to Sci-Fi epics like Star Wars and Babylon 5. For her, to hear someone say that they had never seen, or even heard of Star Wars, was like hearing someone

  say they'd never heard of King Arthur or John Carter.

  And for YOU, the one reading this right now, if you've gone this long through this kind of a story and you haven't tried looking up John Carter by now, (and I'm talking

  about the books) then you suck and you're missing out!

  Okay I'm done my little rant, keep on reading, don't let me slow you down.

  "I don't watch TV that much Moira, nor am I really into 20th century science-fiction, I'm already living my fill of it right now," Bailey retorted back firmly.

  Moira cringed and dropped her jaw again, but this time it was much wider and made her look like she was trying to scream with no sound coming out. Her hand quickly

  slammed against her chest and clutched tightly to the area where her heart would be as she slightly fell backwards out of her seat, dramatically imitating the act of

  enduring a sudden violent heart attack for a moment before reverting to her normal self and sitting back up giggling madly.

  After seeing Chellick's barely contained grin at this little show but Bailey's unimpressed cocked eyebrow, she calmed down and gave the older lieutenant a disarming smile

  to soften him up.

  "Seriously though Bailey, you and I gotta talk after this," she said up to him mock-seriously before turning back to the pictures of Jango and Yoda.

  "So wait, you believe that the other two members of Axel's group were actually characters taken from the mythos of the Star Wars movies?" Chellick asked with a frown.

  Bailey threw back his head and blew out an annoyed breath before turning away from the screen.

  "Moira, I'm all for playful jokes in the workplace until they keep officers from doing their jobs. When you really have something give me a call," he said over his shoulder

  before making his way back to his desk.

  But right away Moira turned serious for real and began tapping frantically into the terminal's keyboard, bringing up multiple screens with various frozen pictures or

  recordings and others with small video clips taken from the Star Wars films themselves.

  "Its true! Look, how do you explain a working lightsaber deflecting hundreds of rounds from a Mantis cannon, or a small jetpack propelling a full grown man most likely

  weighing over two-hundred pounds into the air, or a pair of fully functioning blaster pistols," Moria listed off over to Bailey as he continued moving away. Leaning over her

  shoulder, Chellick's eyes flicked from each selected screen, soaking up all of the presented data.

  "Holy crap. Uh…Bailey I think she may be on to something, you might wanna check this out." Sighing again, Bailey spun around on his heel and came back to the other

  two.

  "You really expect me to believe that…" the lieutenant began saying before his gaze locked in on the screen images. Upon seeing them his words died in his throat and he

  instinctively leaned closer to insure that his eyes were working properly.

  On the left side of the screen were many pictures of Yoda and Jango wielding their lightsaber or shooting their blasters in scenes taken from the movies, while on the right

  side placed directly beside them for comparison were many freeze-frame shots taken from the black and white vision of security cameras or Helmet-Cams belonging to

  some of the agents who had taken recordings during the horrific battle that had befallen the Market Corridor recently.

  Displayed in these hectic still-shots were grainy but unmistakable images of a shouting Yoda slicing and dicing into various Xenomorphs and an apparently revived Jango

  blasting several of the monstrous Aliens through the he
ad with one of his silver blasters.

  As Bailey looked back and forth between these two sets of pictures, unable to deny the striking similarities between them, his gaze drifted farther down the screen to four

  active video reels.

  One showed Yoda leaping through the air within an ancient temple of some kind, whirling his green blade in intricate circles and deflecting a swarm of bright energy blasts

  coming at him from an attacking platoon of Imperial Clone Troopers. Below this was a video clip of Jango Fett battling against Obi-wan Kenobi on the rain slick platforms

  of Tipoca City on the stormy ocean planet of Kamino, taken from the second prequel movie known as Attack of the Clones. As Bailey watched Jango repeatedly fire his

  twin blaster pistols at the blue lightsaber wielding Jedi Master, the Mandalorian suddenly activated his jetpack and rocketed up into the storm-filled sky, soaring backwards

  while still firing his guns madly.

  Turning to the right, the three of them all focused on two adjacent sets of active security camera footage that Moira had been able to salvage from a couple of damaged

  modules belonging to a camera taken from the Corridor and also a Dash-Cam from the wreckage of Bailey and Chellick's patrol car that had been shot down while

  chasing Axel and Alec through the Military Docking yards.

  The one of Jango showed the bounty hunter still fighting in the Market Corridor, activating his jetpack and blasting vertically into the air to avoid being hit by a flying piece

  of floor plating. In another screen just above it next to the movie clip of Yoda, the camera recording taken from Bailey's totaled hover car was giving a clear picture of the

  little green creature leaping through the air in a front flip toward an open elevator cabin, whirling his lightsaber around his body and deflecting dozens of simultaneous

  thermal rounds being shot at him.

  When played together at the same time these four clips looked 99% identical to each other, erasing any doubt in even Bailey's mind that the two other members of Axel's

  group had indeed been these same people from the Star Wars universe.

  "All right, as strange as it sounds I'm willing to admit these men might have been the same ones from your movies. But that still doesn't explain how they could've been