Chapters The Conversion Bureau: The Last Job
The Conversion Bureau: The Last Job
Prologue
He stood there at attention amongst other men and in green colored uniform, shaking with anticipation. Nervousness did not overrun his excitement though; no longer did would he be recognized as a grunt in the Australian military, but as an SASR counter-terrorist. All the training he had gone through seemed just like yesterday - climbing up the sides of mountains only later to absail back down, all the hours spent at the shooting gallery to bring his shot to perfection, and the time he was hiding in the bushes in a ghille suit to ambush his fellow trainees. All the memories seemed to flash past his eyes as he stood there waiting for the ceremony to end.
When he heard the order to break off he was ecstatic, "Finally," he muttered, "now I can get out of this suit and into something more comfortable." As he walked of the parade ground he hear a familiar voice call out his name.
“Lieutenant Valera!” Called the voice,
The Lieutenant turned around whilst saluting, “Sir!” standing before him was his old sniping instructor. Captain Milner stood with his arms folded, wearing full combat armor as if to go into battle.
“I have a preposition for you that I think you might like.” Replied the captain in his thick British accent.
“And what would that be Davis?” He greeted his old teacher by his first name – they were very good friends.
“I want you to join my squad.” Announced Davis,
Valera was surprised, “What?! When did you get a squad... and why are you in combat armor?”
“All in due time but come on, we don’t have time to spare. We're also leaving now since you really had no choice in the matter. Now come on.”
And as quick as Davis Milner spoke to the newly graduated SASR solider, he was leading the young man down a hall to his quarters. Valera had to retrieve his combat armor and anything else he though he would need, for what ever the Captain wanted him for.
“Sir, if I may ask.” Asked the Lt. hesitantly,
“What is it Ulysses?” replied Davis in a cold stern voice,
“Well, what exactly do you want me for? I mean… There are others who are probably more qualified for your… ‘squad.”
“Well. I want you on my squad since you’re the best shot I’ve seen ever coming out of the SAS, ever. That and we need your help to stop a crazed man who is trying to start a World War.”
“… Your kidding me right… Didn’t we stop Osama, or was that America lying to the world to show us that their still top dog.” Replied Ulysses as his jaw dropped to the ground,
“Come on lets go, our ride leaves in two hours. And also, bring gear for a HALO jump and lots of ammo. Because where we’re going, we are going to need it.” And with that the Captain left the room leaving Ulysses to pack his equipment and prepare for something he knew he would enjoy.
28 hours later over the rainforest in Brazil-
“Three minutes out boys. This is it lads. Well be in the rainforest within four minuets so check over your equipment.” Shouted the Captain over the intercom trying to be heard over the loud roar of the engines.
As Ulysses checked over his equipment to see if he had everything in order. First he check his G36C, checking to see if the magazine was full and making sure that the bolt wouldn’t jam when fired. Next he looks at his newly assigned M107 sniper rifle. It's wasn't a simi-auto rifle but a bolt-action rifle that is heavily modified to the task needs in the jungle; it had a dark green tint on it. He looked it over, making sure the rounds in the magazine were in and that they would chamber when the bolt was pulled back. Just like clockwork. Last but not least was his side arm, a gray 9mm USP with a tactical light and his knife. Both he had trained extensively with.
“One minute everyone. Good hunting boys.” Said the pilot for the last time.
“You heard him... Ulysses, lower the platform.” Commanded Davis while the other two members of the squad were getting up to perform the jump,
Ulysses strolled casually over to the right side of a plane and hit a red button with a sign saying ‘Ramp’. Once the button was hit a hissing noise assaulted their ears, since the cargo bay on the plane was pressurizing to the outside. The ramp’s hydraulics kicked in and the rear cargo bay doors lowered. Ulysses took his position, staring at a red light near the end of the cargo bay, waiting for it to change green.
Seconds later the light flashed green and the Captain yelled “Go!” signaling for the four-man squad to begin the HALO jump.
Ulysses waited for this moment, he always loved to go skydiving even before he joined the Australian Army. So a HALO jump for him was not only a walk in the park but a form of entertainment for him. Once he reached the end of the ramp he gave a large jump so he would get some more high and also to cause him from tripping when he got out.
As he fell he truly felt free, it felt almost as if he were flying. Time flew since his mind was in another world. But as soon as he felt a large wave of cold come over his body, as he had just passed the cloud layer, he new his fun time would end since he had seconds be for he pulled the cord on his chute, he had a moment of longing, wishing he could fly. Ulysses had a sharp snap back to reality when he pulled the cord and he was yanked back by the force of his parachute.
-4 days later in the jungle out side a camp.-
Both Ulysses and Davis were wearing ghille suits with an unusually dark green tinge to it.
“Alright” said Davis to Ulysses, “You ready to stop a mad man, today?”
“Yes, lets just hope I didn’t forget the magazine this time.” Responded Ulysses sarcastically,
“Shut up and get ready, the target is almost in sight. And it was your fault you fell over and dropped your pack in the swamp.”
“Yeah, yeah, I'm still blaming that branch… Lets get down to business.” He replied whilst inserting the magazine into the rifle and pushing the bolt into place. He placed his right eye on the sniper scope to see a zoomed in view of a wooden shack with a terrorist wearing a balaclava patrolling the window.
“He’s in the wooden shack to the East next to the guard tower.”
“Roger,” as he moved the rifle a few millimeters to the right. “Target in sight, waiting for the go ahead.” The target was a man with a green bucket hat who was waring a bandolier of ammunition and two grenades, he was wearing a green pair of cargo pants from what Ulysses made out and a dark green t-shirt. He also had pail white skin and an eye-patch covering his left eye which had a large cut down it.
“Roger, green light. Green light to engage.” Replied the Captain,
“Smile for the camera” muttered Ulysses under his breath, and with that he felt the recoil from the rifle as he fired. Time felt slowed down as he saw the wake of the bullet leave a trail in the air with frightening precision. The man drop to the ground and his comrades to raised there guns in alarm.
“Nice shot, I think you got him in his good eye too!” Said Davis, chuckling, “Right lets get outta here, Brick and Salamander are waiting for us at the evacuation point. Lets just hope…”
Thud
They all turned to see a small smoke cloud forming above the terrorist camp.
“Alright we got thirty minutes. Lets not keep them waiting.”
“Roger.”
-Several months later after the assassination which caused Ulysses to go on many other missions with Davis and his squad.-
It was just an ordinary day on the base for Ulysses, or so he thought. A man waring a pair of glasses approached him. Nothing seemed special about him, he was shorter than average, and he seemed to be balding because of his horrible come over. He wore a white button up shirt and black dress pants and shiny leather shoes.
“Are you Lt. Valera?” asked the strange man, Ulysses noted the thick German accent,
“Yes I am, how can I help you?” Replied Ulysses,
“I am Dr. Freuenheifer and I represent on my behalf NASA and we are needed of your assistance Lt.”
“Alright. Who’s the target?”
“You… wait what. Oh wait we don’t need that type of help. We need you as a test subject in a project for the NASA.”
“O-kay than. So why type of project? Ohh does it involve space?”
“Its to see if human could be in cryogenic stasis for prolonged amounts of time and well… you are the only one who seems to be physically capable of our experiment. And of course your payment is very large which will be given to you once you emerge from cryogenic stasis.”
“Okay, I’m in.” he replied, Ulysses had no ties to stop him,
“Okay then, pack some clothes, your weapons, body armor and anything else you would need and meet me on the tarmac in two hours.”
“Just one more thing Doc. Could you give my money in advance to my family… since… well they need it and it was also a reason I joined the Army.”
“Okay then, see you at Cape Canaveral Lt.” he said turning his back to him walking off into the office building.
-Six hours later at Cape Canaveral-
“Ok Lt. please remove your dog tags and place them on the tray in front of you and then follow me please.” Said Dr. Freuenheifer. Ulysses did as he was told and removed his dog tags from around his neck and followed the doctor down a maze of corridors to a room filled with tubes leading from the ceiling to a large metal tube with a small glass window in the middle.
On the plane ride over to America from a base that was placed some-where in the Great British Isles, Ulysses learned that he possessed some from of mutation in his chromosomes, which was extremely rare. Apparently he was more resilient to disease and infection, making him stronger and also quicker to heal.
“Please remove your clothes and put on the jumpsuit.” Asked a man in a white surgeons coat.
Lt. Valera did as he was told and removed his clothes and sported a shiny silver jumpsuit with blue wires circling him. The material of the suit felt as if it were polyester but it was cold to the touch like metal. It seemed that it was designed for him as if they expected him to say yes. After a few moments the wires on the suit turned a darker form of blue to a one with a small red hue to it. The suit also seem strangle more itchier now that it did while placing it on, he also felt like the suit was prodding him with needles underneath his skin.
“Now please step inside the Stasis pod so we can begin.” said the Doctor,
Once Ulysses was in he asked the doctor what had puzzled him from the first moment, “So what now? Do I turn into an ice cube and you put me in the fridge?”
“It’s a bit more complicated than that, Ulysses. We replace your blood with a synthetic replica and some nitrogen and then freeze you to solidity. After being put under, of course, so most of the process will seem quite quick.” Responded a young medical technician, probably the Doctors assistant.
“Ok then, take it away doc.” Before anything happened the glass seemed to turn into some form of one way mirror.
Ulysses could now see his reflection perfectly. He had dark blond hair with hazel eyes and a rounded face that made him look like an eighteen year old, even though he was roughly twenty-nine years old. A fine mist filled the chamber and Ulysses eyes grew heavy. He could barely manage to stay awake but he was able to say this, “Why does it smell like grape?” and then he succumbed to the blissful sleep that was brought on by the anastasia.
Authors Notes: Well to get things straight. This is an experiment into writing, and I would greatly appreciate it if you commented with tips helps suggestions, problems and criticism. Special thanks to Cailet for help with the editing and making of some of the names but now on the part with the ponies.
The Conversion Bureau: The Last Job
The Conversion Bureau: The Last Job
By Da Bunnana King
Chapter One: Wakening up
-Somewhere in a secret bunker made by NASA-
The old outdated computer flashed back to life. Power coursed through it and the dusty monitor came alight. Displayed were readings taken from a life form that has been asleep for many years. A man in a white coat sat at the desk, grabbing his note book to copy down the information that flashed on the dusty screen before him.
This doctor however was not the middle-aged man whom come to Ulysses in the first place to give him this opportunity. It was the assistant who had helped Dr. Freuenheifer placed Ulysses in Cryogenic stasis. He'd had aged quite well for being close to a hundred years old. He had the rank of Corporal on his shoulders now. But he'd acquired only a few wrinkled, and had a full head of purely white hair, even if it was thinning a bit.
The doctor mumbled to himself as he went through calculations in his head. “… Carry the seven and divide by the amount of nitrogen in his body and then carry the forty-two and… That should do it.” He entered his result into keyboard; the amount of blood to replace nitrogen and the synthetic blood in Ulysses body. But the doctor heard the small pitter-patter of horses’ hooves hitting the concrete floor. He turned around to see what generally unexpected creature was spying on him.
“I thought you weren't going to follow me.” Said the doctor,
“I couldn’t resist. So the stories are true, you really did freeze a person from the past.” Said the high-pitched voice coming out of a small horses mouth. Well to be exact it was a brownish bronze colored earth-pony colt with light brown mane and tail. He also had freckles and large golden yellow eyes. “So may I meet the frozen man please?”
