Excerpt: Heart of Gold

Killian knelt by the box, steady from long experience, braced against the tipping of the deck as Alser strove for more height to counter the Terrible Bird’s advantage. The room darkened as the shutters over the glass windows clanked closed. There were peepholes in four places, and the two runners took up their stances there.
“She’s closing and still rising, Captain!” one of the young runners piped.
“Keep her steady, Alser, and rise, rise, rise,” she said. She ignored his acknowledgement as she unstrapped the box and threw it open.
Nestled there in straw packing were six bees, each the size of her fist, made of copper and brass. They were bee-shaped in body, but had no legs, and each one had a tiny helirotor on top, the miniature of Heart of Gold’s own rotors. She flipped the box lid loosely closed and gathered it to her chest. “Runner!” She nodded and smiled at the boy who had held the box in place. “Stand here.” She tipped her head toward the place at the railing where she, the captain, ordinarily stood. Eyes wide, he took up the position, putting reverent hands on the rail.
“Captain,” he said.
“Use the speaking tube. Relay the word from the other runners. Boys, you will be my eyes. I need to know what the enemy is doing. Look through the peepholes. Raise the shields only if you must! Let’s lose no more glass. Alser! You have the bridge!”
“I accept the bridge, Captain.”
She nodded and ran down the steps, her boots clacking on the wooden flooring. She passed through the narrow, dim hallway between the cabins. There was a ladder down into the weapons bay, but she simply leapt it, landing with stinging ankles and a thump of boots that startled everyone. There were five men and two boys here, manning the Heart of Gold’s two forward cannons, the lightning gun and the racks of hand cannons, boarding gear and swords. The two runners kept an eye out behind, in case the merchant airship had hidden allies. She noted with pride that neither of them looked over his shoulder to see who had come in, but kept to their duties.
“Well done, gentlemen,” she sang out to the lot of them. “Ready to try another of Joran’s toys?”
“I’ve lived long enough,” Raz grinned at her from the left-hand forward cannon. The rest chorused agreement and laughter. No one looked frightened, despite the fact that in the past, Joran’s lethal genius had proven dangerous to her crew almost as often as to the enemy.