AUDIENCE

My target audience are new adult to adult readers (mid-20s upward) who are drawn to strong female lead characters. They enjoy character-driven, historical and alt-historical fiction with elements of steampunk.

BLURB

Miranda Ebony wants two things in life; to keep her airship, the Duchess, in the sky and to keep her family safe. But since Queen Victoria established the Sky Chief Corps as the new military and administrative power in Britain, life for free airship captains like Miranda is getting more difficult by the day.

The Queen has plans to put the 'Great' back into 'Great Britain'. When the full extent of these plans come to light, Miranda gets drawn into a revolution that could tear apart everything she cares about.

COVER (I actually already had this from a previous project :))

Rule Britannia - image 1 - student project

WRITING (first chapter)

In the cool and fading light of what had been a crisp December day, Miranda Ebony stepped cautiously down the icy gangplank of her airship, the Duchess. The field where the ship had set down was covered in a blanket of snow disturbed only by the footprints of the two men who now stood before Miranda. On the left was Edward Buxton, broad-shouldered and lowbrow in every sense and on the right was his brother Thomas, the self-proclaimed brains of the operation. In comparison to Edward it took few brains to make that claim. Miranda suspected that the family dog would also have a decent chance.

"Gentlemen." Miranda said.

"Captain." Thomas nodded and tugged at the brim of the heavy woollen cap on his head. Edward gave a short grunt.

"As delightful as it is to be watching the sunset with you, I believe you have something for me." Miranda continued.

A nerve in Thomas's cheek began to tick. "Thing is, we've had a better offer."

"I beg your pardon?"

"It don't sit right with me and my brother to do business with you anymore." Thomas brought a rough hand up and rubbed the twitching spot on his cheek.

Miranda folded her arms across her waist and let her fingers rest unseen against the pommel of her sword. "And why would that be?"

"On account of your connections."

"My connections, I see." Miranda nodded and dug her heel against one of the rails that ran across the gangplank. She looked down at the damp toe of her boot for a moment before furrowing her brow and looking back to Thomas, "I'm a well-connected woman Thomas, is there anyone in particular?"

"Well, there's that husband of yours for one. And Arthur."

"Yeah." Edward added.

"My husband. My husband who has been dead these past 11 years. That husband?" Miranda tilted her head as she swiveled her gaze from Edward back to Thomas. "And Arthur, my brother-in-law."

"On account of them being part of the Sky Chief Corps. Edward and I have discussed the matter at length," Thomas paused to scratch again at his cheek, "and we don't feel confident moving our product with someone who is so close to the Corps. Especially as how your young nephew is about to take up a commission too so we've heard."

"I see. Well, we had a deal." Miranda took a step toward Thomas and uncrossed her arms, resting her hand purposefully on the leather-wrapped hilt of her sword. From behind her Miranda heard the voice of Duckett, the Duchess's engineer, call her name from within the ship's engine room. "Thomas, if you and your brother want to take your business elsewhere that's fine with me. I'm more than happy to never have to fly my ship out to your muddy piece of wasteland again. However, as I have kept up my end of our contract..."

"Captain!" Miranda was interrupted by Duckett who had climbed the stairs from the engine room and now stood at the top of the gangplank looking down at her. "We've got company." The grim set of his mouth made the fine hairs on the back of Miranda's neck stand up in a way even the chilly air hadn't managed to do.

Miranda jumped from the gangplank and jabbed her finger into Thomas's bony chest, "don't move, we're not done." She sighed and pushed her way through the snow to the nose of the Duchess.

"That'll be my new buyers, as I was just explaining to the Captain." Miranda could hear Thomas's chummy tone as he explained the situation to Duckett. She didn't need to look back and see the cold blank stare he would be getting in response. Duckett was happy to leave the business to Miranda, his only concern was getting the ship in the air, keeping her there, and making sure that process could be achieved as quickly as necessary.

Miranda leant around the prow of the gondola to get a look at her competition. This day could still turn out alright yet. If the captain of the other ship didn't realise there was an existing contract then he would quickly come to understand once the situation was explained to him. Miranda looked at the airship that was now coming in to land. The fat envelope of air above the ship's gondola was stretched taught across a skeleton of timber ribbing and the rope lines were black with a coating of grease to stop them freezing and snapping in the cold. The gondola was constructed of a deep amber-coloured timber. It was polished to a high sheen and reflected the last rays of the sun. There was no bunting, no markings, and no heraldry to be seen, but Miranda knew it for what it was. The Sky Chief Corps had arrived. "Goddamn..." Miranda whispered.