“Yes, but on one condition.”
"Yay. I get to meet the spaceman!! I’m going to ask him what it was like in the past. I wonder if they had seen grass back then. OOOoohhh I’m going to see if he wants to play…” Shouted the young colt before being cut off by the doctor,
“ON the one condition that you stay behind me while we bring him to consciousness. No one knows how he will react when he sees you. You see, back then they didn’t know about you ponies coming from Equestria. In fact the closest thing he's seen to your kind are the terrestrial horses they used to ride back then for ANZAC parades.” Replied the doctor in a smug tone of voice,
“What does turr-es-tial mean?” Asked the pony.
“It means from our Earth. Now stand behind me since he is going to awake soon!”
====
Mostly hissing and ringing is all Ulysses heard, but he also heard muffled voices coming from out side the cylinder he was in. He could still smell the grape in the container and it felt like he could taste it too. The small window on the tube defogged to reveal a small brown, what he could say, pony looking at him with huge gold eyes. Then the face disappeared and the door on the tube seemed to open outwardly in a T pattern. He then exited the pod and took a couple of steps away from it and collapsed.
"Welcome to the future" an unknown voice chuckled.
"What" said the confused soldier,
"78 years into the future." replied the voice,
"So your saying it worked? The whole freezing of the body?"
"Indeed it did other wise we would not be having this conversation."
"And my family? Are they... still alive?" Ulysses was struggling to come to terms, Sure he knew this was exactly what would happen, but his freezing mind was struggling to turn it's gear having never needed to function in over 78 years.
"I don't know" the voice said,
"I'm so damn cold." Ulysses coughed, sending a shiver through his freezing body,
As he struggles to stand the the years of training couldn’t have prepared Lt. Valera for what happened next. The small pony leaped at him from his left side knocking him straight to the ground. The next thing that came at him almost gave him a heart -attack, as if the surprise of a pony jumping at him wasn't enough!
“Hi mister spaceman!! My name is Bronze Lionheart, but everyone calls me Bronze. What’s your name?!” The small pony yelled.
“AHHHH!!!! ROBOT DEMON THING FROM THE FUTURE!!” Screamed Ulysses like a little girl, because he thought of nothing else to do, and with that he was running to the closest exit, which he could find, when a man stuck his arm out and clothed-lined him. He hit the ground hard – knocking himself out when he hit the ground. The last thing he saw was the doctor walking over to him saying something intelligible.
====
“Doctor! I think he’s waking up!” Said a disembodied voice,
“Yes, yes hold on. I'm not young like you are. Now lets see here shall we.” Replied the doctor whose voice was familiar to Ulysses,
“Is he going to be alright Dr. Butcher?” said Bronze,
“He'll be find don’t you worry. I'm sure in his life I'm sure he's dealt with worse.”
Ulysses couldn’t see a thing but he thought that the doctor was dead wrong with his last statement. “Doc, I’m a counter-terrorist sniper. I don’t usually get attacked by a robot horse thing and then clothed-lined by some solider every day,” Ulysses said in a smug tone of voice, now that he'd got a grip on what had happened, “and even if I did, my year ten math’s class would still be the worst thing I have ever experienced in my life!” He sat up to see the faces of those that were talking to him,
In the small room that resembled a sickbay was Doctor Butcher in his white lab coat, the small pony horse hybrid thing and the soldier that had incapacitated him earlier with a first aid kit in hand. The soldier had black hair and pasty white skin, blue eyes and he looked about eighteen.
“Ok, lets see what damage I did to you.” Said the soldier, “Oh, name's Jack by the way. Jack Powell” And with that Jack got to checking out Ulysses head blocking most of he view of the world, except for Bronze.
“Name’s Ulysses Velera, or Lt. Velera.” He said,
“So Jack, what’s with the random talking robot horse in the room?” asked Ulysses,
“Hey!! I’m not a robot horse, as cool as I may look. I am actually an Earth pony. I used to be like you but* me and my dad got converted six mouths ago.”
“Wait. What do you mean by ‘converted?” Ulysses question while Jack was making sure the soldier didn't have any concussion,
“Well one day me and dad went the Conversion Bureau and stayed there for a week learning about how to be a pony and Equestria. Then on the last day went to get converted. I went in and they made me drink this drink, which tasted like grape-juice. Then I fell asleep and woke up as an earth-pony.”
“Bronze, he has been frozen for almost a hundred years now. He doesn’t know about Equestria or the Conversion Bureau.”
Ulysses sat there quietly trying to understand what the young colt said. ‘What were they talking about, Equestria, Conversion Bureaus and strange grape drinks that turn you into a… pony. What next, I can shoot lasers out of my eyes and I can fly.’ Ulysses thought to himself, ‘Hey maybe I could ware a cape and a blue pair of Speedo’s and call my self Frostman or something and go around saving the world from mole people and Martians while I’m at it’
“Ulysses. Earth to Ulysses, come in Ulysses.” Said Jack,
“Wa? Oh, Yes? What is it?” Replied Ulysses,
“We got to be getting back to the bureau before it gets dark, I don’t want to be running into the HLF and having a firefight with them.”
“Ok, so what does it have to do with me?” Questioned Ulysses,
“Well you’re a counter-terrorist soldier right? Well there are some crazy terrorists going around called the Human Liberation Force or HLF, shooting at anything that moves or supports the Conversion Bureau’s. So basically what I'm trying to say is, we got a long walk ahead of us to get back and I don’t want to have to fight in front of Bronze. He is to young to see what we do for a living.”
“Well, yes but I still will need a sidearm to defend myself with and maybe a knife.”
“Doc can you take Bronze with you for the time being Ulysses and I have to pack up what we can so we can leave.”
“Okay, Jack. But please hurry; Chamomile is making some nice tea for when we get back and I don’t want to miss out.” Replied the doctor rubbing his hands together.
====
“So is that everything?” asked Doctor Butcher,
“Yep that’s everything we could salvage from the lab. I still can't believe they had all your old armor and stuff.” Said Jack to Doctor Butcher and Ulysses who was in his black and dark green combat armor,
“Well they said they were going to store my stuff. I’m glad I could get my pistol, knife and an old M98B in storage with ammo to spare.”
“Can we go home now…. Please!!!! I’m missing out on dinner and ill be lucky if I get to make desert!” Whined Bronze.
“Aright lets head out.” Said Butcher in a commanding voice.
With that all three men and one pony left the bunker doors to greet the cold harsh environment that was left of America. The sky was surprisingly clear except for a few smog clouds here and there. But the ground had very little grass on it, it was mainly dirt, even then the grass was dead. Ulysses was staring at a dead world that had obviously had been severely polluted. He wasn’t prepared to see what else has happened to his world, which he called home. In the distance he could barely see an out line of a city, and he could barely recognize it due to all the smog and pollution that seemed to emanate from the city.
“What happened while I was gone?” Said Ulysses quietly to himself.
====
Authors Notes:
Well here it is Chapter One, and so far I’m behind in the plot. But lets hope I can get the whole “Hi I’m a guy from the past waking up in a post apocalyptic world only to be greeted by cute pastel colored ponies.” Out of the way and on to the action and the plot and the cool space alien dragon fight (I wish). But for now lets just take one step at a time to make sure I don’t do something wrong and make sure I do every thing right. And lets not forget Cailet (A.K.A The Great Mother Ginger) who edits these things for me, since I cant be bothered (and maybe for the fact that she has nothing better to do than talk with me on skype and play Minecraft) so once again Cailet, please, please don’t stop editing my stories. And here is her writings one Wattpad , so check her out and another editor who I can flog off my work to, Caleb1197, who wanted to help me write and edit in the first place.
*So tempted to put in then I took an arrow to the knee joke
And thanks to Crushric for the whole new Ulysses waking up part, Thanks
So comment on were I’ve going wrong or right, please. And as always, Bunnana AWWAAYY!!!
-Bunnana King
The Conversion Bureau: The Last Job
Chapter Two: Catching Up on the times
The Conversion Bureau: The Last Job
Chapter Two: Catching up on the times
Ulysses kept up a steady pace with Doctor Butcher, whom being the oldest of the group was still faster that any of the others. As Ulysses looked around the mountainside, which they were traversing to get to the Bureau, he noticed that the rocks were neatly placed in a line in what seemed to be in ten feet increments. Something at the back of his mind told him that something was wrong, but he chose to ignore it.
“So Mister Valera, what was it like in the past, before, you know Equestria and stuff?” Questioned Bronze,
“Well it’s hard to say, well. I guess there wasn’t all this smog hanging in the air, there were more trees… um… there was a large leap in technology. I guess because of the fact that I was frozen, but that’s all I can think of off top of my head.” Responded Ulysses, trying to think of all the major changes in technology that happened in early years of the twenty first century, the only big one he could think of was the machine that smashed particles together in Switzerland that he had to guard once, "Well there was that one time I had to guard some sort of collider thing in Switzerland thou. It was boring since all I did was walk up and down corridors for six hours a day for nine months."
“Did you ever see real grass?” he questioned eagerly,
“Yes, almost all the time. In fact I used to hide in it a lot when I was training with the SAS.”
“Wow, really? What was it like?” The pony was encaptured by its curiosity,
“Uh, green and itchy if it got underneath your clothes or boots. How come?”
“Well, not a lot of people can see grass anymore since all the pollution has killed it off. But apparently in Equestria there’s lots of it and we can eat it too!” Responded Bronze with glee, taking in all of what Ulysses had said,
“Come on Bronze, I’m sure Mister Valera has questions too about what’s happened to Earth while he was gone.” Said Doctor Butcher as the group caught up,
“Well there’s one thing on my mind.” Said Ulysses,
“Oh, and what would that be?” Replied Butcher,
“What and where is this Equestria place Bronze keeps on talking about?!”
“I can answer that for you.” Responded Jack, nearly stopping in his tracks, “Equestria is a land where these Equestrians live, AKA ponies. Its ruled over by two Princesses who raise the sun and moon. Princess Celestia is main ruler of Equestria and also the goddess of the sun. The second Princess Luna is the goddess of the moon, essentially.”
“Ok but what does it have to do with people being converted Jack?”
“Well humans can’t survive in Equestria because of the magic would kill us once we entered.”
“Bullshit.” Scoffed Ulysses, “There is no such thing as magic. The Equestria part I can kind of believe but the being ruled over by two Princesses and magic part kind of makes it seem like you’re pulling a prank on me.”
“Oh, that’s what I said at first too. But alas, it’s true. Magic exists in Equestria. And the only way to get there is on four hooves.” Said Jack,
“Well why go to Equestria when you could stay on Earth?” Questioned Ulysses, trying to make sense of all that he was being told, since it was extremely difficult to believe.
“Well. Here is the bad news, there’s a reason we woke you up two hundred years early.” Responded Doctor Butcher,
“Earth is dying and it’s slowly being consumed by Equestria. So one day Earth and humanity will be no more, it will just be replaced by Equestria and Equestrians.”
“So your telling me I either get ‘converted’ or die. Isn’t there an option to live on the International space station or the moon?”
