The Dirty... uh... Lovely Angels are used without permission, as
are... well... you'll see... =)

        C&C is, as always, welcome and appreciated.

        Find my other works at http://web.infoave.net/~jedediah

================================

        The Lovely Angel dropped out of warp in orbit around Syrius II, a
planet out on the fringes of United Galactica territory. The enormous
yellowish globe completely dwarfed the spacecraft that appeared above it,
almost like a human would dwarf a mosquito.
        Inside the Lovely Angel, Kei and Yuri sat before the main navigation
console, attempting to contact the STA, Syrius Transport Authority, for
clearance to land. After two minutes of hailing, they still recieved no
response.
        "STA, this is 3WA ship designate: Lovely Angel, do you read?" Kei
said for what felt like the thousandth time. Kei and Yuri exchanged worried
glances as the commlink returned merely static. "What the hell is taking
them so long?"
        "Maybe their communications equipment is damaged?" Yuri offered. The
planet had sent out a distress signal to any and all passing ships that they
were under attack by an unknown force. The signal was frighteningly abrupt,
having been cut off after the second repeating.
        "Well, where's the ship?" Kei asked as the scanner report came back
negative on the presence of any other vessels.
        "Who cares," replied Yuri, "let's go down to the surface. We'll find
out what happened there."

======================================

        The surface of the planet lay a smoldering ruin. The once sprawling
megalopolis of Syruis Alpha, the seat of power for the whole planet, was
utterly destroyed.
        The towering, majestic skyscrapers were gone, leavng behind charred
husks of permacrete and titanium alloys. The streets were choked with the
rubble and wreckage of the once proud city, while enormous fires burned in
several locations.
        "The radiation level is through the friggin' roof," Kei commented as
the ship's onboard Geiger Counter went completely haywire. The Lovely
Angel's shileds would protect Kei, Yuri, and Mughi from the massive amount
of radiation, though a trip outside would require enviro-suits.
        "The city's power plants must have all melted down," Yuri said.
"Kei, what the hell happened?"
        "Do I look like I know?" Kei snapped. "Let's see if there're any
survivors down there."
        "The radiation's really playing hell with the sensors," Yuri said,
"But I'm not getting any life signs." It wasn't surprising, really. The
chances of there being survivors after a holocaust like this were minuscule
to say the least.
        "I'm not gettin' anything on any communication band, either," Kei
said. The ship's computer scanned every frequency in use by United
Galactica, and some that weren't. All that came over the speaker was endless
static. "How long did take us to get here?"
        "About thirty minutes, once we got the distress call," Yuri replied.
"Why?"
        "This is nuts," Kei said, "but that would mean either Syruis waited
a while before calling for help, or whatever attacked this planet wiped it
out in thirty minutes."
        "You're right," Yuri answered, "that IS nuts." She gazed out the
front screen of the cockpit, blue eyes taking in the devastation. "Even if
the entire Crusher force attacked this place, it would take longer than half
an hour to do all this."
        "Let's find a place to land," Kei said, "I wanna see this close up."

