Luna Libros VII: Flight of the Space Librarians

Once again, a pulsing current throbs to life in the vicinity of Starchaser headquarters, deep in the heart of the New Bedford starsystem. It is an eerie and eldritch signal, radiating across the galaxy in powerful waves. The Starchasers nod in understanding, for they have heard this call before - it emanates from each of the 5 ancient citadels of the arcane. It appears the guardians of all knowledge in the multiverse are trapped in the second dimension! Only by following the beckoning of the citadels can the Starchasers and their allies track down the source of the mysterious transmission, and accumulate earthly knowledge to help repair the fraying fabrics of time and space.

It is a scramble to launch, with Leotard, Threespeed, and Dead Bride of the Metro Alpha division descending in a preflight flurry. They have dusted off their space pants and recalled their drydocked ships, but are overjoyed to heed the signal, for SCUL Prime has been under the haze of the space cootie for quite some time. At Fort Jonathan, a hearty crew of Starchasers boast increased ranks and a dazzling smattering of radioboxes and laser arrays. The fleet gathers at Buttonwood constellation under the hazily fading daystar, where Aviator First Class TurboHoney passes out librish runes for the pilots and guests to affix to their shields, and battle dress. These strange symbols, too, have a part to play in the quest to accrue obscure knowledge and free the guardians.

A smartly attired Division Admiral Civitron calls the fleet to order and outlines our objectives, as well as a diligently prepared safety protocol - once can never be too careful in the wild reaches of Galaxy New Bedford. Summoning his own transmission of hope, joy, and relaxing piano jazz, Civitron sounds the fanfare of launch, and the battalion comes to life with a thrum of excitement.
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Citadel Prime - the “Mother Brain”
The central command nexus of recorded knowledge in the New Bedford Star System, has a collection of 373,000 items in print, audio and video format. It is home to significant historical holdings including the multiverse’s third largest collection of materials concerning the pursuit of Space Leviathan, as it pertains to the Intergalactic Republic, early 19th century Quaker materials, museum quality art and an extensive genealogy collection.
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Here we stop to admire the mightiest of these ancient cidatels, and begin our earnest quest to decode the runic texts. Curious passers-by are especially entertained by our canine companion, outfitted with his own auxiliary escape pod. Shore leave is brief, and we turn onwards to the northern reaches, where we dodge transports on Acushnet sector and make a brief stop at a refueling station. Morale is high and snax are plentiful! We alight at the Wilks Citadel; the Div. Admiral begins a sonorous oration:
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The Wilks Citadel is located in the Northern Quadrant of the city at the south east corner of Brooklawn Park. It was built in 1958 with a bounty bequeathed by Sylvia Ann Howland Green Wilks, daughter of Hetty Green. Historical records indicate that businesswoman Hetty Green, the wealthiest woman of the Gilded Age was possessed of cosmic pecuniary majicks, which procured her the appellation “The Witch of Wall Street”. The collection has approximately 35,000 items, including newspapers, magazines, universal translators, DVD’s, a data dump from the onboard computer of a Class D starship, videos and audio cassettes, a live tiger, as well as public access to the multiversal subspace matrix.
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We hit a comfortable warp speed and settle in for joyful southerly cruising, dinging our sonic disruptors and enjoying the thumping groove of JVH Lazarus's former radiobox, blissfully resurrected. The eerie rumbles continue as we make our way towards the call of the guardians. Soon we encounter a pleasant, uptempo signal emanating from the next citadel. These sonic waves enliven us, and we sway to the rhythm of ancient wisdom-seeking.
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Cidadela da Saudade
The Cidadela da Saudade is located in the Southern Quadrant of the New Bedford Starsystem. It exists inside a pocket dimension of the Sister Aurora Avelar Lunar Community Space Station. Originally funded by an Empirical grant, it opened in Earth-year 1971 in a lunar bodega on the Rivet Skyway with a collection of 3,000 units. In 1975, it moved to its current coordinates. The collection is in Earth-English, Portuguese, and Crioulo. There are approximately 34,000 volumes, 92 subscriptions for newspapers and magazines, DVDs, videos, audio cassettes, cerebral slime, positronic modules, and a special collection of materials acquired to assist Portuguese-speaking nebula fishermen and their families.
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Here, we make preparations for a deeply sacred ritual in the ancient SCUL tradition; a knighting! Maggot SadCow is about to gain pilot wings. After a lot of traded whispers and consultations with various protocol droids, Aviator Mad Owl confers the honor upon our new recruit, and she rises a Pilot of SCUL, bequeathed with the knowledge of our forbears and the wisdom to avoid death, getting sucked out an airlock, and of course, infernal chafing. We raise a cheer and saddle up to maneuver towards the next citadel.
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Howland Green Citadel
The Howland Green Citadel is located in the Southern Quadrant of the NBS at the beginning of Interstellar Byway 18. It was erected by the spectral offspring of the miserly space witch, Hetty Green, in Earth-year 1964. The collection has approximately 24,000 volumes, newspapers, magazines, archival holograms, DVD’s, polyjuice potions, Spock’s brain, videos and audio cassettes, as well as public access to a variety of subspace frequencies. Adult and juvenile Spanish language materials are located here including encyclopedias, citizenship guides, cookbooks (including “How-to Cook a Space Weevil”), transport repair manuals, and works for fiction.
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After visiting this wavy structure, the call of the great nebula beckons, and we soar aloft onto a magnificent hyper-wormhole. We seem to float, suspended in a glowing haze, as ancient voices whisper the secrets of the guardians into our ears. First they are murmurs, but soon they rise to a frenzied roar as we descent the hyper-wormhole byway onto the far shores of the Southern Quadrant. In a flash, we hear it - boom! One of our battalion, a courageous civilian, speeds off to form a reconnaissance flight and we pull the fleet into a hard about to investigate. Presently, we come across the source: a Bii 'Em Dubbl-u class transport had met an adversary in a lazer mast array, and lost the skirmish. Div. Admiral Civitron briefly alights to perform his superhero duties, and once he confirms that, luckily, there are no injuries, we proceed on our way to return to our northern origin point and the final citadel.
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Lawler Citadel
The Lawler Citadel is located at the Northeastern Quadrant of Buttonwood Constellation. It was built in Earth-year 1960 with treasure procured from the daughter of the space witch. The collection has approximately 40,000 volumes, 6 holocrons, newspapers, magazines, DVD’s, one holodeck, videos and audio cassettes, one Great Big Book of Everything, a stack of Personal Access Display Devices, as well as public access to the multiversal subspace matrix.
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In the shadows of this hallowed place, several prizes are awarded for correct interpretations of the mysterious runes, as well as for those whose battle dress reflected the appropriate reverence for knowledge. Mad Owl earns special plaudits for exemplary deployment of tweed. In the triumph of the closing ceremonies, Aviator Dead Bride turns to Aviator First Class Leotard with a look of disbelief. "No Mechanicals!" she mouths. Truly, the Starchasers have mastered the wisdom of the ancient guardians and freed their spirits from their cells in the wastes of the Second Dimension.... at least for one more orbit! Until next time...
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