“The International Space Station was decommissioned thirty years ago and the moon colony never started since all the works on the moon forgot to build a proper life support system. But it doesn’t mean you have to convert today, you could always help around the bureau as a guard or join the police force.” Responded the doctor in a cold stern voice,
“Doc, you and I both now the Police Forces around here are all corrupted, and besides Captain Silverwing isn’t hiring any more guards.” Interrupted Jack,
“Well I don’t think I have to make a decision here. Lets just get to the ‘bureau’ and sort things out from there.” Said Ulysses, increasing his speed hoping to get to the town quicker to get things straight. It was a lot for him to absorb, the Earth was going to be no more one-day, he either could turn into a pony and start again or die on Earth and fade out of history.
Once the group had reached the outskirts of town there was a large hospital like building that had two white Pegasus guards outside the main doors, sporting gold armor.
“Well this cant be a good sign.” Said Doctor Butcher,
“You think, those are the Royal Equestria Guard! There could be two reasons for this. One there is an Equestrian ambassador or noble visiting the bureau, or its one of the Princesses.” Said Jack,
“Does that mean I could meet the one of the Princess?” asked Bronze eagerly,
“Maybe, but lets just hope it’s the first one. Other wise the HLF are going to have a field day.” Responded Jack in a scared tone of voice,
“Don’t worry; you got me if anything goes wrong. Remember, I am the best of the best snipers back in my day.” Ulysses said sarcastically,
As they walked up to the Royal Guards both of them spread their wings inwards to block the door.
“Halt!” one of them said, with a decent amount of authority, “No one is permitted to enter this bureau without royal decree or being a member of the staff.” This caused Bronze to cower behind Ulysses, intimidated by the guards,
“I am Doctor Neil Butcher, and I am one of the Ponification technicians of this bureau and those behind be are Lt. Valera of the SASR and Sergeant J. Powell of the United States Marine Core. The young colt is Bronze Lionheart and he is with us, so could you please let us in?” said Neil to the guards politely as he could, yet still forcefully,
“Ok but both the Lt and the Sgt must relinquish any and all weapons before going anywhere near the Princess.” Said the guard whom must be of higher rank. So doing as they were told; both Ulysses and Jack placed their guns and knives in the duffle bags they had brought with them from the secret lab. After completing that they entered into the bureau waiting to see which one of the Princess’s had graced them with a surprise visit.
Authors Notes: Left it on a cliffhanger, U mad? But in all reality I’m stopping it here so its not some big wall ‘o’ text to look at and to give me some time to write the next chapter. As always my epic editing friends who still laugh at my epic 2 in the morning writing style over Skype, whom are Cailet and Caleb1197. Cailet especially, since I disrupt her gameplay for this, and never leave her alone. I also assault her mind with my awful grammar and even worse story telling. Cailet will be punished for this, but any how I have learned never to write the Authors Notes when its Cailets turn to edit.
The Conversion Bureau: The Last Job
Chapter Three: Ulysses the smooth talker
The Conversion Bureau: The Last Job
Chapter Three: Ulysses the smooth talker
As the group followed Doctor Neil down a maze of corridors, Ulysses weighed the options in the back of his mind. ‘I could turn into a pony and start a new life in Equestria as I have nothing tying me down to Earth. But I don’t think I could just abandon Earth or my species. And what’s with those rocks, I know I have seen a formation like that some where and why are they pointed directly at the bureau...? ’ As Ulysses pondered this, he barely notices that Neil said that they were almost at their destination,
“Now when you meet the Princess either salute her or kneel before her, and don’t turn your back on her. Understand?” Said Neil in a monotone voice,
“Yes, Ulysses did you get that?” Questioned Jack,
“Wa, oh yes… Kneel or salute got it.”
“I can’t believe I get to meet one of the Princesses. I wonder if they’ll recognize me?” said Bronze as his excitement was causing him to bounce up and down as they walk down the corridor.
When the group arrived to the double doors. A sign overhead said 'Cafeteria'. “Uh, Doc, are you sure the Princess is in here?” Ulysses asked,
“Well, they said if anyone important calls, they would be in the cafeteria since this bureau wasn’t built with a hall, so we use the cafeteria for introductions.” Said Neil as he pushed the doors open to reveal an empty cafeteria, “Is there anyone here... or anypony?” He peered inside the large room, and empty, room, “Strange, looks like they all disappeared.”
“Not disappeared but in another room Doctor Butcher.” Stated a regal sounding voice,
All members of the group turned around to see an alicorn, whose multicolored mane moved as if it were lifted in a gentle breeze. Her coat was a pure white and her flank was adorned with a picture of an intricate sun.
“Pr-Princess Celestia?” Stuttered Bronze whilst bowing as low as he could, all of the men in the group were saluting the Princess and Ulysses stood awkwardly in awe of the Princess,
“Now gentlemen, no need to be so formal. It is, after all, a casual visit.” Said Celestia to the group while eying Ulysses,
“So this is the famous Ulysses I presume?”
“I see my reputation proceeds me.” Replied Ulysses while staring at Princess Celestia, “The question is why you know me, because I was only known for two things. Being frozen and being a highly trained killer for the SASR who assassinated a lot of people.”
“I know you because of your skill set you have acquired through your training. The reason for my beings here is to ask something of you.” As she said those words Ulysses felt that she was going to be sent on a suicide mission as she went from sounding regal to stone cold,
“What is it you need done Ma’am?” Questioned Ulysses as his voice turned cold to. He knew in the next days he would be hunting a target that the Princess wanted dead,
“I need you to infiltrate a HFL captured military outpost and acquire all the Intel you can find. Especially the whereabouts of their labs.”
“That can be done, but I'll need a squad and at least a day to prepare.”
“Okay. I'll send you your squad mate’s names and details to where you can find them. I want that Intel Lt. Valera, please. Do not fail me, the lives of millions rest on your shoulders.” And with that, Princess Celestia’s horn became a blinding flash of light engulfed and the next second she was gone.
“Well. That’s was an interesting visit. Does she always act like that or did I do something to upset her?” Said Ulysses sarcastically,
“Well first of all she isn’t like that, two you didn’t salute her. Three; you're not the most charming of people.” Retorted Jack,
“You're just mad since your stuck with me.”
“What do you mean? Oh, YOU'RE KIDDING ME!!!” Yelled Jack to Ulysses as he figured out what he was said,
“Jack you’re the only person I trust now besides Neil and you seem to know more about the world and this whole Equestria thing. Not only that, your also a Marine, and in my books that’s pretty high on the people not to mess with.”
“Alright, but only because you would be loss without me.” Replied Jack, as he finished the sentence a swirl of dust appeared in front of Ulysses and a scroll formed out of the dust. The wax seal bore the same mark that was on the princess' flank. As he opened it noted what Princess Celestia had said earlier and two names on them with details of where to reach them.
“So who’s going to be the newest member of our squad sir?” Question Jack,
“Rafael Santa-Domingo, says here he was in the Marines too.”
“Go figure. Where is he now?”
“Here.” Said a gruff sounding Hispanic voice, “I do believe you names are Jack and Ulysses?”
“I’m Lieutenant Valera of the SASR and that there is Sergeant Powell. So now all we are missing is… Wow, that is…” said Ulysses staring at the last name on the scroll of parchment,
“What is it sir?” Question Jack again,
“The grandchild of my old Captain... James Milner.”
“Must be lucky then, so where is he?”
“Alcatraz, being held captive by HLF none the less. Looks like were going to have to bust him out.”
“Well let’s hop to it then.” Blurted Rafael eager to do something,
“Well first we have to collect our equipment and do some plan how we are going to do this. Because I don’t want to balls up our first mission,” Said Ulysses, turning to Jack, “Jack, I want you and Rafael to gather our equipment and meet me back here while I talk to Doctor Butcher to see if we can find a spare room to stay the night and then plan from there.”
“Yes sir.” Replied Rafael and Jack while saluting their new commanding officer, with that they were off to recollect their guns, armor and anything else they had to give to the guards.
“Mister Valera?” asked Bronze who was still standing there,
“Yes Bronze?”
“Is this the last time we will ever see each other?”
“Bronze, what makes you say that?”
“Well, it sounds like your going to have a big adventure with your new friends and I don’t think your going to come back…” said Bronze as tears started to form in his eyes,
“Bronze, I promise you right now that I’ll see you again. And who knows, I might be a pony.”
“Really?” replied Bronze sniffling a bit,
“I promise, I'll be sticking around for a bit Bronze, but for now can you take me to Doctor Butchers office?”
“Okay, Mister Valera.”
“You don’t have to call me that, it makes me feel old. Just call me Ulysses.”
“Ok then. This way Mister Ulysses.” Replied Bronze chirpfully while happily trotting down the hallway. He stopped at a door labeled as 'Doctor N. Butcher. PHD',
“Thank you Bronze, now run along since I have to talk with Doctor Butcher in private.”
“Ok Mister Ulysses.” Replied Bronze and he trotted away happily. After that Ulysses knocked on the door.
“Just a minute.” Responded Neil from beyond the door, Ulysses could also hear another voice. Even thought it was higher than most male’s voices it was still gruff and somewhat low enough to be recognized as male. He couldn’t make out what the conversation was be he knew this new voice and was not please about it.
“Come in.” Replied Neil, “Ahh, we were just talking about you.” Said Neil standing in front of a gray pegasi. To be honest, he was more silver, almost white; he had strong blue eyes with a dark blue mane. The mark on his flank was a blue shield with a red trimming to it.
“So you’re the SAS sniper. Let me be the first to say, welcome to the Tallahassee Conversion Bureau.”
“Thank you Captain Silverwing.” Replied Ulysses to Silverwing causing him to give a questionable look to him,
“How did you know my name? Are you really working for the HLF!?” shouted Silverwing causing his wings to flare,
“No, Jack. One of your guard told me about you when we were walking here. Also I’m stealing him from you to help me on a mission from Princess Celestia herself. But I am really here to see if my men and I could acquire a room for the night before we leave. Would that be possible?”
“That could be arranged, what do you think Captain?” Neil asking Silverwing,
“No. I have heard stories of the SAS, none of them any good. I'll only let him stay if he can promise me not to attract any attention from the HLF.”
“How would I attract their attention if I am sitting down planning how to get my men in and out of Alcatraz without arousing suspicion?”
“You’ll probably blow a hole in the wall.”
“We don’t play with C4 anymore, and why are we arguing about something so pointless.”
“Fine, but you leave here by 0930 hours tomorrow.” Relied Silverwing giving him a long cold stair as if to say, ‘I’m going to watch you like a hawk.’
“Deal.”
“Then it’s settled, Ulysses and his squad can have the last two staff rooms near the security room.” Said Neil trying to break the staring contest that was between Ulysses and Silverwing.
“See you in the morning. Captain.” Said Ulysses to Silverwing breaking the intense stare off that they were engaged in and exited the room. He continued to walk down the halls following the signs that led to the Cafeteria.
Ulysses entered the gigantic room and saw his squad at one of the dinner tables with three large duffel bags.
“Come on lads,” Said Ulysses to the group, “We got some planning to do and were also leaving at 0800 hours tomorrow, so lets get a move on.”
Authors Notes: Well here we are again, this one doesn’t make a whole bunch of sense but don’t worry next chapter will be them invading Alcatraz prison. As always thanks to Cailet and Caleb1197 my editors. Especially Cailet, since she is now also editing my Authors Note when I am not paying attention. Once again Cailet, I have noticed and you will face the wrath of Da Bunnana King.