It is said you can tell a dairy maid by her smooth skin, a blacksmith by his fingernails, and a Corps airship by the shine on the timber. No free airship captain had the time, inclination or manpower to polish the timber of their ship. Between the rigours of regular flight and generally staying out of the way of the Corps, most captains had better things to do than buff the timber of their ships until you could see your own reflection.

Miranda turned as the Corps ship set down 100 feet away. There was a gentle hiss as the engine pressure was released just as the sound of the Duchess's own engines began to wind up. She followed the track she had furrowed in the snow back to the Buxtons, "Thomas, Edward, I confess right now I cannot decide which one of you two is stupider. I really can't." Miranda elbowed Thomas out of the way as she headed up the gangplank.

"Now, now Captain. No hard feelings. Edward and I will stand you both a round when we're next in London." Thomas said.

"I'll wager that when you're next in town you will be in the care of the Corps guardsmen." Miranda yanked hard on the rope that connected the gangplank to the ship and took some satisfaction in the confused look on Thomas's face as it disappeared from view. Once the timber door was secured she took her place at the large wheel that dominated the front quarter of the enclosed deck of the Duchess. Through the broad window before her Miranda watched as six Corpsmen advanced toward their position. On hearing the rising thrum of the Duchess's engines their pace quickened. "Are we there yet?" She called towards the floor hatch sitting open a few feet behind her.

"Almost." Duckett called back.

Miranda reached past the wheel to the console beneath the window and began pulling levers to set the flaps into position, "almost will have to do." The ship shuddered beneath her feet as it struggled to rise. She trimmed the elevators and mouthed a silent prayer. The first of the Corpsmen was within an arm's length of the Duchess as the shuddering ceased and the underbelly lifted from the frozen ground. The Corpsmen on the ground hesitated for a moment in their advance as they tried to decide which would be the greater prize, a free airship or the Buxtons. Miranda wasn't going to hang around while they made up their minds. If the Buxtons had been stupid enough to be duped into contracting an undercover Corps crew to move their unlicensed goods they deserved what they got. She could almost guarantee that the brothers would be in irons by the time the Duchess cleared the field.

"So was it us they were after?" Duckett asked as he climbed the last of the stairs from the engine room to the deck, wiping his greasy hands on his already filthy trousers.

"I don't think so," Miranda guided the the Duchess over the line of trees that bordered the Buxton's land, the belly of the ship skimmed the tallest trees bordered the broad expanse of open fields and farmland. The ground quickly dropped away as the ship rose. Miranda banked the Duchess towards London, set the lock on the wheel then turned to face Duckett "if it was us they were after it would have been more than one ship. And more than a handful of men."

Duckett nodded, "well, I don't fancy the Buxton's chances much. They'll be off that land and into a cell before we reach London."

"They've none to blame but themselves." Miranda crossed the deck to the table bolted to the floor against the far wall. Laid across it were a number of maps and more were crammed tightly into the many pigeon holes under the table, "we hardly broke even on those trips anyway, factor in the cost of coal and water and they weren't really worth the bother."

"Even so money is money," Duckett followed Miranda across the deck and surveyed the maps.

"We've got another run to Ireland tomorrow and two more later this week. That'll be enough to see us through to the New Year." Miranda said as she checked her watch. "It's getting late, but we can make up some time if we follow the river."

"What's your rush?" Duckett asked.

Miranda caught Duckett's gaze and waited for him to catch on, "Nicholas is commissioned tomorrow, we're due at Rose and Arthur's for supper."

"You're due for supper," Duckett said.

"We're both expected," Miranda turned from the table to look at him. Duckett grunted quietly, not taking his eyes from the maps. "You are the only one who makes you feel unwelcome. Rose and the kids would love to see you. Really can't you and Arthur just try..."

"I've business to attend to anyway," Duckett cut in and pushed off from the table, he walked back towards the stairs, "got to meet a man about some compressor parts, said I'd see him at the Cog."

Miranda watched him walk across to the stairs and waited until he started to descend, then she dropped her eyes back to the maps, "if you say so."

"I say so," Duckett called back.

Helen M

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