The Conversion Bureau: The Last Job

by Da Bunnana King

Chapter Four: Story Time

Chapter Four: Story time
-The Tallahassee Conversion Bureau-
“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.”
He cocked the gun and started running towards the enemies lines spraying bullets from the hip at the enemies. “COME GET SOME!!!” he yelled,

“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.
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-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.
He walked over to a button that rested at the rear of the cargo bay. He hit the button, which caused the release of the rear ramp. All the men in the cargo bay lined up with Ulysses taking point.

“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,
Ulysses raised his right hand holding all figures out, “Jump on my mark,” closing each one until his hand turned into a fist, “Mark!” and with that he ran towards the ramp and jumped.

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.
After that it’s a long drive to Texas. Any questions?” asked Ulysses to the group who were intently staring at the poorly drawn map in the sand,

“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.
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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.
Randall116 says hai (O_O)/”
And Caleb1197 says "Spike is the unloved orphan of the series."
Oh and don't forget to comment of where I have gone wrong or where I'v gone right.
And as always BUNANA AWWWAAAYYY!!!!
-Bunnana King
P.S. Im sorry is some of this doesn't make any sense since I'm editing and writing this at 4:55 AM in Australia but don't worry Caleb and Randal are both laughing at me over Skype right now so all is well. And I'm going to WRITE ALL NIGHT AND DAY LONG!!!