The Conversion Bureau: The Last Job
The Conversion Bureau: The Last Job
Chapter Four: Story time
“Get up you lot its time to get going!” Yelled Ulysses to the two sleeping Marines,
“MAKE ME!!” Yelled Rafael to Ulysses who continued to stay in bed while Jack was up getting his cloths on as fast as he could,
“Alright, you want to play rough, then we’ll play rough.” Said Ulysses to himself while chuckling like a mad man, Ulysses quickly ran out of the room leaving Jack getting ready and Rafael sleeping on the bed, Ulysses ran back into the room with a large red bucket and proceeded to empty the contents of it onto the sleepy marine. In what seemed to be the speed of light, Raphael jumped out of the bed and stood beside it shocked.
“What the Hell was that?” replied Rafael shivering and teeth chattering together,
“Ice water, I knew someone was not going to get up early today. So the ponies in the cafeteria let me borrow a lot of ice. Well now you can put two and two together. Now dry off and get ready I want to be out of here in thirty minutes and at the airport within the hour. I don’t want to keep the pilot waiting. Remember to pack for a HALO jump.” Said Ulysses while walking back out the door, he returned to his room to get suited up in his combat armor and parachute. He placed on his tactical vest that was reinforced by Kevlar interlaced with nylon to help reduce his heat signature. He placed his knife over his left shoulder and his pistol on his upper right thigh. He put on his webbing containing a bum pack with his ghille suit packed inside. The rest of his armor and his M98B was all that was left to pack.
“Sir we’re all ready to head out, we’re just going to grab a bite to eat. I’ll see you in the cafeteria.” Jack said while popping his head in the doorframe.
“Meet you there.” Replied Ulysses, there were only two more things missing from his armor, the Australian flag and the SASR winged dagger emblem, which were patches that rested on the middle of his upper chest.
He casually walked down the hall to the cafeteria to get some breakfast before his squad left for the airport as well as him. Rafael was sitting across from Jack who was eating some pancakes while Rafael opted for a fruit salad.
“Hey guys, when did they start serving food?” Ulysses asked the group,
“They started cooking half an hour ago, they have pancakes, salads and fruit salads.” Replied Rafael,
“That’s good and all but where is the bacon, eggs and ham?”
“They don’t serve those since they try to wean most of the convertes off meat, so when they do go pony they are used to being a vegetarian.” Explained Jack,
“Jack, how come you know so much?” Asked Ulysses,
“Well I was going to go pony, but I was needed. You see, the… the HLF… they…” Jack could barely speak tears were rolling down his face and he was on the verge of a mental brake down, “they killed my wife… they beat her to death and I couldn’t do anything… they knocked me unconscious and beat me nearly to death.”
“I know how you feel amigo; the HLF killed my brother because he was going into a bureau to see if he would be able to be converted. You see, my brothers and I we came from a broken family. Two of my brothers became criminals and ended up in jail, I ended up joining the Marines to get away from it all. My youngest brother, Joshua, ran away to get converted… that’s when he was murder by those bustards. THOSE F**KING HLF BASTARDS!” yelled Rafael,
“I know where you both come from, when I was young and in the Australian army. My best friend, James, we fought in North Korea, or was it Malaysia? We could never figure it out. But anyhow, we were ambushed in Brisbane CBD…”
-Flashback to when the Unknown forces attacked Australia-
“Ulysses, get up man we got to get the medical supplies to forward base Charlie.” Said James in his thick Australian accent; he was in standard DPCU with a dark green tactical vest. He had a Styr AUG with and ACOG optics. He was nineteen at the time, same age as Ulysses, who wore the same uniform as James.
“Five more minutes mum. I don’t want to go to school.” Responded Ulysses in his sleep,
“Very funny Joker. Now up ya get, cuz I don’t like the look of this.” Said the Sergeant over the radio, “Eyes up and keep frosty.”
“Roger, Wilco.” Responded James over the radio in the Bushmaster, “Get up man, looks like we might be going up shit creek with out a paddle. Get on the .50 cal.”
“Righty-o” responded Ulysses nonchalantly, he popped his head out the hatch in the Bushmaster, he got in the gunners position and readied the machine gun. He scanned the broken buildings looking for any silhouettes that seemed out of place.
He noticed an enemy solider in a window holding a tube. The sight of this caused Ulysses blood to run cold. He yelled as hard as he could to warn his comrades, “RPG!! GET OUT!!!” but it was too late, the rocket hit the side of the jeep, causing it to flip over and burst into flames.
He rolled out of the flaming wreck with his ears ringing, he could see soldiers approaching. He raised his rifle and took time to take his shot. He emptied a clip taking out five soldiers. He removed the empty magazine and inserted the next. He was able to keep most of them at bay, the rest running for cover that they could find. Ulysses ran for a broken wall segment that was close to the Bushmaster. That put him in between the rest of the convoy and the approaching column of hostile invaders.
“James, get over here. I need back up to protect the convoy!” screamed Ulysses over the walkie-talkie,
“I can’t, see if you can provide me some cover fire and I’ll bring over the Minimi!” responded James over the walkie-talkie,
“Fine!” Ulysses responded, he got out of cover and started spraying bullets at anything he saw move. He felt a hand touch his shoulder. He rolled around while unsheathing his knife to come face to face with a sniper with his knife coming towards his heart. Thinking quickly on his feet he kicked the sniper has hard as he could in his meat and two veg causing the sniper to loss concentration. He quickly went for a swipe across the face but was countered by the snipers arm. He then did the only other thing he could do and attempted to punch the sniper, but his arm was already being held down by the sniper. So he head butted the sniper right in his nose making him stumble backwards, losing the grip on Ulysses. Taking this opportunity, he sunk his knife into the heart of the sniper, killing him quickly. He grabbed the snipers SR-25 sniper rifle and put down coving fire. This caused most of them to run for any cover they could find, but Ulysses got lucky once in a while with a headshot.
“Friendly’s coming in from 12 o’clock!” called James voice,
“Set down the gun and get those rounds down rage James!” Yelled Ulysses,
“Roger.” Replied James, he started to send the rounds down while Ulysses looked at his best friend. He was more like a brother to him he thought. Then suddenly James’s head snapped back and a large spray of blood came from both the front and back of his head.
“JAMES!!!!” Screamed Ulysses holding his hand out trying to catch is friend, “NO, NO, NOOOOOOO!!!! DAMMIT YOU CANT BE DEAD!!!” He screamed trying to comprehend his friend’s death. He grabbed James dog tags off his body and picked up the machinegun, “I’ll avenge you.”
“Corporal Valera, get back here. Your going to get yourself killed!” Cried the sergeant over the walkie-talkie,
“Get the convoy moving sarge, I got it covered from here.” He replied.
“You hear the man get those trucks moving!” the sergeant yelled to the remainder of the convoy. It was too late for Ulysses, for he had taken several bullets to the chest. Even though the thin layer of Kevlar in his vest absorbed most of them but some made it through. His arms felt weak and his legs began to buckle underneath his own weight. He fell to the ground and fell unconscious, he could still hear the sounds of the battle echoing around him, but there was nothing else he could do except lie in a small puddle of his blood and hope that a medic will retrieve him and collect his dog tags.
“… and still to this day I have nightmares about that battle.” said Ulysses finishing the tale,
“So how did you get back?” asked Jack,
“A few civilians went in after the battle was over and found me unconscious, so they took me to the nearest base they knew of and I was patched up there. Three days later I was back in the field. I later found out that they were trying to scavenge anything useful I had.”
“Wow, that’s a scary story Mister Ulysses.” Said Bronze who was intently listening to the story unbeknown to the group causing all three men to jump out of their seats,
“Bronze, how much did you hear?” asked Ulysses,
“Up to the part where you ran off to get rid of the bad men.”
“Ok then, just don’t tell your dad ok. Otherwise he might get cross with me.”
“Ok Mister Ulysses, do you want to get some breakfast with me?”
“That sounds like a good idea, do you have any recommendations?”
“The apples are super tasty and the hay pancakes are super duper delicious.”
“Sounds like I’m getting some apples and pancakes then.”
Both Ulysses and Bronze grabbed a metal tray and went in line to grab food from the kitchen. When they entered they were both greeted by an orange unicorn with green mane, she had a teacup on her flank.
“Hi Chamomila, could I have some hay pancakes and an apple please?” asked Bronze,
“Sure thing, you’re lucky since they fresh off the stove. And who is this you brought?” She asked turning her head to look at Ulysses, “So what will it be dear?” She asked,
“Could I have some pancakes and an apple please?”
“Sure thing dear, so what made you want to convert?” she said handing the plate to Ulysses with her magic,
“Oh no, I’m not. I just stayed the night here to rest so my squad and I can do our job.”
“Your not HLF or PER are you?”
“No ma’am, to be honest, half of our job is to get rid of them.”
“Well ok, just don’t little Bronzy involved.” She said while ruffling up his mane.
“Will do. Come on Bronze lets go eat.”
“Ok Mister Ulysses.” And with that they left the kitchen line to go eat with the rest of the squad, while Bronze was struggling to style his mane the way he wanted it. The rest of the breakfast went on generally smooth, they all chatted about conversion and how it was done and some basic pony anatomy. Ulysses learned that the mark on most ponies flank was called a Cutie Mark, which represented their special talent, to him it basically sounded like a coming of age for them.
He still found the world he had woken up in so strange, at one point he was assassinating terrorist with the SASR and Captain Milner, the next he was in a world filled with cute and colorful ponies that could fly and use magic. The thing he found most unsettling was that he had managed to get on the bad side of Princess Celestia who was the leader of these ponies. At the back of his mind he wondered, 'If I get converted I wouldn't have to fight anymore. No more bloodshed. No more nights where I have a pistol in my hand ready to kill anyone that tries to attack me.... No more friends dyeing in front of me. ' This had brought a tear to the soldiers face. He missed his family, his friends and he missed his home. Conversion sounded to him like a way out, no fighting and a chance to start over, but he couldn't he had a squad to look after and he had to stop the HLF and serve Princess Celestia... for the time being until he either got converted or died, he would rather get converted than die.
-In the cargo bay of a C-17 Hercules-
“Alright men, up below is Alcatraz, which we have to infiltrate in order to rescue and recruit one James Milner. Now remember all contacts are confirmed hostile. But only engage if you are fired upon otherwise it’s a stealth mission. Is that clear?” Asked Ulysses to his men,
“SIR! YES SIR!” they both screamed back,
“We're approaching the drop zone, check your equipment and get ready for the jump.” He said in a stone cold voice. Rafael and Jack both acknowledged the order and started to check their equipment. They both had a M9 Beretta pistol and M16A4 rifles, the standard for most Marines. Ulysses looked at his weapons. He still had his knife, 9mm USP and his M96B. He decided take an M16A4 also. He never really liked them that much. He had used them before when he was on a joint mission with Delta Force commandos. But he had to think about the mission at hand.
“You lads ready?” he said looking back,
“Let’s do this!” said Rafael getting his game face on,
“Why do we have to do a HALO jump?” Said Jack,
When he exited the aircraft he noticed how polluted the air was. There were no fluffy white clouds, just gray or black smog clouds. He contained his fall making his body more streamlined. He passed through the thick layer of smog to reveal a dead city, and that might still have been an understatement. Most buildings he could see were decrepit or destroyed. Large-scale shantytowns were packed together away from the light of the towering skyscrapers, which emanated light. There were also several large factories that had massive smoke stacks that bellowed smoke.
