Hail the Conquering Heroes

[cityship]

Things can happen without Stacy knowing, that much is apparent now. The damage to her sensors is significant. But the fighting clued her in.

After it's all over, after those captured have been rescued, after the injured have been tended to, only the nest is left, and Stacy takes care of it.

||Infestation of Cluster 42, Level 4, Sector 7, Sublevel 12, Zone 37 has been detected. Triggering internal defenses. Decontamination commencing.||

There is a pause.

||Decontamination complete.||

Simple as that, once she knows the problem was there. Her internal sensors are damaged, especially in the city, and so are some of the systems monitoring them. You have to know what's broken to know to fix it.

Such a simple thing and it only took one man dying to make it happen. (His body is gone, by the way, ripped to shreds and eaten. There's not even a spot of blood on the floor. That's the bugs' doing. The bugs' bodies are gone too--that's Stacy's doing).

||Any injured personnel that still have not received medical attention, report to the nearest lift, and you will be transported to the MedBay. Any uninjured personnel, report to the Living Area, to the restroom facilities to undergo decontamination of xenobiological material. Then report to the Obs Deck to meet your new crew-mates.||

Said crew-mates--and the Doctor, who'd skipped out and miraculously ducked and weaved his way to the lift when he'd realized the Master was there--are there and waiting, and just a tad confused.

[ooc: read this first]

Comments

[godimgood.livejournal.com]

Geoffrey walked with all apparent calmness into the main room. But his eyes were scanning the people before he'd even gotten all the way in, taking in also the walls, ceiling, floor, that rather odd picture... And hello, was that actual sky or just an image? He'd have to check it out. The one aspect of the entire situation that he seemed to be paying no attention to was the fact that, well, he, himself, Geoffrey Chaucer, was naked as the day he was born. Though clean of the slime he'd emerged from, so obviously there'd been some compromise.

But despite his attempts at outer self-assurance, there were some signs of tension there. In the set of his shoulders, the way his eyes didn't stop moving. The very fact that his walk was more trudge than saunter.

"This, I take it, is where I'm to go, M'lady?" He said under his breath, not particularly minding if Stacy heard or not. "Very well."

[asluciferfell.livejournal.com]

Javert had been having a rather boring time, watching everyone else scream and converse, not quite understanding what all the hubbub was for. He wasn't, in fact, sure he cared- he would find out later, of course.

He did, however, notice Chaucer. It was rather difficult not to.

"I assume you're aware that you're naked?" It wasn't that awkward; Javert had given it more than half a thought himself.

[godimgood.livejournal.com]

Chaucer turned his head, and then body, to look at Javert. Then glanced down at himself. "Ah, yes," he replied, looking back up at Javert and blinking slightly. "Yes I am."

[asluciferfell.livejournal.com]

Javert nodded. Well, as long as he knew. He wasn't about to judge.

"Do you know what's happening here?"

[godimgood.livejournal.com]

Geoff squinted around, then back to Javert. "You'll have to forgive me, sir, I just woke up. The most holy and terrifying apocalypse, perhaps?"

[asluciferfell.livejournal.com]

He snorted. "So it would seem. I've not been awake long enough to know."

[godimgood.livejournal.com]

Geoff nodded awkwardly. What more could be said to that?

[asluciferfell.livejournal.com]

Javert paused. He wasn't quite aware of the awkwardness of the moment, unfortunately."I am Javert."

[godimgood.livejournal.com]

Finally, a name! This, Geoff could work with. "Geoffrey Chaucer, at your service." He studied Javert's face for any sign of recognition.

[asluciferfell.livejournal.com]

"...Ah." Only the barest hint. He knows he's heard the name; he's fairly sure it's literary. Therefore, in actuality, it means little to him.

Just in case Chaucer is wondering, no, he's not going to say it's a pleasure.

[godimgood.livejournal.com]

The 'ah' is not enough. Geoff tries for more. "Writer of the Book of the Duchess? Shortly heretofore herald to the incredible, powerful, humble Sir Ulrich von Leichtenstein of Gelderland-cum-Sir William Thatcher of London?"

[asluciferfell.livejournal.com]

"I've heard of you." Javert said, annoyance clearly visible. If you had a microscope. "But I'm afraid it is merely a cultural and chronological gap."

[godimgood.livejournal.com]

Javert wasn't making sense. Chronological gap? He got a puzzled squint for his efforts. "Come again?"

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"Hey, naked guy!" Kon called helpfully from across the room. "You're naked!"

[godimgood.livejournal.com]

Geoff paused to look down and notice once again that yes, he was in fact naked, before swiveling to respond. With a slight bow he smiled squintily and looked the boy up and down.

"Thank you, m'lord, for that kind observation. Might I mention in turn that your suit is throbbing in a rather..." he trailed off to cough into his fist, "rather salacious manner?"

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"Don't look at me. I'm not the one making it do that."

Kon poked at his suit.

"I won't lie; feels reeeaally weird on the nards. But it's better than naked."

[godimgood.livejournal.com]

Chaucer raised his eyebrows, cocking his head. "I'd rather my most natural state than a foreign substance beating its pulse away next to mine. I can think of a few specific pulses, true, which I want that near; but they all have names."

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"...What you just said, that last bit, was both pervy and not pervy at the same time. I'm not sure how you did that."

[godimgood.livejournal.com]

Chaucer grinned. Wonderful, an appreciative audience. "I'm a writer. Geoffrey Chaucer's the name, writing's the game. Though lately my skills have been turned toward the task of heraldry, for Sir William. I wrote The Book of the Duchess? Perhaps you've heard of it?"

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"I don't read."

[godimgood.livejournal.com]

Ah, a peasant. Chaucer paused to consider before responding, "Yes, well, not everyone does."

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

A peasant? A peasant? He'll have you know that he--lives on a farm.

And bench-presses cows for exercise.

...What? There's not much else to do on a farm.

"Your name sounds familiar though."

Come on, Kon-El, dredge up that implanted knowledge. The Canterbury Tales was before the cut off.

"Hey didn't you write the Canterbury Tales? The Father of English Literature, yada yada."

[godimgood.livejournal.com]

That gets a blank stare from Geoff. He was only beginning to contemplate the first story of said Canterbury Tales, and the title would come much, much later.

He blinked once, twice, considering. "I haven't heard of those, though I may use the title."

He paused again. "Did you say Father of English Literature?" The blank stare turned into a wide, wide grin. He liked the sound of that.

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I guess you're that guy. I'm from a really long time after you--and they remember you for that stuff."

He adds, "And you're still naked. Get some clothes. I know there's at least one little-ish kid around and it would be nice to save her from blindness. I'm Superboy. I do that. Saving people from blindness."

[godimgood.livejournal.com]

Chaucer muses over his apparently impending fame a bit more, smiling, before answering.

"Your pardon Super...boy, was it?" Geoff asks incredulously. Odd name. "But I'm afraid the noble lady's guardians will simply have to make sure her eyes are averted, or keep her away from me. I found no other clothing, and will most certainly not be wearing one of those." He nods to Kon's own garments.

It obviously must be a woman of some important birth; nudity might be a taboo, but it's one that the poor face - whether they want to or not.