=================================

        "Hooo-leeyyy shit," Kei whispered as she and Yuri walked donw the
remians of what was once the capital city';s main thoroughfare.
        Like Yuri, Kei was enclosed inside a UG-issue enviro-suit. The bulky
contraption was a mechanized suit of grey metal designed to withstand any
kind of condition. They were rather ungainly, being both slow and lightly
armed. The only part of the wearer visible was the face through the clear
visor in the rounded dome that was the helmet. The suits were completely
NBC, meaning they were desinged for use in nuclear, biological, and chemical
situations. They were also designed for use in the exploration of
uninhabitable planets, as well as areas of inhabitable ones that may be
questionable.
        The HUD, heads-up display, showed the current environmental
conditions, such as windspeed and direction, temperature, and sundry other
things. in the right corner was a yellow number with the symbol for
radiation beneath it. The rad indicator number climbed at a slow, yet
steady, pace as the minutes crawled by.
        "It's gettin' real hot in here," Kei said over the commlink. The
suits contained cooling mechanisms that kept the wearers somewhat
comfortable, though that wasn't what she was implyng.
        "I hate these things," Yuri replied. "I swear they make me look fat."
        "They're military issue, so prettiness wasn't a priority," Kei said.
"Besides, I think it suits you."
        "You're one to talk, thunder-thighs," Yuri retorted with a giggle.
        "Really, shelf-ass?" Kei joked.
        "Yeah, you should see yourself after one of your cheesecake binges,"
Yuri laughed.
        "Oh, stuff a sock in it," Kei replied as she scanned the ruins. "You
pickin' up anything?"
        "No," Yuri answered. "Not a single trace of life." 
        "Where the hell are all the bodies?" Kei asked. They had noticed
that not one corpse was to be found anywhere.
        "Probably buried under all the rubble," Yuri said.
        "Think there could be any survivors?"
        "I doubt it," Yuri said as she scanned the devastation. "Even if
they survived whatever the hell did this, the fallout from the reactors
going up will kil them soon anyway." The rad indicator in the HUD changed
from yellow to red, a small warning tone buzzing in Yuri's ear to remind her
that the radiation levels were getting to be too much for the enviro-suit's
shielding. "We've gotta get out of here."
        "Yeah," Kei agreed. "Mughi, come pick us up." In moments, the Lovely
Angel appeared overhead, its shadow completely covering the two. Getting as
low as it could, a hatch opened in the bottom of the ship, two cables
snaking down toward them. The magnetic cables attached to the suits, and
gently hauled the two Trouble Consultants upward into the small space.
        Once inside, a blue light filled the room. The light would
decontaminate the suit's exteriors, allowing them to literally cool off.
After ten minutes, the light faded. The Angels tehn activated the release
mechanisms, the heavy suits clanging on the floor in a racket. Once in the
cockpit, they guided the ship off of the planet, and into the endless
expanse of space.

==========================

        "What the hell happened?" Kei muttered as the Lovely Angel rocketed
away from Syrius II and into a debris field. The charred remains of what
looked to be two rather large ships floated in the airless void.
        "Hey," Yuri said as she analyzed te wreckage, "these are Crusher ships!"
        "What?!" Kei exclaimed, double-checking Yuri's scanners. As she
said, they were Crusher warships. "I wonder..." Kei was cut off by one of
the scaner arrays clamoring for attention. "We've got a ship coming in.
Damn, it's movin' quick!"
        The scanners showed a ship moving toward the Lovely Angel at
incredible speed. Punching a few buttons on the display, an image of the
vessel appeared on the small monitor above their heads.
        According to the scanners, the thing was enormous, the Lovely Angel
seemed almost as a gnat compared to it. The strange ship was moving at warp
eight, and was closing fast.
        "I'm getting readings of life on that thing. Millions of 'em!" Yuri
shouted in disbelief.
        "I've never seen a ship shaped like that before," Kei said as she
gunned the ship's warp drive. The Lovely Angel jumped into warp, leaving the
planet and debris of the two ships behind. After all, if that thing could
take out two Crusher-class warships, then the Angel wouldn't be much more
than target practice.
        "Kei, that thing's starting to gain on us!" Yuri shouted in fear and
disbelief after a few moments. Sure enough, the massive vessel was still
gaining ground, even though the Angel's engines were maxed out at warp
nine-point-seven. Without warning; a ghostly, mechanical voice filled the
cockpit.

        "WE ARE THE BORG. YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE."
The emotionless tone sent chills up Kei's spine as she gazed at the steadily
increasing image of the massive cube-shaped vessel.

=====================================

        I got the idea for this earlier this afternoon. I figured a matchup
like the Dirty Pai.... *ahem* Lovely Angels and the Borg was perfect.

        I hope you enjoyed it!

Jed