He was nearing the ground and the bay was in sight, but he couldn’t spot the Golden Gate Bridge. All he could see was a steel frame and some suspension cables from both sides of the now dried bay. He reached the cord on his chute and pulled hard, jerking him back from the sudden resistance from the chute. But at the back of his mind he still wanted to be freefalling again.
He landed somewhere on coast of Alcatraz Island, he thought to himself ‘I thought this was just a small island in the middle of the bay.’ He could see the rest of the squad landing over the beach ahead.
“Regroup at the pipe, stay frosty and scan the walls.” He said in to his earpiece, he cocked his M16 and crouched low to the ground.
Once he regrouped with Jack and Rafael he drew his knife and gave the hand signal to harbor up, “Ok here’s the plan,” he used his knife to draw in the dirt a rough outline of the base and the route they were going to take in, “So we enter via this pipe here, then proceed into the main shower block here. We will breach one of the walls using C4 to serve as an emergency exit in case the mission becomes compromised, we will also place some extra C4 here for a distraction later on.
After that we move through the underground tunnels that run throughout the prison to reach Cell Block X. There James should be held in cell 0003. Once we secure the package we will proceed down to the dock and capture some type of transportation. At this point we could fight our way out, but I don’t want to waste ammo or run the risk of injuries. Once back on land we will have to go to one of the warehouses where the HLF stores some vehicles including a captured Humvee.
“Yes, what happens if we are compromised when attempting to secure the Humvee?”
“The only available option at that point is to get in and put the pedal to the metal and make good use of the .50 on top, anything else? No? Ok Rafael you’re on point Jack behind me, suppressors on and practice radio and sound discipline unless I have instructed otherwise. Clear?”
“Roger.” Said Rafael cocking his gun and climbing into the pipe,
“Alright, let’s do this.” He said in a terrible gruff British accent.
Authors Note: I stopped here since I heard cliffhangers are all the rage these days. That and I need to rest, but don’t worry as you are reading this I’m hard at work writing Chapter 5. And thanks to my editor Randal 116 who did all the editing on this chapter since Cailet has disappeared and Calebs1197 is at school.
The Conversion Bureau: The Last Job
Chapter Five: Operation Broken Chains
The Conversion Bureau: The Last Job
Chapter Five: Operation Broken Chains
The small three-man squad proceeded quietly down the sewer pipes with their flashlights on scanning the corners for any HLF guards. They came up to a wall with various pipes leading to and from it. ‘This must be the shower block ’ Ulysses thought, he gave the hand signal to Rafael to place the C4 on the wall. Rafael removed from his vest a small brick of C4 and placed it securely between a pipe and the wall. They lined up against the wall. He also placed two more bricks of C4 on the opposite wall inbetween some pipes.
Ulysses gave Rafael a pat on his left shoulder telling him to destroy the wall.
BOOM
The shockwave went through the building causing various pipes to rattle and some of the concrete to fall from the ceiling. The team rushed in with rifles drawn checking all the corners making sure that this was the right shower block, it was.
They continued down the halls until they came to a maintenance room, the squad stacked up on either sides of the door. Ulysses positioned himself in front of the door; he kicked down the door and entered it checking to see if it was clear. It wasn’t, there in a chair was a lone HLF terrorist maintaining several guns.
“Ok, that wasn’t part of the plan but now it’s a straight path to Cell Block X, Rafael your still on point. Let move out.” He said to his squad.
The squad continued down the long, dark and damp tunnel they could see a light at the end of it. They could also hear voices at the end of it, they slowly crept up to the tunnel to the end from there they could hear what they were saying.
“… So did you hear that explosion?” asked the HLF Guard to the other,
“Yes, why?”
“Well why was there an explosion?”
“It was probably just some one at the shooting range using grenades or something, nothing important.”
“But what if the PER or some sort of super solider that the government sent.”
“Trust me nothing can get in or out of here, we have this place locked down like a fort.”
“I don’t know man. I just have a bad feeling is all.”
“Come on let’s get back on patrol otherwise Folly is going to get pissed.”
“Alright.” And with that the two guards move out of the room and continued on their patrol.
Ulysses gave the hand signal for him to take point; he walked in front of the group until they came up to a ledge with a window with strong iron bars. He leaded over the railing to spot several armored doors with white numbers painted onto them.
He reached in his pack to pull out a rope with a belaying hook on it. He looped around one of the iron bars in the window and underneath the railing. Once he did this the rest of the squad did so, once they we all strapped in they slowly descended to the level below them.
Once on the ground the squad proceeded to look for the right metal door, “Found it,” said Jack, “So how do we open it?”
“Find the central control leaver for the block.” Replied Rafael,
“Or we could just do this.” Said Ulysses placing thermite on the locking system part of the door, he pulled the pin and in three seconds later molten metal was dripping down the door's frame.
He pushed open the door to be greeted by James,“What? Who are you people?” said James with his juvenile voice,
“You may not trust us now but where here to get you out.” Said Ulysses to James who was built like an American Football player, “But we need your help, Princess Celestia wants us to go find some Intel and you’re on the list for my squad.”
“What? That doesn’t make any sense but then again freedom sounds good. I’m in.” James replied,
“Good put this on and use this.” Said Jack giving James a tactical vest and M16A.
“Ok now it’s a clear run from here to the dock yard. So remember find something fast. Clear?” Question Ulysses to the squad,
“Crystal.” Responded James,
“Right form up on me, anything you see as hostile, you have permission to engage.”
“So we are fighting our way out?” said James,
“No we have a good distraction though.” Said Rafael grinning like a mad man, he pulled out a detonator and pulled the trigger and a loud thud was heard,
“Ok that gives us at least ten minutes at the maximum, so let’s doubled time it!” Yelled Ulysses as he started to run around the corner.
The squad arrived at the boat docks to find that there were no boats were there.
“Shit, great plan now what?” said James,
“You better be a good swimmer.” Responded Ulysses,
“Are you crazy, the waters polluted. If we touch it we would die from allsorts of infections lets alone the high amounts of acid that’s been dumped in there by the factories and don’t get me started about the radiation!” yelled James,
“Valera! There’s a boat coming, it’s not a fast but looks like it will do!” Yelled Jack,
“Well there is our ride.” Responded Ulysses while taking out his sniper rifle,
“Wait you’re the Ulysses Valera… as in the one that my grandfather served with in the SAS!” said James as his lower jaw hit the ground,
“Yes, but no time for stories and how I got here right now we got to hijack that boat so we can steal a car.” Said Ulysses while aiming through the scope on the rifle, “I count six on the boat including the captain. Get into cover. Let’s see if we can do this with out making a commotion.”
With that Ulysses jumped behind a wooden container marked with explosives, ‘Great, out of all the boxes I pick the one that contains explosives.’ Ulysses thought to himself. The boat pulled into the dock and two men got off securing the boat to dock with two large ropes.
“Take them out then the rest of them on the boat.” He said though his earpiece; after he said that he hear two clicks and then two thuds. He peaked out of from his cover to see the two men on the ground with James, Rafael and Jack entering the boat.
“Come on old man, the boat isn’t going to wait around much longer.” Said James,
“Clear!” cried Jack over the radio,
“Raff take the wheel.” Commanded Ulysses,
“Roger Wilco,” Said Rafael, “And don’t call me that.”
“We’ll see.”
====
The rusty old boat slowly pulled into the dock in front of the warehouse, this confused Folly. He hadn’t order any cargo, he looked down at his schedule for the week. It wasn’t due for another two days. Why was it here so early?
“Darius, send some of your men down to check that boat and make sure they bring their guns.” He said in his deep voice,
“Now why would they need their guns?” questioned the small southern man,
“Well Alcatraz went quiet after two explosions were heard and now their on red alert and that cargo boat should be over there, not here. So whatever made those explosions must be on that boat… and I have a good feeling it has something to do with those god damn PER fags.” Folly replied while lighting up a cigarette,
“You’re paranoid today.”
“I don’t want those stupid ponies in my Sanfran mucking it up with their ponifacation serum, I don’t want any of my friends being stolen from me again.”
“Yes I know.”
“They took my wife and kids! They’ll pay, one day ill walk into Equestria and kill that Princess and make a potion that turns ponies into humans!”
“Yes we know Bob.”
“Have you dispatched that team yet?”
“Yes their entering the boat now.”
“It’s been thirty minutes why haven’t they reported in yet?! What is on that boat?” Yelled Folly,
“I don’t know.” Responded Darius who was now cowering,
“That would have been us. Now hand over the keys for the Humvee and no one gets hurt.” Said Ulysses placing his pistol to the back of Folly’s head,
“No need to make any…” said Folly quickly turning around to attempt to disarm the highly trained commando, but was met with a fist the jaw. Folly collapsed to the ground out cold.
“You,” Said Ulysses pointing the gun to Darius, “Keys now.”
“Please don’t hurt me.” Darius said opening Folly’s drawer to retrieve the keys to the Humvee, but instead took out a .44 Magnum that was modified to use 9mm rounds,
“Put the…” said Darius before dropping to the ground dead, Ulysses had shot him in the head. He casually walked over to the draw and took the key marked with ‘Humvee’ on it.
“Got the keys is everything loaded up?” said Ulysses over the radio,
“Yep, hurry back I think they know something is up.” Said Jack over the radio,
“Let’s do this.” Said Ulysses putting a new magazine into his pistol, he crept out of the office and into the corridors of the warehouse. He heard footsteps approaching, he ran to the corner but it was too late, they had found him.
“STOP RIGHT THERE YOU PONY LOVING FAG!!!” yelled one of them while emptying a clip of bullets in Ulysses direction, Ulysses reached down into vest to pull out a flashbang grenade. He pulled the pin on in and threw it as hard as he could over his back in an attempt to create a distraction long enough to escape.
Ulysses made it to the Humvee and climbed up the back of it to jump into the gunners’ position.
“Go to plan B!” he yelled while tossing the keys to Rafael, who was driving, and then cocked the heavy machine gun,
“What’s plan B?” asked James before being pulled back into his seat as the car rocketed,
“GO GO GO!!!!” yelled Ulysses while firing the machine gun at the several guards who were using any explosive that they had at their disposal,
“Jesus Christ Ulysses what did you do!” yelled Jack,
“I GOT THE KEYS BUT GOT CAUGHT IN THE PROCESS! NOW GIVE ME A HAND AND PASS ME THE AMMO!!” Ulysses yelled back while reaching into the cabin looking for a box of ammo, James handed a canvas box of machine gun ammo.
Ulysses pulled the empty box out and replaced it with the fresh box of ammo while feeding the bullets through the action of the gun. He heard a soft pitter-patter of rotor blades. “Shit, this isn’t good.” He said to himself, slowly gaining on them was an AH-6 Little Bird.
He fired at the helicopter in a futile attempt to destroy it, luckily he was able to shoot the rotor hub causing it to spin out of control hitting the and violently explode.
“Ulysses… what exactly did you do?” asked Jack,
“I think I may have killed Folly and his right hand man.” Responded Ulysses entering the cabin of the Humvee looking for a seat,
“You are one crazy bastard. You know that.” Said James,
“That’s me, now how long till we hit Texas?” Asked Ulysses to Rafael,
“About a days worth of travel.”
“Good right on schedule, well some of you get some sleep. We’ll take turns driving.” And with that Ulysses passed away into blissful sleep in his seat snoring loudly.
Authors Note: Well we have had a change of editors, Caleb1197 has stopped for the time being since he has school and we replaced him with Sgt Randall 116 who you already know since he helped me edit the last one. But if you don’t read my blog posts you’ll know that I’m starting school soon so don’t expect me to write and upload every single day just expect them when you least expect them. Oh and I kicked Cailet off the editing team since I got fed up with her near on rewriting of the chapters.
The Conversion Bureau: The Last Job
Chapter Six: Secrets and Lies
The Conversion Bureau: The Last Job
Viewer Discretion is advised during this chapter
Chapter Six: Operation Secrets and Lies
-Somewhere near Waco Texas-
Jack and Rafael were running against the wall with their weapons drawn. Rafael had an AA-12 he had found in the back of the Humvee.
“In position.” Said Jack over the radio,
“Roger, I count six tangos in the building.” Responded Ulysses over the radio, “James how many do you see over the IR scope from where you are?”
“I count ten, and two in the guard posts both with high powered rifles. Permission to engage the tangos in the towers?” Asked James on the radio,
“Negative, Alpha 2-1, breach and clear. Alpha 3, provide over-watch for them.” Responded Ulysses while chambering a round into his rifle, he looked thought the scope to view Rafael and Jack place a breaching charge on the door.
“Breaching!” Cried Jack over the radio, the charge went off and Rafael threw a flashbang into the room causing more confusion and blinding most inside.
Ulysses floated his sights over a solider that wasn’t stunned and held his breath. He squeezed the trigger and let his breath go steadying the shot, the bullet shattered through the glass and straight into the soldier’s chest knocking him back off his feet and into the wall. Jack and Rafael cleared the room but some of the HLF extremists had run for cover and were returning fire with an enormous suppressive effect, pinning Jack and Rafael.
“Can you guys take care of them!?” Yelled Rafael over the radio,
“I got this.” Replied James then the soldiers began to drop and shards of glass began to cover the floor.
“Ok James, Move up to the next rendezvous point with Alpha 2-1.” Ordered Ulysses, “I’ll meet you inside lads.” With that Ulysses folded the bipod up on his M98B sniper rifle and placed it on his back. He pulled out his M16A and checked the magazine to make sure it was fresh. He slid it back in and cocked the rifle and started down the small hill he was perched on.
He arrived at a large air vent used to exchange air between various parts of the fort and the surface. He found a metal grate and pulled on it as hard as he could to rip it off, he succeeded and he then proceeded to clime into the air vent, “Ok, I’m in. How’s things on your end?” he asked over the radio,
“This is Alpha 0-3, I have entered the complex undetected and I am proceeding to the rendezvous point, over.” Said James over the radio,
“This is Alpha 2-1, we are at the rendezvous point and there is a locked door, do we have permission to breach and clear?” said Rafael over the radio static,
“Alpha 2-1 you have permission to breach and clear once Alpha 3 has arrived.”
“Repeat Alpha Actual couldn’t hear that”
“Alpha 2-1 you have permission over.”
“I thi*static*k that their b*static*ng our sig…” said Rafael over the radio before it turned into static feedback.
“Dammit, this is going to be hard. Hopefully I can find what ever is blocking our radio’s and get rid of it.” Said Ulysses to himself in the air vents, he continued to crawl around in the vent until he came to a grate that seem to be big enough for him to fit through. He ripped off the grate and slipped his body through it feet first.
He landed unceremoniously on the ground with a loud thud. He picked himself up off the ground and readied his rifle; he scanned the room looking for anything that would resemble a jamming device or Intel he could gather. The room was bland filled with rows of metal shelves contain food, boxes and various miscellaneous objects.
He continued down the concrete and metal halls; he came up on a heavily armored door. He knew that most people kept their secrets safe and what isn’t safe about a large metal door. So he placed two bricks of C4 on the doors hinges. He moved to the side of the door way and pulled the trigger on the detonator, the door exploded but still stood strong, standing up strait. Ulysses walked up to the door and kicked it down with one massive boot, it took several attempts but the door finally fell down crating a loud thud. He entered the room with his weapon ready checking every corner to see if anyone was inside.
What Ulysses expected was just some computer with a hard drive for Intel. Here there was a whole room dedicated to it. Filling cabins stacked the left side of the room; there were two large plastic tables with manila folders and sheets of paper with vital information about the terrorist organization. On the right side of the room were maps of the United States of America with red circles, string and thumbtacks.
He began to search through the vast amounts of information looking for anything that looked valuable or included the whereabouts of HLF Labs.
He came upon a document that had classified written upon it. He opened the document and scanned over the contents. It seem to mention that the PER were secretly funded by a mole in the Royal Treasury Department of Equestria, it also mentioned that they seemed to be developing an airborne version of the ponifacation serum and one that was apparently more vigorous that the standard serum, so he stored the document behind his tacvest. He continued to search through me small mountain of Info gathered, he came to some manila folders with maps inside of them and several pieces of paper, the map outlined where several labs that ran experimentation on both ponies and humans alike. The one part he found was that they were developing some sort WMD that could traverse the barrier between Earth and Equestria.
There was also another document bearing the same symbol as Celestia’s Cutie Mark and some other strange symbols on it. He opened the document only to find that the Intel inside was written in some other language that was slightly similar to the Standard English alphabet. He could make out the headline which seemed to say ‘Purification’ but surly his eyes were deceiving him. Maybe when he gets back to a Bureau he was sure he could find an English to Equestrian dictionary somewhere.
He heard footsteps approaching; instinctively he raised his gun and pointed it at the door.
“Friendly’s coming in!” yelled James voice,
“Alpha Squad, spread out over the room and search this whole place for anything that is important and or the where about of more HLF lab bases. Were on a time limit here. We have thirty minutes before we’re pulling out.” Commanded Ulysses to his squad.
“Roger Wilco.” Said James, with that the squad spread out of the room tearing through filing cabinets and taking photos of the maps on the walls.
“Alright times up lads, lets get out of here and get to the drop off point.” Said Ulysses,
“Roger, who’s on point?” asked James,
“You’re up greenhorn, Raff swap guns with him.” Commanded Ulysses,
“Fine, and stop calling me Raff. I sound like that silly children’s show with the turtles.” Replied Rafael solemnly handing over his AA-12 to James who intern was handing back a SR-25 to the grumpy Marine,
“Why do you think I’m calling you that?” Replied Ulysses smugly,
The squad exited the room in a near on line fashion, they were constantly were checking the corners and their backs. They came up to a room with a sign saying ‘Security’. Ulysses raised his hand to halt the squad, “Stack up on that door.” He ordered, the squad did as he asked. James placed a breeching charge on the door, and then rolled to the side. “Breach and Clear.”
“Breaching!” Said James, James entered and then three shot were heard from inside the room. Once the squad had entered Ulysses spotted a HLF guard wearing a Kevlar vest with two large holes in it that were seeping out blood.
“Jack see if you can trigger an alarm to make a distraction.” Said Ulysses, Jack walked over to the computer console and started hitting buttons on the keyboard.
“How does tripping the fire system sound?” he replied while continuing to type on the keyboard.
“Do it away from the extraction zone. Let’s move out. James you’re still on point.” Said Ulysses while turning around to the door, after a few moments there was the sound of a siren sounding off in the distance signaling that the alarm had gone off successfully.
They arrived at a large metal rolling door that had been secured with a chain and lock.
“Get that door open James.” Ordered Ulysses,
“And how in Sam’s hell am I going to do that!” Replied James,
“You have a shotgun. Use it.” replied Ulysses gesturing to the AA-12.
“Oh… well stand back.” And with that James pointed the gun at the lock and shot at it causing the locking mechanism to brake, James then proceeded to remove the chain and open the door only to be faced with what looked like a small company of HLF soldiers, who were pointing their rifles right at them. Accompanying the soldiers were two jeeps armed with machine guns. “Shit.” Was the only word that escaped Ulysses mouth.
“So you thought you cold infiltrate the worlds most armored Human Liberation Force base?” came a voice over a megaphone, “Not only that but invade Alcatraz to free a prisoner then hijack a cargo ship only to knockout the head of the Human Liberation Forces in San Francisco and kill his right hand man without being noticed?”
“Oh I’m sorry, did I piss you off?” Responded Ulysses to the disembodied voice,
“You must be new to begging for your life.”
“You must be new to dying.” Responded Ulysses taking out a high explosive grenade and throwing at one of the jeeps,
“Get to cover men.”
“GREN…” came a HLF soldiers voice before being cut off from the loud explosion from the grenade and jeep exploding.
“Jesus Christ Ulysses what was in that thing?” yelled Jack,
“C4 and more nitroglycerin, I made it my self when I was at the bureau that night. Strange the cluster part hasn’t dis…” said Ulysses before being cut off by another explosion, “There it is, now lets put them out of their misery.”
The squad exited cover only to be greeted with burning corpses and chard faces of fallen soldiers, this brought back painful memories to Ulysses as he has seen this done to his best friends back when Australia was invaded.
“Put your gas masks on.” Said Jack.
“That won’t stop the smell.” Replied James.
“But it will stop the smoke.” Said Jack, placing his mask on. They continued through the small field of burning coupes only to hear pleads from the unfortunate ones that didn’t die from the explosion, the only thing they could do was to put them out of their misery as Ulysses had said earlier. They all pulled out their side arms and whatever soldier they came past that was alive they shot.
One of the guards were able to grab on to Ulysses leg, he wasn’t burned like the rest of them but only badly blistered over his face and arms, “Please… help… me.” He begged,
“The only thing I can do is to put you out of your torment.” Ulysses said pointing his pistol at him,
“Nooo… take me to… the Bureau… you win… I’ll go pony… just let me… live.” He said struggling to breath.
“Alright, just call yourself lucky.” Ulysses said picking up the man only to notice that the lower part of his torso was gone, but he wasn’t bleeding profusely since the flames had colorized the wound. He draped the torso of the man over his shoulders and caught up to the group.
“Ulysses. What are you doing to the poor man?” Said Rafael,
“He said he wanted to be converted rather than to die among the flames and the field of dead.” Responded Ulysses walking towards a sand colored tarp. “He was polite enough to ask.” Ulysses added, remembering what his friends went though, and even though this man was an enemy, he couldn’t let himself become so jaded. “Let’s load him up and drop him of at the nearest Bureau near the drop off point for Celestia.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Said Rafael entering the drivers seat.
The Humvee’s engine hummed quietly while on the motorway to Huston, the HLF soldier was in the rear of the cabin being treating by Jack, he was slipping in and out of conscious and babbling about this wouldn’t have happened if he just went with his parents when Conversion was offered.
Ulysses looked back and asked Jack, “So is he going to make it or is he a goner?”
“He’s stable, but I don’t think he is going to live as a human anymore. Even with all the advances in medicine and prosthetic organs and limbs the only way he would survive is with instant Ponifacation.” Responded Jack giving a distressed look to Ulysses,
“But will he make it to the Bureau in time?”
“Yes but they better have some Serum on hand or hoof.”
“Alright, well we got some time to kill so,” said Ulysses looking over to James, “Why don’t you tell us about your self James.”
“Ummmm… ok, well I’m James Milner, I’m nineteen and I used to be in the American Army.”
“Ok then but explain to me why you know how to breach and clear like a commando and you have precise shooting like a sniper.”
“My grandpa taught me, just like he taught you, and he also had stories… my dad had stories about you. So is it true that on your first mission you killed that Cyclops in his one good eye.”
“Yep, I think… I couldn’t tell since there wasn’t much of a head left.” Boasted Ulysses,
“So how about that time you absailed down that mountain to infiltrate a terrorist base, is that true?”
“Yes it is and then we road off into the sunset.” Sarcastically replied Ulysses,
“Ererggggg…” came the voice of the half alive guard, “Where… where am I?”
“Whoa there, your ok, we picked you up and taking you to the Conversion Bureau to fix you up ok.” Said Jack who was next to the man,
“… Ok, but… but why can’t I feel my legs.”
“They must have been blown off in the explosion you were in. But can you tell me your name?”
“Nick… my name is Nick…” he said breathing heavy,
“Ok so you know your going to be converted in a few hours.” Said Jack,
“Yes… I know… I give up… there is nothing left for me on Earth… my family is living in Eques… Equestria now and there also happy… I… I should have gone with them… Now look at me… I’ve killed both ponies and people and look where its’ got me… half dead and legless…” Nick ranted unobvious to the rest of the world or the fact that they were pulling into the Conversion Bureau in Houston, Texas.
“Raff come with me to talk to the staff while you two get Nick ready to move.” Said Ulysses taking of his combat armor and stepping out of the Humvee with Rafael doing the same.
“So how are we going to do this?” Asked Rafael.
“Walk in there tell them about Nick, get him ponified, and then walk out.” Responded Ulysses nonchalantly.
“What do you mean he can’t get ponified? This is a Conversion Bureau. Isn’t it your jobs to ponifiy us humans!” said Ulysses to the green and pink Pegasus,
“There isn’t enough serum for us to make an exception this one time and there have been people waiting a week to get ponified and how do I know that this… man is even real?” retorted the small mare,
“Alright I’ll see if he is stable for transport on one condition though.”
“And what would that be Mr. Valera?”
“Get him in the room where they get ponified.”
“Fine, bring him in and I’ll talk to the technician and the convertee that is going to get ponified today.”
“Thank you Ms. Lime.” Said Ulysses who walked back out the door flanked by Rafael,
“That went down swimmingly.” Said Ulysses to Rafael,
“You do have a way with words don’t you.” Rafael chuckled,
“Alright prep Nick for movement to the Conversion Room. We’ll meet you there.” Said Ulysses over the radio,
“Roger Wilco.” Responded James over the static,
Both Ulysses and Rafael went down a maze of corridors until they came to a pair of metallic double doors with the words in bold white letters ‘Authorized Staff Only’, they pushed through them and came into a large, what seemed to be surgical room with a metal operating table with a sheet of paper stretching from one end of the table to the other in the center of the room. The room had also a large Red Brief case in it that seemed to be reinforced and had a pin pad on it with the numbers ranging from zero though nine with an enter button and a backspace button.
“Patient coming through!” Jacks voice sounded bursting through the door with Nick in an impromptu stretcher; they placed Nick on the metal table,
“Ok, so did it work out on your end?” Asked James,
“I hope so. She said that she would talk to the tec-head and the person that’s up for conversion today to see if they would give up their spot.” Replied Rafael,
“You’re in luck gentalm…” said Lemon Lime happily trotting in through the doors before noticing the charred legless man lying on the table, “Oh sweet Celestia… Who did this to him?”
“Urr that ma…” said Jack before Ulysses placing his hand over his mouth telling him ‘let me do the talking.’
“The HLF did this to him, we went out to do some recon for the government and this poor man was caught in a explosion that was made by the HLF.” Said Ulysses nervously,
“Oh my… this isn’t good… MAGGIE! GET IN HERE WITH THE POTION ASAP!” yelled Lemon,
“I’m coming, hold yer horses.” Came a very famine voice, in through a middle aged woman with brown hair warring a while lab coat carrying a small Styrofoam cup, “Oh my… I think we might need to inject the potion into the poor man.” So she proceeded to walk over to one of the various benches and removed a large hypodermic needle and sucked up the contents of the cup into the needle.
“Ok now we need to inject this into the heart, so is he ready?”
“Im… as ready as ill ever… HUUUR!” said Nick while Maggie injected the serum into Nicks heart, the response from it entering the body were almost instantaneously. His skin turned waxy and his something at the base of his legs started to shoot out. Bone shot from his leg forming what seemed to be equine legs and hooves, his skin turned fuzzy as small hairs began to emerge from the waxy skin, which was slowly starting to solidify. A tail started to form at the back of his legs and his neck elongated it with his face. His coat had finished coming in. It was fire truck red. But something came protruding from his head, it seemed to be some form of horn. His mane was fully formed. It was a deep blue with a red highlight running through it.
With in the time of fifteen minuets Nick had gone from being a charred human corpse to a four-foot red unicorn pony. The whole process scared Ulysses down to his bone, ‘Wow. That’s what happens when you get ponified.’ Thought Ulysses but at the back of his mind he wondered if getting ponified was the right idea.
The red pony stirred from his sleep and opened his eyes to look upon the new world.
-Houston, Texas-
As I opened my eyes to look upon the new world and wow this feels great. I feel like all the problems I had as a human were gone. My skin didn’t burn like before… in fact I could breathe properly and wow are those my hooves!
“Hey how you feeling buddy?” said the deep Australian accented man,
“I feel… awesome!” I said in my higher pitched voice, “Wow that’s wired, I didn’t know I my voice changed.”
“Yeah doc what’s with that?”
“Umm most mares usually have high pitched voices.” Said the doctor in the white lab coat,
“IM A MARE!!! BUT IM SUPPOSED TO BE A BOY!!!” I yelled, “What did you give me?
“We gave you the standard Ponifacation serum. I don’t know how you came out as you did.” She said in her defense,
“Maybe it has something to do with the missing of a lower torso or something?” came a gruff Hispanic voice,
“I think you may be right but your going to have to stay here for test on how this happened that any you also have to learn how to be a pony if your going to live in Equestria.”
“Okay but can I have a word with the man that saved me?”
“Sure, just who did save you?” asked the doctor turning to the four men covered in sweat and dirt,
“That would be me ma’am.” Said the Australian stepping forward,
“Ok you have ten minutes before we have to come get him for orientation.”
“Alright, see you in a bit.” He said while watching the doctor and the other pony exit the room, “Well you heard the lady, out you go lads.” Then what seem to be the other members of the squad left the room so it was just the one Australian and me.
“So I don’t think I properly introduced myself. I’m Ulysses Valera of the Special Air Service of Australia.” Said Ulysses puffing out his chest in pride,
“I’m Nick Hedrick from Texas… I guess.” I said,
“So I’m guessing you want to know why brought you here?”
“Yep.”
“Well out of the other people who were dying you were the only one that looked like who could actually live. And you asked for my help.”
“But I still don’t get it? Why?”
“I wasn’t trained to be a stone cold killer. I was trained for people who couldn’t defend themselves from the mad men of the world. You are young from what I could tell, no older than sixteen. You didn’t deserve to be their fighting for them or dying a painful and horrible death. You have a life had ahead of you. You asked me to help you and I wasn’t going to put a bullet between your eyes. So I picked you up and brought you here.”
“Ok then, thanks Valera.” I said bowing my head, ‘Wow I have a long neck.’ I thought to my self before attempting to hop off the table,
I more so rolled off the table and landed on the ground with a thud, “Ow.” I said before pulling myself of the ground,
“This is weird standing on all fours. Now let’s see if I can’t walk.”
“Are you sure?” Ulysses said with a look on his face saying ‘This is going to be fun to watch.’
“Yes I’m sure now let’s see, one hoof forward and move my… AHHH.” I yelled before being reintroduced to the floor,
“Hehehehe.” Ulysses laughed, “Here lean against me and I’ll support you.” He said before lifting me up back again and leaning me against him, wow he is warm. I blushed a bit. “Ok try it again.”
So I did so and in no time I was trotting around all by myself.
“Ok times up. Nick if you would follow me and Ulysses your squad's waiting for you outside.” Said the lime pony,
“Ok, well I guess see you around?”
“Sure if we meet up in Equestria we’ll have lunch together? How does sound?”
“Sound great. See you around.” He said walking out the door.
“OOOooooo how cute. You have a crush on him don’t you.” Said the other pony in the room after Ulysses had left the room,
“No I don’t. He’s a man and I’m a…” I said blushing.
“A mare. Its perfectly fine honey, nopony will judge you. Now come on lets get you to that orientation meeting.” She said trotting out the door, so I followed two.
-Changing back to Ulysses-
“Right let’s get to the drop off point. So where we meeting the Princess?” said Ulysses stepping into the back of the Humvee,
“Well what did you two talk about?” asked Jack,
“Why I saved him, now lets go since were late and I don’t want to get on Celestia’s bad side anymore.” Said Ulysses putting on his armor once again,
“Ok it says here to meet in an old warehouse off of 3rd and Maple.” Said Rafael reading the scroll and punching in the destination into the GPS,
“Alright, let’s roll.” Said Ulysses.
Authors Notes: yay! Chapter 6 is done! Next chapter Ulysses falls off into a volcano… Wait that’s not for another six chapters, but next chapter we have the meeting going down. Special Thanks to my Editor Randall and the whole MyLilPWNY gaming clan for support. But Comment on what I have done wrong or what I have done right. So Rate, Comment, Subscribe and Favorite since that’s what everyone on the Youtubes say. So I have also been working on Project Sexico (not a clop fic so put the lube away) and the prologue is looking good so far so expect it. And as always
Hey I went back and edited this but if you want to see what happend to Ulysses after this whole story then check out my other fanfic To Sexico where I will explain some stuff about the whole CB and how I view it and other stuff so check it out.
The Conversion Bureau: The Last Job
Chapter Seven: The calm before the storm
The Conversion Bureau: The Last Job
Chapter Seven: The calm before the storm
The engine of the Humvee purred quietly as it made it down the streets of the near on deserted city of Huston. Ulysses remember back when he came to America to do some wet work for the American government involving some terrorists hiding out in the desert plains of Texas and New Mexico, he remembered coming here and how the town was bright and full of people. Now it looked like the rapture had happened as the streets were deserted, the building falling apart as if they were scorched by the sun and hit with rockets, the streets were dirty and full of trash and grime that had actuated over years of neglect and the sky it self was gray and black, the sun didn’t even penetrate the clouds and the smog. The city was dead just a city of broken buildings and twisted metal that was just waiting for it for to collapse on his self.
‘The great and might human race seventy years on and we have already killed ourselves with machines and our own greed… What have we become?’ he thought to himself while he leaned his face against the bulletproof window, ‘What did happen after the war?’ he remember the wars he fought in. The images of his best friends flashed before his eyes, both good time and bad.
“Something on your mind Ulysses?” James asked quizzically,
“Yeah, you could say that.” He replied depressingly,
“Well what is it?” he asked while cocking his head in Ulysses direction,
“What did exactly happen while I was frozen?”
“Well the corporations started to gain lots of power in the governments which means they could introduce laws and get them through easier than they used to, that cause lots of civil unrest. So riots were common for years then most of the governments establish a martial law. But the main thing that got us into this mess what when A.I. were introduced into the general public and well… this cause wide spread unemployment since most of the work was out sourced to them. So long story short, the A.I. came along and took everyone jobs and forced most people to live in worldwide favelas. So when conversion came along it was a utopia, but it came with a price that most weren’t ready to pay, most people wanted to cross into Equestria as humans so they could do the same thing with Earth. So that’s the most important history while you were away.” Said Jack interpreting the conversation
“Alright, so you guys want to go to Equestria?” asked Ulysses awkwardly,
“Yep, I don’t think I can continue living from shanty town to shanty town and living of garbage scraps… Shit the only reason I am in shape is because I had to hunt a lot to get my food and I had a bit to many run in with the PER.” Said Rafael from the drivers seat,
“I know that feeling man… I was locked in that cell for a year with out and no one to talk to... They did horrible thing to me… I don’t think I want to be human anymore… after what they did.” Said James with the look of fear on his face that made his blood run from his face and turn it colder than ice,
“So what about you Jack,” Said Ulysses poking Jack who he was sitting next to,
“Hu wa? Oh yes I nearly got converted but the bureau wanted me as a guard and Neil wanted me to unfreeze you and incase shit hit the fan once I had to tag along with you… but its going to be worth it once I am in Equestria.” Said Jack after losing concentration and was staring out the window intently looking at the ghost city,
“Well don’t worry, were all going to get there in the end. I promise since you lot are helping me and it’s the least I can do for my men.” Said Ulysses while checking his gas mask and making sure that the filter was working properly before placing it back on his webbing, “Trust me were all going to Equestria after this, because it was all in the contract.”
“Wow really so we don’t have to go to the Bureaus and get ponified their.” Replied James
“Nope we get the stuff in a vial and we meet up at a rendezvous point down the stuff and they place us on a boat and we wake up in Equestria where we will learn all the stuff their instead of the bureaus... that's if you want to of course but by the sounds of it looks like you guys are pretty eager. But I think l will stay human for a bit more to see if Celly needs any help on this side.” Said Ulysses picking up the AA-12's drum magazine and placing in more shells into it form the seemingly endless box of ammunition in the rear of the Humvee,
“Why? I mean this place is like a utopia. Why don’t you want to come with us?”
“Well the whole reason I joined up was to defend my country and the people in it… but now humanities gone bat shit crazy and I don’t see any reason why I should have to defend a dyeing species and besides some one has to get rid of the bad guys.” He said while picking up the M4 checking its ACOG sight,
“Oh well… Hey were here.” Said Rafael,
The Humvee slowly rolled into a narrow ally-way, which lead into a large opening which seemed to be an old loading bay which now seemed to have various semi-wooden pallets that over years of neglect were beginning to rot. The Humvee pull up in the middle of the parking bay, Ulysses had a gut feeling that this didn’t feel right.
“Eyes up. Stay frosty and scan the roofs anything moves… shoot it.” He said pushing the bolt into place on the M98B,
“Sir? Is something wrong?” asked Jack,
“Call it a gut reaction but this is how all ambushes I know were set up like this... Attack the target in a confined area where there aren’t much places to hid of cover." He said pointing to the small amount of boxes that were scatered around the place, "One-way in and out, no secondary escape route. High areas for snipers to have a vantage point,” He said pointing at the roves that surround them, “that also provide cover to the enemy and are also hard to destroy by the one whom is being ambushed.” He scanned the area looking to make a area to retreat to incase his suspicions did come true, “Place some C4 on that wall their and get some Claymores on the entrance and move the Humvee over near where your going to place the C4 and cock the machine gun too.” He said pointing to the positions,
“Sir…” Said Jack approaching Ulysses,
“THAT’S AN ORDER!!” he screamed, the thought of all the ambushes came rushing back to him… all the blood and dead corpses of his dead comrades flashed before his eyes terrifying him to his very bones.
“You hear the man, do as he says.” Said Rafael ordering the rest of the squad,
"Kiss ass," James angrily grumbled under his breath while removing claymores from his tactical vest.
“You ok amigo?” asked Rafael while placing a hand on Ulysses back attempting to comfort the semi-crazed soldier.
“Yeah, just some bad memories and my SAS training kicking in, now come on lets get to it.” He said shacking off Rafael’s hand, he had felt the feeling before may times in the past and it had scared him to the bone. The land around him seemed to become more electrified and darker. The feeling that was that of the calm before the storm and an impending doom.
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Authors Notes: Well everypony good news!!! I came in top of my squadron for the rifling and third over all so now I have my badge that I can put on my service dress (Its SOOO SHINY AND GOLD!!!) But no this isn't the part of where I just go back and edit what I put up... no my humble readers this is where I work extra hard on the next chapter so that I can upload it and make you all sad. But yes expect me to be writing Chapter eight non-stop since I am going to actually give two flying shits about my work and make it the best (hopefully) thing I have ever produced so far. So if the next ones not good I'm calling this thing off and going to work on Sexico and other fics I am writing at the moment (No I am not going to out right stop writing this I am just putting it on hiatus so I can develop the plot more). Oh and I have noticed my 3000 views BUT I NEED MORE!!!! But as all ways my sexy readers I must go since my people need me.
The Conversion Bureau: The Last Job
The Conversion Bureau: The Last Job
Chapter Eight: Data feed
The squad waited there in the acidic rain, most of them had made a break for cover while Ulysses stood there waiting for the Princess. He had his rifle slung on his back and scanned the rooftops for any movement. He only saw some shadows that gave him the feeling of something was watching him, and waiting for the perfect time to strike.
“Ulysses get under cover before you catch a cold.” Jack said over the static filled radio,
He heard Jack but motioned them to be silent with a flick of his hand. He knew this was a trap, but who was it set for? Was it for Celestia, the HLF that he would attract or was it for him and his squad of Marines that he commanded.
A small cloud of grey smoke began to form in front of him and along with golden strings of magic. They twisted around each other until it created a strong impenetrable field of smoke.
“You must enjoy having grand entrances.” the grizzled soldier asked,
“No my little one, it is just the way the teleportation spell works.” the Princess regally replied, as her majestic white coat still glissaded even though it was raining.
“Anyway I got the intel you wanted, but it seems to me someone wants you dead real good.” Ulysses replied removing the small pile of folders from behind his tactical vest. “If I were you I would stay on your side of the border and keep your head down.”
“Lt. Velera I assure you that nothing can get through that barrier.” she said confidently,
“Trust me, if I know anything about human history is that if there is a problem, humanity will find a way to get around it.” Ulysses said as some shadows began to move on the roof tops.
“Ulysses nothing can get through the barrier becau-” she said before a bullet whizzed past her head and into the ground next to her.
“Fuck,” he said pulling his sniper out as he began to cover her from anymore sniper rounds, “Princess get to the Humvee and we’ll see you to safety.”
“I can take care of myself you know.” she said sounding like she was a god,
“The last VIP that said that to me ended up being shot in the chest when he wandered too far from me.” he said as he forced the Princess behind the Humvee,
“Shit Ulysses, what the fuck was that?” asked James as he was scanning the rooftops with his rifle,
“An assassin with a .404 Cheytac.” he replied as he looked through the sights to see a lone Intervention rifle bipod down still with gun smoke spewing from its barrel.
“Well aren’t you going to shoot him?” asked James,
“No because he’s gone, but anyway.” he said turning towards the Princess,
“ Well we held up our deal of the bargain so are we free to go?” he asked as he motioned the squad to pack up,
“Sadly no, we still have much to learn about the HLF and their operations because if your speculations are true then we have a device that can enter Equestria and destroy it from within.”
“Yeah... got any leads or do we have to start from square one?” he asked packing up his rifle as the rest of the squad began to disarm the explosives that surrounded the perimeter.
“Well I don’t but there is a HLF forward base not too far from here. They should have a hypernet terminal so you could hack into it and recover the locations.” she said as her horn lit up.
“Yes ma’am,” he said as she disappeared in a puff of smoke,
“God dammit, it’s always having to start from square one with every single raid.” Ulysses complained as he entered into the jeep where the rest of the squad was.
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“So are we free to become ponies now?” asked Rafael,
“No we still have more work to do.” replied Ulysses,
“Awww,” moaned James,
“Yeah I know but hopefully this will be the end of it and we can all go home... that is if we have a place to go home to.” he replied putting his sniper rifle down,
“Alright, well where are we heading to anyway?” asked Rafael as he started up the Humvee,
“A HLF forward base to grab some intel then to the next HLF headquarters that has the most intel in it.” Ulysses replied as he checked the ammo in his rifle,
“Well do you have any idea where it could be?”
“Give me the spare radio and a few minutes.” Ulysses said taking the small CB radio from Jack,
“Sure but I don’t think that they would broadcast messages this far out from their base.” Jack said as Ulysses began to sweep through the radio searching for any radio chatter.
“-How many got out?” asked a static filled voice,
“Just me and three others sir.” responded the voice which began to clear out through the static.
“Alright then, report back to the forward base on 6th street. Just tell the guards the password and we’ll let you in. Over and out.” said what must of been an officer in the HLF. The three Marines began to wonder why the HLF would broadcast over radios their location.
“I think it’s a trap.” James spoke up as he began to load rounds into an empty magazine.
“I’m with James, the HLF would never do something as stupid as that.” Jack added,
“Well then. Looks like we have to do something stealthy for once without having to burn down the building.” Ulysses gruffly said as he began to screw on a silencer to one of the M16.
The guards stood in the destroyed plaza surrounded by old burnt out cars and office buildings in a darkened part of the still raining Dallas city. There were twelve guards there, most of which wore the same grey uniform and held an automatic rifle of some sort.
Two guards in particular seemed to be making small conversation with each other on the far side of the plaza near a darkened alleyway covered by a destroyed office block.
“So did you hear about that old story of the PER attack in Australia?” one guard said as he puffed away on a cigarette.
“No, why? Were y’all gonna tell me a story so y’all can scare me tonight by dumping grape soda on me?” asked the southern sounding man who leaned against a metal fence.
“Naaa, we don’t do that to people who’ve been in the HLF for that long. We keep that reserved for the newbies that rock up.” he said as he blew a puff of smoke into the air.
“Well, tell me this tale because ya got me hooked like a catfish.”
“Well one day in that backwards country of Australia, there was a town called Brisbane. It was similar to Dallas. Huge city, destroyed old town and a fuck ton of HLF wondering around the place.” he spoke again as a shadowy figure appeared behind them, “So one day a kid rocks up with two ponies and they get inside the building and open up the sewers and let the whole entire PER chapter that was their and ponified the place. Heck they even had gas bottle with the pony soup in them.”
“Well, thats one hell of a story. Sounds like the ones my grandpappy told me when I was a little boy.”
“Well have you heard about the two guards that walked away with their lives?” asked Ulysses as he and James put the guards in a headlock and dragged them into the dark alley.
“Oh dear lord this is the end of the line, ain’t it?” asked the terrified southern,
“It won’t be if you tell us the password and run as fast as you can in the opposite direction.” said Ulysses, as he pressed his pistol against the chest of the terrified man.
“The password for the door is Revelations. Please don’t kill us.” he said as a muffled click was heard from the pistol right before the man began to bleed slowly from his chest.
“Right you heard him, now let's clear a path there with minimum casualties. I don’t want them to find bodies so drag them off into a dark corner.” he said, as he put his side arm away and took out a M16 with a long black silencer attached to the end.
“Roger, and once inside?” asked James, who was the only one accompanying the commando.
“We find the main server hub and it’s a grab and smash then we move to the evac zone and get out.”
“Right, lets do this.” James said as he pulled the bolt back on his silence M4 carbine.
Author’s note: I’m back... did you miss me? But moving on to more important matters, yes I shall be writing this but no like what it used to be, but it will tie into that Ten Rounds fic that I will get to eventually.
